--->The Official MSI GT780/GT783 Owner's Lounge<---

I did a few more tests with Furmark 1.9.2 running the preset 1920x1080 15 burn in test.

With Turbo off and the Turbo fan off, I was getting a max temp of 90c. With Turbo on and the Turbo fan on, I was getting a max temp of 86c.

That seems a trifle high.

 

I found another way to hide the horrible S-bar with a freeware little program called window hide tool with these settings.

 

Hi Guys!

I've just bought a GT780DX-603UK ( http://bit.ly/xKvrYx) since the cost/performance seems pretty darned epic. Seems pretty tough to find this model though, doesn't seem to be available in many places so I'm wondering if it actually has physical differences to the better models (other than the lack of backlit keyboard since its a UK version, shame that).

What I'm wondering is, is it possible to mount another drive in the second drive bay (assuming it has one) of the machine and RAID the two together? Does the machine have an inbuilt RAID controller? Has anyone tried this before?

Cheers

 

I wouldn't mind S-Bar if it weren't for that blue star in the middle of the screen. Just running the mouse to the very top should be sufficient enough to open S-Bar. MSI should have known better.

 

Hello all. I am getting a new computer soon and am planning on getting an MSI from Xoticpc. However, I can't get a straight answer on upgrading the GPU. I want to get the most future proof laptop I can afford, but I can't afford an MSI with a 580. Is the 570 all it's cracked up to be? Down the road could I upgrade it to a 580? Another question: there are so many bells and whistles to these laptops. The Dynaudio, the Steelseries, the one touch overclocking and overcooling. Are these MSIs worth the extra price over the simpler but cheaper Sagers?

 

FYI:

I just updated the lead post (No #1) of the thread ( HERE), and added more helpful links.

Also, Svet recently released a NEW update to his Vbios Tuner, version 1.16x, adding other GPU's, and additional support for the GTX-580M:

 

You might want to try repaste CPU/GPU with IC Diamond.

 

Some New Intel Drivers Today:

Intel WiFi driver for Windows 7 x64 v15.0.0.75
intel drivers pour chipsets Reseaux (Lan) & Wifi (Wireless)

Intel Management Engine Interface v8.0.0.1351
intel drivers pour chipsets

Parts of the MEI that are not needed will not install.Needed parts will update existing MEI.

 

It is worthwhile,at your leisure,to read this thread from cover to cover.I've done it twice.

Yes,all MSI GT78x models have the Intel HM67 chipset that supports a raid array with the MSI raid bios 1761_30E and Intel RST driver /software.

For best results in a raid0 array setup 2 identical drives should be used.

Posts #3535 and #4973 in this forum may be of some help to you installing Windows 7 and also setting up raid0 if that's what you deside to do.

Better primary drive performance can be achieved by properly installing and setting up a SATA III SSD.

 

Help!

I put a blu-ray into the drawer and slid it in. I started up a player, and it said no disc in drive. I opened the drawer, and it slid out, no disc. ? I looked as well as I could with a flashlight, but couldn't see anything. I even tried to put a second disc in the drive, thinking that if it ate the first one, it wouldn't load the second one. Wrong- it loaded it fine, and played it too. Now I'm stuck... can I get the drawer out? I popped off the back, but that doesn't really get me anything, can't get into that area. So now I'm minus one disc (avatar blu-ray!), and it's like a fricking magic trick; it's disappeared like it never existed! Any ideas???

 

It probably slid into the small space between the chasis and the tray itself. I've done it before myself.

If you pop off the back panel, you will see there is one screw that is used to lock the blu-ray drive into place. If you unscrew that, you can pop out the drive.

But before doing so, I would look and see if you can find the disc in the location I mentioned. Popping out the drive may scratch the living you know what out of the disc, depending on how the disc is wedged in there.

 

To remove the ODD from the notebook a single screw on the bottom of the notebook needs to be removed.It's next to the DVD drive symbol that's formed into the plastic.

 

I was in your shoes about 2 weeks ago but went for the MSI after talking with a very reputable retailer.

First off, when it comes to the Dynaudio speakers, I've never heard a laptop with speakers this good. I was also told that Sager uses cheaper cooling fans and they tend to start whining. They also run pretty damn hot even though they use separate fans for the CPU and GPU. A Sager with the 6990m will hit 105 Celcius when running Furmark. All of the one touch overclocking crap is pretty much a gimmick since you can do that with software. The only feature I find handy is the turbo fan button. Hitting the button will kick fans into high gear. Lastly, the backlit keyboard is just insane. It definitely adds a nice touch to gaming in the dark.

When I was currently pricing MSI and Sager, I don't remember the Sagers being cheaper. You should check out Gentech. Their customer service is top notch and the main man over there "Ken" looks at this thread every day. He will also match whatever price Xotic is giving you if for some reason it is coming out cheaper.

 

I am thinking about just getting the barebones 15" MSI from Gentech, apparently it still comes with Dynaudio. I could care less about the light up keyboard, the only thing I would miss would be the fan button. Could you confirm or deny that I could pop a 580 in it in a couple years? Is it worth it to get a better wireless card? Thanks for pointing me to Gentech.

 

That is what I got. The 17" Barebones from Gentech. I had them add the keyboard though since I thought it would be cool to just have my gaming keys lit up when playing. I got the Bigfoot Wireless Card with 3 antennas and it is definitely worth it. My old card would only get me 3 bars in my basement (router is on first floor) but this one is getting me full bars with a ping of 5 in my basement. The Barebones from Gentech also has the turbo button. It is basically just like the 780 without a overclocking button and some cosmetic features. I would however recommend upgrading the CPU to the 2670.

Yes you can upgrade the video card to the 580m down the road. It is not soldered onto the board like a lot of other manufacturers like to do (Asus I'm looking at you).

Just call Ken on Monday and he will answer any questions you might have. Before shipping it, they will go over your system with a fine toothed comb to make sure everything is working like it should. I paid the $50 for the 3 day shipping but got it in 2 days. I was surprised being how it shipped from CA to MD. All in all, I would say Gentech provided me with the best customer service I've ever experienced.

 

Thanks for all the help. There was not way I was going to get an i5, however, my current computer is still a good old dual core so I'm sure the i7 wills seem awesome. I have eight gigs of ram in my current computer and don't really see the need for any more, except bragging rights. Is any more than eight gigs really advantageous for gaming? Also, are SSDs really that awesome? Everybody totes them as the best upgrade for your computer. Would I get the faster start up times with a hybrid drive? Sorry for all the questions, but even $1500 is a lot of money for a college student to drop on anything.

 

It's a big investment for most folks.

The barebones models start off uncustomized rather cheap compared to the MSI branded models but after you configure them you could come close or may excede the branded models.

The GT780DX-406 has a $100 rebate that brings a cash price down to about $1400.

That leaves you room to be in budget and still able to upgrade the wireless card.

If you have your own Windows 7 key and can do the sourcing and upgrades yourself the barebones models look very attractive.

There's pros and cons to every model.Do all your homework before you make your final decision of what and where to buy.

In the beginning a normal 750GB 7200rpm hard drive will be fine.

After you really educate yourself about SSDs is the time to jump aboard the SSD train.They are not plug and play like hard drives.They need some system tweaking for the best performance plus there's a great deal of difference between SSDs.

To me,the idea behind the hybid drives is good but to my thinking there's not enough bang for the buck to warrant the purchase.

The time to get the best graphics card is when you buy the notebook.It's simply not worth doing in a year old or 2 year old unit.

Talk to the dealers and get their recommendations for how you can get the best buy for the funds you have to spend.

 

It's actually a question that always brings up a healthy debate with myself and my colleagues. There's lots of things you can do with 'lots' of RAM. You can use the extra to run virtual machines, create RAM drives, and to perhaps run lots of memory hungry applications at the same time without forcing them to swap out to disk.

I've just put 16GB in my system that GenTechPC is building for me and it has nothing to do with bragging rights. It's not uncommon for me to be running 50 odd browser windows, a couple of VM's, SQL server, etc. I could have probably bought some more. The more the merrier.

EDIT: Sorry and with regard to gaming, Crysis 2 recommended amount of system RAM was 3GB for example, although some say that's pretty modest, it is a very demanding game so perhaps that gives you some perspective.. I've seen some metrics with regards to NT operating systems (Windows 2000 and onwards) and it was shown quite clearly that they show overall performance increases with a minimum of 4GB. And that was a long while ago. I do not recommend anything less than 6GB to anyone these days if you're running Vista or Windows 7. They are a lot more 'active' than Windows XP was.

 

I got the GT780DX from the company you are looking at, with good service. I went with stock everything except I upgraded to 16G RAM (for free at the time). The 570M GPU has handled everything with ease so far. And as one poster said, I've never heard such astounding sound coming from a laptop. You get a couple of demos with the laptop that demonstrates the video and audio capabilities, but check out this site for some THX demos.

Bass Test and THX Demos

I don't find the Steelseries keyboard any better than the keyboard on my old GT735, except for the lights. In fact, I occasionally have to hit the space bar again because either I'm not hitting it just right or it doesn't register the first time. But I really thinks it's me, and the placement of my thumbs on the space bar. Just need to get used to a different keyboard.

The stock wireless card is good enough for me. I can sometimes detect a second router I have in a detached garage which other laptops in the house can't detect.

Looking for my free Battlefield 3 copy. Didn't see any disk or key code in the box. Don't think they ran out because they are still offering it as a promotion. I have an email to customer service.

Overall, this laptop is a beaut and I'd order the same one all over again.

 

NICE THX contribution! I have added this link to the lead post.

 

Yes I do think SSD's are worth it. I purchased my SSD separate from Newegg (Samsung 830 128gb) and installed it as soon as I received my laptop from Gentech. I then fallowed a couple SSD tweaks from the Overclockers forum and Windows 7 forum. The entire OS just feels snappier and installing programs is super fast. SSD's really won't add any more performance to your games other than faster load times.

I just got 8 gigs of ram but will be upgrading to 16 gigs in a couple months. I am interested in Samsung's DDR3 after everyone over in the Overclockers forum are recommending it. They say it can easily run at 2200.

My barebones system came out to about $190 cheaper than the name brand even after the $100 mail in rebate. Ken made that happen.

 

Why move to 16GB?

 

I think it's good to have 8GB just for normal use. Then you could use some other ram to create say a 4gb or 8gb Ram disk. You could then move your Windows page file across to the ram disk. That will certainly speed things up, depending on your usage of course. If you use Adobe applications for example, you can configure the scratch disk to live in the ram disk. This speeds things up for those apps too. Some people say you could turn your page file off altogether with 16gb of ram, but in my experience some applications require usage of the page file so it's not necessarily a good move. Ram is so cheap these days it's almost a moot point!

 

So I can create a 8gb RamDisk. Even the worlds fastest SSD's are no match for a RamDisk.

 

Ram is cheap.Use it to your best advantage

I've been using SSDs for a few years now and in doings so I have not had a pagefile or had a need for one in just as long.

The SSD Optimization Guide - The SSD Review

If the process serves no purpose, it only adds to the number of things that can go wrong at the end of the day. It is like a fifth wheel on a car or a third leg. Disabling fetch and superfetch as well as a few others are optimizations that are recommended by some of the best companies and peer guides. You will see no difference whatsoever and no benefit is gained from leaving it on.

Let me give you an example with pagefile. It was originally created too make up for the lack of memory in a system because of price however, today, there is plenty of memory for the typical user. I have shut down pagefile for years without a single instance of problem and I am very much a power user. The ONLY purpose of pagefile today is to allow a dump file if your system crashes that can be examined. The problem of course is Win 7 does not crash and that file could not be read by the typical consumer. It does nothing to help the situation in any case whereas shutting it down gies you back 4GB of valuable space.

The same can be said of hibernate where shutting it down gives you another 4GB of space yet leaving it on with an SSD is truly pointless as we are already seeing start times of under 20 seconds on most SSD systems.

At the end of the day, this Guide has become the hottest of its kind on the internet by a long shot and yes, it may be time for a face lift in explaining, or even removing, some of the les important optimizations. Thanks for the input and support!

 

I agree with all of the optimization's here except one and the only reason I disagree is because I personally noticed a performance decrease. I disable "Pre-Fetch" and "Hibernate" but I leave 'Super-Fetch" enabled. When I disabled Super-Fetch, Chrome noticeably slowed down. As soon as I re-enabled it, everything went back to normal. You will actually find through a Google search that a lot of people recommend against disabling Super-Fetch. When you disable Super-Fetch, you are not using your PC's RAM to it's fullest potential. It is the equivalent of a 300 HP engine only using 250 HP. No matter how fast these SSD's get, not one of them is anywhere close to the speed of RAM.

 

I use Chrome on all my OCZ SSDs and haven't suffered the phenomena descibed.

By default, Windows 7 will disable Superfetch, ReadyBoost, as well as boot and application launch prefetching on SSDs with good random read, random write and flush performance. These technologies were all designed to improve performance on traditional HDDs, where random read performance could easily be a major bottleneck.

If the system disk is an SSD, and the SSD performs adequately on random reads and doesn’t have glaring performance issues with random writes or flushes, then Superfetch, boot prefetching, application launch prefetching, ReadyBoost and ReadDrive will all be disabled.

Initially, Microsoft had configured all of these features to be off on all SSDs, but they encountered sizable performance regressions on some systems. In root causing those regressions, they found that some first generation SSDs had severe enough random write and flush problems that ultimately lead to disk reads being blocked for long periods of time. With Superfetch and other prefetching re-enabled, performance on key scenarios was markedly improved.

This article is dated but still worth a read.
Support and Q&A for Solid-State Drives - Engineering Windows 7 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

If you find it to be necessary then turn it on.Probably makes little performance difference on or off.

Various makers SSD toolboxes may promt to turn off Superfetch if it's by chance enabled.

Check the task manager performance with it enabled and disabled.

Write caching in a storage device refers to the use of high-speed volatile memory to collect write commands sent to data storage devices and cache them until the slower storage media (either physical disks or low-cost flash memory) can accommodate them.

Turning off write caching is not recommended on Intel SSDs.

 

In the BIOS, what do you guys have the PCI Bus Speed set at? Mine is at 32. Is it okay there or should I change it?

 

Hi im new to this forum and a proud owner of a gt 780 dxr. but i found out while i was on skype that the built in mic is very weak and has a lot of static/crackling noises. Do you guys have a fix for this? any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

Try going into the microphone properties and click on the enhancements tab. Then check Acoustic Echo Cancellation and Beam Forming. If that doesn't work, some have said that the hole for the microphone is on the wrong side of the camera.

 

Do we have any GT783 Owner's here, who can post 3DMark11 & Vantage screenshots? If so, separate screenshots with 'stock clocks', with TDE, and with AfterBurner would be great! Please include GPU-Z sreenshots with each of these. Also, it would be nice to know that no one is having throttling or 180w PA issues. This thread seems strangely devoid of this info.

Anyone?

Take a peek at THIS post. (GT780DXR-099US with Clevo 580M, but 'ThrottleStop' was necessary)

Thanks!

 

I can confirm that 180W adapter should be more than enough, check my thread for more infos.

 

Why GPU-Z and TDE? We know the results and clocks already.

 

To quote a piece of your last post: "Forgot to mention also is that I ran a Vantage fine with 825/1800 but when I tried 840/1800, the power supply went out due to the overload protection.
So far, the 180W adapter should be enough for the non crazy overclockers !" Hopefully a GT783 Owner will test this.

I am interested in what GT783 Owner's have to report..... their 3DMark11 & Vantage scores. If you have some links, please share.

 

I tried messing with thise settings and the volume picks up. Byt there are still very loud static/crackles. Do you think i should bring it in?

 

Poor Mic Quality? Try This! (This linked post has been added to the thread's lead post for future reference..... in the 'How To's' section.)

@WhatsThePoint, is there anything you'ld like to edit or add to your linked post? Thanks!

 

I just added brief explanations of the attached photos.I'll add more photos and a better one of the plastic knife separating the LCD frame.

If anyone has a question about doing this feel free to send a PM or post a question here in the forum.

Also ask if you need any other disassembly help or help upgrading.

I believe that the mic holes are still blocked on the new GT783 but I don't know about the Whitebook models.

 

I know alot of you guys have installed new Samsung 830 series SSDs;have you seen the new firmware dated 01/19/2012

Use Samsung SSD Magician v3.1 to upgrade the firmware.

Click on Memory and Storage

Click on Solid State Drives

Pick your drive model number from the dropdown menu and follow links to the correct SSD Magician and firmware for your drive

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/#

 

I'll probably end up getting a barebones model but splurging and getting a 580. However, I do want an SSD so I might upgrade and do a clean install of Windows later on. The question is: will opening the laptop up to put my current drives in void the warranty and will putting my OS drive from this computer into the new computer screw anything up?

EDIT: Also, will a 15" run hotter than a 17" with the same specs?

 

I will get mine in 2 weeks
Getting the 90% Gamut Display installed and Patriot wildfire 120 GB SSD.

Sorry can't do anything right now.

 

No, it will not void your warranty and i don't know if the 15' runs hotter than the 17". Is there a reason why your not just getting the 17". Do you travel a lot?

 

Opening the back is not going to void your warranty as long as your doing so doesn't damage any parts that you will claim warranty repair on.

Look in the owners manual and there you will find instruction for changing and upgrading certain parts.

If you are worried,carefully peel the sticker off.

The parts in a notebook generate heat.

SSDs generate less heat than mechanical drives.

Less memory will generated less heat.

Higher clocked memory will generate alot more heat than standard DDR3-1333

A battery while charging will generate heat.

Embedded motherboard parts generate heat.

Properly applied thermal compound plus clean fans,vents and heatsinks helps controll heat.

The temperature of the room where the notebook is running does most to determine the idle and load temperatures.

The difference between the room temperature and idle temperature should normally be somewhere between 32C~36C.

 

Very NICE, Thanks!

BTW, you'll like that 90% color gamut screen. I have info posted on it in the 'Other Thoughts' section of the lead post, HERE. That's the one I got anyhow...... check with Donald to see if you are getting the same one.

 

Well, I'm basically just trying to keep the price as low as possible while getting a decent CPU and a 580 but now that I look at it's only $50 more and I don't travel much so I'll probably just get a 17". If I call in to Gentech could I get them to not put in any hard drive? Xoticpc has an option for removing the primary hard drive but Gen Tech does not.

 

We just updated the configurator and now you can remove the primary hard drive.

 

Hi there people do you ever experience a bad problem on the msi gt783 keyboard?

 

It is no secret that there are bad keyboards out there however, I was lucky enough to order my computer through a company who had no problem testing every single key to make sure it was in working order. If they found a faulty keyboard, they would have just removed it and install another. Steelseries is on the second provision so I think things have gotten better than they were before.

 

The only problem I have with the keyboard is the space bar. If you press the bottom edge of the space bar, it will not always register. The bar, just sort of bends over and doesn't make contact. Not sure if this is normal or not. I'm trying to adjust to making sure my thumbs are in the middle of the bar. Does anyone else experience that?

Edit: I see you asked about the 783. I'm speaking on behalf of the 780.

 

Hi guys I have been looking for a gaming computer since my old gateway fx laptop died. I think I've narrowed my search to an msi780 and would love some help from you owners with finalizing my choice. I am not very computer savy but would like the following specs and advice on which 780 (or barebone) to purchase. I do not have a budget but would like something under $1800
(minimum specs I want)
I7 2630Qm and up
8 gb ram (16 is ideal as it's cheap)
Nvidia gtx 560m or better
17 inch 1080p screen (glossy if possible as I only play inside)
ssd ~120gb and small secondary hdd 7200 rpm
No blu ray if possible to save money

it will only be used for a browsing the net and playing a few games like swtor and sc2. I do not need a large hard drive but I really want the ssd for speed.would I have to have an ssd installed on my own? Also is it safe to have one custom made our even barebone? I know this post will have most rolling their eyes but I've been searching for something for a long time and could really use the advice from people that know what they are talking about. Thank you in advance

 

Here is what I got for $1400 from Gentech for a barebones 1761.

-17" Display with Glossy upgrade.
-CPU upgrade to the i7 2670
-GPU is a GTX 570
-750gb HD 7200rpm
-8gb DDR3 1600
-Bigfoot Wireless N-1103 (w/ 3 antenna)
-Blu-Ray reader
-Keyboard was upgraded to the Steelseries back lit that comes on the MSI GT780.
-Windows 7 Home Premium
-IC Diamond thermal paste on both the GPU and CPU for upgrading the processor.

Call Gentech and talk to Ken. He will hook you up.