***The MSI GS60 Ghost Pro 970M Owner's Lounge***

Finally pulled the trigger and ordered a GS60 064 from GentechPC. Got free IC Diamond thermal upgrade to both CPU/GPU, mouse, mousepad, external DVD writer, recovery USB, backpack, Keyboard skin, Protective sleeve, and 3 free games to boot So very happy with my purchase as of now Hope the feeling doesn't change once I get it! My only concerns are poorer battery life than the P35W but I guess thats something I'm going to have to live with. But otherwise, I'm happy to read about fewer reliability/driver issues than the P35W/X, the latter has a ton of them along with Power state BSODs and CPU throttling. Many people have returned their laptop due to . So for now, I feel I've made the right decision. Can't wait to get my hands on it!!

Few other concerns:
1. The glowing Dragon logo on the lid. Any way to atleast turn the light off? I noticed that a reseller was offering the option to have it turned off for 40$. Any way we can do this on our own? Or atleast buy some sort of a shield sticker to cover it when at work? I'm a doctor, so feel rather awkward taking it to the Hospital

2. Any way one can have a custom fan profile which can turn off the fan at idle, so that it can be quieter? I understand this was done for the 870M version. Can it be done for the 970M? Could the constantly spinning fan be one of the causes of a lower battery life?.....because then we can improve idle battery life a little if we can turn the fan off.

3. Is it easy to take off the bottom lid, just to periodically clean the laptop from the inside? Any wires/ribbon cables that are in the way and must be removed and then put back in place? I will be going to India for a few months, where its really dusty, so will need to do that once a month.

4. Anyone have any issues after upgrading the drivers/BIOS, etc from factory versions? Many people had them in the P35X forums, so was wondering what the case is with the GS60. Thankfully I haven't heard of any yet, but I guess I'll still feel comfortable running it with factory versions initially.

Thank you for your inputs!!
Regards

 

Stop flooding with duplicate posts.

 

On the y50, it was stuck at 48Hz with all resolutions. I tricked it once into operating at 60Hz but confirmed with a dslr that it was skipping frames. So I assume the panel is only capable of 48Hz, regardless of bandwidth. That was a deal breaker for me.

According to others, the gs60 has the same 4k panel as the y50, so it's safe to assume the issues are the same. Check out the y50 threads, as there are hundreds of posts about the screen. Beware because there are also thousands more posts complaining about the crap TN fhd panel as well.

 

I saw some people in this thread talking about how the 3k are going be discontinued and I have a question

I will be sending my 3k gs60 860m to the RMA sometime next month because of the wifi issues.

I dont really know how RMA works or how they are going to fix the problem and I don't know if they would for some reason give me a new laptop but if they do, will there be some problem because of the screen?

 

I don't think there's any chance they will send you a new laptop. They have spare parts for everything.

 

Can anyone do the BF4 test for me please I requested a few posts ago?

 

There's a place in the UK where I live selling the 3k version still. Looks like w better choice than the newer 4k version, or am I missing something?

 

1080p FTW!

 

I was originally looking at the 4k versions as well, but the lower refresh rate made me go with the 3k-046. Also these are the only glossy screens, and I prefer that kind. I doubt you will be disappointed with the resolution if you want to get the 3k. Not sure about the 4k,but mine has hot a bit of backlight bleed around the edges, but imo it's bearable. The high resolution will likely force you to use Windows scaling either way. Also, for me anyways, if you scale the resolution down to 1080 for higher frames, it looks about the same as native 1080, but some people may notice a larger difference than me.

 

The other thing is some games will be quite playable at 3k whereas 4k is just too much for the 970m.

 

And I like glossy too

 

True, I can get at least 60 on many games, and get 45-50 on max settings in the more intense ones like Far Cry 4 and Assassin's Creed IV.

 

That's pretty good. Trying to decide between this and the XPS 15 and the MacBook Pro retina. All nice. If the other 2 had 900 series Gpus is probably go for them but they don't. I don't need a 970m but it seems like a bad idea to buy a 750m, 2 years old

 

Hey guys, stuck between getting either the 3K or 4K version of this laptop, funnily enough the 4K version is cheaper than the 3K...

I was going to opt for the 4K version, but the 48 Hz issue has made me think twice, is it noticeable? Will I notice my mouse stuttering when moving it about etc? And lets say I run a game at 100fps (Dota 2), what difference is the refresh rate going to do? Also if I run the game at 1080p, will the refresh rate stay at 48 Hz?

 

If you are primarily going to be gaming, I'd go with the 3K or the 1080p over the 4K for the simple fact the 4K is always stuck at 48hz regardless of resolution. Yes, Geno confirmed that even downscaled to 1080p, the 4K screen is limited to 48hz. I personally went 1080p, but if they had a 6GB 3K option I'd have bought that.

I doubt you'd notice much difference in basic Windows usage (although some claim it is noticeable when dragging windows around etc), but in fast paced games it will be like always being stuck at 48 frames per second opposed to 60. Many may never even notice but others it will drive crazy.

 

Anyone own this laptop and have BF4 installed?

 

Just curious, what exactly are you trying to determine? From your previous post, you have returned 2 GS60's along with multiple other similar laptops... What is it you are hoping to see?

I've got BF4 installed and it plays fantastic, but I'm sure you've already played it on these laptops so know the performance first hand?

HTWingnuts great review should help fill in any additional questions with performance, throttling, temps etc.

 

It plays great and yes I have played BF4 on it.

The only problem is that I did not know about XTU at the time.

What I really need to know is how BF4 plays on the GS60 on Ultra with 4xmaa enabled without VSYNC.

Could you install Intel XTU
Then add these four settings
1. CPU Temp
2. GPU Temp
3. Thermal Throttling
4. Power Limit Throttling
Then play BF4 for like an hour
5. Then take a screen shot of XTU and post please.

I just want to know if BF4 makes this laptop thermal throttle in anyway.

 

Which in your opinion do you feel is more future proof? 3K or 4K? Do you think the 3K would have slightly better battery life than the 4K? How much battery life are you getting (general use, browsing etc)?

I didnt realize the FPS and Hz were the same thing :O

Thanks!

 

1080p is the most future proof.

 

The Refresh Rate (or Hz as you'll see it written) is the amount of times the screen itself is "updated" or refreshed each second. Standard is 60Hz, or 60 times per second. You'll see some TV's or screens that are 120Hz or even 240Hz, which means that the image refreshes that much faster, so scenes look more "fluid".

The problem with the GS60's 4K screen is it is only updated 48 times a second, so things can appear jumpier and less fluid than a comparable 60Hz screen you'd be used to. 60Hz is the standard for fluid, and why we all shoot for 60FPS in games. With this particular 4K screen, even if you are getting 60-100+ FPS, it won't "appear" as smooth as it would on a 60Hz screen because you will essentially be seeing 48FPS instead of 60FPS.

Battery life isn't great on this laptop period due to the slim size and smaller battery, but I rarely use a full charge with my usage. When I have, it's around 2.5-3 hours or so depending on what I'm doing. I doubt you'd tell any difference between the screens battery wise.

If you want something higher than 1080p (which on this laptop is a very high quality screen), I'd go with the 3K simply because it runs at 60Hz. Either way, for most newer games you'll be playing at 1080p to get the best performance as 3K or 4K is still a bit tough for mobile GPU's.

 

Would anyone who has modded their EC firmware for the fan to stay off until 60C (or similar) mind sharing their modded firmware? It is apparently possible to do that (stop the fan completely until a certain temperature) but not make it run at lower RPM.

Its really unfortunate what MSI has done with the fan, the laptop is so great otherwise, but I can't understand why the CPU fan has to run all the time and at such a high RPM at that :/

 

Is the GS60 annoying unless you do this mod?

That is nice that their is a mod out there that let's you do that if it is annoying.

 

Yes, please. If anyone can share this, that would be fantastic.

 

If you are interested in getting his tool, here it is.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=148273.0

 

I have the -064 (1080p, 6GB VRAM) model for 3 weeks now.... so far so good, no problems. However, the build quality leaves a lot to be desired.

- the removable base is quite flimsy / flexible
- the LCD screen, around the corners (not the hinges) have gaps when there is slight flexing to open/close lid... makes me uneasy as you would clearly open and close the lid several times a day

 

Hello,
I wrote a few days ago asking about choosing between 3k and 1080 or even 4k. Now I am at the final step before purchasing and I am between these models of GS60 2QE

Model - Resolution - Graphics Card Ram Size - SSD
1) 046 - 3K - 3GB - 128x2
2) 064 - 1080 - 6GB - 128x2
3) 044 - 1080 - 3GB - 512

It could be like Voting... Help please... What would you buy?

 

Well, I did buy the 3k-046,so I'll cast my vote for that, I liked the higher res glossy screen and the RAID-0 SSDs.

 

Are you adding a 512GB SSD to the 044? That model here I believe only has 12GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. Maybe its different in different regions?

Main difference is the screen and what you'll be doing with it mostly. You can see which version I went with ha, but the 3K version would be a close contender. I just wish they'd have put the 6GB VRAM with the 3K and it would have been a no brainer. As it is, if you do go 3K, just beware of working around Windows scaling issues (I deal with it on my SP3's 2,160 x 1,440 resolution). While not the end of the world, definitely needs improvement by Microsoft and developers. For these reasons, I stuck with the 1080p version.

Also, for anyone that does a clean install of Windows on their GS60's, for some reason MSI doesn't include all the utilities on their support page. You can find the missing utilities on the comparable GS70's support page however. The main one I was needing that was missing is the Dragon Gaming Center, which also adds support for the "SHIFT" performance function (FN-F7).

Another note, be aware the Killer LAN/WLAN drivers are not installed by default like Intel drivers are, so you won't have network access until you manually install the Killer drivers. So, I recommend having them handy beforehand or access to another computer/flash drive etc.

 

I found this one which has an option for SSD drive.
Amazon.com: MSI Computer GS60 GHOST PRO-044;9S7-16H512-044 15.6-Inch Laptop: Computers & Accessories

I am starting to think that 1080 would be the best choice. 3k isn't actually a need but more of an extra feature. I hope that I won't miss it. As for the Lan drivers you mean that I have to go to an another pc, download the Lan drivers from MSI support and then using a usb I have to install it to GS60? Did I get it wright?

 

Ahh, so they'll upgrade it for you first.

The note about the LAN drivers was just a note to anyone doing a fresh install of Windows and isn't used to Killer branded hardware... your new laptop will come already setup and ready to go, you won't need to download the drivers unless you reinstall windows for some reason and don't use the restore option. No worries :thumbsup:

Let us know what you decide, either 1080p or 3K screen is a great choice and have their own pros/cons.

Enjoy.

 

Loving the performance of this laptop but the battery life is awful - barely 2 hrs on youtube. Coming from a mabbook pro (8hrs) this is quite a disappointment!!

 

Apple is generally good with power saving on the battery, but that also involves OS mainly in regards to power management.
Also, Macbook Pro has a slightly larger battery than GS60 which only provides few minutes extra.
If you minimize loading and turbo boost on the processor you probably can gain more time on battery mode.

 

Hi all

This is my first post so go easy on me..

I stumbled across this thread while searching for information on the GS60.

After reading (ok, skimming) almost every page I decided that the 4K option wasn't worth it and went for the 1080.

I'm in the UK, so model numbers are different, but I'll have a GS60-2QE 247UK arriving hopefully tomorrow.

I'm a bit sceptical about the specification as the site I purchased it from listed it with a i7-47 20HQ and 16GB RAM. No other shops had this combo listed, only i7-47 10HQ and 8GB RAM, so time will tell what actually arrives!

I'll be using it as a casual gamer but mainly for business use - I'm an IT Contractor so will be running my VM labs on it during the day.

Thanks
William

 

This is what I see from this SKU. Are you sure yours got the new 4720HQ CPU & 16GB?
9S7-16H512-247, MSI GS60 2QE (Ghost Pro)-247UK, 6557262 - Save on Laptops
MSI GS60 2QE (Ghost Pro)-247UK 15.6" 8GB Ram 128GB SSD + 1000GB HDD HDD Webcam | eBay

 

Could be possible, there are i7-4720HQ CPUs starting to pop up everywhere (multiple notebook manufacturers e.g. Gigabyte and Clevo have them already officially listed).

MSI tends to be pretty quick with refreshing their models. I know somebody who ordered MSI GS60 with i7-4700HQ but received i7-4710HQ (it was a model with GTX 870M which got refreshed at the same time when new GTX 970M models came to market).

Here is a link from GTX 965M model leak, also here are multiple MSI notebook models with i7-4720HQ:

Product

Also in Germany already multiple models with i7-4720HQ started to appear:

MSI GS60-2QEUi716SR51G Gold (0016H5-SKU11) in Notebooks & Tablets: Notebooks | heise online Preisvergleich
MSI GS60-2QEUi716SR21 (0016H5-SKU12) in Notebooks & Tablets: Notebooks | heise online Preisvergleich

 

Thanks for the replies Kevin and aqnb..

I had a look at that link, the spec listed when I purchased is the same as 161686 - MSI NB 15.6 GS60 Ghost-265 i7-4720HQ 8x2 128G+1TB W8.1 1c

The actual description on my order is MSI GS60 2QE-247UK 15.6" FHD, Intel Core i7-4720HQ, 16GB DDR3L, 128GB (M.2.SATA) + 1TB 7200rpm HDD, NVIDIA GTX970M 3GB GDDR5, - Windows 8.1

We'll see what is delivered

 

So, NotebookCheck review of MSI GS70 with GTX970M is finally up:

Test MSI GS70-2QE16SR51 Notebook - Notebookcheck.com Tests

Made me see how unrealistic their tests can be. I'm aware many others here kept saying that, still interesting to see how their tests compare to my own experiences. They reported maximum CPU temperature of 98 C and maximum chassis temperature of 68.6 C at the bottom and max 56.3 C at the top.

Bear in mind this was GS70 model, which should be even a bit cooler than GS60 with almost the same components but smaller chassis (their review unit had higher CPU: i7-4720HQ, but that's just 2.6/3.6 GHz vs 2.5/3.5 GHz of i7-4710HQ, still no hot Iris Pro iGPU).

I have never hit such temperatures with my MSI GS60 with GTX 970M. If I remember well my CPU never went over 80 C and GPU never over 85 C in all games or benchmarks I tried.

Chassis was always perfectly fine to touch (I have notebook on the table so I don't know about bottom, but top was definitely never in mid 50s C, I did try touching more places during heavier loads and it was at most mildly warm, maybe low-mid 40s C).

3dmark 11 and firestrike get both CPU and GPU to max mid-high 70s C. Lighter games like Tomb Raider have CPU and GPU in 60s C.

Heavy games like Crysis 3 and Witcher 2 get CPU temperatures in low 70s C, max GPU temperatures in low 80s C (e.g. right now I finished intro of Witcher 2 with ubersampling and everything maxed out, getting max CPU 73 C, max GPU 82 C).

 

Ladies and gentlemen, it has arrived with a 4720HQ

Down side is it arrived with 8GB RAM and not the 16GB advertised

Now I'm going to contact the seller (Overclockers) and see what they say. RAM can be upgraded, CPU can not..

Although I understand that it is a pain in the backside to upgrade RAM on a GS60? Plus there is a "Warranty void if removed" sticker over one of the screws?

Sigh

 

Has anyone managed to buy a 6GB vram 1080p version in uk/europe ??

 

Does anyone know if the cheesy G-Series, Workstation-Series stickers on the MSI notebooks are actually stickers that can be pulled off? Or are they somehow connected to LEDs etc.? These things are really obsolete and annoying.
Also the 2 prominent ridges/lines in the middle of the lid look ugly. What's with all these stupid design decisions on MSI? It makes even Clevo/Sager more attractive. What has become of the simple, flat aluminium brushed finish, and additionally a small MSI logo? We don't need more than that.

On a sidenote I was personally looking forward to an MSI laptop similar to the GS60 with a 965m, however I have now seen in the reviews that it has become much more complicated to access the GPU and CPU for exchanging thermal paste.
I recalled both of them were accessible easily in previous generations by just unscrewing the back lid. But now we need to pull out the whole motherboard, because the RAM, cooler etc. is everything on the backside. A total design failure. Useless and disappointing. My current laptop gets quite hot and if playing games regularly it's required to refresh the cooling paste every 6 months. However with the GS60 model this ain't possible anymore without risking warranty or breaking your laptop when disassembling...

 

I cant find the 3K version on sale in the UK anymore, can anyone?

 

Decal is removable. See here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=9824827

 

Unless you feel really confident with your hardware mounting skills, I personnaly wouldn't try this as a normal people with standard knowledge in laptop. I was also tempted to try this (because this ugly logo... hew!), but I am too scared to dismount the lid !!

 

About glowing dragon logo:

Don't stress too much about the dragon. I used to be a bit concerned about it before buying but I had zero troubles with it once I got the notebook. You are going to see it only very rarely, it's on the side that's facing away from you during the normal notebook use.

Personally I'm much more bugged about ugly font used for the keyboard, it's in your face constantly. But alas, I already learned to live with it

-------

About different MSI GS60 models availability in EU:

3K screen models are supposed to be discontinued (replaced by 4K ones), so that's why there is less and less of them available, they are just selling out existing stocks.

As far as I'm aware no 6 GB VRAM models were available anywhere in EU so far. There will be new SKUs coming in January 2015, may be worth a wait to see if something would appear.

Also new SKUs apparently come with refreshed CPU: i7-4720HQ instead of i7-4710HQ, so one more reason to wait a bit if you were going to buy something right now.

 

Been waiting for my GS60 064 for more than 10 days now. The wait is excruciating!! Its not even been shipped yet (I ordered from GentechPC). Hope I get it in a week, cant wait to test it out

 

Hello guys,

Nvidia was claiming the performance of the 970m within Hitman Absolution, Ultra settings, MSAA 4x = 65 fps.
I did a benchmark with the exact same settings (launching the benchmark from the settings menu) : I only got 40 fps.

I did a repast, got the latest nvidia drivers.

Is it normal or does Nvidia "lied" ? ^^
Thx a lot for your responses !!

 

Your numbers seem ok. NotebookCheck shows average of 41.2 fps for Hitman Absolution on GTX 970M with ultra settings (1920x1080, Ultra, 4x MSAA, 16x AF):

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

Where did you get Nvidia numbers from?

Quick googling showed this AnandTech article with 65 fps, but that's with antialiasing turned off:

AnandTech | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and GTX 970M: Mobile to the Maxwell

 

You don't have to perform a complete disassembly to remove the dragon. If you have something thin enough to pry it slowly while applying a little heat, I bet it would come off. Patience is key because if you go too fast, it will ruin the dragon logo. If you don't care about ruining the logo, just rip it off. Glue might be left behind but it's easy to remove

 

Could the 3K version possibly come back into stock or a 4K 60Hz version?