MSI GS43VR Phantom Pro's Owner's Lounge

thank you for the answers! I made a clean windows installation and upgraded all drivers... it looks for now the stuttering is gone even with the killer wifi card. I will see in the future.

Another question... is it normal to get high 80 temperatures for cpu when under full stress? I understant that being a small factor laptop cooling is harder, but I was surprised to see that while the 1060 hardly goes over 76 degrees, the cpu immediately jump at about 88-89 degrees.

 

Question: I found a GS43vr with a Skylake for $1099...Seems like a steal, thoughts? I only play like Planetside 2 etc...Will have the reseller do a clean bloatware free install

 

What are the rest of the specs?

 

Display
Display: 14.0" FHD (16:9) Super Clear Matte-Type IPS Screen (1920x1080)
Processor
Processor:
Chipset: 6th Generation Intel® Mobile Core i7-6700HQ Skylake Processor
Intel® HM170 Chipset
Hard Drive & Optical Drive
Standard Hard Drive:


Standard Optical Drive:

128GB M.2 SSD + 1TB 7200RPM Hard Drive (Upgradeable)
1 Detachable 2.5" 7.5mm (H) SATA Hard Disk Drive

None
External Optical Drives Available
Graphics
Graphics Controller:
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 (6.0GB) GDDR5 (Pascal) w/ Optimus Technology
PCI-Express™ 16X
Microsoft® DirectX® 12

Memory
Standard Memory:
Number of SODIMMS: 16,384MB (16GB) DDR4 2400MHz (Upgradeable - 32GB 2400MHz Max)
Two 260 Pin SODIMM Sockets

 

Depends on the game and the software running. I've seen those temps before undervolting. All CPU and GPU's come pre-flashed with a certain voltage range but most don't need all that power. undervolting will lower power and reduce temps, so I suggest you try undervolting.

 

I think it's a steal. I spent 1.5k on the Kaby Lake variant with the same specs.

 

Well pulled the trigger on it. 1163 after cash discount before $100 more...So 1063 to my door for a 1060 laptop..Will be an adjustment no num pad and from 17" to 14" but I'm excited!

 

Did you get the 'damaged' one from xotic? I was looking at that over the weekend but it didn't come with free shipping! ($35 shipping ruined the $50 damage discount) Was going to chat with them today about it but saw it was gone. Let us know how it works out!

I actually ended up just ordering one an hour ago from Microcenter for $1075. They might be putting them on clearance due to Kaby Lake (069) being out. I've been debating between this or the Aero 14 for $1700 but I couldn't pass it up at this price. Will have to add a 512GB m.2 SSD and yank out that dinosaur HDD, but even after spending $200 for a new SSD this is still ~$500 less than the Gigabyte.

 

I did! couple of lil pin ding on the lid..I will hurt it more putting it in and out of a bag. Yep, new hdd will be bought for mine too..cant wait to get it!!

 

Hi everyone, I just wanted to quickly introduce myself. I am brand new to this forum. I just picked up the MSI GS63VR yesterday and I absolutely love it. I had purchased the Asus Rog gl502VS with the 1070 and returned it to the store right quick. The battery life in that computer was god awful. I get that its a gaming laptop, but it was horrific. Not only that, it has a well known issue (that I found out after I bought it) where the power brick is not powerful enough and the battery drains even while plugged in while you game. I also could not handle the orange keyboard and the orange lighting on the back of the monitor. I could not take that computer to work and be taken seriously.

I managed to pick up the MSI for $1599 (in Canada). The Asus was $2099. The specs were identical except for the graphics card. My msi came with the 256 gig ssd. I added a 2 TB seagate firecuda to it as well. The 1070 was faster, but it was not insanely dramatic. In my opinion it wasnt worth the $600 dollar premium. I ran a few benchmarks on both and the 1060 sure is no slouch. I cant complain about a desktop level 1060 that is equivalent to last gen GTX 980 desktop card.

Also, I have seen a lot of people discuss the battery life in the MSI. With eco mode and optimus on during normal web browsing I was able to get about 5.5 to 6 hours. With the Asus, brightness all the way down, keyboard backlight off I was getting 2.5 and thats generous. No optimus thanks to the gsync obviously.

I wont lie, I prefer the MSI gs43VR. If I feel the need to upgrade the graphics I can get an external gpu down the road if need be. But with how impressive the 1060 is, that will be a long time from now.

 

Hey man, welcome and enjoy your stay here. If you need help or just want to discuss anything feel free.

 

Wanna get a GS43VR 7RE but read here issues and resolution tips.
May I ask if the following is enough?

1. replace that Killer wifi card with an Intel 8620
2. apply "Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut" on the CPU and GPU
3. uninstall bloatwares
4. change mechanical HDD to M.2 SSD / NVMe whatever (cant tell which is better)

For 4, I even read last year somewhere that using 2 non-HDD can solve that micro-stuttering, is it true?
is a combination good ? --> 250G NVMe SSD + 250G standard SSD ?

Thanks

 

So I've had mine for a day now - took a while to get all the bloatware garbage off (going to do a clean install with a new HDD if I keep the machine).

I'm impressed by the build quality, it feels very sturdy and looks very nice. I actually don't mind the lighted logo on the outside -- I've seen much worse gaming laptops (looking at you Asus). Its definitely heavy for its size and the power brick is rather large -- not a deal breaker portability wise but its certainly no 3lb ultrabook. Have only noticed a couple of stutters but I haven't even touched the Killer NIC software. Its definitely not every minute or ten... maybe hour? Have to use it more.

Right now I'm running a 1080p mkv movie (wardogs) on repeat at 25% brightness -- 4.5 hours in and I'm still at 50% battery so that is incredible to me. Should easily hit 6 hours for movie watching on a plane. Will update with how long it goes!

One thing I noticed is that Dragon Center is garbage. If you switch to power mode the fans will spin up to 100%, but if you switch back to ECO mode they won't slow back down. Have to restart to reset the fan speeds. Also, with Dragon Center enabled Windows Media Player was using the 1060 (orange light) even though its all set to use integrated in the control panel. I exited DC and viola, red power light, GPU fan back to 0% -- on my way towards 6+ hours movie battery life.

I have a feeling with a clean install of Windows and none of this gamer crap installed the system will be excellent.

Edit -- uptime is now 6 hours 11 minutes and still showing 33% battery left. I guess playing an MKV file is basically considered idle (CPU at 5% usage), so I'm very happy with the battery life.

 

Wow, one of the main reasons I gave up the 17" and numpad was portability to travel for work.
..Your battery life revelation is excellent news! I'm going to do a clean wipe the second I boot mine up.

 

Yes to all except microstuttering. Disabling gigabit ethernet in the device manager and updating the elan drivers will reduce stuttering to where you might not see it. Swapping out the Killer NIC to an Intel one will remove it as far as I've read and experienced.

 

Undervolting will help as well. Out of the box with no bloatware, I reached 3.5-4 hours battery life. With undervolt, I can hit a max of 6 hours (7 if just word processing)

 

Yep I gave up at 8.5 hours with 9% (45 min) remaining. Remember that's low brightness (25%) and just playing a video on repeat. I'm sure any productivity would cut the time significantly.

 

I wanted to post something on here regarding the stuttering many of you are experiencing. I have noticed in my case it is the trackpad. More importantly, the multi guestures. I rolled back the driver to and earlier version where you can use two fingers to scroll up or down and my stuttering problem was eliminated.

I also noticed my problem only happens when doing things like watching youtube videos and it only happens when I touch the pad and move the cursor. When I use my mouse I do not encounter this problem.

If anyone wants to chime in I would appreciate it.

 

What drivers did you use? The latest found on the MSI website or the default ones?

 

I dont have anything installed. I guess its just the default driver. So its like an old school touchpad now. I started ruling out all the possible issues. It was always when I used my trackpad , especially two finger scrolling. Also, I noticed it a lot when chrome was open, specifically youtube.

 

Just ordered a GS43VR 7RE, looking forward to it. Gonna sell my P751DM2 Clevo since I got tired of their non existing Bios support.

 

Anyone using vray with cinema 4d?? If you are can you give some incite on how you think its performing and anything else about rendering you feel appropriate.

 

Just an update to everyone here who may be having a micro stuttering problem. I have found the fix, at least in my case. Its the touchpad, and the multi touch gestures. I spent a few hours eliminating different things like the network card, the nvidia optimus etc.

I noticed a few things that may help people out. I opened youtube in chrome and ran a video in the background because that is when it happened the most.

- I noticed it was more pronounced on battery mode for some reason
- It ONLY happened when I would use the touch pad and became worse when I used two finger page scrolling
- It never happened when I used the mouse... ever
- I uninstalled the drivers, lost two finger scrolling.. Problem was eliminated. Reinstalled the driver, problem returned. Uninstalled it again and the problem was gone.

Wanted to share this with people because this is a great computer and Id rather not get rid of it. Its the right size, tons of power... superb battery life (4 to 6 hours for me).

 

So you are now fine without micro stuttering even still keeping Killer Wifi card and the MSI software?

 

Correct. It has completely eliminated the problem and it has not returned.

 

Does clicking on the battery icon on the windows bar bring the stuttering back?
I believe this issue is somewhat related to Optimus and not driver conflicts.

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

 

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When I had the drivers installed for the trackpad it would stutter when clicking the battery icon, windows start bar, calendar, notifications, literally anything in chrome. Since the removal of the driver I can do anything on the computer and no stuttering occurs.

 

This sounds good.
Are you using the Kaby Lake variant? Those who had stuttering in the Skylake variant could not fix the stuttering even with the trackpad drivers rolled back. But some users potentially fixed the problem by running an executable which keeps the Nvidia card running all the time.

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

 

I am using the skylake variant. And I didnt roll back the driver. I uninstalled it completely and am just using microsofts standard driver.

 

And that's what I meant by a rollback! xD

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

 

So I got Windows 7 working on my kabylake version of GS43, I found working drivers even for the Intel VGA 630. There is not a hint of stuttering in Win 7!

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/11969013

 

Hi guys. I am having a bit of a problem. Is there a way to emulate the numpad with the gs43vr? Usually on the laptops without the numpad you can still use using the fn key, but looks like that's not the case with the msi gs43vr... does someone knows if there's a way to fix this?

Thanks in advance!

 

Today I ran Crysis 2 in 4k on ultra on my GS43VR . I managed to average 42 fps. I was impressed to say the least. That is some serious horsepower for a laptop.

 

I'm planning on doing the same thing with mine.
But, what about your overall performance? Any benefits on gaming, for example?
Is Dragon Center compatible with Windows 7?

Thanks for your attention.

 

Yes all the software and utilities from MSI works in Win 7, they even update themselves. I can't stand Windows 10, so running windows 7 is a must. It's fast, just look at the score from 3DMark11 I posted. It was i bit of an hassle to install with the NVME drive and it took a couple of hours but it's worth it.

 

That's some great news!

Just one more question (if you don't mind), what about the drivers? Where did you find updated drivers for Windows 7?

Once, and again, thanks for your patience and time!

 

Most of the drivers from MSI works fine except; Killer Network; (Lan, Wifi, Bluetooth)
http://rivetnetworks-public.sharepo...rE2500Suite_1.0.1026_Win7_Win81_Win10_x64.exe

And intel iGP you will download from StationDrivers, use the have disk in Device Manager
http://www.station-drivers.com/inde...tory&Itemid=353&func=fileinfo&id=2469&lang=en

Also just get the latest nVidia driver for Win7.

My GS43VR 7RE came with Toshiba XG3 NVME, I just used the OCZ 400 driver, since they are basically the same drive. They are needed for the installation of Win 7.
https://mega.nz/#!gZ81HASR!kC_Yf0gzetTa3TGYpFq-5AN80uEbVuov1a2fPdGjaxo

 

Thank you very much for your attention and time!

I can't express how useful this information will be! (Does this sentence makes sense in English? I'm not a native speaker, as you may have noticed)

PS: As for the nVME drivers, I was hoping I could integrate the last Windows Hotfix to the installation ISO:
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-install-windows-7-on-a-pci-express-nvme-ssd/

 

Nice find, I used a guide here on the forum. You will also need Intels USB 3.0 and 3.1 driver.

 

Hi everyone,

This is $300 cheaper than Gigabyte's Aero14, weighs .4 lbs less. What am I missing here? It's a toss up between these two laptops.

 

If you are experiencing the nvidia optimus dGPU stutter on windows 10 your help is needed to inform MS. Please refer to page 16 of this geforce forum: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/860554/geforce-mobile-gpus/windows-10-and-optimus/16/ watch the video in the link that demonstrates the problem and if you are experiencing the same issue upvote the complaint.

 

Considering on getting this laptop, was wondering if any owners could help me out with a few questions.

First off, I live in Canada and already pulled the trigger on a Dell Inspiron 7567 with a gtx1050ti and i5-7300hq. I'm currently considering on buying a refurbished gs43vr.

1. Does the warranty change on a refurbished product? As far as I'm aware, MSI provides a one year limited manufacturer's warranty but does this also apply for a refurbished product?
2. Speaking of warranty, would I be able to swap the 2.5" HDD or would that void the warranty? I've heard from both sides that it does void the warranty, but I've also heard that MSI just does it to keep people who don't know what they're doing to mess with it. If it doesn't void the warranty, isn't there still a slight worry MSI won't provide warranty since you technically did pull off the warranty sticker?
3. After undervolting the CPU, what are the average battery times for standard internet browsing with wifi on? The Dell inspiron 7567 is supposed to have great battery life.. not something I'm really down to trade off.
4. In your personal opinion, does the gs43vr seem more worth it than the 7567? I'm still a university student, so portability and battery life are both quite important to me. If I were to buy this laptop, I would have to cancel my order / return my inspiron.

Thanks for your time!

 

1 - I would ask the sales department or MSI directly about the warranty. I believe it depends on who you purchase the NB from.
2 - MSI has stated that Canada and US can safely remove the warranty sticker and replace parts without voiding the warranty. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. From my experience, the warranty is void if the part you're replacing breaks the computer. So if they say, "oh, your processor is overheating because you changed out the SSD, warranty VOID" is BS lol...
3 - I get on AVERAGE 5 hours on Chrome, maybe 5.5 on EDGE. It depends on how many tabs are open and what's running on each window. The MOST I've gotten was 6 hours on a single tab watching Youtube on Edge, 20% brightness.
4 - I'm a full time employee and a full time (online) college student. Weight and battery life are a huge deal for me. The GS43 fits all my needs.

• under 4lbs
• at LEAST 4 hours battery life for general work
• very portable (14 inch screen)
• quad core CPU
• desktop class GPU
• 16GB memory with option for 32 in the future
• dual drives (m.2 PCIE/Sata)
• THUNDERBOLT 3!!!!! (for future eGPU)

In my opinion, it's the best value laptop you can get. It does anything and everything. Only issue really is heat but that's fixed with repasting and undervolting. You don't really have to repaste but undervolting will lower temps by a good amount.

 

Got rid of stuttering and screen flashing/tearing (almost) finally. Recently installed bitdefender internet security and set my GS43VR at pre-set game mode in bitdefender. I am not sure what tweaks it did exactly, I just noticed the screen brightness is at 100% now. But it had a price- now the battery life is reduced to around 1.5 hours while browsing internet only. BTW, I did all the tweaking mentioned in this forum with no result.

 

1. Refurbished items usually carry 90-day of warranty, double check with MSI directly after getting your unit using its serial number so they can verify it for you.
2. You can do pretty much anything you want to your machine and MSI doesn't care unless there are physical damages, including tempering with the warranty seal/sticker itself.
I will leave others to answer you on #3 & #4.

 

The Aero14 has a higher res screen, bigger battery (weight) and larger SSD. But it only has the SSD slot (M2 I think) while the GS43 has M2 slot and 2.5 inch drive, and I think the Aero is also missing a thunderbolt 3 port.
But the screen and SSD are likely the reason for the cost difference. Build quality looks comparable, though I've never seen an Aero in person so I can't say.

 

Just wanted to let everyone know that this program works with the Kabylake. I personally added 5% to all fan profiles in "advanced" mode.

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=255972.0

 

Alright, so I've been looking at different 14 inch laptops for a while now and saw that Amazon had the skylkae version of this on sale for 1165. So I pulled the trigger and got mine today.

I don't feel like browsing thru 100 pages, so can anyone provide some information on essential tweaks I should do to this machine? I was thinking about repasting and undervolting, but I didn't know if there was anything else. Thermal Pads?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

did anyone confirm DP port is GPU-direct?

 

If I am not wrong mDP and HDMI are connected to gtx1060 and USB type-C + Thunderbolt 3 is connected to Intel HD530...

Can anyone post stable under-volt cpu/gpu settings please, and what tool you use to get it done! I am having gs43vr 6re, thanks in advance!