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

My F key is making any annoying click everytime I press it which none of the other keys have. Overall it's a nice machine, but I think I am going to probably get the bigger Dominator 211 as I found I really need the 980m. WoW at 1080p/Ultra was not always as fluid as I would have liked it to be (also, it might be a bad panel or I may be more sensitive to it but I was having noticeable motion blur in a number of my games with the PLS panel)

 

That was exactly what I was thinking as well, since I had the money I wanted to buy something branded, ended up completely disappointed LOL

But do let me know if you find a good brand especially one that has a good after sales service, after being given a run around by the reseller and/or manufacturer during the RMA process a good post sales service is a must for me now

 

We resellers test all our units before shipping

 

Well, I'm not so sure about that because my GS60 came defective even though the reseller claimed they did a 72 hour test.

Do you test sager laptops before shipping them? if so what kind of test?

 

Depends if the machine requires work from us, if not it gets tested by sager and then goes to you.

The stresses of shipping (physical knocks and large changes in temperature) can make faults appear that lab testing would find difficult to replicate.

We test any machine that we work on ourselves.

 

Thanks Kevin and Meaker!



EDIT : btw does anyone have any advice on good M.2 drives?

 

So which machines do you actually work on? just curious

Also, my GS60's defect was obviously not shipping related .......

 

Everything but sagers that require no work from us.

 

Hey guys so after lots of back and forth I settled on the gs60-064. That would be the 2k (FHD) panel with the 970m at 6gb vram. I've ordered through XoticPC (which I've heard primarily good things about) and I'm having them put in two 256gb ADATA m.2 SSDs in raid 0 for my OS and games, and a Crucial mx200 500gb SSD for everything else. 16gb of Crucial Ballistix 1833 MHz RAM and a color calibration and gel repasting (IC Diamond) to round it out.

Seeing some (kinda) horror stories about defective units so hopefully I get lucky and avoid that. Barring such things, what do you guys think of this build?

From my research it seems SSDs draw considerably less power and generate less heat than HDDs, and that two smaller drives will actually draw less power than a single larger drive with the same amount of space (i.e. two 256gbs draw less than a single 500). So I figured an all SSD drive set up plus the regular 1080p panel would give me a bump on my battery life. I'm really only looking for maybe 4 hours of web browsing/media playing and maybe 2.5 hours with some gaming mixed in. Any longer than that and I won't have a problem reaching for the power cord.

How is the battery life when you're NOT gaming? Again, I've read the FHD panel is noticeable kinder to the battery. And if I turn it off, how long does it take to go from say 20% to full power?

Appreciated it everyone

 

You won't see 4 hours or even close to it, 2.5-3 is all you'll get. Gaming you'll be closer to 1 if using the 970m while on battery. Know that now if it's a deal breaker. For me it's not, so no big deal as I much prefer the lighter weight and easy portability, but for others it is.

I'm running 2 SSD's in mine instead of the HDD. This slim chassis just doesn't have the battery capacity to get even close to 4 hours even without the HDD.

Great machine otherwise, this is my second GS60 (bought an initial 860m version, loved it so much I upgraded to the 970m version) and I have no complaints on the build quality with either. Solid machine with an awesome keyboard and screen (I've got the 1080p version).

 

Yeesh. Okay I mean I've heard of people getting 5 hours with just really basic tasks, low brightness and such. Though actually I tend to keep my brightness higher than average so. Meh. It should be fine. It seems almost none of these gaming laptops do very well with the battery anyway, expect maybe the new Razer blade. But I don't like much else about it.

I'm not even traveling that much I just don't like going off on my own to play, I'd much rather sit in my bed when my wife and game while we chat, so being tethered isn't even that big of a deal. Just like being able to move around the house with it and play/surf wherever. So having a few hours without having to constantly move the power brick is nice but not a deal breaker. Maybe I can get a second brick to keep somewhere else in the house.

Anyway thanks for the reply. The battery life is a harsh but acceptable trade off for everything else I love about this laptop.

 

Sounds like your usage is similar to mine, I bought a second power brick (I actually bought the Razer one as it's a bit smaller and lighter and uses the same plug) and go between the two around the house and use the Razer brick for travel and taking to the office.

5 hours is totally unrealistic and I can't see how even possible. If it was true, it was with screen off, wifi/Bluetooth off, keyboard backlight off, cpu undervolted very heaviliy and limited to bare minimum clocks, all while sitting idle ha. This laptop is lucky to get 3 hours under basic usage. That's not a knock against it, as it simply is what it is, but 5 hours isn't even close to reality. Lots of bad info on the web for sure.

This machine is for easily transporting place to place and a pleasure for mobile use like you describe.... just needs to be plugged in.

Enjoy your new machine!

 

Thanks man, appreciate the info. Yeah I heard of people using the razer brick, where did you get it?

Oh, and if you're down to 10 or 15 percent battery and your turn your GS60 off, how long does it take to get back to 100%?

Gonna get a new tablet soon so this will used agonist exclusively for gaming, which nobody will hey more than 2½ hours on any laptop.

 

Yup, I've never seen 5 hours with mine, not even close, where did you hear 5 hours from?. Gaming will be less than 1 hour on battery alone. And yes you can use razer blade charger (as it is also 150W), you can buy it from razerzone but it's expensive tho, see link below

http://www.razerzone.com/store/razer-150w-power-adapter

although I'm not sure if you can use the laptop on your lap as it gets hot, unless you have some pad.

As for the SSD config, for me personally I would get a bigger capacity 2.5" SSD and leave the m.2 alone because:
1. RAID doesn't really help with random 4K accesses, i've tried this myself, it helps with sequential, but sequential seldom happens, unless you hibernate or doing some big file accesses I think
2. I'm against RAID 0 especially for the risk, if one drive fails all data will be gone
3. m.2 SSDs get hot because they don't have casings to act as heatsinks
4. Larger SSDs usually mean higher speed, so I would personally have one 128GB m.2 (the stock config) but replace the HDD with 1TB SSD

well, that's just my personal opinion enjoy your new laptop

 

Well most of the 5 hour claims I saw came from this thread actually lol.

I didn't know that about the m.2s and heat cause of no casing. That has me a little worried.

I studied a lot about raid, I was originally going to do a 500gb ssd for OS and games and another 500 for everything else, but I learned that two smaller SSDs draw less power than a single larger one so I went with two 256gb m.2s and figured why not, put em in raid, see what it's like. I'll have my OS backed up on a USB flash drive and the only other thing on there will be my games.

I did switch the 2.5 HDD for a 500gb SSD. Appreciate the breakdown. Initially I was expecting too much from a gaming laptop but I have more realistic expectations now and I think this will meet them comfortably.

Most of the games I want to play are older games at ultra settings so it will be interesting to see how the heat and battery life work out with them.

 

Don't worry too much, just enjoy it I'm an SSD engineer and we measure the temperatures of our SSDs with and without casings, that's how I know that the casings are actually the heatsinks, but you shouldn't worry. On a side note, there's a cool video about the heatmap of an m.2 SSD, you might want to check it out



Puget systems is another clevo builder (not sager reseller) but their choices are very limited, just FYI.

 

Frickin cool man. Appreciate it. Never had a machine line this before, or spent this kinda is money on anything like this. So I'm a little apprehensive. Thanks again man (cool video as well)

 

Any word how the new EC firmware changes the fan schedule? Here's the changelog:

1.Fix keyboard repeat rate issue
2.Modify GPU Fan table follow Thermal team request.

This is for the GS60 2QE -64 variant.

 

hey! i live in the uk too. dropped you a message. let me know if you're interested!

 

Just updated mine, haven't had time to try a game yet using the GPU, but I swear the CPU fan is running more than it did before... I'll have to take a look at the tables, but seems to be at 3300 much more often with basic usage as opposed to 2800.

 

Hello, I'm not an owner and I know this is an owner thread, however I was wondering if I could get some advice since a lot of you are familiar with this laptop.

I was planning on buying a new laptop within the next few months (I hope to have a laptop in my hands by late may) and I've been trying to decide what laptop to purchase. I have liked the general design and look of the GS60 after I got my hands on a friends GS60 with a 860M, and was thinking of maybe buying an updated version with the 970M for myself. I plan to use whatever laptop I purchase hopefully for the next three years, and I wish to be able to play new releases at a smooth frame rate at low-medium settings three years from now.

I've basically narrowed my choices down to a GS60 Ghost Pro-066, GS70 Stealth Pro-097, Sager/Clevo P650SE, or a Gigabyte P35X V3

I like the GS60, however I don't really know how future proof it is, and as there are some sales on some of those items listed above if I should purchase one now, or wait until may for maybe something else to pop up. Could someone please give me some advice? Thank you in advanced!

 

Future proofing is a bit tricky, it depends a lot on what games will be produced and whether you'll play them. Although there are those cycles of product launches that you should take note of, e.g., the 2014 razer blades now sell for $1789 on amazon, a $600 price drop since the launch of the 2015 model just a few weeks ago.

For me the better question is whether a laptop is upgradeable and also reliability and customer support, I have to warn you that MSI customer support is not that good I've dealt with them a few times. As for reliability I've only had the laptop for 6 weeks, although my first unit was defective.

As for upgradeability GS60 is not upgradeable at all, GPU and CPU are both soldered to the mobo. Also GS60 mobo is upside down, opening it for a simple repaste or adding an SSD alone is a real chore.

Also GS70 screen I believe is TN unlike GS60's PLS(or IPS) . As much as possible, try playing around with these laptops before purchasing them, some things are only obvious hands on and make sure you get a reseller that handles returns flawlessly, it's a big investment after all.

 

I think in the end I'm going with the GS60, I've had them in my hands, and to my eyes the GS60 was the clear winner in terms of build quality. The design of the GS60 just spoke to me, and I feel like if I get something else, I'll regret it. Honestly, I'll probably try to play some new titles, but seeing as it is right now, I'll probably just end up playing a lot of CS:GO, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal for me. Also within that three year time frame, I'll probably attempt to build a custom tower (or get someone to do it for me)

I used to run a tower with very low specs, and I managed to run that for about six years and it was absolutely the slowest machine ever by the end of that, so I think that I won't be too disappointed if I get some poor performance a few years down the road with the GS60. Honestly, 16GB RAM , and a 970M with 6GB VRAM is plently for me, I don't play that many graphic intense games either way (I do, for like a week and then I go back to CSGO) Thanks for the input, I think I'm going with the GS60.

 

Hi guys I returned my GS60 in the return window as I was unsure I had got the right version. I want it mainly for gaming. Is the 1080p or 4k screen better for gaming. The only difference in the machines is 16gb Ram and 4710HQ in the 4k or 8gb Ram and 4720HQ processor in the 1080p.

My thinking is that 4k screen I wouldn't need anti-alaising?

Are newer models due out soon?

Thoughts appreciated.

 

For gaming you would be mostly putting it to 1080p anyway since 4k with no AA is still far more intesive than 1080p with 2x or 4x AA.

 

Hi folks, I have read countless threads on fan speed both here and MSI's forum. I just bought the GS60-064 system and I was wondering if anyone had any luck with non-BIOS based methods to control the fan speed? Also, is there a fairly detailed howto on flashing the BIOS to correct the constant fan noise during low temps (below 60C).

I have tried Pherein's app which does cut the fan off, but it ramps back up after 1-2 seconds and then goes back to its normal hum.

Is Svet's tool the only route to take to get it corrected? If so, for those who have had it done, does it work well? For example, how long can you do things like web browsing w/o the fans coming on?

Thanks

 

Ghost Pro 064 owner here. I have a thing that I wonder about:

The GTX970M switches on randomly during Win 8.1 use such as browsing or opening file explorer. This is evident by the power button sometimes turning orange and the fans spin up. Is this normal?

Also the fan speed never drops below 2600 rpm.

 

That seems normal mine does the same

 

Hello. Yes, Svet's tool is the only way to modify the CPU and GPU fan tables. You should know that the fan has a hard limitation that svet's tool can't modify and that is that the fan has no intermediate speeds between 0 rpm and about 2800rpm (which is loud). So, most of us who use Sver's tool keep the fan completely off until 60ºC. That keeps the laptop silent for about 80% of the browsing time, depending on room temperature, temperature of the chassis and surrounding airflow.

I wish it was possible to have the spin at about 500 rpm when it hits 50ºC, but it's just impossible. It's 2800rpm and higher or nothing. This is, to me, along with the trackpad, the main flaw of this notebook.

 

The fan will have a minimum voltage to spin.

 

If it's too low then the fan won't spin at all, therefore it needs to have a minimum amount of voltage.

 

Hi All

I've just picked up a GS60 2QE-247UK and am looking to upgrade the stock (128GB) SSD.
Does anyone what socket I need? I see mSATA mentioned in the product description but M2 in others....

Anyone know for sure which one I'll need?

Thanks

 

This MSI FAQ entry is what you are looking for (it's M2, B Key Type 2280):

http://www.msi.com/faq/nb-1117.html
http://www.msi.com/pic/faq/10015790@2015-0327-1146-588398@faq_0000000001117_en.pdf

 

Awesome, thanks qnnb!

 

Was thinking of messing with the ECC for the first time to cut the noise. Couple questions though. I've read that setting the fan speed to 0% can hurt your fan. Not really sure how that's possible but I was wondering if you heard the same thing. Maybe those people are overly paranoid. Also, from looking at the tool, I'm modifying the latest EC profile on MSI's website. It looks like there are 3 separate profiles for the CPU fan. Is that normal? Do I change them all?

 

Setting the fan to 0% will cause it to start and stop a lot. I think that could reduce the fans lifetime. I can tell from my experience that this is the case but for me the fan stays off a lot too which is nice.

I've got 2qe gold 3k and used the Svets tool to modify the newest ec available from MSIs site, and it worked like a charm. I edited the first cpu rows and copied the rows to the other two so that they all have same values.

I just did put the first to 0c and 0% and next step all the way to 64c and 44%. For the rest of the steps I did just put some linear values. That keeps the fan off nicely in normal desktop use. Running the cpu in high temps may reduce the lifetime but well.. atleast i do like it quiet.

I havent had time to experience with it more. It's said that you can't start the fan with lower speed than 43% or something, but results may vary. I haven't tried lower than 44% myself. Good luck with your ec modding! Cheers.

 

Even if you can reduce the fan speed to 0% the temp will rise so quickly and the sudden full throttle of the fan will simply become an annoyance to the user.
GS60 is an ultrabook that can play games where many others cannot, thus everyone who wants it will have to sacrifice something else.

 

In my own testing with the 965M variant and the 4720HQ I set the fan to kick in at 57 (below that is at 0%) and with light loads the temperatures fluctuates between 52C and 55C so the laptop is totally silent and the chassis just warm when you touch it.

Given the thin profile the cooling of the GS60 is very efficient.

 

What if you put system under load? Such as gaming.

 

You only change the Fan curve for the lower temps (laptop idling or light loads ) so when the laptop is under load (gaming) thermally behaves same as before, same Fan speed.

 

I see, did you use Svet's tool to make this change? Or someone else's firmware?

 

Svet's tool, highly recommended.

 

Yup, it's awesome! ^^

 

Hello,
I've seen a discussion about elan touchpad drivers some time ago. I've got something to add.
Default installed driver is bad indeed, so I've tried the samsung one. It was no good either. Mostly because of cursor jumping on clicks no matter what sensitivity I've set. Then I've installed most recent(11.13.11.4) driver from MSI site and in terms of sensitivity it is the best of all I've tried - no jumping, tap registered when expected and so on. The only feature I missed was the momentum(inertia).

Long story short, I figured out how to enable it and many other hidden options.
1. Open ETDSetup.ini which is in C:\Program Files\Elantech folder by default. Find all

Code:

HKLM,"%ServiceRoot%\Elantech\SmartPadDisplay",Momentum_Display,%REG_DWORD%,0

lines and replace 0 with 1.
2. Open regedit and set "Momentum_Display" value to 1 in three places

Code:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Elantech\SmartPadDisplay]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Elantech\SmartPadDisplay]
[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-3053734574-2691855898-3428816041-1001\Software\Elantech\SmartPadDisplay]

not sure if the last one is the same for all, so you might have to search for the third entry.
3. Reboot and open Smart Pad Configuration window, you'll see the momentum option appeared in the third tab.

It well may be that you don't have to change the values in all the places, but this is how it worked for me.

There are a lot more hidden options to enable, like 4 finger gestures or Grab(whatever it means). It can be done in the same way.

And finally here are my ETDSetup.ini and registry export with all hidden options enabled
https://app.box.com/s/uqbvinyu4b1pinyxymqkoeh91jo7ysiv

 

I´ve been testing the MSI GS60 QE (GTX 970M 3GB) vs the MSI GS60 QD (GTX 965M 2GB).
This might be interesting for people like me who are trying to decide between the 970M version and the 965M version.

Both GPUs come clocked according to NVIDIA ref clocks.

GeForce GTX 970M 1280 shaders @ 924 - 1038 (Boost) MHz 192 Bit @ 5000 MHz
GeForce GTX 965M 1024 shaders @ 924 - 950 (Boost) MHz 128 Bit @ 5000 MHz

The difference in performance and heat development is very big. Both laptops tested in Sports mode.

Unigine Valley Benchmark DX11 1080p Ultra quality setting no AA

GTX970M :
Avg FPS 64.6 ( min 28, max 116). Score 2702
Thermals: GPU 87C CPU 65C

GTX965M :
Avg FPS 38.4 ( min 20, max 69. Score 1608
Thermals: GPU 73C CPU 63C

This difference in performance gets translated to Far Cry 4. The 970M can maintain a smooth framerate close to 60fps (with some drops)
at 1080p at the very high quality setting while the 965M needs to downgrade to medium to achieve the same smoothness.

Worth noting, in High or Very High Afterburner reports the game asks for 2500Mb of video memory so the frame buffer in the 965M
is always at 100%. At the Medium quality setting the game requires 1142Mb of video memory.

Thermals playing Far Cry 4 15 minutes :

GTX970M:
GPU 85C, CPU 72C

GTX965M:
GPU 73C, CPU 71C

The 970M can be set in Comfort mode in MSI Dragon center. This will reduce performance about a 15%, but the laptop will run a bit cooler, 82C GPU 68C CPU and it will still run the game much smoother than the 965M.

The keyboard/palmrest feels at a similar temperature in both laptops despite the 970M getting hotter. The top left part of the chassis, gets considerably warmer in the 970M version.

The sound profile is louder in the 970M, however for a long gaming session headsets are required in both.

 

So I had the joy of replacing my rear screen protector of my Z3c and I did a little test with an idea I had. I used my dremel to cut the old one down to the right width and tried it on the trackpad of the GS60. Unfortunately I got a little greedy and cracked it a little when I tried to buff an edge but I was able to stick it on and try it out for a couple hours. I have to say this has a premium feel and it would be awesome if they actually made them the correct size! The friction is similar to a smartphone with oleophobic glass. It's actually almost the same feel as the Aorus X3+ was. My fingers glide pretty well and scrolling is smooth. The adhesion is ok but wasn't perfect since I just took it off my phone. That could be why it looks dark in some spots and not others, but it also might be because the trackpad isn't a smooth surface. It's also nearly impossible to cut tempered glass perfectly unfortunately so I had to settle for jagged edges since it's not a perfect fit. I'm too afraid to close my lid and scratch the screen though so Ill be taking it off shortly. Glad I did the test though because now I know at least it's a viable idea.

I got this idea a while back though and I even got it quoted with a Chinese vendor on Alibaba. The piece price was $1.79 per protector but I had to buy in quantities of 500 which is a no-go for me. I was hoping for 50 since I could sell the rest on ebay but they wouldn't quote me at that price. So that brings me to you resellers to see what you guys think? I know selling 500 for the GS60 alone is probably a waste, but you guys would know more than I would if the GS70 and previous models share the same mediocre trackpad as this one. If they do, any chance one you you guys would be willing to try this as a mod? Not sure what others would be willing to pay, but I'd say $10 is fair or $15 installed.

 

Hi all,
I've got mine, Ghost Pro Gold FHD - 970M edition (2QE-041FR), since 4 months and I'm really happy !
I have a small clouding on the lower left corner, except that this laptop is awesome

 

hi,
i want to order gs60-2pm, the cheapest model, with fhd i5-4200H. problem that i already read all the relevent reviews concerning the more high end models.
maybe someone knows differences between my model and the the more recent gs60 fhd in terms of keyboard, screen quality (brightness & colors) and m.2 sata upgrade option?
here's the link (changing the language option is up from the right)

http://www.computeruniverse.net/en/products/90567598/msi-gs60-2pmi581.asp

there's another model, maybe better:
http://www.computeruniverse.net/en/products/90546377/msi-gs60-2pci581.asp


thanks

 

hello...I don't know where to post my question so please excuse my mistakes here.
I've just received my GS60 Ghost Pro 064 today and I'm having some issues that really scaring me.
The light indicator at the power button is supposed to show which video card the laptop is using right? But my laptop keeps staying at Orange even when I'm doing nothing. It only turns back to Blue for like 2s when I turn the laptop on or off. I've installed all drivers and updates from MSI. Can anyone please help?

 

Turn on the gpu activity indicator from the drop down options at the top of the nvidia control panel. Open the activity icon at the bottom right of your desktop and look what is keeping the gpu active.

An external monitor will keep the dgpu active for instance.