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

But yes is vista 32

 

I'm afraid my post got lost in the bustle of the last page, anyone care to answer?

 

Sorry, never played it...

 

Honestly I can say that this laptop has been a real suprise to me. I have the 212US version (Q9000 quad-core) which comes with a 320gb sata 7200 rpm HDD. My 3dmark06 score is posted a little bit back (9831) and it scores 5.7 on the Vista scale (with 5.7 being the speed of the HDD).

My GPU under full load hits 69 Deg. C and my 4 cores hit anywhere from 54-56 degrees C.

I've been playing Prototype at max settings (1920x1080, 4xAA with everything on HIGH) and have had no issues whatsoever even after playing for 4 hours straight.

Oblivion IV is nothing for this computer.

I plan on downloading fraps here shortly to get some FPS benchmarks on different games (Far Cry 2, Crysis & Warhead, Prototype, Oblivion, Grid) but there are plenty of benchmarks already done (Faisalhero has some on youtube).

Honestly this computer has not been a let down at all and I had none of the issues that others have been having with theirs (screen bleeding, touch sensor messed up).

My only gripe is the annoying placement of the FN key and the fact that the Q9000 only overclocks to 2075 mhz. (However - I must say I don't even play the games in "turbo" mode as there is no point..)

As of right now all I have on hand is Oblivion IV and Prototype but FC2, Crysis & Crysis Warhead, and Grid are on the way so I'll be sure to try and get some benchmarks.

As for the HDD I've had no issues with slow-down due to the HDD engaging.. Everything loads up exceptionally fast but I'm also used to my old Compaq Presario F700 that was garbage.

When I get some free time from playing my games I'll see if I can figure out how to run some benchmarks on the HDD and before I go to sleep I'll also start to download FRAPS so I can benchmark the games.

As far as longevity and reliability I'm unable to comment since I've only had mine for a little bit of time but it seems to be reliably built and hopefully everything will be just fine to last about 1 1/2 - 2 years. I do plan on building a desktop when I finish my deployment.. But that's only because I love computers.

I don't think you would be disappointed at all if you picked one up.. I'm loving this thing.

Just my opinion and observations! Hope this helps in some way or form.

 

So the 9.6 work better than the 9.4 DNA?

How do I install the 9.4 CCC?

 

I second that post... I went from a XPS M1730 (8700GT in SLI) to this. The XPS was about 1,000,000kg more, and the gaming performance was worse than my old XPS M1710 (7900GTX). This thing though, smashes both of them. I can gaurantee, you won't be dissapointed. One question though twistay: You said that your temps under load were 69 degrees? I've seen mine get to 80, under serious load. Idle is around 50.

 

Yes, the 9.6 are promised to have serious performance boosts. Why do you want to install the 9.4 CCC though? You can just use the 9.6 ATI CCC.

 

Hey Tristaye, glad to see your loving your machine. I noticed you did a vista speed check on your system. And that the hdd showed a 5.7 score, would you mind posting what the other components scored.
thanx

 

I always go to tweaktown.com when new drivers come out. They always test them out on a variety of ATI cards (4850 included) on a variety of benchmarks, and then give a summary. Very helpful.

 

I thought you said you couldn't get the 9.6 CCC to work.

So I can just download the full package from game.amd.com and install it?

 

Yeah try to install the 9.6 CCC, but if it does the same thing as mine (i.e. you choose a directory to install to and it doesn't copy any files over), then unpack the DNA 9.4, choose custom install, Uncheck display driver, and install their Catalyst Control Centre.

 

I'll let you know in a day or so

 

Cool, thanks. I installed the 9.6 drivers so far and my score jumped from 9410 to 9840.

 

Wow... Nice performance jump, glad I could help.

 

Sure no problem.. here we go;

Processor (Gaming mode / Turbo mode made no difference): 5.8
Memory: 5.9
Graphics: 5.9
Gaming Graphics: 5.9
HDD: 5.7



And yeah my graphics card under full load got to 69 degree C but my room is also VERY cold (like 65-70 degrees F. cold, I keep a blanket on me at all times) and my laptop is also on a laptop cooler with 3 fans on it.

I did notice a SLIGHT bit of lag just a second ago though =-O!! Lol, once again playing Prototype w/ max settings as described before. Had a massive battle with 2 strike teams on me (And also like 50 cars + 100 marines shooting missiles and M4's at me) and I used the one ability that shoots the spikes out of the ground and it bogged down a hair but was still VERY playable and went away soon after. (Unless the game goes into slow-mo when you do the move? Still I think there was a hint of lag there but nothing that would stop you from playing the game).

Loving it

Edit: I would download the ArmA 2 demo and try it out for you.. But my 128kb Iraqi internet only downloads at 10kb/s.. So I don't think I want to try downloading 2.6gb anytime soon. Sorry

 

Any news on whether MSI is giving the Windows 7 upgrade or not?

Oh and on the GT725-074US, Is that a 1/2/3 year manufactuers warranty?

 

I hope they give a Win 7 upgrade, but I doubt it. The MSI sales man told me 2 year warranty, except for the AC Adapter and battery, which is only one year.

 

Hmm, well hopefully. It looks like from another thread they offering it in germany or something lol.. The ac adapter isnt really a problem since I live in australia and would have to buy another anyway.

Trying to decide between the G51/71/GT725 Gotta look at international warranties and stuff

 

And wheels... What happened with your laptop? Have you got it yet? Did you have to pay duties?

 

Not yet, it does atleast show now that it has left the US, so hopefully wont be to long off. And yes please, send me the email because reading up on things, it looks like even with warranty replacements, we pay duties and tax. greedy b......., lol
Also thanx Twistaye for the info, mine is a 212 as well and it looks good.

 

Twistaye, just curious, but are you a soldier in Iraq, if so where are you from?
And wether you are or not, how are things going over there?

 

I thought I'd have to buy another one as well, but I was wrong. All you need to do is go to your local computer shop and buy a clover 3 prong laptop power cable for about 20AUD. Then throw out the American one an all will be sweet. The input for the AC adapter is 100-240 volts. Seeing as Australia is 240v, you can use it no problem here.

And Wheels, I just checked and its actually illegal to forward you those emails. But what happened to me was: They sent me a letter with three options: 1. I could choose a customs broker to do everything for you, which costs $50.00 for the papers to be processes by customs, plus whatever the broker charges. 2. You can do it all online, which costs $50.00+money to obtain a digital certificate (dunno how much that is). 3. You can fill in the papers they sent out with these options, and fill them out yourself, which costs $50.00 as well. I chose option 3, seeing as its the cheapest. They say this option can take 5 days to proccess, but after I faxed it, they called me the same afternoon to say it has been processes already. A couple of days after that, they sent me an email saying it had all been processed, which had an attachment with the details to pay them. Just fill that out and fax it off, then after that it only took a couple of days for the laptop to arrive. All up this costs $50.00 for the papers to be processed, along with 10% of the invoice cost for GST. Hope this obscenely long post helps anyone in Australia wanting to buy one.

 

Oh, and mines the GT725-074US model.

 

Thanks Lambofreak, it helps a lot, although it sounds like it'll be a while before I get my hands on my laptop. It shows how much our retailers are trying to make on laptops over here. When we can import one and pay all the duties, bought from a retailer in the US where they must be making profit, and still get it heaps cheaper than they sell them for here. I know the major retailers here look to make atleast 60% profit these days, while they are doing that, I for one will seek to buy from where ever I can get a fair price.

 

I cannot agree more... I went to a store in Sydney and found (can't remember exactly what model it was), a MSI 17in gseries laptop, with a 9600gt, for 2600AUD!!! Mine cost 2300AUD at 70cAUD per $1USD. Seeing as its now 80cAUD per $1USD, you could get it for around 2000AUD

 

I ordered mine when the dollar was just over 80 cents, so all up with shipping for the 212 version cost $2201, I guess taxes will be around $300 so for 2.5k I got a better version of the 725 than we have for sale here in aus for 2.8k.
The aus version doesn't have the 1920x1200 screen, and only has a 5400 hdd.
So add another couple of hundred for that and I think I saved about $500.
And thats on this laptop, others you can save over $1000 that aren't that much dearer. Plus I have for a while now bought things like graphics cards and other things from there. Don't forget everything under $1000 is not subject to taxes and import duties. Some of what people buy on ebay here, are people buying from the states and selling them here. Infact I started getting my own stuff from there when I once purchased a DVD burner from an aus ebay seller, just to find it sent to me from the US.

 

Yeah bro I am, multi-answered question you got there.. So here we go;

The place I call home is: North Carolina
Currently deployed to Iraq but I'm stationed in Germany. I love Europe so I'm staying there for another 4 years after my deployment .
Oh, and things are decent over here I guess.. At least where I'm at. Glad I'm not up in Baghdad or anything where things are hectic.

Man that sucks how bad they're ripping you guys off with all the taxes and stuff.. My total was $1670 on my 212US (American dollars, don't know the exchange rate right now). That's with shipping and everything. Luckily my address is APO so I don't have to do any extra taxes or anything.

And no problem if you're curious about anything else with the laptop just let me know! This thing is purely awesome and I'm loving every minute of it and I think you'll be the same way! I was a little skeptical at first getting the Q9000 but it's an excellent processor (But I think I may upgrade to the QX9300 mobile extreme when the prices come down from $1k, lol).

Btw: Prototype is a very addicting game lol!

 

Hey I visited the states once, back in 1991. Went there for a 10 week vacation. Most things over there were then anyway, heaps cheaper to buy. I remember I looked in a car yard while I was there and found I had enough money in travellers cheques to be able to buy a fairly late model mustang, with only 20,000 miles on the clock. I got my gt725 for $1599 US, and about $130 shipping. Paypal takes a few cents per dollar for conversion and the rest was the difference in the dollar value. To buy one over here as mentioned in my earlier post cost heaps more than that. Have you met any Aussie soldiers there, we have a couple of thousand of our guys over there to.

 

Hey I have been promotted, I am now a notebook enthusiast in here. Not bad considering I haven't got mine yet.

 

lol love the promotions, i just got notebook geek

 

Wow lol, back 1991 I was like 4 years old . No we don't have any aussie soldiers here on my base. Only Romanian forces, US Army, US Navy and US Air Forces here. One of these days I'll make it down to Australia to visit !

Found out that Prototype just slows down the game when you do the special *devestator* moves, so I wasn't experiencing lag as I thought I was earlier. Computer is far beyond my expectations!

I know you can't wait to get yours Wheels! Hang in there bro, took me almost 4 weeks to get mine but it was worth the wait (even if it doesn't seem like it during the wait! lol!!).

Alright I'm going to bed! Later

 

Took me just less than 4 weeks too... 4 LOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGGG weeks

 

Ok I bought ARMA 2, playing on highest settings, and looks drop dead amazing, like walking through a movie, at 1920, the most realistic game I've played so far.

Really enjoying the gameplay, so top notch. Only small glitch is you can see textures load into game world for like 3/4 of a second once levels loaded, apart from that very good frame rate, I would say consistant 20 fps +

 

Where did you buy from?

Can anyone suggest a good place to buy for international shipping? Hopefully someone who will mark it as being worth less that $1000AUD or mark as warranty return.

 

Even if the benchmark of crysis hasn t have much improvment with the 9.6, it seems more playable, i have less access time so it s much better

 

Two questions:

What's the highest safe temperatures for a P9500 CPU?

Does ATITool work in Vista? I downloaded the latest version I could find, but unlike on my main computer (with WinXP), it doesn't detect the CPU/mem speeds and I can't do anything.

 

I use ATI Tray Tool v1.6.9.1386 with no problems in vista32. Granted, all I do with it is monitor GPU temps though.

 

hi i just got my gt275-274 and i have read thru the forums a few times but i was wondering how do i unlock my bios\set the precentage my turbo does, cause right now it doesnt do anything, and is it normal to hear like a robotic noise on m y microphone when using ventrilo?

 

Hmmm, they've sold out at OcUK Swear they were only added a couple of days ago!
Have sent them a webnote asking if they're going to be getting anymore, as I was quite warming up to a laptop with 80% of my desktop's performance...

 

Are you O/C'ed at all? And which model GT725 do you have? This is great news, but I find it hard to believe you're getting a constant 20+ fps at 1920. No proof needed, though, I'll take your word.

 

I ordered mine from red barn computers, Sorry I had a look and they seem to be out of stock of the 212 version. They claim to mark items as warranty replacement. I can't tell you if that worked or not yet as mine still hasn't arrived. I can tell you that on our customs website it says that we still pay even if it is warranty return. There are several for sale on US ebay
, starting at $1588 US to $1699 US. I got mine for $1599 US when our dollar was 80 cents. It ended up costing me $2201 AUS including shipping. I estimate that duties and tax will be a little under $300 so all up about $2500.
Still not bad to what you get over here considering the aus version of it doesn't have the 1920x1200 screen and a slower HDD, and costs over $2800.
They all come with a 2 year international warranty, and I think the better machine with saving a few hundred dollars is worth waiting the 4 weeks to get it. In particular the high res screen.

 

I have the 210UK, and Oc although only using latest MSI GPU drivers havn't bothered with the ATI Tools so far. Looks really sweet and is very! smooth, so if you use 9.6 cat you should be seriously ready to roll with this game. Think the game must be pretty well optimised. Like I say the odd texture load issue, but only happens on occasion. The only thing I wasn't keen on is a motion blur post effect which looks impressive, but made me feel a bit sick, so I've turned it of The game takes me back to Flashpoint but with really decent graphics and animation.

 

One thing I can tell you for certain: Order from a store called ExCaliberPC. They posted it the same day I payed for it, overall the service was outstanding. They also have an ebay store, which is where I bought mine from. If it is marked as a warranty return, you'll still have to pay duties, and I don't think you'll find anyone who'll make you a fake invoice. The shipping only costs 89USD as well, and thats priority mail!!! BUY FROM EXCALIBERPC!!!

 

This is the cheapest you can get them from on ebay, and it is from ExCaliberPC: here

 

Can anyone tell me what GPU OC tools they're using and what the maximum temp I want to reach is?

Is it possible to insert/remove the battery while the laptop is on without frying anything?

 

ArmA 2 demo

All settings on High 1680x1050

Frame rates don't really go below mid 20's

 

Good news about ArmA 2. I'm guessing that, since I'm getting the Quad, I will probably get even better frames? Is ArmA 2 optimized for multicore processing?

 

I just use the Catalyst Control Centre. That just tells me the maximum clock, current clock, temperatures, and activity. Without overclocking, I'd get worried if my GPU reaches over 80degrees celcius. As for the battery, I wouldn't touch it while your running on battery, I'm not sure about while you're on AC power though. I know you can turn the power off, then remove the battery and use it on AC Power.

 

hi all

i've recently (yesterday) ordered a MSI gt729

quadcore 2.0, ati radeon hd 4850, 4gb mem and a 500hd.

i have been reading about the advantages over a quad to a duo in a laptop, and, ive read some unsettling things.. anyone have any experienec with this? or with this model in particular?

thanks

 

Hey jorb, welcome to NBR

Lets just say the quad will kill any duo core out there at present, 2ghz is enough for any single thread games, and 2 ghz x 4 shared will eat through any game processing out there, as well as video and graphic editing, q9000 is the way forward for today

Anyone else notice gt725 is selling out across the UK, nobody has it in stock any more :/ i think MSI are prepairing to launch there new models