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

Yes, but the unwritten policy of MSI is that as long as they do not find physical damage when they open it, it is ok if the sticker is broken. MSI has also been sending out keyboards to replace yourself if yours if faulty. There is no sticker to break to change the keyboard, but there is a higher probability of user caused damage replacing a keyboard then a hard drive.

 

Hello Guys,

I've attempted to read about 50 pages of this thread, but its super long, so hopefully you won't throw something at me for repeating a question!

I'm considering the 780DXR and I want to get an SSD. Which brand can you recommend? My knowledge in this area is fairly limited. I hear that OCZ has performance issues, but how does it compare to Intel or Crucial? I just want something stable that doesnt bug out on me during games or graphics work. This is going to be my primary pc, so it needs to be reliable.

Also, while SSDs increase speed, how do they do with heat production or power consumption? Will a SSD be a better choice for these issues?

 

LOL, yes this topic was discussed...... over and over again.....

It is said by some that the latest firmware resolves issues with the OCZ SSD's, but I had some issues nonetheless.

The Intel 510 series would be an excellent dependable choice in an SSD, and yes, SSD's are far more energy efficient (and faster, and shock resistant) than mechanical drives...... just too darn expensive. Unable to justify this expense, some will also say that there is no need upgrading to an SSD, but this is a personal choice...... and for myself, there is no turning back.

My opinion: If affordable, try an Intel 510 series. You'll LIKE it!

 

A couple of questions for a new gt780dxr owner.

1. I have a 1 tb hard drive I want to put in the 2nd bay but have no idea how to do this? Is there instructions on how to do this? Once I get it open, I can figure that out but didnt want to start opening without a clear understanding.

2. anyone have the ocz vertex 3 and the 570m card? I have firmware 2.02 and trying to update but there is no way to do it with the ocz tools. Any thoughts?

Thanks

Jim

 

Thanks for your response about the SSD.

I've got to say the only thing holding me back on purchasing is the keyboard issues that I've been reading about. I'm kind of hoping that MSI will resolve the problems...or have they already? I do plan on plugging into a 60" monitor with a separate keyboard much of the time, but when I do use the keyboard I want it to work properly.

 

I'm in your same situation

 

You won't get any fanboy, sugar coating from me. Keyboard remains unfixed. I don't believe it's MSI's fault. If I were to cast a blame on MSI: It's their fault for not enforcing suppllier quality agreement with Steel Series. Based on what I've seen (3 laptops already), SteelSeries has a big Q/A problem they need to fix.

I don't believe MSI has the manpower to test every keyboard as an ODM (Original Design Manufacturer).

Scenario 2: MSI has indeed fixed the problem, and I just could be witnessing 3rd keyboard defect, and somehow a bad batch leftover was placed on my new 780dxr. (Difficult to believe, but possible).

Everything else (except for the i-Charger problem), is top rate: Runs cool, powerful, beautiful, cost, etc....,

 

My personal experience with this notebook and OCZ ssd's is problems. OCZ is very fast, using the sandforce controller, however there are some drives that just will not play nice, no matter the firmware or anything else. Just google OCZ ssd issues to see what I mean.

I just installed a Crucial M4 and everything is perfect, no issues at all. I also have a C300 that works perfectly too.

I would go with Crucial or Intel for reliability.

There are no moving parts in ssd's so they use way less power and generate less heat than traditional hard drives.

Just open the back panel (7 screws) and the hard drive is staring you right in the face. The one without the screws is the secondary.

 

The keyboard does NOT have any issues anymore, outside of standard computer component failure rate.

 

That's great to know about the Crucial SSD, I'm leaning towards that one.

As for the keyboards - I suppose that falls under the warranty for several years? Or just the first year? Anyway I plan on getting some upgrades during purchase and was going to use Gentech (never bought from them before), but I expect they'd notice if there were any keyboard problems during customization.

Overall I'm excited to try this pc out. It was initially the matte screen that got my attention since they are so difficult to find with decent systems. I'm going to be replacing a HP TM2T with a mirror screen that's been driving me crazy! Besides it will be nice to finally finish the Witcher on a pc that can handle it.

 

If it helps, I have experienced three keyboards on this model, and no key input lagging, double keying, non-responsive key strokes, keyboard flex, or improper keyboard alignment has been observed. This is not to say a few have not experienced these issues, and I think asong is correct here. Some flawed keyboards have indeed passed through quality control measures, but I think it important to note these numbers are low. If you are unsatisfied with your keyboards performance, most of the resellers and MSI are quick to assist you with this.

As to the keyboard lighting, I have noted the quadrants that may appear dimmer than others, based on color, but for the most part, this can easily be adjusted with changes in the KLM software. Naturally if you experience an unlit quadrant, the keyboard is flawed, and it needs to be replaced. As to the supposed 'bright keys' (Alt-Gr, Windows key, etc.), I am not certain this is not by design, highlighting these specific keys. For those expecting 'perfectly' even light distribution, I am doubtful this will be addressed, and I think most find the lighting to be quite nice. In low-light conditions it is especially nice, and I think most all Owners find a satisfaction in this.

Overall as a back-lit keyboard, I find the SteelSeries keyboard to be one of the nicest I have experienced in any notebook, and see it as a welcome addition to the GT780. Until a better notebook keyboard arrives on the scene, I'd much rather have this keyboard, than not, and many GT683 Owners (wishing) are feeling the same.

 

Intel baby! nothing less nothing more. Get the 510 series 120gb. If you can afford it 250gb is good option but at $600 its just ridiculous.

Intel 510 120gb should be around $280. Set this as your primary drive.

 

I did as you suggested, opened up the back and insert my 1 tb hard drive. Of course, there is no bracket so that doesnt help. Unfortunately, when I booted up it is not recognized in the bios or computer. Any ideas?

Jim

 

For anyone interested, I am using OCZ Vertex 3 120GB for the primary drive. Initially, I've noticed frequent freezing (everything just freezes, and need to force shutdown).

FWIW, I then combed through every single power configuration (Performance, Balanced, Power Saver), and disabled all sleep mode, or anything that sets the HDD to off.

Ever since I did that, I had no problems what so ever. Just FYI, be careful with HDD turn-off function. It could cause some problems.

Other than the keyboard (I have to type harder and slower), I am enjoying this laptop very much. On the last level of Crysis for 7th time (this game's hard)...

I'll give it some more time, and will work with MSI to resolve this keyboard issue. Upgrade from from FX-7811 was worth it. Runs very cool, and it's snappy.

Anyhow, thanks to all those who helped. I'll see you around here in 2-3 years I guess. Best of luck to all.

-- Out.

 

There should be a rubber stopper thingy that secures the drive in place. If it is not recognized in the bios then it might be not plugged in all the way.

 

I thought that may be the issue but there is nothing there to hold it into place. No rubber stopper thingy....I suspect when the company pulled out the secondary drive during build they may have taken everything out of there.

Jim

 

Do you guys know if i can install the bigfoot 1103 wifi card on the GT780DXR ?

 

Yes, the secondary drive does not have a drive caddy, but there should be a rubber block wedge to support the rear of your new drive, Insure the drive is fully plugged in and seated, then place the wedge to keep it secure. Actually, any O'l firm foam rubber 'cut to fit' will do.

It sounds like your drive is not plugged in securely if the system is not recognizing it....... or you simply may have a bad drive. Once you have the drive secure, and it is recognized, format it from WIN 7 (NTFS). Another idea would be to put the drive into an external USB drive enclosure, see if it is recognized, and format it via USB. Then swap the HDD from the USB enclosure, to your notebook's secondary drive bay.

 

Only if you know how to do the 3rd wire antenna mod. This is a job best left to the resellers proficient in doing so.

 

Meh, I just put it under the power button panel. However the design of it may be a little different to yours.

 

I was also thinking of getting Bigfoot 1103 with the GT780DXR. I don't need bluetooth and want lowest latency WiFi for gaming and 1103 only costs $4 more than 1102 on Gentech, so might as well get the 1103 even without the 3rd antenna mod.

Do you guys think that getting the Bigfoot 1103 without the 3rd antenna mod might actually mess up the WiFi or it should be the same as 1102 just with the potential of adding a 3rd antenna?

Also my router only has one antenna... does that mean that any WiFi card with more than antenna won't make a difference for it?

 

This is 100% incorrect.

The latest keyboard still drops keys, keys don't respond at normal typing angles, etc...

 

Have a new keyboard sent to you. You had bad luck and got a bad one. It happens with all components.

 

You might want to check with accessories box to find the rubber stop for 2nd hard drive.

FIY for GT780DX-215US users, it does not come with 2nd hard drive bracket or rubber stop.

 

hi everyone! Having been lurking through 250-ish pages of this thread netted me quite a lot of useful info. Having been posting in the GT683 thread but doesnt seems like many are there yet .

I got a few impressions coming from a ASUS G53SW: if you have ever own a G51/G60/G71/G72 line of ASUS then you would see a lot of similarities: the plastic feel, led placement, touch panel and one fan for both CPU & GPU. But it seems that MSI has learnt something from that line and put more air filter undernearth and it doesnt need to be 80-90*C for the fan to kick in (although it could get quite loud for some). I did a clean install and well, think of this as a rough pearl, its definitely capable with such hardware but its not polished unlike ASUS. The software is very basic with a simple-ish GUI. Its a bit odd that the USB port is extremely tight, I have to push it quite a bit to goes in fully. The power port is behind so its a welcome change from the G53. Currently Im struggling to update the bios. Also I couldnt update to the latest nvidia driver without giving up the ability to adjust screen brightness. Other than that, the screen is very crisp and clear with the black so deep that the G53SW look like gray. The audio system is like many have said is among the best in laptop yet.

I got a few questions hoping for answer:

1. Is there anyway to update the latest nVidia driver and still able to adjust the screen brightness? I installed 280.26 and 36 from laptopvideo2go and lose it only to get it back with the MSI 269.19 driver.

2.Also when I logged in the bios there are two dates 7/15/2011 and 7/08/2011 while on the MSI website there is a version on 7/26/2011. Should I update? Is there any kind of changelog around?

3. I noticed with the Intel turbo boost monitor that most of the power settings I can use: gaming, cinema or windows' high performance, the CPU will stay at 2.6 Ghz +, no less thus producing more heat even though I only surf the web or listen to music. Is there any fix for this?

4. Lastly when I clicked on the power icon on taskbar it shows that the battery is fully charged at 100%, shouldnt it stop charging at like 95%-98% to preserve battery life? Should I worry about it?

Any advice is much appreciated , looking forward to participating in the MSI community

 

Sorry Ken, but does this mean GT780 will have 2nd hard drive bracket or rubber stop while GT780DX will not have 2nd hard drive bracket or rubber stop???

If so does this mean it'll be harder for us to stick a 2nd hard drive in later on in the future if we by GT780DX?

 

1. Get the latest OEM drivers (lv2go), not regular mobile or desktop.

2. Only update the bios if you are having issues, they are not going to add features.

3. That's odd, have you got a program eating resources in the background forcing the CPU to stay at full pelt?

4. What? No. Discharge your battery (and remove it) to around 40% for long term storage and if you primarily use it on the mains then take the battery out if you are worried about it.

 

Anyone has experienced problems whit the keyboard outside the usa and canada and could get a keyboard replacement if it worked too bad? cause i bought one of this but im having it on uruguay, so..... i m a bit worried about this now....

Please some good soul could answer???

 

I found the rubber block in the accessories box and used it to keep the drive in place. Definitely a poor solution as it does not do a great job. I put a couple other rubber pieces in there to keep secure but it still didnt seem that secure. Anyway, drive is still not recognized.

The drive is a samsung hm100ui 1 tb/5400rpm drive. It works fine in my other laptop as it has all my data on it.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Jim

 

You have windows installed on that disk? dont know, but could that be one of the problems?

 

I saw a post in the Official Sager NP8170/Clevo P170HM Owners Lounge mentioning new sandy bridge CPUs being released. Does anyone know if these will be, or could be an option for the GT780DXR?

 

No windows is not installed, only music, pictures, avchd files.

JL

 

Ok, i didnt know if that could be the problem but maybe...

I have one question to all??? How do you do to make a clean install?? you can use the serial number in the laptop for this? cause i dont own a copy of windows, just the windows that come preinstalled in the laptop :/

 

If you bought it in the USA contact the store you bought it from, they should be able to have MSI ship you a new keyboard. If not call MSI for your area.

 

I hope not to have this problem, i just would like to know if its fixable or i need to lug around a keyboard as im coding most of the time :\

 

It is only fixable by replacing the keyboard. They will send you one to replace it yourself if you are having problems.

 

I said the LATEST ONE... I am on my third now. The first replacement was worse than the original. The second one was slightly better, but still not up to par to any Dell or laptop keyboard I've used before.

The two replacements were both supposedly of the "correct" variety.

 

Some have had success with the new keyboard, others like me have had not as much.

As a fellow coder, the SteelSeries keyboard is going to be a pain to get adjusted to and your muscle memory will need to be relearned. The Home/End keys for example require an extra press (The Fn key). The spacebar is too short and easily missed by the right thumb. Also, they moved the Windows key so that makes pulling up special commands a nuisance too.

Bad design by Steelseries to be sure.

 

1. thanks I reverted back to 269.13 and suprise suprise! its working again =.= too bad I cant use the latest verde or beta driver

2. I updated it anyway and there isnt seems to be any problem. 07/08/2011 to 07/27/2011.

3. Currently I set it in balance mode and it seems to get to 2.6 as soon as I simply open up a chrome tab, when i close it it revert back to 2.0.

4. Okay I will do as you said just to be sure.

Once again thanks for your advice

 

how ironic... SteelSeries Gaming Keyboard on MSI G-Series Notebook - YouTube
i dont know why msi couldnt just modify a led lighting fuction to their old keyboards instead of getting them from steelseries.

 

A few questions...... 1.) Who was your GT780DXR reseller? 2.) Was your other laptop a Windows based system? 3.) When was the last time you could verify your Samsung drive as operational? 4.) Since receipt of your GT780DXR, did you do a Bios flash update?

The fact your system does not recognize the Samsung drive, has me a bit concerned. If you are certain the drive was securely seated, and it is fully operational, this would tend to indicate a bad drive interface in your secondary drive bay. If you did a bios update, take a peek at it now, and check what drive MODE is selected. If you flashed the system with the correct Bios, the default mode would be 'RAID'. If this be the case, change this to 'AHCI', save & exit, and try again to see if the drive is then recognized.

I'll look into secondary bay HDD caddys...... I'd prefer this myself, over the stock rubber blocks.

I hope this helps!

 

I actually didnt think about that, the windows key is really handy for some comands... Why they just didnt make it user disabled?

Just hope mine is ok, dont want it to be a pain in the but

 

Thanks for the reply. I know the samsung drive works as I tested it yesterday and it works in my toshiba laptop. I did complete a bios flash yesterday but tried to install the drive before and after the flash.

Note that in the bios, it is set to raid, not ahci. I changed to ahci and had all sorts of problems. The computer would not boot to windows. It would reboot, pull up a bunch of stuff about the controller and then no windows.

As for the caddy, I found a part number, not sure if this is it, but can't find it anywhere in the us. Part #307-6f10111-c22

Thanks again for your assistance.

 

We have the hard drive brackets available for the GT780 & GT683's. They are on our website in the msi accessory catagory.

 

Right handed gamers were hitting the button during games, so they moved it to accomodate them, failing to realize that the machine's too powerful for gamers (as many here have attested) and would be used for professional purposes too.

 

a question ... there is no way for the retailer, try the keyboard operation, before sending it to the buyer ... I think this would solve many problems for users avoid having to switch keyboard again and again. if MSI and SteelSeries did a lousy job with the keyboard so at least the retailers should minimize the problems of buyers testing the keyboards... hey, this laptop costs a lot and brings it loose

 

Quick question about the two bios options for the gt780dxr. I am not using raid as I only have 1 hard drive installed now. But I thought when I upgraded it was on 28 and I went to 30b.

I am trying to add another hard drive and am wondering if my problem is with the bios that I chose. Or are there some gt780's that are non-raid?

I hope this makes sense, not sure if it does as I am confused.

Thanks

Jim

 

Yes i would really like to get it tested, but it seems that i got a reatil box shipped.

I understand the dilema whit the windows key, but is handy for some things, againg, user disabler to block the key would be excellent

 

You can use either. If you are not going to raid then the 10B is preferred, if you are going to raid your drives then you must use the 30B. But 30B should still be fine if you are not going to raid the drives.

 

The Bios you should use is 1761_30B.zip. The other bios file (For Non-Raid Systems use only!) is for GT780 models without a RAID controller on the main board.