-->*OFFICIAL: MSI GT725 Owner's Lounge*<--

I’ll get in on the ATI v NVIDEA discussion. The 2 cards being compared here are much the same in performance. What difference there is between them in performance is only small and really is not going to make much difference to your game play. I personally prefer NVIDEA because of experiences I have had in building my desktops in the past. I used to stick with ATI until vista came out with direct x 10. I had huge amounts of issues with ATI cards, claiming to be direct x 10 compatible when they were not. NVIDEA 8000 series cards were the only cards back then that were so I switched. Since then I have noticed that NVIDEA will always beat ATI in compatibility issues. They simply get there drivers updated and working correctly before ATI do. I would have preferred the MSI to have the NVIDEA card for that reason. The 4850 still has issues with some old 3d rendering programs.

 

I have problems with Nvidia and old games to be honest, they just error constantly so i gave up on that (i need an old voodoo card) and there is no needed discussion really, the fact is by default the 280m runs faster, but if you push the hardware to the max on both cards, the 4850 should overtake.

 

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	Link to Product Deal Use code USPBANNERS to save 15% off this product (must configure price above $699.00 to get discount).Use coupon code USPLAPTOPS at Lenovo.com to get up to 10-15% off the price of a ThinkPad notebook. [added 7/19/2009 | expires 8/10/2009 11:59:59 PM ]

Lenovo 15% off coupon code
	Link to Product Deal Use code USPBANNERS to save 15% off this product (must configure price above $699.00 to get discount).Use coupon code USPLAPTOPS at Lenovo.com to get up to 10-15% off the price of a ThinkPad notebook. [added 7/19/2009 | expires 8/10/2009 11:59:59 PM ]

Lenovo 15% off coupon code
	Link to Product Deal Use code USPBANNERS to save 15% off this product (must configure price above $699.00 to get discount).Use coupon code USPLAPTOPS at Lenovo.com to get up to 10-15% off the price of a ThinkPad notebook. [added 7/19/2009 | expires 8/10/2009 11:59:59 PM ]

Lenovo 15% off coupon code
	Link to Product Deal Use code USPBANNERS to save 15% off this product (must configure price above $699.00 to get discount).Use coupon code USPLAPTOPS at Lenovo.com to get up to 10-15% off the price of a ThinkPad notebook. [added 7/19/2009 | expires 8/10/2009 11:59:59 PM ]

Lenovo 15% off coupon code
	Link to Product Deal Use code USPBANNERS to save 15% off this product (must configure price above $699.00 to get discount).Use coupon code USPLAPTOPS at Lenovo.com to get up to 10-15% off the price of a ThinkPad notebook. [added 7/19/2009 | expires 8/10/2009 11:59:59 PM ]

 

I still remember when I upgraded to my Rage 128 Pro .. Such an awesome time, back when Diablo 2 was the game! lol. Fun stuff . Still no GT725 in the mail. Bummer.. hopefully sometime this week

 

can someone help me? company of heroes runs very smooth on high settings but recently its been crashing a lot. I tried using 9.4 DNA and did the tutorial for 9.6 drivers but still crashes. The GPU is OC'd to 550/900 but I never use the turbo button for Company of Heroes. Is it bad drivers or maybe the hardware? Can someone help me please

 

set the gpu at default

 

Thanks for the links
Do u have any other links that compared HD 4850 with GTX 260M/280M in games ?

BTW,does the MSI GT725 come with 64bit OS or 32bit ?

 

nvm fixed it, had to delete ati folders and do a clean install of 9.4. works perfectly now

 

yes its a real sweet laptop! I still enjoy mine! runs like a champ and is well built!

 

I still love mine too...

Not sure if the above questions have been answered so here goes.

32Bit (Sadly) and press atl + insert n the bios to unlock the hidden menu to change the OC settings.

 

http://optimitza.cat/benchmarks/laptops

This page has comparisons to a 9800m GTX (pretty much a gtx260) and a gtx280m, along with many others. Be very careful in your comparison based on this page, making sure you look at resolution, whether the cards are OC'd or not, and CPUs. The 4850 numbers on the table are from me (GT725) and Cat (Advent).

They come from this thread

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=376713

 

Thats a great thread, the small print at the bottom

"Results in italics show non-standard results (i.e. overclocking used, Windows 7, etc).

* Full game instead of demo"

Its annoying they didnt base 280m gtx off there desktop core.

 

I just tried re-running my benches on the same machine, but with an overclocked GPU this time. Surprisingly, I got lower results on three of the four games (all except WIC). It must have something to do either with the 9.6 drivers I'm using now or the BIOS update I did (1.0r to 1.0t)

 

thanks for the link
but i didn't get the answer of 1 question does it come with 32bit or 64 bit VISTA HP ?

 

I just got a reply about Resolution and OS from OCUK,here is what i asked:
Hello
I wanted to buy MSI GT725 (GT725-087UK) but i have some questions:
1_Your site reports that the screen is WUXGA+(1920x1200 resolution)but when i looked around the web i found that it supports 1680x1050 resolution,so which one does your model have ?

2_Does it come with VISTA 64bit or 32bit ?

thanks

Response:
Dear Maziar,

Thanks for the web note. The resolution on our website is correct. It comes with 32bit.

Regards,

Linzi Campbell

 

Hmm, it definately used to be 1680, but we will have to see i guess when it comes.

 

he's right.. mine's 1680 and there's nothing on the msi site to say otherwise about a 1920 model that is a dual core 087uk version. I'll guarantee their (OCUK)site is wrong,

You could always save the email, receive the laptop and then complain and see if you can get any compensation for being mis-sold an item..... Others did it re adverts saying it had 64bit when its 32bit

Just a thought... Some people would, some people wouldn't...... it's not like you didn't ask b4 ordering...........

 

Hello everyone! I recently purchased GT725-074 to use for audio processing- I really like how the machine is built and sems to have plenty of power. I downgraded the Vista 32 to Win XP pro (don't really care for Vista - waiting on Win 7) and I have been having some problems with audio glitches. I've removed most of them using information from various tweaking forums on the net. But, my video seems to be taking a hit. Seems like overall it could do a bit better.

My machine has the 1.0R version bios in it and I thought I saw that there was a 1.0U out now. Supposedly the benefit with the bios released since mine is better memory performance which might help me get where I need to be, performance wise.

How does one install an updated bios in these machines? I tried the Live Update and it says that my current version is 1.0 and that there are no upgrades available. Other instructions seem to hint at using a floppy drive....not sure how that will happen because when I checked the bios there was no setting for using a floppy (or USB for that matter) as a boot drive.

I've always used desktops (since the early days of the sinclair, Vic 20, etc.) and this is my first venture into customizing/configuring a laptop.

Any help would be appreciated!

Dave

 

pm me your email address and ill send you an application from the msi forums that you can use. You just then need to dl the latest bios from the msi site. The good thing about this tool is it's got a 100% success rate and makes several checks before actually flashing. It creates a boot disk from a usb stick (assuming youhave one)

Cheers

Stephen

 

Will do - once I find the PM link....

 

Well finally got my 212US today. Like someone else said mine is only running on 1.6ghz when I don't have the turbo button pressed and it ramps up to 2074 mhz when I do press it onto turbo mode. I changed the mode to gaming and also set it to high performance on Vista and it doesn't change it from 1600mhz. Weird. Oh well, about to update to 9.6 drivers and check it out. Going to run 3dmark06 on this here shortly to see what type of scores I get.

 

1.6ghz is fine, even in high performance.

You actually have to use the cores for them to clock up.

 

Ok, I'm not seeing a PM link for you Stephen...maybe it only shows up once I've posted more?

I just set up a quick email link - gt725 at njcdr dot com
Go ahead and contact me thru that and then we can take it from there.

I really appreciate your help with this!

Dave

 

Hi,

just sent everything you need. As i said in my email, apologies if i sounded patronising and you knew how to do certain bits. Flashing the bios can have dire consequences!! I didn't realise the U version was out. I might give it a go myself. The T version was worse than the S for performance.

 

Yeah I noticed that about the computer Catacylsm I tried out a couple things and as soon as the cores were engaged it popped right up to about 1998 mhz . The overclock does only give 74 mhz, but it's plenty of a computer as it is now without even having to overclock.

Just finished updating to the 9.6 drivers, installing Prototype and Oblivion IV and then I'll run 3dmark06 on it. Fun stuff, except for the fact I have to head back to work here in about 10 minutes (my lunch break is over here in iraq, lol). So I can't mess with it until I get back from work.. Darn!

No screen bleeding issues here though! No issues whatsoever from what I can tell . Only time will tell, lol! Awesome to finally have it for sure. About to sell this old laptop to a buddy of mine and then maybe get a nice external monitor for the laptop

Anyway let me go back to work lol, later.

 

Damn you Maizar, I'm seriously considering grabbing one of these on finance now I've noticed that OcUK is selling them cheaper than anyone else ¬_¬

On the plus side if I do, with a 3GHz Turbo and a 4850, at least its going to be capable unlike my old mobility X1800, which was never amazing, whereas the 4850 genuinely looks decent, even for a desktop part! (Hell seems to have better performance than my mates 2900XT)

 

Thanks for the info! This system sounds kickass! Mine should hopefully be here on monday

Hey would you mind posting link to the application in this thread? I tried to find a PM button to ask if I could also have the application...but I can't find one

Thanks

 

Hey guys, congrads Twistaye, glad to see yours finally turned up.
I guess I will be waiting for mine for a couple more weeks yet and I am hoping you guys can answer a couple of questions I have.
I live out in the sticks and really have nothing in any of the shops around here I can compare this laptop to.
I imagine the full HD on such a small screen would pretty much look like a moving photo when used to play blu-ray movies, is it as good as that?
Also is the anti glare screen the one that still has a gloss finish, or is it the crappy matt finish that I see on some machines?
Should I be worried about the screen bleeding that seems to be a problem with the US machines, or is it as I guess not as big an issue as one guy in particular on the web is making it out to be?
My machine is the 212 version with the 1920x1200 screen, finally showing that it has made the post office in the US after over 2 weeks.

 

Go to http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=113295.0 the click on the bit that says forum usb flashtool. (you'll have to register)

I dont know how Soundsculpture has got on but i have lost over a 1000 marks on 3dmark using 1.0U so i'm going back to 1.0S

 

Cheers mate, I'll test the newer bios when I get my laptop and let you know if it increases or decreases performance.

 

Has anyone with the laptop had a chance to run ArmA 2 yet? What settings are you playing at and how does it perform?

Right now all I'm waiting for is opening a new bank account and then I'm gonna be ready to roll with this thing. Just want to know how it's performing in a game I'm probably gonna spend a bunch of time in.

 

The flash update went great! Smooth as silk and most of the issues I had are now gone. I also did the ATI 9.5 win XP update from the info at the GT725.de forum. Supposedly there is a 9.6 desktop driver out at ATI but I have not figured out how to do the inf mods yet....so I'll hang with 9.5 for now.

animaleyes76 - you say you lost 1000 when going to the U bios and then went back to the S version. I only had the R so I don't know if there would be an improvement going back to S or T. Since most of you here are optimizing for Game/video use I'm not sure if the points you are talking about would affect my use in the same way. Honestly I could probably get away with far less capable of a video card since most of my horsepower needs to be directed to audio streaming and the firewire port... What do you think? do you think S might do better?

 

Well I have to say I am definately impressed!

Just ran prototype at max settings 1920x1080 with 4x AA and everything set to High. Ran it without any issues whatsoever, didn't even notice a hint of lag in gameplay . Sorry haven't benchmarked it so I can't really say what kind of FPS I was getting but I didn't notice one bit of lag during my whole hour of playing so I think it's safe to say it's pretty decent! Oh, and this was without gaming mode or anything on..

I did make an error though which I just noticed.. Installed Prototype and Oblivioon on the "OS" Part of the HDD.. Oops. Doesn't bother me that it's split into two so I just uninstalled and reinstalled in the "Data" section. Oh well

Re-installing Oblivion right now and I'm ganna check it out on max settings here in a second.. and I'll also post up my 3dmark06 score on 9.6 drivers Q9000 with and without "turbo" (Unless it doesn't really change the scores).

 

Hi, i'm not really one into benchmarks either to be honest.

I just use 3dmark06, or 3dmark vantage as a benchmark when i make any significant changes to my setup. 1.0T was a bad BIOS for me too.. To start with it looked like i had gained from 1.0S but if was me being stupid with my benchmarks. 1.0S has worked out best for me and I've tried all the BIOS' MSI have released! lol . I'll send you a copy of 1.0S when i get a minute (not sure how it got to 3:20am here ) ) so that you can try that if you feel like it too. You can always go back to 1.0U again if it doesn't.

No worries re the help. Anytime. That's what forums like this are for

Stephen

 

It's good hey, the same as you (great gameplay and no lagging) and i've only got the dual core !!! ;-)

 

Thanks! I would appreciate it!


Don't forget to get some sleep!

Dave

 

Yeah such a great computer, I'm definately impressed. Just got done trying out oblivion, didn't know it could look that good since I was playing on low settings on my other comp.. I mean.. everything low. Looked worse than Doom 1 . Anyway as I promised here is my 3dmark06 score; 9831 which is much better than my previous 323? LOL!!

 

I was able to grab one of these (212US, Quad Core, WUXGA, Bluray) off of Newegg for $350 off. Hope it's not missing too much. I can't wait.

 

Hey guys, I found a video on how to load the 9.6 driver. It says that no mobility drivers are available and we need to use a program called mobility modder to modify the desktop driver. I haven't read through this hole post so I don't know if this is pointed out somewhere else or not, or even if it is still needed. I did look at the ATI website and it seems to be still the same as shown in this guys video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClE8EhN1oBA
Maybe it's relevent maybe not. I don't have my MSI yet so I can't do anything to check it out more than I have done.

 

Im blushing

Yeah, I just sold you the touchpad cover on eBay, and yeah, I was sick (but only got one day off work ) I bought mine (074US) when the exchange was 70.00 (would you believe, the day after I payed for it, it jumped up to 74.00, then all the way up to 80.00, which would have saved me about 300AUD), so it was 2,060AUD plus 250 taxes. No they didn't mark it as warranty return, if yours did you should be fine. If that tutorial to put the touchpad cover on doesn't make sense, just let me know. I threw 2 in the envelope just in case you needed 2 to get it right.

 

Also, if y'all like, I'll post the modded .inf files for the desktop driver (9.6) I installed them fine, although CCC wouldn't work, even when I unmodded the .inf files. It says it installed, but there were no files in the directory where I chose it to install. So I just went back to DNA 9.4 CCC, with modded ATI desktop 9.6 drivers.

 

lol yeah i searched alot of stores in UK and OCUK was the cheapest one

 

ebuyer, and laptopsdirect were both quite cheap at £1050 inc VAT & del. seems ebuyer is now sold out.

 

I apologize for the stupid question, but I can't seem to find an answer relevant to Vista (32):

How do I install new desktop drivers?
Do I need a modded .inf file?

I have the 9.4 DNA drivers but I'm afraid to do anything till I know for sure how to proceed.


Oh, I got the laptop today. It's awesome. (except for some stupid key placement on the keyboard)

 

The 'crappy' matte finish is anti-glare, as gloss makes it shiny and therefore reflects light.

 

No, there are 2 different types of anti glare screen, one still has a degree of gloss to it and also does not distort the picture in any way. It doesn't cut as much glare as a matt finish, but does have a better picture quality. Google it, you'll see what I am talking about.

Here is an example:

An anti-glare computer screen is standard on most LCD monitors, though there are two types that have different advantages. The most common type is the matte finish display. This anti-glare computer screen works by using the rough matte surface of the display to scatter light, rather than allowing it to reflect off a smooth surface.


The matte finish anti-glare computer screen also has a disadvantage: It scatters the light coming out of the display, resulting in a less-crisp image for the viewer. The matte finish mutes clarity, color and contrast. Compared to a smooth-surface screen, the image is slightly “blurred,” which is itself fatiguing to the eyes.

The other type of anti-glare computer screen uses a chemical coating over a smooth surface to cut down glare. All else being equal, this type of anti-glare computer screen delivers a crisper image with better colors and contrast than a matte finish. However, it can’t cut glare to the same degree the matte finish can.

 

Ok, here are the modded .inf files attached. Download the desktop drivers, find the .inf files in the (Unpacked directory)\Driver\Packages\Driver\Display\W7_inf\. Delete both the .inf files (CL_81755, CW_81755), uninstall the old drivers, restart, go into control panel > device manager, right click on VGA display adapter (or something), go to Update driver software, click on "browse my computer for driver software", then click "let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer", then click "have disk" then pick the second .inf file (CW_81755), restart, voila!!! New drivers.

 

It's annoying me though, as I mentioned on the OcUK forum, it's a great laptop for the price, but Im not sure whether to go for it, as A) It'll cost more B) Be slower than my current desktop, but be mobile, to some degree and will play blu-ray.

My old Amilo Xi was a bit of a let down to me, as it had to be sent for repair/replacement about 3 times due to GPU issues etc, and I guess that combined with the cost (although I'd only buy now, pay later) it makes me a little wary.
On the plus side, in comparison to the old X1800 mobility this absolutely annihilates it performance wise, and even if slower, especially if I overclocked the GPU, it'd be much closer to my desktop... the Amilo hit 3k ish in 3Dmark06...this hits 9-10k!

That said a laptop with a CPU 20% Oc function really intrigues me...3Ghz C2D in a laptop is pretty incredible really. If only the MSI had a 7200RPM drive, it'd be a incredibly formidable piece.

Guess I'll see whether reality hits in before my desire to have a shiny new toy...




*ANYONE WHO ALREADY HAS ONE OF THESE*...can you run some HDD benchmarks so I can see realistically what the drive is like, 5400RPM isn't going to be as fast as it could, but high density may go some way towards saving it.

 

Thanks a lot!
This is for the Vista 9.4 DNA 32 bit, right?

How do I install the CCC afterwards?

 

No sorry, this is for the new 9.6 desktop ATI drivers from game.amd.com