MSI GS63VR Stealth Pro Owner's Lounge

Ordered the GT62VR 1070! Comparisons against that to the GS63 will happen on Wednesday (when new laptop arrives!).

 

Not sure, but I can certainly vouch for the high quality of Sager/Clevo, owned a few of them and the screens were always superb, the sound was consistently good between different models, and of course the cooling was always more than adequate. The last one I had, came with an HD6990m and while the GPU performance left alot to be desired (not Sager's fault), the temps even under a hefty overclock stayed well under control, no matter the load.

If the thickness and portability is your concern, the MSI has you covered, but if superior build quality, long lasting high performance, consistently satisfactory display panel quality, and a GTX 1070 are your aim, then you cannot go wrong with a Sager. I really am pissed at just how bad the screen panel quality is with the GS63VR 1080p/60hz is, and of course the tinny sound I can overlook with headphones, the screen I cannot forgive.

I dont think I'll ever buy another MSI until I can see the screen on the unit. I have a rare condition with my eyes call tetrachromacy, and low quality screens stand out in such a horrible way to me, the banding, the gradients, the horrible "off" color reproduction, and the blurred contrast around everything bothers me and is the only complaint I'd love to level at MSI if I ever got the chance. They should definitely offer an upgraded panel for the guys and gals that got this junk panel that is similar to the old first gen Sanyo HDTVs, before they had HDMI and only came with component in.

 

I had a 2012 Sager 17" with 680m and it had a high gamut color TN panel which was pretty top notch (for 2012) and thermals were also good and well controlled for me as well. Unit was quiet under load with a nice low whirl/hum. I also loved that you can get them unbranded so it was just a regular looking all-black notebook.

The new Clevo/Sager models are of more concern on the thermal and fan noise front because they are now going thin and cramming 1070s in them. I've only read one decent small review in the Clevo/Sager forums of a 1060 model and they had quite a few concerns about the temps so that makes me wary. Although until we can get a solid review of the P650RS (a seperated new model that is about 1" thick and supposedly extra copper/pipes with 1070), who knows. But the P650RS has pretty much everything I want in a laptop and is lighter/thinner than the MSI GT62VR and offers the 6820HK, 1070, raid with multiple m2 slots.

Anyhow, since i'm not an official laptop reviewer, my wallet has to pay the price and be brave and try various models and make comparisons between all of them to decide which one I feel is the best value and quality/offerings.

What kills me the most is how much the GS63VR offers but the trade offs are too much for me to swallow.. Like no G-Sync (Even though obviously easily supportable) and the really terrible speakers. Funny you say you have an eye condition to see terrible panels.. Well I have an ear condition in my left ear where the small tiny muscle in my ear reacts to certain sounds and frequencies and basically makes the audio going into my ear sound like a blown speaker.. and the GS63VR speakers are so cheap sounding, it makes my left ear feel terrible. I couldn't handle it. I actually enjoyed the panel on my GS63VR though, I thought it was pretty nice for a IPS 6-bit and colors seemed pretty accurate in stock form. I have a Colormunkie Pro sensor and could spend the time to calibrate but I never got that far.

The MSI GT62VR shares the exact same panel so if you're sensitive to it, that's also not going to help you out. However, these LG panels they are using are PWM free which is the most important thing for someone who likes a dim screen.. It won't strain your eyes.

 

@Diversion sorry to hear your experience with the GS63 bro.
And gratz on purchasing a GT62!

Am too on the fence at the moment. Between the GS63 and GT62. Going to buy next week Saturday hopefully. At the moment, im leaning towards the GT62. But i still dont know... The fan noise bothers me.. But i wonder if its really that bad... But then again, seeing your video, it seems like its very loud... Then there is thermals... Sigh...

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

Got mine GS63VR two days ago and it is a really nice laptop. Too bad I have the same problem as @Diversion . The right fan is so high pitched so I have packed it in the box again and will send it back tomorrow.

I did some test with mixing with the cpu fan and undervolting(-140 mV) the cpu. In light load or watching youtube/twitch streams it was really nice. But in games that high pitch will occur and that's sucks.

Too bad because I really liked it overall, build quality and screen was good. I'm looking at GT62VR too and I'm looking forward to see what you think about it @Diversion!

 

@Diversion how about the P750DM2? Its a little thinner than the GT60, has a desktop cpu and, from what I've heard, a really good cooling system.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

I get confused with all those Clevo models is there a link to a review?

 

Based on all the accounts I've read of the GT62VR, you're going to like it. As long as an extra pound or two doesn't bother you. (At least it's not 7-9 lbs...). I'm definitely getting the GT62VR + 1070 when I finally upgrade.

 

Hey guys a quick question... There is an application from MSI to check any updates of software, bios, drivers, etc?

BTW. I have just updated the bios for a version released yesterday and I suffer for like 30 min (the laptop did not turn on for a while)... So after unplugging several times... Finally turn on... For a moment I thought was dead.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

Here's the most recent Clevo review at Notebookcheck.com . NBC are pretty good about covering new Clevo models, so if you are looking for one check out what they have, and watch for new ones weekly.

They usually start out as a German original, then come later as an English translation, their fresh off the press when in German, I use the Chrome built in Google translation.

Test Schenker XMG U727 (Clevo P870DM3-G) Notebook
Florian Glaser , 09/10/2016
http://www.notebookcheck.com/Test-Schenker-XMG-U727-Clevo-P870DM3-G-Notebook.173373.0.html

 

I dont think this specific model has been reviewed yet, atleast i havnt found a single review yet...

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

Took some measurements on the GS63VR:



1948.6 grams = 4.29592764 lbs

18.38 mm = 0.72362205 inches

As for the weight, I'm certain MSI is measuring a unit WITHOUT the m2 ssd and mechanical drive.. A mechanical 2.5mm drive is adds quite a bit of weight believe it or not. Still a very light machine, beating out the GS60 easy.

On the thickness side, well, I was trying my best to get a caliper reading that wasn't touching the back felt and got between 18.38mm and down to 18mm in some places. My calipers are accurate because they measure my Macbookpro at exactly .71" which is Apple's claim. I'm not sure why MSI says these are .69" thick but the specs are wrong. Close though! Still a very thin unit to have such immense power crammed in.

Now i'm off to return the GS63VR to Best Buy!

 

Yeah sounds exactly like the two GS63VRs I tried. the CPU side fan is whiny/high pitched and the GPU side is just a wooshing air sound, not much if any high pitched there.. But since I encode a lot of videos which peg the CPU at 100% for hours on end, I couldn't deal with the ringing sound!

 

Did you reset the battery after flashing it? Usually you have to push a little button with a needle.

 

No I didn't... But now is back alive... Thankfully.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

I purchased a gs63vr on the 3rd. It is the one with the 128 gb ssd, 1060 gpu, 16 gb memory etc.. Already having issues. I caught the cpu reaching a temperature of 82 degrees celsius during a 2 hour gaming session.. I knew the machine got hot but, that's a bit excessive. So once I caught the temperature I checked to see if there was any damage done. First, I simply brought up the task manager and right away I noticed there was the system interrupt. So, I monitored it for a while, since it wasn't there before. I caught the interrupt using cpu of up to 37% at points! My concern grew, since I had not altered any software I began to assume it was a hardware problem. My next step was to run the performance monitor. To my surprise, it showed that certain drivers were crashing, and it reported that pretty much all of my hardware (ie cpu, gpu, etc) was in "poor condition". I had never seen that message before while running perfmon /report. I then continued to check all the drivers, run a memory diagnostic, DISM, System file check, all of which reported issues, and yet it was still showing a system interrupt process.. Frustrated, I've completely reset my laptop, it's about to turn back on now. I'm going to re-monitor the performance of the PC and see if any of the benchmarks have changed compared to when I first purchased it (and obviously check for system interrupts). I'll let you all know what comes of all of this, I may be returning it to best buy regardless..even though it will kill me to wait another week for shipping..If it's even available.

Just as a disclaimer I am not extremely fluent with PC's so if everything I just wrote doesn't make any sense and I sound like an idiot let me know..also let me know if there's something else I should be doing to try and resolve this issue..

 

Yep..still system interrupts after resetting the computer. Pretty sure it's a hardware issue..

 

82c isn't hot for a 2 hour gaming session, that's typical for a game of average demand on the CPU.

Often laptop CPU's will run much hotter, at around 93c the CPU will start Thermal Throttling to protect itself.

The maximum safe temperature for the CPU is 100c according to Intel documentation on the 6700HQ and 6820HK, not sure which one you have:

http://ark.intel.com/compare/88969,88967

TJUNCTION 100°C 100°C

TJUNCTION - Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

The CPU will shutdown when reaching that temperature.

I don't know where you are getting the idea that drivers are all crashing. What evidence do you have for that?

Are you getting unexpected system restarts, freezes, display driver crashes, or any other visible reports from applications of failures?

If you are gaming, running applications, and the temperature of the CPU and GPU are ok, as they are so far reported by you, then there is nothing wrong with your laptop, and there is no need to return it

 

Fresh clean format and Windows install fixed the system interrupt issue 100% for me. A lot of OEM Windows installs have this issue on various makes and models. Including my Surface Pro 3 a year ago.

83c is pretty normal though under long game sessions with a triple A game title.

How do you like the fan noise?

 

I'm curious, did you buy another copy of windows or were you able to do a clean install with the OEM copy that came with the machine?

 

Clean install always picks up the product key on these new machines

 

So on modern laptops that come with Windows installed from the OEM, the BIOS has a secure boot and embedded Windows product key in place. In the case of the GS63VR, they come with Windows 10 Home Edition.. So even if you completely format and destroy the data and recovery partitions and fresh install Windows 10 Home (not Pro) the BIOS will automatically activate Windows once it reaches the internet. Although when I formatted fresh and installed, the Windows 10 installer still asked for a Product Key.. Just SKIP that part and it will Activate once you connect to Wifi/Ethernet later. Worked like a charm, in fact, all drivers installed from Windows updates (current versions even!).. The only extra thing i installed was the Dragon Center and Steelseries Engine software and it was just like 100% MSI OEM but without any extra bloat. Worked perfect, no more weird high CPU usage.. I was at 0-3% all the time idling, even with a lot of apps open. I always do this to EVERY laptop I own.. It nets much better battery life too.

Edit: Also make sure you do not turn off Secure Boot or any other settings in the BIOS (F12). You can actually delete and LOSE your product key and will never be able to activate Windows using the MSI product key they provided.. However if you wanted to change to Windows 10 Pro, you'd need your own Pro product key.

 

Yep, a feature of modern UEFI bios and pretty much a requirement on any machines that shipped with pre-installed Windows 8 and newer.

 

Pulling the trigger on the GS63VR this week, what memory modules should I get to move to 32gb? (I need 32gb for Adobe programs, I have 32GB on my current laptop and don't want to "downgrade"...)

 

Hi all, I'm about to buy one of these and after reading through a lot of threads and reviews about this laptop and it seems one of the biggest letdowns is the screen that comes with the GS63VR (such as lack of colour/brightness/black contrast etc.). Does anyone know if this would be rectified by purchasing the 4k version? Still trying to decide between 1080p or 4k.. Cheers!

 

I would go for these:-
https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Tec...d=1473677807&sr=8-5&keywords=ddr4+2400+sodimm

 

Does anyone here have the FHD model? If so, can you please launch HWinfo and tell me what screen part number yours is? I'm looking for both the Best Buy model and one that's sold elsewhere to see if there's a difference. Thanks

 

I had two of the Best Buy ones.. both were the LG model as used in the GT62VR and various other models.

 

Why do they advertise Gen.3 SSD ( meaning NVMe as i think) when all models come with SATA SSD, ? it bugs me how upgrading the m.2 requires full disassembly, i could get over that if only the stick was NVMe so i would not need to upgrade it.

 

Thank you, I was looking at those sticks....

I'd like to know this also.

Unless it's just the Best Buy version, I'm pretty sure they all come with NVME drives. God I hope so?

 

They're just m.2 drives.

 

the description on all models on amazon say that it is SATA, i dont know if they are not accurate and the m2 is NVMe? but again Dave Lee was getting around 300MB speeds.

 

I posted the SSD 128gb m2 readouts already, in no way are those NVMe.. Just normal sata3.

I also expect the 256gb and 512gb SKUs to be also normal sata3 m2.

 

I haven't heard of a single person getting an nvme drive yet. All I have seen were sata

 

SATA speeds. That's frustrating then if they are SATA. Really expecting NVME for this price level...

 

I'm getting my GS63VR tomorrow and hoping it will be a good product.

One question -- should I do a fresh install of Win 10? Or can I manually uninstall any bloatware (if, so which?). I'm leaning toward fresh install, but i'm not sure. If I do a fresh install, do I need to use my own Win 10 key, or keep the recovery partition or something?

Tx

 

Man i wanted this laptop but it is just to much to compromise, more noise, more heat, and less upgradability. guess im just going for GT62 or AsusGL502, probably Asus because 1700$ is my absolute max. That said, the thickness and weight of GS63VR are just amazing to those who value them the most.

 

Yep, I wanted to love this laptop too that I tried two of them.. :/ I didn't like using the machine under gaming, felt a bit too warm for long sessions and of course, entirely vacuum cleaner like fans.

 

MSI does not load a lot of third party software; removing that will be quicker than a clean install of 10 (if you do a clean install of 10, activation should be automated once you are connected to the internet - but back up the recovery image onto a USB before you do anything.

As for the software: Keep whatever you want. You can disable things from startup but keep them installed, by the way; this will lower the impact on your boot time, and you'll still have the software if you need it.

 

So MSI clearly advertises NVME drives on their product page, has a small blurb that NVME drives are optional; yet all of the current configs lack NVME? I don't get it....

 

Well the m2 slots are NVMe capable.. Usually those fancy looking graphics and product pages are created way before the actual decisions what SKUs will come out when they go to market. That's why the best bang is the 128gb model so you can get a much faster one later. Although you have to break the warranty seal to get to it.. which is another thing I don't like about MSI. They discourage upgrading ram and drives which is sort of like a way to get you to upgrade your machine down the road instead of getting inside it.

 

But, is that single slot a combo M.2 SATA III + M.2 PCIE x4 as advertised, or M.2 SATA III only as reported by owners so far?

 

I think the slots are PCIe (NVMe) capable, MSI is just saving cost by putting a SATA based M.2 SSD in there which is not excusable in a $1500 laptop.

 

Seems like they are mixing versions of stuff.. The whole product info page is all fluff and should be taken with a grain of salt.. Most of it is true but the drive setup is completely way off :/

 

Yup. 4k screen isn't 100% adobe rgb either

 

Lisa from notebook review or whatever her youtube channel is called showed 45db in games for both GS63VR (1060) and GL502 (1070)

 

I guess you'll have to find out first hand.. Just hope I don't find you unhappy and say "Told you so" because I think these are loud on ridiculous levels.

 

Now I'm concerned. I mean beside the ASUS ROG 502 and the MSI Stealth I don't see any other compact 15 inch 10xx laptops...are there better options?

 

The MSI GE62VR is a decent compromise.. Around 5 lbs but has bigger fan(s).. About the same price as GS63 .. Otherwise maybe one of the new Clevo/Sagers with a slightly thicker body but no .. Nothing as light and thin as the GS63.. Not until the Razer comes out but I doubt that will be any quieter.. Maybe enough though. I have no experience with the Razer.

 

Is there a way to reduce fan noise by under volting or under powering the CPU and GPU by 5-10% in the power settings or in the BIOS, and would it result in lower fan noise?