***The Official MSI GT 70 w/GTX-680M Owner?s Lounge***

I have this sudden image of Ken hand-placing the keys on a new keyboard.

And spelling I AM KEN. WORSHIP ME.

 

Hello guys, i have read the thread thoroughly and it has clarifies some doubts i had regarding the msata raid 0 and the temperatures, now i would like to ask any owner how good is the speakers system on this machine, i understand is one of the best, maybe you can confirm this, thanks in advance

 

With surprising clarity, these DynAudio speakers are the best I have heard in a notebook. Very clean highs and midrange, and a subwoofer than actually gives a sense of bass. Compared with other notebook speakers, you'll like!

 

awesome, thanks for the quick reply, i never paid attention to the speakers performance on a laptop, till i got the g73, it helps a lot when you watch a movie in your bed

 

I've bought 2 USB laptop speakers for my Asus G51. No longer necessary. For laptop speakers I think they are fantastic. You also get the THX True Studio Pro software so you can tweek your sound with more Bass, Surround and more. Just wish the software came with an EQ but still I'm really impressed with the quality and power of the sound system.

 

it seems i have made my mind already. i have checked different resellers and i found this one:

MSI GT70 0NE-276US 17.3" SteelSeries Gaming Notebook. MSI GT70 0NE-276US

they offer an instant discount of 100.99 plus the MIR from MSI of 100, in the end it may cost 2399, i have never heard of excaliber though, do you have anything to share about them, the offer is quite enticing

EDIT: they also offer free shipping, the only disadvantage i see is that you can't customize it as you would do it at gentech or xotic

EDIT 2: as i continued checking the best option to purchase from i got this one:

MSI GT70 Gaming Laptop | MSI GT70 Laptop | MSI Custom Built Gaming Laptop

you can customize your laptop and that is a plus for me, i really don't need the bluray drive, i have an external one, if i remove that option i save 70, plus i don't need the 750 gb hdd, a 500gb hdd will be enought, there you save 20, also they offer a coupon code that gives you 50 off, so far you save 140 plus the MIR from MSI and the cash discount you end up paying 2336.73

hope this is helpful for any future buyer

 

@ galaga13,

Pricing, models, features, offers, etc., are ever changing in this market, but amongst the reputable resellers, things are pretty much equal and competitive. Sometimes it may appear one offers more than another, but most of the time it's really a matter of updating their websites. Generally what you see one offering, can be offered from the others as well.

The key to problem-free, unparalleled customer service, is choosing a top-notch custom building reseller. Of these, the most popular and forum friendly have been listed in the lead post of this thread. I would not get so caught up in price because most all of the reputable resellers will 'Price Match'. All you need do is contact them regarding this. Also, ALL of the authorized MSI resellers feature the MSI MIR's, because these MIR's are exclusive offers directly from MSI themselves. Again, if you have any questions regarding MSI MIR's, your chosen reseller can assist, and will provide the necessary forms.

Just some added food for thought......

 

Hi all,

Just bought the GT70 680m laptop as well, and I am experiencing a wierd issue on start up. When I turn on the computer, the bios thing starts up where your given the option to press Delete to go into bios, etc, and it flips through 2 other bios alike looking screens, until it restarts again and again very briefly gives me the screen, where I have the option to Press the delete button etc. It basicly keeps restarting bios startup until i press buttons or put in a cd into it, before it will proceed to start loading in Windows 7.
Has anybody else had this wierd problem?
I tried reinstalling with the bootdisk that came with the computer, but the bios still keeps doing it.

What gives?

 

From what you are describing, I have to assume you are referring to a RAID model, correct?

It sounds to me what you are seeing is entirely normal, and there was no need to reinstall the system.

On start-up, the first black CMOS screen you see gives you the following option:
DEL = Enter Setup (Bios)
F11 = Boot Menu
F3 = Run Recovery

A couple of seconds later a second CMOS screen appears displaying the following:

Intel Rapid Storage Technology - Option ROM
This displays your RAID configuration and the storage disk installed. By entering 'CTRL + I' here, you can go into the IRST Option Menu for setting up, deleting, or restoring your RAID set.

Bigfoot Boot Agent
Here, by entering 'SHIFT + F10', you can configure the boot settings for your Bigfoot ethernet. Also, within this menu you have an option to disable the Boot Agent being displayed on start-up..... or you change the length of time it's displayed. (default is set for 3 seconds)

Both of these options in the second screeen are time delayed (approx. 5 seconds total), to allow a brief time for reading or choosing one of the options. Once this 'times-out', it reverts briefly back to the first set-up screen (DEL, F11, F3), before then quickly booting into the OS.

Sometimes the manufacturer will feature a 'Fast Boot' option within the bios, but this doesn't seem to be the case in this model. If you wish to shave a couple seconds off the boot time, at least you have the option of disabling the Bigfoot Boot Agent. Perhaps we will see more options in future bios versions.

Oh, and BTW, you can 'halt' any of the start-up screens, by quickly pressing the " Pause/Break" key.

 

Which screen option is worth it? I have the money for all three but undecided if the 72% upgrade is better than the stock (the stock screen have which gamut percentage?), or if I should jump up to 90% but with Glossy screen. I`d like to try out matte (my last screen was a glossy) but I have heard rumors that you get this hazy film in front of the screen washing out some of the colours.

Which one should I pick?

17.3" 1920x1080 Full HD LED (Matte-type) Anti-Glare
17.3" 16:9 1920X1080 Full HD LED backlight Ultra Bright, 72% NTSC Color Gamut, Glossy [+ $75.00]
17.3" 16:9 1920X1080 Full HD LED backlight Ultra Bright, 90% NTSC Color Gamut, Glossy [+ $185.00]

 

As you can see from my profile signature, I have both the 'stock' matte, and '90% gamut' glossy screens.

The slight haze, grain, or wash-out commonly described in matte screens, is directly related to their matte surface. For those primarily experienced with glossy screens, this often takes a little time to adjust to. Once the eyes have adjusted, this becomes unnoticable until again confronted with a glossy screen. As matte screens go, the stock screen is actually very good, with nice color, contrast, and viewing angles..... and games very nicely too! So much so, I do no feel compelled to do a screen upgrade in my GT70 0NE.

I'd suggest rather than spending the extra money now, give the stock screen a try and see what you think. You can always swap screens later, and it's a fairly simple process. Once you become familiar with the matte screen, my hunch is you'll find it quite satisfactory.

 

My 1762 sits in front of and faces a window, and I think the Matte screen is a major improvement for me. Previous 8760 Sager has a glossy screen and it was quite annoying to constantly battle the glare from the window.

It took a day or so to get used to the graininess that seems inherent in the matte screen, but now I don't even notice it. It is interesting cause the bezel that surrounds the screen is a high gloss black, and it shows glare from the window, but when I look at the screen it just show the nice graphics that are displayed.
The screen is plenty bright, I have mine adjusted to about 75% of full brightness.

I was agonizing over getting an upgraded 72% gamut glossy screen but am totally glad I didn't, and I saved 75 bucks in the process.

My 2 cents worth!!

This also comes from someone who has 2 Samsung LED TV's that are of the Glossy kind and find those screen totally amazing.

 

Thanks both of you for your input.

I ususally sit by the window so reflections are there very often, except at night and in the evening. So yeah, I think I will try something new this time and go for the matte screen. I don`t know if I will get the stock or the 72% matte though since people have been very impressed by it
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/577259-my-god-its-beautiful-b173hw01-v5-upgrade.html

EDIT: BAH, seems that XoticPC is the only one who offer 72% matte. Gentech which is my priority offer 72% glossy only. Oh well, I guess I can always try out the stock matte screen and update myself if I want to later.

http://www.gentechpc.com/config.asp?config_id=GT70-0NE-416US
http://www.xoticpc.com/msi-gt70-0ne416us-p-4815.html?wconfigure=yes

 

Anandtech has a review of the iBuyPower Valkyrie CZ-17 which is their version of the MSI Barebones. They do a nice check out of the display and really it rates pretty good. It appears the Gamut is rated at 68, so the difference between that and 72 would probably not even be noticeable.

I have to say I bought this laptop from GenTechPC and I really like working with Ken!!

 

hey guys I noticed that on the MSI Drivers Page they have a newer driver for my 680m. From my nvidia control panel I see that I have driver version 302.75 released on 5/9/12. On the MSI drivers page they have version 305.46 released 8/23/12 yet it says Win8x64. I checked for updates through nvidia control panel and it said no updates available.

Should I use these new drivers and should I be updating other drivers as well? I did update the Killer Network card to get Games for windows live working. I'm trying to get GTA4 working properly but not sure if those 680m drivers are what I should be using. Thanks.

 

Finding the color gamut rating of the GT70 stock screen (Chi Mei/Innolux (CMO1720), N173HGE-L11) seems sketchy at best, but this AnandTech article on the Samsung Series 7 NP700Z7C, rates the screen at 73.3% color gamut. This would be a good question to ask Chi Mei Innolux, but I think it is a 72% gamut.

Go with the stock screen.

Samsung Series 7 LCD

 

The two screens actually in the review othonda linked to.

The 72% upgrade Xotic sell is present in the Razer Blade
The stock screen is in the IBuyPower

 

looking at the differences it is a tough choice, both screens have pretty close spec's. Color accuracy and whites favor the ibuyer. Contrast probably to close to call, with gamut and blacks favoring the Razor.

The biggest factor is the Matte versus Glossy.

 

Hello , Im pretty new here , but im a proud owner for a GT70 with GTX 680 and let me tell you something. this thing its a monster in every aspect....

now what my real intentions making this post was to find if anyone here could tell me how is the process of removing the Screen to replace it. unfortunately my dog pulled the power cord and my laptop went straight to the floor... i had a micro hearth attack.... but for my surprise the laptop didn't suffer any damage internally nor externally .. the only problem was the display is showing just half of it.... i connected to an external display to check and it worked perfectly.. so i went ahead and ordered a screen replacement. now it arrived today and i am ready to replace it but i only see 2 screws on the bottom of the screen panel. just want to know if it only uses 2 screws or the other 2 are hidden somewhere? i assume it must have 4 screws as any other laptops out there , but i don't want to damage my laptop. so any help would be appreciated !

 

doesnt the laptop come with one year accidental damage warrenty? if so why not just send it back for them to fix?

 

Yeah the results confused me way more. Its not matte vs glossy either, since both are matte. Question is if you calibrate the 72% screen if you get any better colour accuracy than what Anandtech got (which I think is the case since people in the Sager forum calibrated their). Or if colour accuracy is better than gamut.

I have no idea. I will just pick one and be done with it

 

Geez CloudFire,

Your continued indecision still has me chuckling.

No need to post the AnandTech pics. I reviewed the AnandTech article othonda linked, and for comparison sake, I provided another review (Razer Blade is also shown) featuring the same GT70 0NE stock screen, the Chi Mei/Innolux N173HGE-L11. As you can see, by looking at more than one AnandTech review, considerable disparity is revealed. This disparity is further emphasized when looking at other AnandTech reviews......

AnandTech - iBuyPower Valkyrie CZ-17 Display Quality (Chi Mei/Innolux N173HGE-L11) The Razer Blade is also shown for comparison!

AnandTech - Samsung Series 7 LCD: About As Good As TN Gets (Chi Mei/Innolux N173HGE-L11) The Razer Blade and Asus G74SX are also shown for comparison!

AnandTech - Razer Blade LCD (AU Optronics B173HW01 V.5) (compares with Asus G74SX)

AnandTech - Asus G74SX - Still a good LCD (Chimei Innolux N173HGE-L21 - same specs as the N173HGE-L11)

Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) | ID: CMO1720 | Model: N173HGE-L11/L21, Matte (N173HGE-L11 is the stock GT70 0NE screen)

Since we do not come equipped with calibrated eyeballs, and everyone will visually perceive these screens differently, why get caught-up in a quagmire of indecision over these reviews.

Overall, the response and feedback of the stock N173HGE-L11 screen has been positive, and MSI made a good choice in this selection.

Again, my point is, and always has been, rather than spending the extra money now, give the stock screen a try and see what you think. You can always swap screens later, and it's a fairly simple process. Once you become familiar with the matte screen, my hunch is you'll find it quite satisfactory.

Believe it or not, I think I am actually doing you a favor here, and you may even save a few pennies. Should you decide to try the stock screen, nothing is wriiten in stone, and you will still have options. TBH, when I upgraded my GT783 with the 90% color gamut screen (the AU Optronics B173HW01 V.4, glossy), as nice as it is, I still question the monetary value in that decision.

I'll also say this again..... I look forward to seeing which notebook/screen you actually buy.

Good luck with your decision!

 

I knooow, I`m that undecided guy. I have had the money ready for so looong now. I even have the paste, the K4000M GPU ready and my notebook is singing on its last line.

I will order it tomorrow. Will think through the display a liiitle more.

 

Ordering tomorrow? I'll hold you to that. I look forward to seeing this, and when you've pulled the trigger, I'll welcome you. Again, save those pennies and give the stock screen a try for a week or so. If need be, you can always swap it out later.

As to the K4000 swap over the 680M, I can't imagine why, but whatever floats your boat, I guess. I wish you luck with that endevour, and I am interested in seeing how this goes too. Keep us posted!

 

Less cores, less heat, more room for fan tweaking. Fan tweaking is one of the reasons I choose MSI over the other brands.
Plus I need a Quadro for my work. Well I don`t need but my projects will greatly benefit from a powerful GPGPU card.

Plus K4000M is more than enough power for me. What remains to see is if the GT70 will accept the K4000M or refuse to make it run

 

Yeah, I have read the reasoning of your thought in your 'Attention: GPU support - GT70' thread in the MSI forums. If it already works efficiently, I don't think you can ever have too much power..... and if it ain't broke, why fix it? Whatever! It just seems like an added expense, a downgrade, and a trek into uncharted territory that may not work to begin with.

Again, let us know how it goes!

Oh, and BTW, I wouldn't bother with paying extra on screen calibration..... especially on lower gamut screens. The stock screen colors are very true, and the high-gamut (90% or better) screens usually benefit more, due to common high color over-saturation.

 

Anyone try the nvidia 680m 305.46 drivers on the MSI GT70 page?

 

Read my post here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/658595-official-msi-gt60-gt70-owners-lounge-22.html#post8816615

 

Not yet.... still using the original MSI release version. I'm holding out for NVidia's first 'Final' realease supporting the 6xxM series. Everything thus far has been either mods or beta releases.

 

I use the actual nVidia Beta driver 306.02 ... they are really good!

 

You are not listening to what I say Striker. K4000M completely crush 680M with professional software which I use regulary. Gaming is just something I do whenever I have free time. And K4000M is a big upgrade from GTX 580M, which makes it more than enough powerful for my use. Its not a downgrade for me, but an upgrade.

And since it have 960 cores instead of 1344 cores means it runs cooler than 680M (even 670M) which means that I can try to tweak the fan speed down from the reference fan firmware, which means that I can get a more quiet notebook. Well, atleast thats my theory

K4000M:



K3000M (K4000M will be even faster):


680M/7970M:

 

Ummmm, yes, I have read every word you have written here.

Cloudfire, you do realize your argument of special software needs, and possibly running cooler doesn't change my thoughts on this, don't you? In it's current state, the GT70 0NE certainly isn't broken, and I am not really sure this is worth any perceived benefit you are hoping for. It still seems an added expense, and a risky venture at best.

I have already wished you the best in this endevour, and ask you let us know how it goes. What else do you want from me here? Sorry, but this is just a situation where we'll have to agree, to disagree.

Oh, and did you place your order yet?

Again, good luck with this!

 

has anyone played Alan Wake on their GT70 0NE?
I ask because it is one of the games that is easiest to illustrate my question - is the screen on this laptop have some sort of refresh rate problem or something? When you pan around in Alan Wake (max settings for everything because this laptop can easily push minimum 40 fps) about 1 third down the screen and again down the next third it looks like it doesn't keep up with the graphics card - easily noticed on Alan Wake when looking around. Even with other games I can see it, but some aren't as obvious. But I can even notice it on the browser when I just scroll through pages extremely fast.
I don't think it has anything to do with the graphics card because when I plug it into a monitor it is flawless, just can't trip up the same glitch in the browser or some games.
It doesn't seem there is any way to tweak the settings of the screen, so was just wondering if it just something I have to live with or maybe a fault, or a misconfiguration of my graphics card or something?

Not too fussed, because I have it plugged in to monitor 95% of the time, but it is otherwise a nicer display to look at than my BenQ 24" monitor, so would like to not have this problem, especially in games!

 

Sounds like screen tearing to me. This somewhat happens to me in games when I don't have VSYNC (Vertical Sync) turned on so I'm constantly trying different maximum frames per second settings if the game allows me to tweak it. I tried scrolling very fast in a browser but don't see this problem here on my system. Do you have any games that have a VSYNC option you can turn on? At least it might point out that its a VSYNC problem but not sure why would would see it in normal web viewing and non-game use. Do you also see it when viewing fast action in movies?

I had screen tearing problem on my other laptop when watching movies and browsing and I had to try different screen resolutions to get rid of it.

 

Hey Striker,

Very kind of you taking your time explaining things, much appreciated!

However I doubt this behavior is normal. cause let me list the bugs I am experiencing...

1. bios keeps loading through those 3 screens, CMOS, Rapid Storage thing and lastly the Bigfoot Boot thing. tt simply reboots it self and start running them again again, until I spamm the CTRL button.

2. If I at Bios startup, go into the Bios settings and remove all 4 boot options under the "Boot" menu, and I save and exit. then the laptop will reboot and automaticly go into the bios settings, and instantly start showing the "Save and Exit" option in a wierd blinking way, as if the keyboard is stuck on F10 key. (I think F10 is the key that you can push in bios in order to bring up the "Save and Exit" menu. The blinking will keep going on until I push a button the keyboard, first then will the bios settings stop blinking and let me navigate it as I am suppose to.

3. If I add back the boot options que, and I am thereafter spaming the CTRL button, the laptops will allow it self to load into windows. Once the windows screen pops up, I cannot press anything with my mouse, until I first push the CTRL key on the keyboard. For instance if i press the START menu button in the fare left corner with my mouse, it will show like a quick blink and then disapear, as if the laptop is recognizing that I pushing the START button with the mouse, but cannot because the keyboard is locking up the action that i am trying to do.

4. While in windows, I can usually not move any folders or icons. It will act a bit like issue 3. when I left mouse click and hold down the button to drag the icon to the right side, the icon tries to move, but warps back because something is keeps canceling the action, as if some keyboard button is kept being spammed, and therefore keeps cancelling the movement that I am trying to make with my mouse.
Also I can use the touchp pad, but I cannot use the slide up/down and sideways function.

Usually later, at some point the laptop lets me able to drag the icons and use the slide option on the touchpad. these two things are being caused by the same bug.


To me it sounds like the keyboard is causing all this trouble, pressing keys that unables me to load in windows at startup, unless I keep spamming the keys on the keyboard in order to make it stop pressing the buttons that keeps making it restart. same goes for the rest of the issues. I just cannot figure out if this is a driver issue or a faulty keyboard, because the keyboard appart from these few bugs, works superbly.

Either way it's kinda annoying bugs to have.

Maybe there is a driver update that might fix this issue, either way I guess I should have a chat with MSI support about it.


Cheers!

 

WOW! That IS really weird!

Yeah, I would get with your reseller or MSI support as soon as possible. Sorry you are having this issue. Please keep us posted on how it goes.

 

It does sounds like keyboard issue, or maybe the ribbon is loose or not connected properly.

Try re-connect the ribbon cable see if problems goes away:

 

EDIT: Checked with UPS.com. The price GentechPC charge is 100% correct. Damn, UPS is expensive

So I was just about to hit the "buy" button @ GentechPC for the GT70 0NE, but was shocked by the shipping price.

USPS Priority: $139. What I consider normal price to Norway. BUT Gentech have to remove the notebook battery because of some stupid ban on lithium batteries which USPS have.

So my other options are, and here comes the shock

UPS Worldwide Expedited: $298
UPS Woldwide Saver: $308

Thats a whopping $170 more than USPS which is also some speeded service ("Priority"). And if I want my notebook complete with all parts I have to choose one of those two.

Seriously?

 

Why not getting a GT70 0NE from Europe ? If I were from the US, I'd definitely get it from GenTech since Ken seems to be a great lad, though I wouldn't bother with importing a machine from there - what's the setup you want and how much you're paying for it (from GenTech) before taxes and ship?

 

Hi pau1ow

Total for my setup (GT70 0NE with the 680M heatsink for my K4000M ) is $2245. I don`t think you beat that?

PS: In norway it cost $3558..

 

Just placed my order with GenTechPC on my shiny new GT70 0NE-276US. Opted for the IC thermal compound and the Bigfoot 1202 + Bluetooth WIFI upgrades. Can't wait to get it!

 

Thanks for the reply. Yes, just tried VSYNC in Alan Wake and it worked sweet, awesome! Seemed to only change when I completely shut out and reopened the program - I changed that before I orgiinally posted and it made no difference but it mustn't apply until restarting the game.

In terms of browser, it is barely noticeable so not that bothered. Certainly no problems in movies or anything, and i suspect other games will just need the same setting applied.

 

Hello everyone....
Today just placed my order with GenTechPC on new GT70 0NE-276US. I hope I do not walk into issues that other owners mentioned in this forum here.

 

I ordered the 680M from GentechPC yesterday. Always top notch service from Ken and I recommend them greatly for future buyers

 

Congratz guys, and Welcome To The Party!

 

Anyone know about how long it takes for the laptop to go from pending to shipped once you place your order with GenTech? School starts on tuesday, hoping to get it before then! (gogo 2 day shipping!)

 

If you opted for the IC paste I think they have to test the notebook for 2-3 days to ensure its working properly. Then they ship it out. I don`t know where you live so I can`t comment on that.
"Pending" could also mean that they are waiting for the money I think

Congrats with the purchase btw

 

Ahh yeah, forgot about the "burn in" for the IC compound. Will be California to Oregon so not too long of a shipment.

 

Just ordered the MSI GT70 one-276us from Excalibur PC. Should be here tomorrow , need to research this thread for tips on fresh installs , what drivers and apps and to reinstall and what to not etc. Any tips to point to particular pages in the thread appreciated.

After much agonizing between the Asus G75 , Samsung Series 7 gamer , and this one , I decided to finally spend the extra bucks and go for this one. While all had features I liked/disliked overall , I figured since I want a gaming/work laptop that will remain very fast and get a good couple years out of it before rereselling or replacing it was worth it to go for the 680m and the dual SSD raid boot array etc. Also hoping I like the built in keyboard.

Anyway seems like even though higher priced than the ones I mentioned , would still be much more to try and get those features in an Alienware or such , so looking forward to trying this thing out soon.

On side note , any recommendations on backpacks that fit it well with good padding or shoulder bags also appreciated.

 

I have an older Samsonite 17" laptop backpack that works pretty well, has good shoulder padding and lots of pockets all over. Its been the preferred carrying device for my old Dell XPS Gen 2 17" laptop. Hoping the GT70-0NE fits in it.

Laptop shipped, woot! Anyone know if there's an unlocked bios for the raid version yet? I saw the non-raid version that pau1ow has posted in his thread but didn't see a raid version.