** MSI GE62 Apache (and Pro) Owner's Lounge**

The Msi shift stuff is bull crap IMO. I disabled it and haven't looked back. Manage the clocks in XTU and MSI afterburner and have seen much better temps. Regularly up at 89c using Shift. Now never above 78

 

I was worried you will say this thx for the answer

Well. I tweaked everything i could, but it won't help you much with streaming as you cannot change WiFi power drain.

I have set windows power plan to squeeze max. battery of it. So 0% CPU max., drive disabled after 1 minute, Everything else possible set to power save. Then i switched on W10 powersaving. Last and most visible improvement is undervolting via XTU. -80mV GPU, -70mV CPU. !!!YOU HAVE TO DISABLE SLEEP!!! Otherwise your computer will crash everytime it is idle for longer period. Use hibernation instead - set in windows power plan sleep to 0 minutes and Hibernation to whatever you want. Also change default keyboard profile to switch off backlight

EDIT: I have forgotten to write that i lowered max frequency of GPU to 700mHz, it is optimal as even playing 4k video on youtube won't use more them 700mHz

 

My CPU never goes above 78c while gaming and when I'm using shift. Shift works great for me.

 

Is the crash you're getting a blue screen? Because whenever I undervolt with XTU I get a crash in few hours with blue screen "DRIVER IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL" something something. Does this mean I have to disable sleep mode to get rid of this? I have sleep turned off in power settings but it still happens. I did a very small undervolt of -15mV and it still occured.

Also my XTU doesn't work very good. When I underclock and apply settings and then run benchmark, the clock goes back to stock settings. I uninstalled MSI gaming center so it's not overclocking itself. I can only underclock with power options but that's not good enough, need an undervolt but XTU crashes.

Any tips/ideas?

Btw for9ott3n, I capped my FPS at 60 and my temps are much lower now and I can touch the laptop without feeling a burn, thanks

 

is there any bios mod and vbios mod for GE62 2QE Apache (GTX965M) ? i want to use Memory RAM speed above 1600MHz

thank you

 

Yes, the error you see, is caused by low voltage. Try setting only -1mV, if you would still see BSoD, then it is problem of XTU. I have read somewhere, that someone had this problem too and it was caused by XTU. It seems like your situation too, when you wrote, that you have problems with XTU too. Only solution suggested to him was undervolting via BIOS, but i am not sure if our BIOS supports it nor if modded one exists. It seems like XTU is a bit unstable in W10, sometimes i think it does nothing as my battery life is low (3,5 hrs), other time i get (5,5 hrs). With W8 i got 5,5 very consistently.

The reason why your values reset during the benchmark may be, that your system not passed it or the XTU is really just broken. Also keep in mind, that every piece of HW is unique. I might just be lucky, that my system is so undervoltable, or the XTU us lying to me all the time

EDIT:
today i tested the battery life and XTU seemed to work properly now. The problem with inconsistent battery life is caused by unequal amount of battery capacity distribution between percentage points. Percent 99% and 100% hold hour worth of battery life rest (98 percents) hold 4 hrs more. I have let it to run with Screen at 20%, with opened Libreoffice and after 1 hour and 39 minutes it still showed 3hrs and 27 minutes

 

Hi everyone !

I've got the MSI GE62 2QF-016FR for about a month now and I've got a problem on my graphics card GTX970M.

I've updated my BIOS [E16J1IMS.10E], EC firmware[16J1EMS1.506] before performing clean install of Windows 10 Pro, no problem so far.

I've installed drivers in order (is it really that important ?) and performed the update of the vBIOS 84.04.26.00.29, again no problem in flashing procedure.

I've rebooted my Laptop and updated all my softwares and no problem too.

Finally, I got to see the NVIDIA configuration panel and that's where I noticed something strange, I've got transparent pixels in the 3D preview panel.


Sometimes I've got a BSOD with the following error => VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE (NVLDDMKM.SYS), after reboot no more BSOD. My drivers are updated to the last version : 355.98.

Anybody having the same issues ?
I didn't test my graphics card with the previous version, I've updated it right away. So if someone has the previous vBIOS, it would be nice if he/she could share the vBIOS so I can test it.

Running some games like Ori and the blind forest or benchmarking with Unigine Heaven (53fps average on Ultra settings) having no problem with those transparent pixels.
But Skyrim or Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution have those transparent pixels a lot, it's not playable. I've put the previous directx and made sure that Microsoft C++ were updated and having again those issues.

Thanks for your help, cheers from France, sorry for my bad English

 

France is nice country, i visited it at the end of July, girls in Vannes looked like supermodels , but i must admit, that English is not your cap of tea, like for the french ppl in common, not for you, you write surprisingly well but back to question...

This could mean, you have faulty GPU. These BSoDs probably announce, that you GPU is dying on you (i had that too). It could also be the driver. I would recommend you to download older nVidia drivers. I have 353.62 WHQL and no such thing happens to me, but nVidia sometimes ****s things up and error affects more releases. Like the memory leak last year (at least 10 WHQL drivers had it). Last chance before contacting MSI support, reinstall Windows, even try to install W8 again to test it. I wish you good luck

 

I ran a check of my Windows 10 file integrity and there was some corruption so I did a clean install. This time I did not install any of the MSI software. I have not had a kernel error since and my machine has been shutting down properly without error.

I do, however have an issue with the audio drivers. I have a headset and microphone which I use the audio inputs for. The headset is fine, but the microphone isn't working properly (too quiet, won't pickup half of what I'm saying). I went to both the Realtek site and the MSI support page which provide the same driver update program:

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads...=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

The program ran and said it uninstalled the old drivers and installed the new ones. My machine restarted and the program opened automatically and instead of verifying the drivers, uninstalled and reinstalled again...this cycle continued 3 more times so I stopped it.

I have tried manually uninstalling the software and reinstalling it through device manager, but nothing works. Anyone else have this issue? Could my audio input be defective?

 

I have a little problem with the temperatures in idle.
the notebook is new.
a week ago the temps for CPU were around 40-45°C and GPU around 38°C. They stayed this way also while webbrowsing and youtube.
suddenly the temperatures are pretty high now.
CPU around 50 and 60 degrees and GPU 50 to 60 althoughI didn't install anything. (except the newest nvidia driver)
what could be the reason?

 

is the computer in the same spot with the same ventilation? change in ambient temperature and general air flow can cause the machine to run a tad bit warmer

 

I have reinstalled drivers manually too, but no such thing happened to me. Only thing i have noticed, that i cannot you Nahimic anymore as it causes annoying "POP" sound everytime any sound starts/stops playing. If your audio works fine and only your Mic is too silent, try downloading other software to record sound. Good choice for testing could be Mumble, it is VoIP, but it has great Mic setting utility.

Look at the Mic hole if it isn't blocked by something like dust.

I have talked to MSI support and their new EC firmware modifies heat table. Your fans probably switch on only when your temps reach 60°C (mine does too), then it slowly cools down. Also do you have the same temps at home or wherever you test it? 2 degrees room temps difference can do a lot bigger difference to cooling.

Check background processes, there might be a rogue soft running. Chech DGC and check if Comfort mode is chosen, then open windows power plan settings and check that you have the Balanced mode active.

Temps also depends on space underneath your ntb. If the air sucking nets are obscured, then the hardware cannot cool down properly.

 

HI i have GE72 bigger brother of 62 with 970M. What concern me is huge battery drain nearly 20% per hour of gaming (i managed to reduce drain by 1-2% by undervolting CPU -75 in XTU) but there is still around 18% per hour. What's more other guys which also bought have 5-6% battery drain per hour while some like me have 20% or even one guy has even 25%...

I have written to local msi (polish center) but they are still silent. Meanwhile shop in which i bought had said earlier that drain issue is solved but it isn't. Currently i'm waiting for some response.

 

It takes time for the MSI support to respond, usually 2-3 days. I assume that you have your notebook connected to the charger and it still drains so fast. If your notebook is new, then it might be just a bad calibration of battery, try to fully discharge it (when it hibernates at 7% or so, start your laptop again to squeeze last few minutes out of the battery, it will eventually die and then fully charge it). May be you have broken charger or you battery might be faulty.

 

hw info show wear lvl 4% so it should be good. Charger unfortunately don't have spare one to check.

 

Does your charger still charge your laptop when it is idle or off?

 

charging is not a problem.

I don't have drain only in blizzard hots with v-sync (very low requirements).

 

I must say that the heaters are turned on again so I guess the ambient temperature is about 5 degrees higher now although at night it's off and the temperature of CPU and GPU is still a bit higher.

I guess the fans do turn on when it's 60 degrees but I had the newest EC firmware before. It could be the ambient temperature because it's 5 degrees higher.
thanks for the reply.

 

The wear lvl is not really accurate. MSI Tech told me, that full battery capacity is 51Wh, but every soft i have shows, that the original capacity was 53Wh. In theory if you have the same problem, then you could have even lower Wear lvl, then you think. I know it is not very helpful asnwer, but i have no idea what could cause this drain. System itself sometimes gets mad. You should really try reinstall you system.

That might be it . Also someone on MSI forum made an app to control Fan speed. It of course won't solve your problem, but you could set it to either rotate faster to cool your ntb or slower to be more quite

 

there is this ge 62 2qe here, if i want to install ssd for this laptop in m.2 slot where i can find it? can it use 1 512 m.2 ssd in 1 m.2 slot? may be a link in amazon.us really help

 

I am also wondering about the topic of ssd's. I've heard that the middle m.2 slot is pcie based instead of sata (I also have the 2QE model). Is this confirmed? Or are they all sata?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Pretty sure they're SATA3. I asked MSI Tech support a while ago and that was their answer.

On the other hand, does the WiFi card slot also take cards that are only keyed E? Looks like it is compatible physically (the preinstalled Intel 3160 is keyed E and A though) but I'd better be safe than sorry before dropping 80 bucks on a new WiFi card.

 

This PDF from MSI says that the GE62 has 3xSATA3 M.2 slots, but the footnote below mentions the use of a PCIe M.2, and states that you can only use one PCIe standalone drive and that you can't RAID them with SATA drives.
It also says that 2 of the sockets on the GE62 are a B key and one is M. I wonder why one is different?
While yes, it does say SATA3 there, this makes me question if one of the slots supports PCIe. I could've sworn that somewhere I saw that that the middle M.2 slot underneath the others supported PCIe as well as SATA. What do you all think?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

thanks for the help sir,

i don't have a clue why they put only one pcie gen 2 x4 in the middle (May Be) and the rest only pcie gen2 x2 which make it can't do super raid or raid and must use m.2 sata. may be they do it to give user freedom of choice between use the super raid feature or one pcie gen 2 x4 that have the same speed as super raid.

how about the capacity sir, in msi website it say Up to 768GB Super RAID which mean 1 m.2 slot can use up to 256GB is that true? so i can't use 1 M.2 slot with capacity of 500GB? like THIS ONE?

 

After taking a look at the PDF I'm confused as well. So maybe there actually IS a PCIe x4 slot in there after all? If that really is the case than why is MSI not talking about this? I thought PCIe x4 was better than ol' SATA3.

 

Yeah from what I know, PCIe is a lot better, but they are a lot more expensive compared to SATA3. Maybe MSI doesn't mention this because they want to promote Super Raid more than the PCIe slot, since that can only be done with all SATA drives.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Right so I did some more research and the M.2 slot labeled 'Combo' is capable of taking PCIe x4 SSDs. Wow.

 

No way. Where'd you find that out?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Random site in Korean. I think it's safe to say that it's pretty much confirmed that the 'Combo' slot also takes PCIe SSDs. Also when I check the BIOS it shows 5 SATA slots (obviously 3 M.2 slots and 2 SATA ports) and one PCIe slot.

Biosst by ssewki posted Oct 7, 2015 at 12:46 PM

EDIT: I'm getting a lot of white noise through the headphone jack... anybody else having this problem? The AC adapter is grounded too, idk why this is happening.

 

What exactly is super RAID? I read about it but didn't understand much

 

It basically ties all M.2 SSDs into a RAID0 array.

 

SuperRAID is just a RAID 0 array of 2~3x SSDs running together to boost read/write performance.

 

One question: How bad is the display flex on the GE62?

I felt the GE72, and it seemed present but not too bad, so I figured on a 15" it would be much better. I've just heard very few complaints about it, so I was hoping someone who owns one could tell me if it's noticeable or not.

 

The lid is quite thin and flexes a bit since it's plastic, but it should be okay as long as you don't explicitly try to bend it or anything.

 

It's likewise to the GE72 - present but not egregious. The overall build quality is good and it feels like a fairly sturdy machine.

 

It is more noticeable between the two hinges on the bottom, compared to the top of the screen.
I would also like to say that today I found the body of my GE62 to have bent after carrying it in a laptop sleeve in my backpack. Somehow the area below the keyboard and to the right of the touchpad bent slightly upward. It was enough for the bottom right foot of the computer to be above the ground and it rocked when placed on a level surface. I'm trying to "flatten" it back out now with some books.

In short, I just mean to say be careful as the whole computer seems to be a bit flexible, not just the screen.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

I guess I can deal with some minor flex problems. I was between the GE62 and the Asus N550JX. I think I'm gonna go with the GE62. Anything I should know before buying? Or tips for when I receive it?

 

Buy it
Underclock the CPU first thing you do. It was the difference between returning this laptop and loving it. I think most people did this.
Apart from that no issues!
Battery life isnt great.

 

Idle temps of 50 are normal.

 

Part of what I'm getting the laptop for will be for video editing, and doing some CAD. Should I still under clock the CPU even if I'm going to use some more CPU-based programs? Thanks!

 

Underclocking CPU is the worst advice you could get (sorry Epictwiglet, no hard feelings but thats true), except for moments when you run on the battery. There is no point in buying expensive notebook and then crippling its potential. Its like buying a Ferrari and replacing its engine with 1.2 TDI. It would still look like a good car, but won't behave like one.

This notebook has great cooling, its fans are pretty loud under heavy load but they get their job done. I wouldn't worry about the heat, but of course desk computer would do the job better (you must know what you need so i will take it as if you have already decided in buying a lappy ). If you would like to do something then undervolt the CPU. It is no science, every one can do it and it is safe. It lowers heat and prolongs battery life very efficiently with no side effects.

I could keep writing, but it would have no effect, so let the facts talk :
- awesome performance, any game playable and most of them on highest settings. CPU is one of the most powerful existing (in mobile line ofc) but also power hungry which is seen in battery life
- good display. I wouldn't say the best one, but it is great, great angles of view and nice colours. You can see the backlight of the display in the lower left corner but it is noticable only when whole screen is black
- Max. temps of the CPU can reach 91°C under extreme load, with undervolted CPU around 85°C and 79°C with cooling pad.
- Battery lasts 3-4 hrs of office work. With undervolting 4-5 even 6 is possible when the notebook is most time idle. Definitely not enough for educational purposes i am strunggling with it now.
- Speakers are nowhere near great lvl. They just are. Thats it. They sound as every other speaker in every notebook... that subwoofer is more of a marketing trick then noticeable thing.
- fans make a lot noise under heavy load. A LOT and the worst thing is the noise has higher frequency. I had to start playing games with headphones bcs i have been getting a head ache. In idle state they are almost silent.
- touchpad = woodpecker simulator. You will regret every touch of L/R mouse keys in a silent room.

edit: sorry for all the bad grammer and typos and everything... its midnight here it has been a long day and i am not really a night owl so my head almost bangs against the keyboard as i write ... i will be glad to answer any other questions you might have to help you with choosing.

 

Thank you! Just about everything I need to know. Would you advise a cooling pad? Would that help contain the fan noise since it'll help the laptop fans to not have to go heavy?

 

I do believe so. I have cooling pad, with two big fans, which rotate slowly, but move a lot of air, so they make a lot less noise and even that has lower frequency, so it is a lot less annoying (i think mine is Zalman nc1500). So in situations, which are not too much stresful, you could transload the work to the cooling pad. In the most intensive situations you could use both to enhance the cooling efficiency, i definitely recommend you buying a cooling pad. Your ntb will thank you after yrs of lower heat

PS.: to regulate speed of fans of the ntb, you would have to download an app from MSI forum. Someone made it possible to directly control RPM, but of course it might redundant as cooling pad cools down laptop so its fans will spin slower too.

PPS.: You should really consider if 4-5 hrs of battery life is enough for you. If you would play games or watch movies, i wouldn't expect more then 3 hrs. Other brands with similar parametres have 1 hour longer battery life. You can expect that after a year maybe even sooner your battery wear will increase and battery life shorten. It could be even just a half of the maximum.

 

Hi guys. New here. Just picked this notebook up in South Korea where it's called the 'Cobra' as opposed to the Apache. I'm trying to install an m.2 SSD but am having a lot of trouble getting the back cover off. Any tips??

 

Just jam your fingernails in there, and use screwdrivers or something to keep it pried open. Also don't forget the three or four screws hidden behind the ODD.

 

Thanks for the reply. I finally got it open and installed the m.2 ssd. I'm having another issue with the integtated and the dedicated graphic cards now though. It defaults to the onboard one but I want it to default to my GTX970m.

Anyone else have this issue?

 

Your laptop will always default to the integrated graphics except for graphically intense programs. That's how Optimus is supposed to work. You can still manually set the default GPU per program(I'm not sure if you can set it globally though) in the NVIDIA Control Panel.

 

I see. Thanks for the reply. So if I start a game, it should automatically switch?

 

Yep. You can also choose which GPU to run a program with if you right click on it.

 

Thanks for clearing that up for me! Appreciate it.