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

It gets like that, I'm afraid. Less support as your laptop ages. Best to compare with what you have installed. Easiest way is through the MSI Helpdesk in your Dragon Center app - that will tell you what you have.

 

So I took the thing apart this evening and found out that MSI hadn't exactly done the best job of applying thermal paste.


Took quite some time to clean it off, even with the Arctic Silver cleaning kit. I managed to get all the gunk off, though.



Put in some Arctic MX-4. Unfortunately, I didn't check the PC temperature before I took everything apart so I don't know whether there's a difference in the numbers. But as I write this, my CPU is running at between 47° and 52° C with not too much going on. Will play some Overwatch later and see if I can feel any change.

Now about the SSD: Turns out that all three screws (for the PCIe as well as the two SATA ports) are jammed. There's absolutely no way for me to turn them. In fact, I'm actually afraid I might have almost ruined the head on the screw at the PCIe port. The thing was so completely jammed that my screw driver's head is now completely warped and there's a shard of metal stuck inside the screw. I'm considering taking the laptop to a computer store the day after to see if they can help replace the screw. Looks like I'm not going to be able to put that SSD in anytime soon.

I had (a really stupid and bad) idea to put the SSD in anyway and instead of securing it with the screw, cut up a credit card and fashion a li'l bar that I could jam between the two SATA screws and hold the SSD in place. I didn't actually end up doing it as I figured that (apart from this being a colossally stupid idea) putting that SSD in wasn't worth risking a melted blob of credit card inside the laptop :')

 

MSI doesn't apply thermal compound by hand as it's not in liquid form, it's a piece of standard pre-cut thermal compound layer that looks like a piece of cheese on the heatsink, and once applied it will merge perfectly with CPU/GPU. The temperature you have seems decent. Regarding the screws, please use proper size of screw drivers to loosen them. If the screw head is damaged then you need the correct size or slightly bigger of screw driver to unscrew it. Without doing this properly, you risk having stability issues with your system and it can end up badly therefore it's not recommended to work on the machines when you don't have the right tools.

 

I do actually have the right sized screw drivers. The screws under the CD drive are the same size and were similarly hard to turn. They did come off okay though. These three screws on the mother really won't budge. I'll take the computer to a professional tomorrow and see if they can get the screws off.

 

Yep, looks like a similar stock paste job to my gigabyte. Not so good news with the screws, hopefully you can get it sorted. Foreign bodies are never good in laptops so yeah the credit card is probably best left. Thats decent stock temps. Don't be afraid ti turn the fans up/ put it in performance mode when gaming, I do. Its quite nice being able to switch profiles with a CTRL + 1 or 2 (1 is my gaming profile in Dragon Center, with OC and boosted fans. 2 is my quiet mode for when not much is going on.)

Take the M2 SSD with you if the shop take the screw out you can fit it then.

 

WD40 with paper towel allows you to wipe thermal compound clean if you plan to apply a new one.

 

Just got back from the PC shop. Yeah, the screws were completely jammed. Even the guys there had trouble turning them. They had to use some kind of weird pliers to grab the screw heads so they could turn the screws.

I put the SSD in and transferred a 4 GB RAM chip from my old Dell N4110. I'm going to start backing stuff up and then start with the Windows re-installation. Can't wait to get everything in place! I've never had an SSD in any of my computers before. This is going to be fun :3

 

Excellent, for me usually I would use a small drill bit to do it with steady hands on other things but I wouldn't dare to do it on motherboards...
Looks like you are all set for now and if you have any questions feel free to share with us again.

 

Do you know if it's possible to boot from an SD card via the SD card slot? I didn't have a large enough flash drive so I ended up making a bootable SD card. Turns out that it doesn't show up in the boot list. Is there a setting somewhere that needs to be changed or is this not doable at all?

 

Don't think it is possible. If you go in to BIOS boot list and try and select SD as boot drive.... don't think you can. Happy to be proved wrong though.

 

Yup, it isn't possible at all. Turns out that the SD card reader needs drivers that are pulled in with the OS so you can't actually access the hardware during boot. Anyway, I got around the problem by using my girlfriend's external HDD. Made it bootable with the debloated version of Win10 (which for some reason still has MS Edge - I remember removing it but it didn't work I guess). The SSD is insane. I am totally not used to this whole split second boot thing. The PC seems to boot in under 10 seconds! Holy poopsicles!

How important is it to have the MSI programs auto-start? I mean the following:
Killer Control Center
MSI True Colour
Nahimic2
Realtek HD Audio Manager
SCM

 

These are all optional so it's up to you.
SCM provides graphical interface for the hotkeys on the keyboard.

 

Welcome to the world of SSD. Nice isn't it ?

[/QUOTE]

Killer Control center - UNINSTALL completely. Use the DRIVER ONLY install provided on that thread I linked to with the drivers by phoenix. Killer Control Center is buggy AF. here. http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/msi-gt73vr-7rf-titan-pro-drivers.800622/

MSI True Colour - Monitor Profiling Software. I uninstalled as my external monitor has its own profiling software so I use that. Uninstall or stopping it running at start up is fine. I'd stop it and if you find you don't need it uninstall later.

Nahimic - Again, I still have mine installed, but others have uninstalled it, matter of preference.

Realtek - Be careful, I'd leave it otherwise you might uninstall sound drivers too.

SCM - System Control Manager - DO NOT UNINSTALL - this is what controls all the integrated stuff like Bluetooth, keyboard etc etc. You might find things stop working if you mess with it so leave it alone and keep it up to date.

Biggest one to nerf at start up out of the MSI stuff is the Killer Control Center (software)

Hope this helps.

 

Oh my god, yes! Would installing games on the SSD improve their performance as well or does it not make a difference whether they're on the SSD or HDD?

Done. Uninstalled the suite, downloaded the drivers and installed them via device manager. Quick question about this thread: Are those generic drivers or are they device specific? Would the Intel drivers for all systems with Intel processors? Should I also update my WLAN and BT drivers with the ones that are linked there? Does it make a difference which version I use?

I wasn't planning on uninstalling any of them. Just stopping them from auto running at boot. Figured it might make boot faster. I could let them start later on, if at all there's a way to configure that.

 

Installing on the SSD will improve load times, of course. But remember that Games tend to be space hogs, so unless you only have a few or you have a large SSD I would be selective.

Yes use the ones installed there. The drivers listed are the latest ones as released by MSI. They may not be bleeding edge as released by intel but they are the latest with MSI's optimizations for our hardware so they will work fine or perhaps slightly better than the Intel ones. They may skip a few versions and roll up the changes in between releases, there isn't always an MSI equivalent to the latest Intel release. If your machine is not supported it will soon tell you in the install. Then you go hunting for the Latest Intel Drivers.

The only non-MSI drivers are the Nvidia graphics drivers which are as NV releases them. I'd keep them up to date anyway.

You can set startup services to "manual" no problem. That way they will only start when you run the apps. I'd let SCM control itself though.

 

I see. I'll stick with those then, thanks!

Have you ever used autohotkey in combination with nircmd, by the way? I'm using an external keyboard and I made a keybind using autohotkey that I can sue to adjust the screen brightness using nircmd but for some reason, windows keeps resetting my adjustments.

For example, if the brightness is at 40% and I change it to 20% using nircmd, it got back to 40% in a few seconds. This doesn't happen if I use the laptop's FN keys though... I can't figure out why this is happening for the life of me!!

 

Nope sorry, My laptop is plugged into an ancient DELL Keyboard.

 

Anyone willing to share their thoughts on the MSI GE62VR 7RF Apache Pro (7th gen i7) ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/thoughts-on-the-msi-ge62vr-7th-gen-i7.810450/#post-10626859)

I'm about to jump on the wagon and buy it, but I can't find enough reviews to back it up.

 

I was wondering about what people mean regarding GE62VR's poor build quality? Is it something to worry about?

I personally would love a GT62VR with a GTX 1060 (so that i could get it at a lower price) but I can't seem to find a reseller in my country that sells it so I'm settling for the GE62VR mainly due to the difference in weight.

 

Hi guys,

I was upgrading BIOS for my GE62 6 QC according to this manual https://www.msi.com/files/pdf/Flash_BIOS_by_UEFI_BIOS_Setup_Utility_en.pdf

The only mistake I've done is that I chose version E16J5IMS.119 and hadn't upgraded to E16J5IMS.107 firstly ( https://www.msi.com/Laptop/support/GE62-6QC-Apache)

So now when I turn on the notebook I see only a black screen, no MSI logo - I cannot enter BIOS anymore.

I disconnected the battery for half an hour, tried to recover form BIOS with a flash card ( https://service.msicomputer.com/msi_user/support/techfaqdetail.aspx?formid=3046) - but no result.
Also I tried to reset CMOS battery - disconnected "main" battery and power cord and waited for 30 min, hold power button for 1 min, also hold a button on a motherboard.
Is there other way to reset CMOS battery? In fact I don't know where it is located even after have googled for an hour. Appreciate if someone could show on the picture http://www.myfixguide.com/manual/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/MSI-GE62-Disassembly-7.jpg

 

Sorry to hear that, the BIOS had structure change therefore an interim update is required otherwise the system could be bricked as a result. The only way to get it back is by flashing it with a programmer tool, otherwise to have MSI repair center to restore it for you.

 

I'm not bothered too much - the build quality seems sturdy enough, all I do is open the lid to power on and go from there. Others have said it is a bit flimsy but I came from a 14" ultra slim ultra portable laptop. THAT was flimsy. I've taken the lower case off several times and whilst I wouldn't advocate being too robust with it, you have to get your finger/nails in to ease it apart.

Not had the occasion to "carry it with me" yet, so it sits on my desk all the time. If I was getting the GT62VR I'd get the one with a 1070. I'm not all that excited about 4k so the 1080p screen would do me fine. I'm also fairly happy with the fact that the GE62 still has an optical drive. The GT doesn't unless you go for the 17.3 inch version.

 

Did you try holding the power button for 1 minute *WITH* the power supply plugged in? I know the GT72S and later series have TWO Bios chips, but I don't know about the GE series.

 

I'm planning on undervolting my GE62VR Apache Pro using Throttlestop. Any recommendations? Should I avoid it?

 

I've got mine running -0.115 and am using Intel XTU. I think the furthest you can go with the 7700HQ is -0.120 or so.

Does no harm. I'd start at -0.110v (-110millivolts) and reduce from there. If you crash or get instability then you know you've gone a bit far.

 

Huge huge help once again. I'll check this out tomorrow. Hope things work out!

 

Also would you mind sharing the boxes you ticked or unticked on the left side?

 

I don't mess with any boxes - not 100% sure what I'm messing with. the only thing I changed was the core voltage offset (highlight is mine)

 

Got it, tried out an online guide and everything seems to be working fine. Are you finally getting decent temp?

 

Yes although still testing. Over the last hour - Min 33C max 75C, bear in mind I am sitting with the laptop on a stand/cooler so that helps lower a little more. Doing a variety of things but mostly gaming.

 

That sounds good, I'll try and run some tests of my own. Thanks again!

 

Cool no worries. BTW update bios and EC firmware if you haven't already and save profiles often so that you know what you did before changing stuff

 

greetings, did the MSI GE62VR 6RF (i7-6700HQ + GTX1060 3GB GDDR5) support for DDR2400Mhz sodimm and PCIe NVME gen3 X4 ?

 

Yes it does. See this link.

 

how about the RAM ? did it support to ddr4 2400MHz ? i saw several 6rf out of the box just using 2133MHz ddr4.

 

I concur - Google tells me it is 8GB of 2133 as standard. My 7RF has 16GB DDR4 2400 - It is highly likely that the 6RF will be compatible with 2400.

 

Your 6RF should support up to DDR4/2666MHz.

 

yeah i just confusing coz MSI did not mention any MHz on the website ge62vr 6rf just DDR4 word,

 

Just out of interest what does the 7RF support (currently running stock DDR 4 2400)

 

The same...up to DDR4/2666MHz

 

guys would you mind to list the THICKNESS thermal pad from GE62VR 6RF/7RF ?

i already mark the thermal pad location on the picture...



thanks in advance.

 

Hope Santa was good to you all

This is the first time I've had my GE62 7RF Apache Pro on the road, as I am staying with family for the festivities.

Normally the machine is plugged into a properly configured and calibrated BENQ 2411 144hz external monitor. Since I cant lug that around, I am on the laptop panel. I have reinstalled MSI TrueColour.
The laptop is fine for normal desktop use, but I find it very dark in games, even with Brightness set to 100%.

Obviously I am spoilt, but was wondering if there is a better driver than "Generic PnP Monitor" and/or some downloadable profiles. I have the standard 1080P screen for my spec. I heard/read somewhere that the panel is by LG....

Anyone?

EDIT: Aida 64 tells me it is an LG Philips LP156WF6 (Dell 3874Y) Monitor ID: LGD046F

So I guess I am looking for that driver or something compatible... if it exists.

 

Screens don't have drivers.

 

My benQ does.....

Let me rephrase my question. I am finding the laptop screen rather dim in games. It is certainly much darker in the same games than my external Benq monitor is. Any suggestions?

 

ok that's better

Now, did you try changing the profiles in MSI True Color? I know the Designer profile is darker/warmer but the sSRG and Gaming Profile are definitely brighter.

Try them and ensure you are on max brightness. If that also isn't bright enough, then I don't know what to say to be honest.

 

These LED panels don't have too much brightness especially compared against desktop monitors. It is very likely that is the way it is if you had already maxed out its brightness settings.

 

Aha! Said the blind man. It looks like something somewhere wasn't on "max". I wasn't plugged in to mains either which probably didn't help. Not tried in games yet but windows is def brighter than the other day.

 

I have a problem with temperatures. I have the CPU (5700HQ) undervolted by -80mv, and the heatsink moded.

When I repaste, the temperatures are good high 70s/low 80s, but after some days, it gets worse, hitting 90s.
I move the laptop like twice a day (just from different rooms, same house). But Im not sure what can it be. The screws are tigth. I also changed the fans, but its the same.

Any tip of what can I do?

 

bump.....

still need this information about thermal pad thickness.

@Donald@HIDevolution

@Kevin@GenTechPC

 

What thermal paste did you use?