MSI GS43VR Phantom Pro's Owner's Lounge

That's good that you found a solution, but really in my eyes a gaming laptop should be able to run games at the laptops max performance without the user needing to throttle the CPU or GPU due to temperature concerns.

 

Oh i definitely wont argue with that... but this isn't too uncommon to me after years dealing with manufacturer released systems in my career (bundled with bloatware & stuff you really dont need/want in order to have a PC run optimally at load). they often ship these systems to get taxed right out of the box, so its up to communities like this to help guide others to a better user experience. & with laptops specifically, this is hard to avoid since we cant build these from the ground up like we can with towers

but i appreciate a lot of the tips that have already been mentioned in this thread & have used a bunch myself to eventually narrow down my own specific hurdles. hopefully others can benefit as well & get to use this laptop without some of the nuances that have surfaced since release

now that things are stabilized for me personally i can truly appreciate this laptop for what i need it to do.

 

What's your Texture fill rate from GPU-Z? Mine's only showing 112 G Texels/s but several review sites states 149 G Texels. What could be the cause of this?

I'm getting like 5-10% lower benchmark results than I would expect.

edit: Also my ROPs / TMUs are lower than expected (mine is 48 / 80)

 

ill have to DL & run that to let you know, that's not something i monitored previously

 

I have replaced Killer WiFi card with Intel 8260. Now my WiFi connection is stable and there is no more lagging cursor when watching YouTube videos

I also notice only #2. It happens only the first time I click on the Notifications Bar icon. Very minor issue for me.

There is also a famous issue with Slideshow as Desktop background in Win 10: Optimus will switch to dGPU on wallpaper change.

 

Which exact Killer card did you all get with your MSI GS43VR? Was it the 1535? I have that card coming with my AW13, so it will be super interesting to see what happens on the AW platform. I'm also wondering whether I should go ahead and get the Intel card in anticipation of my unit's arrival lol.

Has anyone tested whether the battery life really is better with the Intel card? @Prototime ?

 

Also have 112.4 G Texel/s on texture fillrate. Pixel Fillrate is 67.4 gPixel/s

 

... and the TMUs?

 

Sorry, new to this, not sure what's the important information!

The ROPs/TMUs are 48/80

Not sure what that implicates though

 

@PMF yes. It was Killer 1535.

 

I never had a Killer Wireless card (the reseller took it out for me) so I can't do a direct comparison, but with my Intel 8260, I can say that with Battery Saver on, the power plan set to Balanced, the screen set to 50% brightness, and the keyboard backlight set to "low", I get almost exactly 4.5 hours of battery life while web browsing. Turning the screen brightness down lower than 50% nets longer battery life; I've seen it last 5ish hours.

By the way, congrats on the AW13 purchase! I look forward to hearing your impressions.

 

@Hana9so thanks for posting those pics about your new Toshiba OCZ RD400, how is it going with it? Would you recommend it over the Samsung 950 PRO? Seems like the Toshiba has overheating issues for what you say.

 

The GTX 1060 mobile is substantially more powerful than the 965M, given that it exceeds the power of the 980M and comes close to the 980 mobile, but from the sounds of it you're fine with the 965M for now. You'll almost certainly be able to run 1080p/low settings/40fps until the GS43VR's Volta-successor comes out, which might be as early as next year (more likely in 2018 though, IMO), and you'll probably be fine for 3 years too if you want to stretch that out even further.

I'm in a similar boat as you - I personally plan to skip Volta and keep my GS43VR until Einstein comes out in 3-4 years, and while I easily get 60+ fps on max or near-max settings at 1080p now, I don't have much of a problem dialing the settings down in the future.

 

Did you get any answers to why this is?

Would you care do link the reviews?

 

I haven't personally tried a 950 PRO, but the benchmarks don't seem to be too far off. And i'll be honest, for gaming and general use i'm not seeing that much of a performance boost. It's negligible.

I've been checking temps religiously and i haven't seen it go high at all, but then again i'm not working it that hard. I only noticed it was hot when i was cloning the original drive to it.

 

Hi guys! I've just bought this laptop this week. I have one question that I can't find the answer on google.. maybe I'm not asking the right thing but.. anyways..

I have 2 monitors hooked to my laptop. I have found that all the softwares I use while I'm using my external monitors used my 1060.. Is there a way to only use the integrated gpu while I have external monitors plugged in?

 

Somebody may correct me, but it is my understanding that the external ports for monitors are hardwired to the 1060 GPU, i.e. for those the signal does not use the integrated GPU as a pass-through (i.e. no Optimus). Among other things, this would cause problems for VR for example.

 

@PMF is correct; the HDMI and DisplayPort ports are wired directly to the GTX 1060, so there's no way to use the iGPU when connected to an external display.

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/MSI-GS43VR-6RE-Phantom-Pro-Notebook-Review.172721.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/fileadmin/Notebooks/MSI/GS43VR_6RE-006US/gpu1.png

http://www.ultrabookreview.com/13349-msi-gs43vr-review/
http://cdn.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/cpuz-gpuz.png

My paranoid mind formulates a thought - What if MSI send special samples only for reviewers?

 

This is caused by the difference between GPU-Z 1.10 vs 1.12 (the latest version. It's more accurate I assume). For ROPs/TMUs, I see 48/106 in 1.10 vs 48/80 in 1.12.

Also, on the picture http://cdn.ultrabookreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/cpuz-gpuz.png, the GPU is overclocked by +100 on Core and +200 on memory. That's why the Pixel Fillrate and Texture Fillrate are higher than default.

 

Do you have the game Dark Souls 3? What kind of FPS do you get?

 

Sorry, no. Most demanding game I've got is probably Battlefield 1.

 

My stutters are gone now with the new Elan touchpad driver that came through Windows update
Can someone confirm?

 

What if you remove it and switch to the one that is posted on MSI's website?

 

I see, what kind of FPS do you get in that and on which stage?
Gonna try the trial version some time later this week and compare .

 

I can check but I rather compare benchmarks since they are always use the same settings. Using Fire strike and Fire strike Extreme I get 5-10% lower score than expected.

 

Okay! I cant check today but Ill see tomorrow.
I compared to a reviewers laptop and sent it in for service but nither could find anything.

 

Hey guys whats up?! I want to know if it's possible to install the "drivers" or "utility" only to use the FN functions key? I've installed "System Control Manager (SCM)" from MSI, but there's too much useless stuff with it. thanks!

 

Im sorry! Didn't know firestrike was software you had to buy, in this case I cant compare I'm afraid.

 

Fire Strike is actually free, but Fire Strike Extreme costs. Download 3DMark and you should be able to run Fire Strike for free.

 

Most of the functions will work without the utility.

 

Hello all, just wanted to come in and offer my opinion on the GS43VR. Two weeks ago, I purchased both the GS43VR locally and the new Razer Blade (1060), with the intentions on returning one of them. After using both extensively, every day, both for office and gaming use, I returned the Blade yesterday and am keeping the MSI. From a performance standpoint, the GS43 mops the floor with the Blade (there is a 90-page thread on how poorly the new Blade is performing over on the Razer forums), in everything (SSD speeds, Graphics, cooling, etc...), and in my opinion, has a much better keyboard. The Steelseries keyboard on these units are really great and a joy to type on. From a quality standpoint though, the Blade is in a class by itself. It is a beautiful piece of machinery and has an intangible quality that just makes you stop and touch it. The trackpad is better and the speakers are probably some of the best speakers on any laptop I've heard and definitely blows the MSI speakers out of the water. IPS screen quality appear to be about equal, though the MSI does have noticeably more backlight bleed, but it's not terrible nor distracting. I really, really wanted to love the Blade and struggled to pack it up and send it back. But at the end of the day, I wanted a portable gaming laptop; and for that, the MSI is just a much better machine. And from a company who's slogan is "For Gamers. By Gamers", they should be ashamed that they evidently purposely throttled the hardware in the Blade to prevent overheating, and as a result, every other 1060-based laptop out there outperforms it.... by a large margin. And oh by the way, it cost $700 more than what I paid for the GS43. Shame on them.

Perhaps I stand alone here, but I actually like the new Dragon Center. It's actually very useful. I use the TrueColor utility quite frequently, and I appreciate the ability to fine tune and create custom color profiles. Also the ability to create custom fan curves is very handy and most appreciated as well.

If I had any complaints regarding the GS43, forgetting the atrocity that is all the unnecessary and blatant bloat-ware that is pre-installed (I do a clean install of Windows on any laptop I get); I think it would be the disappointment that there are only 2 USB ports. In my opinion, that is inexcusable in a gaming laptop. Also, more aluminum (or more precisely, less plastic) would be welcome. But I recognize I am now spoiled having had the all metal unibody chassis of the Blade in my hands.... and truth be told, nothing comes close to that feel or build quality. On the upside, the MSI is considerably lighter as a result. Which is very advantageous for me, someone who carries their laptop in a bag all over the city, every day.

Also, the MSI is far easier to disassemble and has more options in the upgrade department. I replaced the the stock M.2 SSD with a 1TB Crucial MX300. This drive screams... and CrystalDiskMark results between this drive and the 1TB M.2 in the Blade..... it embarrassed the Blade. By so far a margin, that people thought I Photoshopped the results. Quite remarkable, and the epitome of #value for the MX300. Aside from the drive, it is really nice having the option of upgrading the RAM. I have not done so yet, but I think I'm going to put 32GB of RAM in this, on general principle.

So that is my experience with this unit (and a competitor). I am very happy with this laptop and it eats everything I throw it at, on Ultra settings, without breaking a sweat. In full disclosure; I despise Optimus and anything else that seeks to "improve battery life". It's a gaming laptop, I nor anyone looking for a performance, portable gaming machine, should care about battery life. I disabled Optimus, run exclusively on the 1060, High Performance power plan and fans on high at all times. That's just how I prefer to have my gaming laptops setup. And as a result, it runs buttery smooth, at all times, no matter what it's doing.

 

Agree completely with your opinion. Also returned the Blade due to bad throttling; couldn't pass up the current deal on the bigger GT62VR w/ its 1070 and G-sync. MSI has nailed it with this current generation in my opinion, something for everyone. Tried 2x GS43's it didn't work out for me (backlight bleed and dead pixels). Glad yours is working out, enjoy!

 

have done all the tweaking except updating bios and firmware, and the stuttering stays. has anyone updated bios and firmware, could that help? I'm just being a bit cautious as I have never updated bios and firmware (heard this could produce more trouble?)

 

Hi, thanks for sharing your experience on the Blade. I just have one question: How did you manage to disable Optimus on the GS43VR? Do you mean that you hook up the laptop to an external screen so that the dGPU can drive it exclusively which effectively disables Optimus?

Thanks.

 

Optimus cannot be disabled but you can access dGPU directly via the mini DisplayPort using an external monitor.

 

Hello! I just received my very own MSI GS43VR. I've got some problems with this particular model though, hence my post.

My MSI seems to be always busy disk wise. I've seen it top at 100% disk usage while running idle. Also, the temperatures are very, very high for a laptop running at idle. The CPU is 60 degrees Celsius, and the GPU even got as hot as 80 degrees Celsius. This in combination means, of course, that the laptop is very noisy.
Did I miss something essential while installing everything? This can't be normal behaviour for this laptop. I could really use some help!

 

@Jawz0r Try putting the Power plan on Balanced (comfortable). Mine was on High Performance and it had the processor running at maximum speed unnecessarily. Since I left it in Balanced the temps have been more stable under 50 oc.

Also on another note I ended up buying this expensive RAM:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G260V2C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But it only runs at 2666 at CL18, which is way under what is advertised. I tried changing the XMP profile in the BIOS for it to run at 3000 but there was no option, any ideas what is going on? Thanks!

 

Has anyone tried gaming on a battery? I can't seem to get very good framerates. I even messed with turning the NVidia battery boost setting to the max of 60fps.

I'm thinking the internal battery just can't output enough current.

 

I set it to Balanced, Comfortable... I tried all of it, and it's still really hot. Any other suggestions? It's really loud for an idle laptop, and hot as well. I expected more from MSI to be honest.

 

@Hana9so gaming on battery for me is a no go, everything is much much lower fps.

Anyone see the XMP profile option in their BIOS, mine doesn't show up. Has anyone upgraded to the E14A3IMS.105 BIOS?

Kind of a bummer to buy an expensive RAM but not being able to run it at the advertised speed.

Somebody in Amazon was able to do it:
"As advertised, these RAM modules can run at 3000 Mhz CL16 speed. By default my bios set speed to 2666 Mhz CL18, but by manually selecting XMP Profile 1, it is working at the advertised speed"

 

Such options are usually locked in the BIOS by MSI, perhaps you can check with Svet directly to obtain an unlocked BIOS from him.

 

In the MSI Dragon Center, click the "System Tuner" tab, and then unselect both options under "XBoost." These options artificially keep the CPU under a higher load in a strange attempt by MSI to keep the CPU performance maxed out. See if that helps. Otherwise, try opening your Task Manager and see if you can identify any processes that are taxing your CPU.

 

If you look through my old posts (around page 55), I've actually had issues with the CPU getting to high temps idle or doing very basic tasks. The temps would jump up and down inexplicably, and I would experience CPU throttling (hwinfo can show you that) after 10 seconds of prime95 test, or even playing a game on high. You can try that and see what happens.
You're not going to like what I did, but I returned the laptop (it was my second one, the first one had other issues ). This said, I still haven't found a better laptop that fits the budget, so I'm still following this thread for any stuttering updates. Maybe if this gets resolved I'll give it a third chance.

 

1. Open NVIDIA control panel.
2. Manage 3D settings
3. Global settings tab
4. Power Management Mode settings, select "Prefer Maximum Performance"
5. Change "Preferred Graphic Processor" settings from "Auto select" to "High Performance NVIDIA Processor"

Congratulations, you just disabled Optimus. Another good intentions but failed implementation of technology.

 

This is a good thing to do, to force what apps you can to use the Nvidia dGPU instead of the iGPU, but it doesn't disable Optimus.

Windows OS applications continue using the iGPU - they can't use the dGPU on an Optimus laptop.

And, many older applications don't respect the Nvidia setting and will still go to the default Windows graphics hardware, which is set in the OS as the iGPU.

If your laptop has the iGPU wired into the internal display, all data to the display goes through the iGPU even if your application is using the dGPU for rendering.

The dGPU can't set any physical settings on the display, resolution, color, refresh, etc, it is all controlled by the wired in iGPU.

You can't disable Optimus, ever, it's physically connected to the iGPU and that's something you can't change.

The only "optimal" use of an Intel iGPU is when there is a MUX switch that can physically switch the connections to the display from the iGPU to the dGPU, and that requires a reboot - Windows can't switch that connection and deal with it in real-time - it needs to boot on one GPU or the other.

Optimus is bad, no Optimus is good

 

Hey guys I want to know if your gs43 already freezed on you? Since last week my laptop freeze while I play WoW and I have to push to power button to reboot it.

I did a fresh install of windows 10 and all the drivers are updated.

Thanks

 

Are you sure you installed the Windows 10 Anniversary update? That solved everything for me. Before that I was about to return the computer but after that everything is smooth as butter. That update as well as setting the dGPU as preferred graphics device got rid of the stutters.

Automatic update didn't install the Anniversary update for me though, I had to manually download it.

 

Hey, did a few firestrikes, got 9744 and 9753. How are your scores, about the same?

 

9372

I can't figure this out, really annoying.