MSI GS43VR Phantom Pro's Owner's Lounge

Hey! So before people reported always getting 60fps in DS 3, what do you have on avarage?
In the lava area in perticular, what FPS do you get?
This would be a huge help since I send my GS43VR in for performance issues, due to the fact that on avarage I got 58fps and especially in the lava area (old demon king) I got around 44-50 only. (maximum graphics settings).
During my own testing and benching I couldnt find any problems and the other day I got a reply were they said they couldnt either, and I replied that only in dark souls 3 I could see the issues, after that they havent replied yet but it would still be very nice to know if there actually is something wrong or if Im just wasting their time.
best regards!

 

Hi @emppill , I tried walking around the Old Demon King boss area and outside the smouldering lake and I would get a solid 55-58 everything maxed out. (I lose some fps because I have to keep the laptop screen while gaming in an external screen). I put my laptop on a laptop stand, in sport mode and autofans. Maybe you can game in cooler boost to check if overheating is causing the lower fps. Mine seem to be working fine... except the excessive noise, which is to be expected in this laptop.

Ah and don't forget to game from the SSD, and in the NVIDIA options, put let the 3d application decide option (if not I was getting lower fps).

 

Okay cool!
Well then I guess there was something wrong after all.
Already tried these options and I couldnt get over 52 when walking around in the lake, temps was more then fine (under 80). Was gaming on the original monitor!

 

Has everyone updated their bios? A new one was released a couple days ago.

 

I am going to be picking up this laptop this evening at my local MicroCenter. I am going to buy a 1TB M.2 SSD while I'm there to replace the 128GB one that is installed. One question, does anyone know what tool is required to take off the underside of the unit? Is it a regular phillips or is it a torx? And just to confirm; immediately upon removal of said underside, I should be greeted with the M.2 drive yes? I don't have to take apart the entire unit or circuitry?

 

Should be about 10 philips screws and comes off easily. The drive will be right there staring at you in the lower left with the battery closest to you. You'll need to apply a little extra pressure on the battery side when replacing the back panel though as there is a little resistance from the foam to reduce vibration.

 

Excellent. Thank you kindly for the information. Appreciate it!

 

@alejo099 - Have you tried everything is the quoted post below (minus maybe going back to Win 7)? If so, and you're still experiencing micro-stuttering when plugged into an external display, your guess is as good as mine. Have you tried different external displays to see if that makes a difference? Tried plugging into the HDMI vs Mini DisplayPort to see if that makes a difference? What about using different cables to conect to the external display? Maybe updating the bios?

Anyway, quoted below is a list of some earlier suggestions:

Sorry if none of this helps or you've already tried it all. It's quite bizarre that your stuttering issues only come up when you use the external display, and it suggests that Optimus really isn't the culprit here, at least not in your case.

@whirledpeas - I assume not, but any luck with fixing the stutter on your end by messing around with the keyboard drivers?

@8x8johan - I don't have any info on this personally, but you might want to search for info on how to fix the chassis of the MSI GS40. The GS43VR uses the same body as the GS40, so the same principles should apply, and there's likely more info out there on the GS40 since it's been out longer.

Thanks for pointing this out! I don't plan on updating the BIOS personally because I haven't had any problems with the current version and would rather not risk creating any.

But maybe owners here who are suffering from the micro-stutter issue can try out updating their BIOS now, and see if it helps resolve that? Worth a shot!

 

@Prototime, the micro-stuttering still exists even after I updated the keyboard driver so the keyboard driver wasn't the root cause after all. I still think that the issue/root cause is the way optimus is implemented on MSI's Pascal line-up laptops.

We should push MSI to release a fix to resolve this issue (most likely via a BIOS update) since it is affecting many laptop models in MSI's Pascal line-up (e.g. GS43VR, GS63VR, GS73VR, etc.). I have not heard any micro-stuttering issue in MSI's Maxwell or Kepler laptop line-ups or any other brand's Pascal line-up models having this issue so MSI's reputation is on the line here.

 

I completely agree. Perhaps we should start a new thread for GxxxVR owners who are experiencing this issue to participate in the discussion of how best to push MSI on this issue.

Have you tried using out the new BIOS that was released on October 26th to see if that helps? (Since I barely experience any stutter, I haven't downloaded the new BIOS for fear of it introducing new problems, but I wonder if it might actually help address the problem.)

 

Now new trouble- i hooked my laptop with an external monitor - laptop's mini display port to monitor's hdmi port. Sometimes it works fine but sometimes the monitor is not being recognized. I used to use this monitor with my previous laptop through vga cable with no trouble. Any idea what could be the problem? Should I try a hdmi-hdmi cable or is it just another non fixable issue of msi gs43vr?

 

On my GS73VR, the 17.3-inch version, going into Intel Rapid Storage -> Performance -> Link Power Management -> disable seems to have fixed my stutter.

 

Strange. I regularly do the exact same thing as you, going from the GS43VR's Mini DisplayPort to an external display's HDMI port, and I haven't encountered this issue. Maybe try using a different cable/adapter, or try plugging it into a different display, and see if that makes any difference?

 

Hello, forum! I have been reading this thread from the very beginning. Got my GS43VR after first real feedbacks about it. In general, quite happy with the laptop (considering its price). It survived a plane and a train
Used it to play games on an external screen (with mini DisplayPort) - no issues.
My biggest problem: stuttering. It was almost never in the beginning and quite often recently. The stuttering is especially noticeable when I am watching videos on YouTube (lagging mouse, crippled sound). Switching to using only dGPU or Intel GPU didn't help.
Last 2 days I have been searching on the Internet about stuttering and reinstalling different drivers. The only thing that made a difference: switching off WIFI and using only the cable. On cable - no stuttering. I have removed and installed WIFI drivers (not suite) from Killer website and now behavior changed. Stuttering is rare now (about 1-2 times per hour), but when it happens then it is followed by laptop losing an internet connection, then wifi goes down, then it goes back up.
I am starting to think that it might be a good idea to replace a WIFI module with the one from Intel (like 8260).

 

That's really good input. I have a feeling that I remember @Prototime saying he got the Intel card, and he is not suffering from stuttering. If so, then it sounds like you've identified (at least part of) the problem!

 

Welcome! Thanks for joining us, this is a very interesting development in the micro-stutter saga...

Indeed, I do have an Intel 8260 and have not had to deal with the stuttering. I had the reseller swap out the Killer wireless card for the Intel 8260, so I'm not personally able to do a comparison between the two cards to see how they might affect stuttering. This is the only way that my GS43VR meaningfully differs from others' in this thread, so perhaps the Killer wireless really is the culprit here. @alejo099 and @whirledpeas - does turning off your wireless internet help resolve the stutter?

 

I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier, but there's something called DPC latency, which can cause all kinds of stuttering. I think that it might be possible to use a DPC latency measuring tool in this instance to prove that the stuttering is caused by the Killer drivers (if that is actually what's happening). Or possibly find a different culprit. Essentially, some drivers can misbehave and hog the CPU's attention, causing other things, especially those that need real-time attention (mouse movements, audio, drawing frames), to be delayed and cause stuttering.

You can google dpc latency, or check out these links directly:
http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/solving-dpc-latency-issues/
http://eu.battle.net/forums/en/d3/topic/5208515698

 

I enabled on the LAN interface and disabled the killer wireless adapter but micro-stuttering still occurs on Windows 10 GUI and when it happens the power LED flashes amber and then back to red. So, I still believe that the stuttering is still caused by Optimus/GPU switching.

 

Finding a pattern with this micro-stuttering issue is next to impossible. For some people, it's clearly related to GPU switching; for others, the micro-stutter can be solved by getting rid of certain drivers, like the mouspad drivers or audio drivers; for others, disabling Killer wireless fixes it; and for @alejo099, micro-stutters occur only when the laptop is outputting exclusively to an external display (when there shouldn't be GPU switching at all).

@PMF could be onto something - perhaps and the common denominator is DPC latency. For whatever reason, the GS43VR and other GxxxVR laptops might be especially susceptible to DPC latency, and different drivers might trigger it for different owners.

Based on PMF's links, it looks like " LatencyMon" is the best software available to learn (1) whether you have DPC latency, and (2) if you do, what particular driver is causing it.

Perhaps owners suffering from micro-stutter should install LatencyMon and see if that can point them to a solution. Download link here: http://www.resplendence.com/download/LatencyMon.exe (Although I haven't had to really deal with micro-stuttering, I'll still give LatencyMon a shot to see if it reveals anything.)

 

Could be THE problem. I remember reading people having problems with it in general. Is it a killer 1535? Cos i always wondered why they released a new version as the 1435 (or 1425). On the Alienware configs they put it ahead of the 1535 but it can be swapped to it for free but they are advertising it as first choice.
Well I've got 1535 sitting there so I'll order it with 1435 and text the two. It will be a while yet since the AW13 is not even out to order yet but I can't even test it since my current laptop only supports the msata style



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@whirledpeas Usually, I set nvidia driver to use Intel GPU globally and enable dGPU only for selected applications.

I have done some tests with LatencyMon.
Some info:

• Undervolt (-130);
• Nvidia Driver version 375.70;
• Watching a stream on twitch and a video on YouTube in Chrome (both);

1. Nvidia driver is set to prefer Intel graphics globally.
On WiFi:

On cable:

reboot

2. Nvidia driver is set to auto-select graphics globally ( Intel was used most of the time).
On WiFi:

On cable:

The light that switches cards was only noticed when I clicked on the notifications icon first time. Second click didn't trigger the switch.

reboot

3. Another room, further from the router. Nvidia driver is set to auto-select graphics globally (connected to an external screen via mDP):
On WiFi:

No test with the cable since it is too far

4. Back to the original location. On battery power. GPU light is glowing yellow.
On WiFi:

I don't know what is going on here. WiFi does not like to be near to the router?

Five / Six digit latency (e.g., 312593.250) is when crippled audio and lagging mouse are very noticeable.

 

That's fantastic testing. In my book, this shows 99% it is the Killer card/drivers.

To the argument that Optimus appears to be turning off/on with the stuttering, although this is pure speculation: it may be the case that the trigger for Optimus to switch to NVidia is when the Intel card is not handling the load, and in turn, it may be the case that the high DPC latency is causing the system to *think* that the Intel card is not handling the load, and switching to NVidia. Definitely very hard to nail down issues like this though. And there's all kinds of interplay between drivers possible too.

I would play around with different driver versions, maybe even grab the Killer drivers from some other manufacturer's page (Dell/Alienware?), assuming they can be installed, and see what happens.

 

Have you tried updating the killer driver suite? What about driver-only?
[ Killer support page]

 

Curious for anyone with this machine (or any with a 6700 and 1060) have you guys tried playing CSGO on the laptop? If so, what kind of FPS do you get on Dust 2 and what settings are you using? I have everything set to low except texture detail and I get about 200-220 in CT spawn on Dust 2 and ranging from 150-250 or so depending on the map I'm playing, where I am or what's going on. Curious if this is normal or what's to be expected or if other people are having better performance as I am currently getting better performance out of my 17inch AW and figured this new laptop would run everything better. Temps on my machine (Razer) are only maybe 75 degrees after a full game of CS so I don't think it is thermal throttling. Just looking for peoples input with other machines with the same specs and how they are performing.

 

How much better is the performance on your 17" AW? If only just a little bit, I think that's not crazy.

With the settings you have chosen, the GPU is basically not important, you are going to be CPU-bottlenecked. And the 4700MQ and 6700HQ are very similar, with the latter only bypassing the former but a tiny margin. Still, I would expect CSGO to be a little bit better, not worse, on the Blade. Is the 75 degrees for the CPU or the GPU? And is that an average or max?

I've also been reading the Blade forums and there are some people on there with their Blade performing worse plugged in than on battery (which of course should be the other way around). Probably doesn't hurt to unplug and see what happens to your frames, in case you are facing the same issue.

 

About 50 fps worse on average, dipping down to 150 at some points on some maps. I've tried without it plugged in and might need to change battery power settings but it went down to 30 fps because I read that on the razer forums as well. 75 degrees was the max with an average of 75 listed for the Cpu. Gpu was maybe 70? Lower than cpu.

If anything worst case I figured it would run the same, not really worse. Its enough that on maps like Nuke that tend to be rougher on fps I'd be worried about it dropping below 100 fps, and if I ever decided to hook it up to my 144Hz monitor then I'd not like it to be dipping down to that 150 range or lower at some points especially on certain maps.

 

Hello everyone!
The guy with problems with dark souls 3! Got the laptop back from the support this week and dark souls is still not working as well as other people reported, even though they couldnt find anything wrong for 2 weeks. Would someone who gets around 60 FPS everywhere please post their nvidia control panel settings and exact game settings and so? Would be much appreciated!!

Playing on the original monitor and have separate screen hooked up for audio. Unplugging does not make a difference.

 

@Prototime , sorry for the delay, and thanks a lot for your suggestions.

-So I tried, plugging the screen through the Mini Display port (had to buy an HDMI adapter), I tried three different HDMI cables, I tried only using the NVidia GPU, uninstalling the Elan driver, turning off the wifi and closing the Dragon Center....and guess what? Micro Stuttering Still present (Thank you MSI-Micro Stuttering International hehe). I've been playing games and using the computer with the laptop and external screen on, so there is no microsttuter, its just sometimes annoying because some games get confused and when I go full screen they full screen on the smaller laptop screen and not in the monitor. I will try turning off the option in Intel rapid technology... let's see I am loosing hope. I can live with having two screens always on, not ideal but it is what it is.

Also yesterday tried gaming just in the laptop screen but it was annoying because a diagonal line appeared when I moved the camera fast (it was in Evil Within). Looked online and this seem to be an overall problem with gaming laptops. I wish I could just turn on the laptop and play, not with all these problems around

@emppill My settings for Dark Souls 3, were everything maxed out, Sport mode and Auto fans. Also NVIDIA settings were set to Auto and let the 3d application decide. Are you getting problems in other games or just Dark Souls 3?

 

And you got 60FPS with no problems?
Nope, its just dark souls 3! For some reason it won't maintain 60 FPS even in the starting area.

 

I had a completely different laptop and had constant (but bigger than) microstuttering on Fifa 17 going external. I had to have both screens on to get it normal. It was fine on the laptop aswell. I feel your pain. So I've no idea.


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What if you set your external screen as the only primary screen and disable the internal laptop screen?

 

Anyone else getting this when waking laptop from sleep? Really annoying that they couldn't fix this even after 2.5 weeks.

It says that its the nvidia audio driver and it only happens when I forget to pause a video or whatever before shutting the screen.

 

Yeah I did. The game got laggy. But it was ok as soon as I unplugged it or had it dual screened. Reinstalled it just in case. And nvidia. All out of ideas. I'm hoping when I get my next laptop in however long that will be after ordering next week it fixes that.


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Would someone here be open to compare their laptops to mine? Settings, clock speed, SSD speed and performance in other games?

As I've already sent it into technical support once and they didn't find anything. So I would like to see if this is just a problem with the game Dark Souls 3 itself for some reason, or if there is something else. As it should run smooth 60fps.

I'm feeling like I'm starting to run out of options on what to do.

Tried reinstalling video drivers, cpu drivers, resetting windows about 3 times. Various benchmarks show nothing wrong and good performance.

 

Does anyone know what kind of m.2 SSD's this laptop supports? I've been looking at the OCZ RD400 series. If the laptop supports NVMe 3.0 x4 speeds i might consider the upgrade.

 

Can you close the internal screen and try again? Please make sure that the external screen is being set as the only main screen.
Because I've seen such issue before where it lags on the secondary screen that's why I wanted to find out if this is the same with your case.

 

Unfortunately I can't as I sold the laptop yesterday (not why I sold it for one game) but thanks for your help. I'll try this advice should the next laptop do it too and report back to. But also I'm hoping it doesn't lol.


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So I finally found out how to stop my fan from turning on and off all the time, I had the laptop on sport mode (high performance) and that had the processor going at full speed all the time increasing the temperature at 50c, which is the threshold for turning on the fan (even when I applied in advanced options).

By mistake put the laptop in Power Options > Balanced Mode, which is the same as comfort mode, and now the laptop has the processor going at lower speed, and going up only when necessary. I tested the difference in performance using my stats software and in gaming, and found no difference between sport (high performance), and comfort (balanced). Which is consistent with what this article says:

http://www.howtogeek.com/240840/sho...er-or-high-performance-power-plan-on-windows/

So from now onward, I will leave the laptop on Comfort (Balanced). Also according to the article its better for the battery life.

 

I switched to Intel on my GS73VR a month ago and haven't had a single stutter since. It's most likely the cause. It used to happen all the time with Youtube videos. I actually forgot all about it until I lurked here.

Anyways, I'm lurking here to also report that the mouse lag when the GPU switches is definitely something with Opttimus and not something MSI related. A Razer Blade owner just confirmed with me that he is experiencing the same thing. For those not knowing what I'm talking about, it's the mouse pointer becoming non-responsive for a split second when the dGPU checks in. It's easiest to be noticed when moving your mouse directly after left clicking the power icon.

 

@alejo099 - Have you tried measuring DPC latency using LatencyMon? @spaceray used it to pretty conclusively determine that the micro-stuttering was being caused by his Killer Wireless card (which was causing high DPC latency). It might be the same for you, or LatencyMon might identify a different driver as causing high DPC latency and thus likely the micro-stutters. Download link here:
http://www.resplendence.com/download/LatencyMon.exe

Thanks for sharing - the case is growing that the culprit for the micro-stutter issue is the Killer Wireless (makes me glad I had my reseller swap that out for an Intel 8260 card). You also bring up an interesting point - when the various GS43VR owners have been talking about "micro-stuttering" here in the lounge, we might actually be talking about two different things - (1) a small stutter across the whole screen, and (2) mouse pointer lag. Perhaps (1) is caused by Killer Wireless, and (2) is caused by iGPU/dGPU switching. Although I don't have (1) I actually have noticed (2) myself occasionally; thankfully the iGPU/dGPU thankfully don't switch much so it hasn't really been a problem.

@alejo099 and @whirledpeas - which of those precise issues have you been dealing with? Stuttering, mouse pointer lag during iGPU/dGPU switiching, or both?

 

Thanks @Prototime I will check the DPC latency tool and get back to you.

Also I am undecided between these 3 RAM upgrades:

https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Tec...78347058&sr=8-1&keywords=32gb+ram+ddr4+laptop

https://www.amazon.com/Ballistix-16...8347058&sr=8-10&keywords=32gb+ram+ddr4+laptop

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Veng...r=8-5&keywords=CORSAIR+Vengeance+DDR4+3000MHz

I am thinking of going for the last one since it is faster, but has a bigger CL than the first one. Any suggestions? I am a bit confused with the differences among these ones. Also I am sure the Crucial is compatible, because I checked the compatibility tool suggested by @Prototime , but not sure about the others. They should be...

 

Good move. I discovered this same article a while back, and since Sport mode no longer is auto-overclocking since the Win 10 Anniversary Update, I abandoned the MSI Dragon Center altogether and use the Balanced power plan mode now all the time. After doing this, my CPU temps have skyrocketed down to ~28 C when idle.

By the way, have you disabled the two "XBoost" options in the MSI Dragon Center to prevent the CPU from being put under an artificially high load all time? That might help too, if you haven't already.

 

Just a heads up for any of you in the future. It supports 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD's. I just put in a Toshiba RD400, and it works great; much faster transfer speeds. Also, i noticed they were running pretty hot under load. There doesn't appear to be any airflow around that area, so i managed to fit a few little TO-220 and DIP heatsinks on it (although, it was probably within safe operating temps, it makes me feel better).

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8kF6CQdq3_mcVBVMWVtTlZZUWM
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8kF6CQdq3_meXViSWpUVzB0Z3M

 

Hey, anyone updated bios and firmware? could that help with stuttering?

 

@Prototime, I can confirm 2 kinds of lags/stutter that I have experienced on the GS43VR:

1. Lag/Stutter when dragging a window across the screen (mouse pointer does not freeze in this scenario). I notice this behavior when plugging in an external monitor or projector for display. You can feel that it is not smooth when you drag a window across the screen. The issue is more obvious when the monitor I plug in has a higher refresh rate than my internal screen. I can see the lag as if the refresh rate didn't change to the higher one though Nvidia control panel shows that it is using the higher refresh rate.

Solution: This issue usually goes away when I restart the PC or restart the Windows Explorer process (Open Task Manager and right click on Windows Explorer process and hit Restart). The lag/stutter will disappear via either method and I can feel that the refresh rate is set to the higher one that my monitor supports correctly right after.

2. Action/Notification center pausing + mouse pointer freezing for 1-2 seconds. I notice this behavior when I click on the action center icon on the lower right corner of the task bar and it causes my mouse pointer to freeze and I can see that the GPU to switch from iGPU to dGPU (the power button LED goes from red to amber). After that, the action center will slide out fine. I have tried the GS43VR and GS63VR on display in an Electronics store and I can reproduce the same behavior. So, I'm pretty sure that this issue affects the entire MSI GSxxVR line-up and there is no real solution yet. Workarounds suggested on this thread can only minimize this issue's occurrence but they don't fix it completely.

As I mentioned before, this is an Optimus/software issue because this issue doesn't happen when I use the dGPU exclusively (via Mini-DP or HDMI with internal screen off) so MSI needs to take this issue seriously and release a proper update to fix this Optimus/software issue.

Also, I do not believe that this issue is related to the Killer Wireless card because I can still reproduce it after I disable the Killer Wireless card.

 

#1 doesn't happen to me at all, perhaps because I don't have a Killer Wireless card. I've noticed #2 before, but rarely - I don't think it necessarily happens every time my iGPU/dGPU switch in my case, and at any rate, the iGPU/dGPU don't switch that much for me (similar to @spaceray I have set the iGPU preferred globally with the dGPU set for certain programs).

I agree that MSI needs to investigate this issue; it definitely appears to be software related, especially given various software tweaks seem to help make it better. @Derek712 has indicated that the same mouse pointer freezing is occuring during iGPU/dGPU switching on Razer Blades as well, so the fix may need to come from nVidia. Either way, MSI needs to proactively try to resolve this issue.

Has anyone tried contacting MSI Support about mouse pointer freezing during iGPU/dGPU switching? I wonder if they even realize that this is a common problem.

 

I do not believe that either issue I mentioned is related to the Killer Wireless card because I can still reproduce both after I disable the Killer Wireless card.

 

I called them about it a few months ago about the GS73VR. I think more people need to call about it though for them to take it seriously.

 

Agreed. It's almost a universal issue in newer laptops with thinner panels. It's so easy to press those into keys that no matter what brand/model you choose you should put something in there.

 

Ive been lurking this thread for a while since picking up my gs43vr a little over a month ago...

i have noticed some micro-stuttering like others, but it was only initially during bootup for a minute & primarily when at the desktop (never in game from what i noticed which maybe coincidental?)

anyways, one thing i noticed after cleaning up some of the bloatware & other stuff was how hot my CPU was getting while gaming (constantly above 80c @ full load & often times hitting high 80's) which just never sat well with me. although at idle it was stable with the fans never needing to spin

finally this weekend after tweaking nearly everything covered in this thread i found my solution...

specifically changing the processor power management settings under the max proc state from 100% to 90% made a huge difference in temps but nothing noticable in performance (i play a lot of newer stuff like Division, r6s, bf1 & GTA if that matters).

i capped my fps to 60 with rivatuner just to keep the gpu stable while trying to narrow down the proc temps, but now after decreasing that 10% off the max setting ive gone from 80c+ to a stable low 70's/high 60's while in game which makes me feel way more confident about longevity of performance

so for those also running into high CPU temps during gaming or @ load, take a look at those settings (you can find them under the advanced power settings). by default they were maxed at 100% for both plugged & on battery power. kicking those down definitely did the trick for me out of all the other options people tried here (i was actaully contemplating doing a windows 7 install if i couldnt eventually narrow this down)

side note in case anyone was curious, I use MSI afterburner to monitor temps/performance & it works wonders on both this laptop & my gaming tower