The Official MSI GT60/70 970m/980m Upgrade Thread

This has me running circles in my mind - I have the GT60 2OD w/ 3K (see sig) and was looking toward upgrading again this January (a yearly cycle for me thanks to my work that I do). I really wanted to step up to a 980M and 4x fast M.2 SSDs w/ 1TB SSD. But if I can get a 980M in my notebook and sell the 780M I think I would be happy as I like this notebook and it would allow me to go for the GS30 as my traveling notebook. I have tended to play and do work more on my GT60 than I do on my desktop... Even though the desktop is my test rig and currently it is a Asus Rampage V Extreme, 4x4GB Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4 3000, 5960Xes, and a 980X Lightning (soon to be MSI 970 Gaming)... I have a bit of a focus and motivation problem when it comes to gaming... Look a picture of a squirrel on the internet *click*... Hi, my name is Ryan and I am a hardware addict.

 

Since you already have a very nice GT60, I would just upgrade a 980m. It will be a beast of an upgrade for you and will help drive that 3k display in games. I doubt you would see a real improvement in daily tasks with the M.2 SSd vs the SSDs you currently have.

If you got rid of your 780m, it would be like a 300-400$ upgrade depending on how much you sold your 780m for.

 

guys , my notebook is the gt70 dominator with 870m 3gb in it
it's an msi laptop . it's not a barebone
what do i need to do ? do i need to upgrade bios ?
or as talon adviced , just plug and play and download inf modded driver ?
EDIT : i want to upgrade to the 980m , not the 970m .

 

As I advised before, you are far better off to leave your system config alone for now. Attempt the 980m upgrade as is. You will only need to make the small mod to your existing 870m heatsink. It's the same heatsink as my 780m heatsink. So all you have to do is follow my pictures.

If after you try and boot and it doesn't work then we can begin trying different ec or bios versions. Mmkay?

 

51x bios are for those gt 60/70 with ivy bridge.. Enough said

 

Can show us the linik? thanks

 

I have just found this thread and it is amazing. Cloud you make a Youtube video doing this? Some of us don't have idea with electronic things and I think this idea can be very interesting on every MSI laptop user .

 

That would be good but the guide is pretty thorough though so you should be able to do it using that. If you are confused over something specific then feel free to ask.

 

here you see the 2 Revisions from the old Fermi Heatsink (GTX460M/GTX560M/GT555M).
The red parts must be removed and the yellow fit very close. to put it would be better, but something to take away.



Here are the results ... 3DMark11 1. shows a normal cycle with a i7-4900MQ (Medion Erazer X7825) and the second shows the result with + 135Mhz core clock (via MSI Afterburner).
In both tests, the card has never reaches more than 60 ° C with fan turbo !

 

I've got a GT60 2od 3k ips edition with a 4700mq and 780m is this worth my time? How easy is this? I'm not great at using tools and stuff like that.

Thanks for the post was great to read

 

Hi, I have a GT60 barebones 16F4 from XoticPC. It currently has an 880m, so should the heatsink mod be the only thing needed to upgrade to a 980m? Also a video of the dremmeling would be amazing from someone who has more experience in this.

 

To the two previous posters, yes you both should be able to upgrade to either the 970m or 980m with just a heatsink mod. So far the cards have been showing great compatibility across a number of MSI systems.

Whether it's worth the upgrade is entirely up to you. For me it was totally worth the upgrade. The increased performance and seriously much cooler running temps are all great.

YouTube also has a ton of dremel videos. It's really not hard and requires little skill. Once you start you figure it out very quickly. Go slow and make sure you're modding the right area. I can't over emphasize that point.

 

For a gamer it's a great upgrade for most older cards. 780m users would want at least the 980m though.

 

Talon got a 970m from his previous 780m. He said it's a huge improvement compared to 780/880m

 

nice results for that haswell setup.... Can you also show some results with nb that is a GT16F2 (sandy bridge) as well? So I can show some proof to my folks here that even older laptops are compatible with 9xx mxm gpu's.

 

look here: GTX 970M läuft im MS-1761 - Notebooks und Barebone Systeme - MSI Forum

the MS-1761 is identical with the MS-16F2. The Different is the Backlight Keyboard Connector, this is missing at all MS-16F2 motherboards.

The MS-16F2 results follow next week.

 

Great thread i will definitely attempt a 980m upgrade next year for my wife's laptop.

Good work Talon. Our GT60 will last a long while thanks to this! I'm getting excited like with gx660 haha.

Haha yeah while performance is similar with 970m being faster, its important to keep in mind 970m consumes less power and runs cooler.

 

Hey Ryzeki! I was wondering when you would stumble upon this thread. I hope this GT60 keeps proving to be upgradeable like my old reliable GX660. The day MSI stops making this chassis, or laptops that offer upgrade paths for the end user then I will probably either try and find an acceptable replacement brand or just go back to desktops. Since I am finally fairly stable in my life, and am not moving around getting my career started anymore I can have a desktop again. I've decided to hang onto my laptop and upgrade it for awhile until its end of life. It would be nice to have a very portable (light gaming) and lightweight laptop, and a powerhouse desktop at home. I travel a ton for my job, and found lugging my GT60 and powerbrick around for a few days just isn't worth the hassle. I stick to my phone and iPad now.

 

I'm tempted to get a 980m now but I'm not sure if RJtech is the best place for where I live (UK) could you recommend another as I'm sure customs would add VAT on as soon as it arrived in the uk.

In the end it might be cheaper though as I've looked on UK ebay and it's going for around 630£ (990$) *yes we get ed royally over here*

 

Yeah i know what you mean. I do have a work laptop (asus n550) and it is quite more portable than the gt60.

But as you said, since i do have a house now and i do travel a lot, i tend to game mostly at home. Which is why i do like both the idea of a gs30 with the gaming dock as well as the monster GT80 just to have a powerful beast i can move to my friends houses etc.

But one step at a time! I will definitely keep the GT60 until it dies and it will still last a while thanks to possible 4900 cpu like yours as well as a new gen of gpus.

 

They accept paypal in your place since you live in UK which is less hassle. Or check if you have relative/s in US and will take a holiday going back to your place, you might send the item (if you order from RJtech) to them. Just like ordering one from ebay. As for me I need a wire transfer if I am to transact with RJtech.. Btw.. I'll recieve my order next week on Dec 1 from RJtech

 

Hey guys, I´m new here but I own MSI GT70-OD2 with GTX780M and want to upgrade to GTX980M But I´m trying to get some reseller in Europe to avoid taxes etc. I´ve been in contact with RJtech and if I can´t find anything else I´ll order from them. Have somebody found anyone else? I´ve sent like 10 emails today. Also have tryed MySN Germany but they told me that they can´t sell only the spare part by itself :-(

 

Then your option is only ebay.de. There are german sellers there who sells 980m

 

Yup there is someone who's selling it for like 900 Eur.. That's quite a price tag. Just spoke to MSI service where they told me they'll not sell any spare parts as of CPU, GPU's etc. so they just force you to sell your lappie and buy a newer one even if you tell them you don't care about warranty etc. Quite sad. I think I'll go RJtech way..

 

Can 16F3 upgrade to 970M/980M?

 

Probably. It believe someone else has installed it on a 16F2 system with successful results as well. I think Omega is installing his into a 16F3/Ivy Bridge laptop. He should have the card sometime next week.

 

what's the updated and high-end gpu that can be plugged into the gx660 then?

 

Well either the 970M or 980M if it works.

 

My bro has a GX660 still with the 920xm and 5870m. I am trying to convince him to give a 970m a try. I doubt the 920xm would be a terrible bottleneck, and the 970m would be a ridiculous upgrade for that system if it works.

Otherwise I had a Dell 7970m in my GX660 running perfectly. It installed with normal drivers and zero compatibility issues. That laptop was still a great system when I sold it on these forums.

 

Much better if you let your 970m put it on his gx660 just to convince him that it works... Btw.. my mxm is going to be delivered this monday. Dec 1

 

True I should try that. Of course he can lug it over here to my place. Its cold out there.

 

Next week i'm going to get my 970m installed in a 16F3 nb. I hope everything works fine though

 

Fantastic thread Talon! This gives me hope that I can upgrade my GT780R, along with the German forum post where the OP upgraded a 1761. The machine is otherwise fine for pretty much everything I do (other than being so f'n heavy by today's standards), but GPU performance is not up to par now that I'm playing more PC games again.

A few questions if you don't mind...

• What AC adapter did you laptop come with (150W? 180W?), and is that enough to power the laptop with a 970m?
• My GT780R (i7-2630, 16 GB of RAM, 480 GB Crucial m500 SSD, 2 TB Seagate HDD, GTX 560M) came with the 150W brick. Do you think I would need to get a 180W brick?
• Basic summary: Remove old GPU from system, dremmel off noted area, remove new GPU from Clevo heat sink, transfer thermal pads (or use new ones), clean thermal paste off, repaste, insert and mount in system, boot up and load Nvidia drivers with modded INF?
• Did you ever end up flashing a vBios on your card? I saw in a few other threads people send you vBios from other MSI NBs with 970m's.
• Is there anything that is not working properly after the upgrade, such as HDMI out?
• Any reason you don't see this working?

Thanks for any help you could provide Talon (and others)!

 

I have the 16F3 too! I hope it will work so I can do the same

 

Laptop came with a 180w adapter, and the laptop also has the ability to draw power from the battery (the NOS feature) as well if it needs additional power. My laptop originally came with the GTX 780m, which is a power hungry GPU. It required more power than the 970m and ran significantly warmer.

To answer your question, yes I would get a 180w adapter.

Your summary of the steps looks good to me. As long as you're familiar with those steps you'll be good. If you're not, there are plenty of youtube videos showing GT60/70 chassis repasting, other videos showing MXM upgrades, even the Official MSI GT72 MXM upgrade video would be helpful for noobs.

I never flashed the card with MSI vBios. I have decided to wait. My thinking is that MSI is going to eventually release MXM cards for upgrading GT72 laptops. Those will ship with MSI vBios, and I am hoping some GT60/70 users will upgrade using those cards. If they happen to work in the GT60/70 I see no reason why it won't flash properly and work at that point. Patience is a virtue.

HDMI and DP both work fine on my laptop, and I have not noticed anything weird from it. The only thing that seems to perform poorly or not as optimized was nVidia Shadow Play for recording games. It seemed to take a performance hit to the games and I did not notice it as much using my GTX 780m. It could easily be a driver issue though. I'm still using 344.48.

Its hard to say whether it will work or not. Personally I think it will work fine, but then again I know that your system was limited from upgrading to a GTX 580m because it had a different motherboard and different power supplying ability? At least I remember reading that. The good news is that the GTX 970m is a high performing GPU but requires a lot less power than previous Kepler offerings. I think its a 75w card? My old 780m was something like 100-110w? I'm sure someone will correct me, but the point is that is draws less power.

 

Hi! i just finished to install my 980mGTX but i cant get drivers up tryed the modded inf but nothing, i think i need a bios update of vga or system i dont know

 

Hey Thanatospy, which card did you get? Fro Clevo notebooks? I finally managed to get GTX980M (that for Clevo notebooks) here in Europe so hopefully could get my hands on it in a week. Then I'll test it in my MSI GT70 and hope it'll work.

 

Hmmm 970m on a GX660R... I can probably convince my friend to try it. Though I think I should convince him of buying a 180w PSU first.

 

Well if you tried my exact drivers listed on page one they won't work. You need to go to that page and change the device ID to match yours. It will be under device manager, display adapters, hardware ID CRJ. Drop down menu, and check the ID of the video adapter. Then out that info into the boxes on laptop2go website and hit search. Then download both the driver and inf. try to install the driver and it will fail. Now put the inf file you downloaded I to the installation folder that was created during the failed install. Now disable digital driver signing and reboot. Now go to the install folder again and run the exe as Admin. Done.

 

Hey!

Where did you get it in Europe please?

 

Thx Talon for the info i totally forgot that! Now is working , but the problem i have now is some aplications dont wanna work with it, like 3dmark it says: Workload Single init returned error message: No outputs found on DXGI adapter., COD AW is working with the cpu video, this is so anoying

My 980m is from a clevo i buy it from ebay. tomorrow gonna post some pictures

 

What laptop do you have?

Possibly try and reboot your laptop. Make sure you are forcing 3dmark and COD to run on the 980m via the nvidia control panel.

I am using driver 344.48 and works great. No issues so far for me other than poor Shadow Play performance.

 

NOS feature does that? even for 16f3? but what if you have a 240watts adapter? The battery is taken out from my nb when i am at home while using it.

Much better to get a 240 watts adapter than 180watts for future proof gpu cards.

 

Your laptop doesn't use or feature NOS. The 16F3 is actually better in that regard. You can get a nice XM Ivy bridge and OC the heck out of it and then use a Dell 240w adapter to feed it.

I actually have a Dell 240w slim adapter and I have a tip adapter so that it is plug and play. I use it successfully without issues on my GT60, but since I have NOS I can't actually take advantage of anything greater than 180w. So now the Dell is sitting in a drawer. I'd rather use my MSI adapter because it has a L adapter as opposed to the straight in tip.

 

Gonna hold out for people with gt60 2ods to get the 980 and confirm working before i get mine.

 

You making me get an xm ivy bridge (very tempting).... I'll just have to hold on to that first and wait for my 970m (so excited). Then luckily if I see again an on sale item of that xm proc ($250) on ebay then I think I'll consider getting that one. hehehe

 

Hey low9.. I bought it at Leistung ohne Kompromisse - NEXOC. Home. Just spoke with them and they have no problem to sell it to others too. I can guarantee that you´ll be thrilled by the price! Because when you´ll see the invoice saying 600 Euro including shipping and insurance you´ll think that others are just trying to rob you (like on ebay 900 Eur is nonsense) and there were two other resellers willing to sell it for +- same price as on ebay.

I´ll let you know when it arrives. But I think that NEXOC are the best to deal with in Europe. Communication great so is price and shipping. Only you need to do a wire transfer - no paypal accepted.

Cheers

 

Hi guys! well install the 980m is easy but not for people without experience in the field, right now im having problem with the software, the hardware is working fine, im runing the driver version 344.80beta, im confident soon gonna have some benchs ready, here some pics of my card







i have a msi whitebook ms-1763 i7 4800mq 16gb ddr3 2100mhz corsair + 3x120gb samsung evo raid0 + 512gb ssd backupdisk+blueray reader

 

Nice pics will do some report as I got my hands on it too. Hope you solve those issues soon, fingers crossed. Please update us with info ;-)

 

Well i reinstalled my windows >.<, everything is working fine now (deep breath), cod aw maxed out, 3dmark etc, max temp on hwmonitor is 88c and 81 in gpuz, very happy finally using drivers 344.80 with the inf mod by myself