The Official 1722/GX720 Lounge

Take a look at the new benchmark/temperature data I have in my expanded review. It will give you an idea of temps:

GPU under load
CPU under load
BOTH under load

 

Are your benchmarks with the default thermal pads or with AS5?

 

Default thermal pads.

For the CPU, Shin Etsu (the default compound included) is good stuff.

I also use the stock pad for the Northbridge.

 

For stock, thats pretty dam good, and from the chart i have it ranks highly too.

Do you have an approximate on how thick the thermal pads are elect?

 

Unless I ended up with unintentional cherry picked parts, the system runs very, very cool and quiet.

I actually built it 2 days ago because I had all the other parts on the supply shelf, so I built it to sell, but now I'm hemmin and hawin' and 2nd guessing even as it is listed on Fleabay and it sits on my, "sales," shelf boxed up new waiting for a buyer. I gotta stop looking over at it, lol.

As stated before, all tests were conducted on a flat, level table with zero elevation or additional cooling.

Everything is stock as included.

The CPU compound (Shin Etsu) is as expected. Very thin and cures/bonds with use.

The thermal pads are maybe 1/8" inch if not thinner for the northbridge. The locking/securing system does allow for a varying degree if thickness (or thinness), so you could remove the pads and apply AS5 or another compound if you wished, but the temps are so good under the most brutal of combined GPU/CPU stress test load, I can't see a reason to bother changing them.

 

Yeah they are pretty dam good, there is a brutal stress test i've just come across though, its revealed another stage in the MSI's fan which is quite nice to know, but this test could cook eggs. Its insane.

 

I'm guessing those temps are for a non-oc qx9300...

Anyone oc a qx9300? I imagine it would have insane temperatures...

 

Hmm, im not too sure, the final fan stage in the machine (which you probably wont hear) seems to have enough power to make the MSI take off, you will hear it if the northbridge hits 90C - The northbridges thermal threshold is 100C thankfully.

But the RPM of the fan on that last stage, sounded like it doubled.
Need to figure out how to view fan RPM on the MSI, im so curious to know the run speeds.

 

Those temps are with a mild OC to 2628 (vs. 2533).

 

Electrosoft I seen your Lappy on eBay, Great specs!! Best of luck selling it..

 

Yeah, I configured it, QC'd it, benchmarked it, stress tested it for rock solid stability then boxed it back up. Near whisper quiet under load and really nice. It passed the WoW, "litmus," test on top of that too for the hardcore WoW'er with the right settings. No bad pixels and minimal bleed which is a plus. I'm still debating on whether to keep it, as I only have to get the main house re-roofed and the aux bedroom (which is almost the size of the house), only needs some new tar and resealing.

I finally realize what it is I like about the 1722 keyboard placement. Unlike most laptops that have a small bezel above the keyboard and thus the keyboard always seems to be RIGHT under the screen with an overly large palm rest area that gives no options for wrist flex, the 1722 keyboards are almost center mounted with just the right amount of palm rest area for more flexibility almost like a real keyboard.

I thought I'd share that.

 

Haha, my keyboard is slightly to the right, but only because of the power button , but it is great, it doesnt flex, it just goes with your typing and the large palm wrest area is handy to stick some soft pieces of cloth over so you can use the machine without sweating up the palms for a long period of time.

 

Damn i leave for a bit and all of a sudden theres anothe 10 or so pages, I'm glad to see such ravenous interest in this machine. Got a couple more interesting tidbits for you guys and gals hungry for info, I don't rememer if i posted before with my new proc, but I'm happily running a brand new t9400 i scavenged for a steal off ebay from a hungarian, actual production model none of those eval crap procs. this bad boy loves to oc on the fly from its stock:

1.0U Bios used, Windows XP Pro SP2, and good ol G.Skill standard ram (PC6400, 5-5-5-15)

2527ghz (266 x 9.5)
1066fsb


and with the on the fly oc

3032mhz (319 x 9.5)
1275 fsb'


Vcore remains at stock voltages, 1.10-1.28 depending on speedstep, effective ram speed jumps from 400-478, so if calculated correctly should be ~ddr956, however im still a bit lost in terms of intels overclocking scheme, FSB ram according to CPUZ is a 3:2,
The only real setting i changed was the one in the "super secret bios" where i disabled the autospeed and manually set it to 800. (it likes that better for ocing),

As well as i changed the overclock setting to the second lowest i think.

temps are well within limits as its hit about 65c max, or thats the highest ive seen anyways. for those of you worried about ocing the TDP of these parts are quite high, most being 90-100c so heat isnt really too much of a worry. However id say to not try ocing on thermal pads, they simply cant dissapate heat fast enough, arctic silvers doing the trick for me nicely. Or for those of you who are less inclined to have to periodically repaste (6mos or so) arctic silver ceramiqe if i remember lasts longer though it doesnt cool as well.

Next for those of you in search of wireless Solutions, Atheros AR5006x series cards work quite well in these laptops, with very nice range to boot!.

'm also curious to hear whos tried to fill that extra pci-e slot, anyone get that Turbomemory crap to work? Got a nice version of Windows 7 im anxious to try out.

And lastly a heads up and possible warning to people when it comes to HDD installation, i think the bracket msi gives for the hard drive has barely any clearance and its pretty scarey trying to get that HDD back out (upgraded my 160 to a 500gb YAY!), and ive actually seen someone selling a 1722 cause the broke the sata port on the board.

My solution, and what i suggest to others is a simple one, install the hard drive by itself, and then drop the bracket in over it, with that peice that clips over the hard drive cut off or flattened so it fits between the drive and the side of the HDD bay so it can be removed independently, this way it will still secure the drive, but when it comes to upgrading the drive, youll greatly reduce the chance to snapping that bracket.

im back on the forum so have at me,

oh btw electro, the new bios 1.0U.... any big improvements over the 1.0U bios?

 

I put some OCZ 6400 2 GB modules in, and now some of the BIOS options are missing. I can still get the advanced options, but the RAM speed and overclock options are missing. Anyone else notice this? I no longer have the 533 4 GB kit that was in there to see if the options reappear. It's not a big deal as it's an ID-1, but I was curious...

 

I heard that metalcool pro pads are apparently really good thermal pads, you have to melt them first though thats the thing hehe.

 

Turbo Memory Installed with success in the third Mini-PCI slot.
So the total is TV-Tuner, Wireless and Turbo Memory installed in all 3 Mini-PCI slots are working like a charm with Windows 7 64bits.

BIOS 1.0U is small:

1.Change SLP2.0 to SLP2.1
2.Fixed key <ESC> value when CMOS Quick Boot Disable
3.Disable Power button when flash Bios
4.Change Market name to Marketing name string in setup

 

interesting... i so the third pci-e slot DOES exist, nice, thats the one that supposedly under the keyboard right? i was looking on ebay to see if the pricepoint had changed any, considering getting more and building them for buddies, anyone know how to get to that hidden third slot, id like a bit of info before i go tearing my baby apart.

@drama, man idk about ocz, their ram is insanely picky like omg, you usually need alot of options for that ram to work right, as for the bios option, idk why its gone, if the ctrl-ins doesnt show the same stuff, its possible that it removed it cause the ram only supports one speed. (one of the issues ive seen with ocz style ram, to change the speed you need to have the ability to tickle your bus and whatnot, but it should run at its standard speed. Check cpuz and see what it reports. as long as it performs right then keep it, but for this notebook ive seen a fair share of ocz issues, do your 1722 right and grab a 4gb kit of gskill, this stuff works really really well in this laptop, ill give you my exact part no. "F2-6400CL5D-4GBSQ" grab em on newegg. also remember that 8gb kits are confirmed as working in this laptop too =P

@cat, never heard of those guys, but id be curious to see what cooling potential those pads have, though id never really use it, id much rather do the small upkeep of reapplying AS5 and waiting for it to cure, it keeps my notebook real chill. Which is especially gonna be important for iraq. =[

 

Apparently as good as AS5 if not better in some case, the pads melt as there heated up, and become a permanent solution (but i dont know how hard it would be to get them off, which you probably would want as people release better pastes eventually.)

Can i ask what the timings of the ram are? Im collecting data for the OC thread.

 

Ignore this post

 

Its at 5-5-5-15, respectable for notebook ram, however im bummed theres no way for me to tighten them or tell if its at 1 or 2t, but its prolly defaulted at 2 sadly.

ram seems nice and stable, been on it for a good few months and not a single bsod or lag issue, but the best part is this ram was only $40 for the 4gb kit. That definitely puts it in the for the win category.


and a good piece of news for those of us who like our audio, this optical output supports dolby digital as well as linear pcm, so far ive only seen 48khz, but that could be a limitation of my amp.

Also, has anyone tried a mobile internet card in one of the mini pci-e slots yet? id love to throw a gsm card in there and get some built in 3g action going, especially with HSDPA and HSUPA all over the place courtesy of att, last i had it it was 1.5mps down and 6mbps up, yes you heard me SIX.

 

Hehe, actually auto, you may be in luck as i may have found a tool that can do just that for the ram .

The audio cna be set to a crazy amount too hehe, supports 192000hz out which is pretty dam good .

No internet card for me, although i've ran my phones internet and routed it through the machine before .

RAM tool will be in the OC thread once i've slightly understood it some more
The replacement ram on this machine has timings of six....lol

 

Hi
Sorry but I don't understand exact procedure for activate turbo button in ms 1722 ID2(IE button)

1) flash bios to 1.0U version(latest)
2) flash EC Firmware to 4.29

Is It correct?
DOS process for both flash?

Edit overclock % with Alt+Insert (16%/20%/24%)

Thanks
Regards

 

Give me specs, your ram and processor will determine your oc ability, as for activating it,
1 - flash to latest bios/ec
2 - ctrl+ins and then select your oc amount, start low, dont your machine off too much at first.
3 - boot to windows and then try the oc button, dont do it during boot, cause you might windows off,
4 - cross your fingers and pucker up.

 

Hi
ms-1722 id2 no glare + Q9100 + 2x2GB OCZ PC2-6400 + HDD SEAGATE 2.5" 320GB SATA 16MB 7200rpm + Intel Wifi 5300
For flash bios i must create a boot cd disk ed inser first bios and second time ec firmware?

What is the command for flash in both case?
thanks
regards

 

I just updated my bios this morning.

First, I made a bootable usb drive by following this guide:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29726
(you download the zip file, use the hp program and the boot files)

Then I added the bios update files to the usb drive. (download them from msi)

Then I attach the usb drive to the notebook, went into the notebook's bios, and change the boot order to boot from the usb drive before the internal hard drive.

The notebook will then boot to the usb drive, and you then type "flash.bat" and it then updates the bios. Do the same thing for the EC, but it uses "ecall.bat"

 

well stated bane, that hp utility is more godly that they realize, the same tool and a similar walkthrough was offered in the beginning of this thread.

@dkrang use the bat, dont mess with the exe, way way easier. Also you might want to actually read the readme file man, especially if youre gonna be flashing bioses, it explains that in full detail in there. nerfing your bios is not a fun experience.

as for the actual flashing, i used a memory card, but a flash drive will work too, follow the guide and drop the bios and firmware onto the memory card/usb in folders and then navigate to the folder and run the bat. make sure you got your battery in and its charged, and just leave it alone, it may take a while, it should display a message letting you know its complete or itll auto restart.

 

"Near whisper quiet under load and really nice..." I am wondering if mine has an issue. While surfing and no load the fan is clipping along at a decent hum that I would call intrusive. The thing is ice-cold and the fan really could power down slow. Is there some tweak somewhere that can do that? I have the latest BIOS and Firmware but this still is an issue. When I run Prime95 the fan doesn't really spin up much faster because it is already going pretty fast. Any one have a thought as to what the issue might be?

Thanks!

MSI-1722 ID1
Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor P9600 (6M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB) / 4GB DDR2 800
4GB Intel Turbo Memory / Intel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300
Nvidia 9600GT
WD Scorpio Black 320GB 7200RPM

 

So far ive been unsuccessful in locating a tool that works with the laptop, theres many tools out there but the problem is finding one that can interface with the fan speed controller, which is impossible unless someone maps the actual controller crap, i might know how to dump that but i have no clue what to make of it or how to program fan speed control utilities to interface with it.

 

Can anyone please tell me if they are running vista 64 bit and are able to update their bios and firmware or do I have to switch to 32 bit vista? As of right now, I can't update the bios and firmware because it says I have 64 bit system.

Am I seeing things in the pictures or is there supposed to be red lights around the buttons between the speakers above the keyboard? When I touch the buttons, they have a blue light with no red outlines to the buttons. If there is supposed to be red lights, how do I get them to come on?

Did anyone get MSI stickers with their laptop to go on the top of the laptop and under the screen? I got what seems to be blank stickers.

Thank you all in advance. It is greatly appreciated.

 

Hi guys. I am about to purchase the barebones version of this laptop, and I have a few questions:
Does it come with a dvd burner?
Does it come with wifi?
Can i put a core 2 t9400 in there?
Do i have to buy a separate heatsink, or does it come with one?
Can i put DDR3 ram in there, as PM45 chipset supports it?
Thanks in advance!

oh, and is the 9600m GT mxm upgradeable?

 

Does anyone else have this issue or is my subjective opinion of it not being quiet off base? Does anyone know of a tool to measure fan speed so that we can compare our systems?

 

Nope, this system is a DIY and you will need to supply all parts. The only thing it does come with that you asked about is the heatsink as that is pretty custom to the board/chassis layout.

Yep, but its a great laptop video card for now.

 

So no ddr3? Kinda was expecting that as that was part of the specifications of being a montevina platform laptop. Are we 100% sure on this?

The barebones im looking to by says it comes with the optical drive, so im assuming it burns dvds. As for wifi, I have a mini pci express broadcom card, can i use that? How can i update the bios first without the processor?

Also, has anybody attempted making a Hackintosh out of this laptop? How has build quality and value been?

And between a core 2 t9400 Penryn, or a core 2 extreme x7800 merom XE, which would you pick?

 

12345678910 all my stuff is in the quotes

 

Thanks, youve all been a wealth of help so far. I've got my ram picked out, my processor picked out. Can we overclock the t9400 in this laptop, as well as the 9600m GT? One more question:

How does this laptop compare to the 17" Macbook pro? I see that it has two graphics cards, where as msi Has one? (mbp has 9400m+9600m GT).

 

You can overclock the t9400. To get the best OC, you will need to update the bios to the newest one. My initial bios did not allow me to adjust memory settings, but updating to the newest one did. You can also OC the 9600m gt.

I never used the Macbook pro, but I have heard bad things about Apple video drivers down-clocking the 9600m gt's speed. The msi laptop does not have an integrated card (the 9400m). However, in order to obtain better battery life, the 9600m gt in the msi laptop will reduce its power when on battery.

 

oh forgot to ask. does the barebones laptop come with the intel centrino sticker, or any stickers on the palmrest at all?

 

My barebone came with only two. An "Engery Star" sticker and a "Nvidia 9600m gt" sticker.

 

I am actually considering upgrading to this processor here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Intel-Quad-core-Q9100-QAVK-2-26G-12M-1066MHz_W0QQitemZ250448184380QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Components?hash=item3a4fe0043c&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A15|66%3A2|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

What do you think of that?

 

It's good. If i was getting a quad, I would personally get a q9200 or the qx9300.

 

Open your notebook on the bottom and boot to Windows and see if the noise is the fan or a mild, annoying hum. Put the system under load and see if the noise changes/disappears.

My daughter's ID1 had an audible hum from heatsink/fan that a very *very* small drop of WD40 was able to eliminate completely. Another unit later on also had a squeaky fan with the same problem that a small drop of WD40 eliminated.

 

lol not trying to break the band here

 

Depending on the model, it may come with a DVD burner. Most ID2's come with the DVDRW drive. Most ID1's do not.

These are whitebook/DIY units, so you need to supply a WiFi Card, HD, memory, and CPU.

Yes, you can put a T9400 in there.

No you don't need a separate heatsink. It should come with one.

The PM45 chipset supports DDR2 and DDR3. It is at the discretion of the OEM which memory they wish to support. the 1722 supports DDR2 and is physically incompatible with DDR3.

The 9600M is technically upgradable, but you need to find a MXM-II form factor card, and right now the 9600M or 4850M in the 725 is about it. You may also need a different heatsink for the GPU. Note, an MXM-III card WILL fit (I tried it myself), but that's where it started and ended.

 

How do i tell which ID it is? All i know is its red and black.

 

100% sure on the DDR3.

Yes, the two drive options for the 1722 chassis is DVDRW or DVDRW + BR Reader.

Hackintosh if totally off limits, but the ability to pick and choose components lends itself well to that endeavor.

T9400 all the way.

As for comparisons to a Macbook Pro 17". I've actually had a chance to compare them side by side, and the 1722 is thicker, but weighs less than a pound more than the 17" MBP. Also, due to its ~1" thickness, the MBP Heats up......a lot. Under load, the top bezel and keyboard to the left gets very warm to the touch and yes, the 9600 will downclock and if you run Vista on it, the thermals are even higher. Not "Overheat," high as the system will continue to function, but the 1722 cools everything so much better. You can run SMC fan control with the Macbook, but then the fans definitely get noticeable. In addition, the 1722 supports Quad Core CPUs, has two screen resolution options, HDMI out.

The MBP does have an express card slot, the screen is obviously better (LED), Keyboard either you love it or hate it. One thing I do not like about the MBP 17" is, well, the price for one but moreso all the ports are on the left side. The build quality on the MBP is very solid and regal. It's awfully purdy.

You can put together a comparable 1722, stats wise, to the MBP using an ES chip for less than 1k. But I can fully see why Apple charges more in regards to the small details from the tight, dense chassis, to the screen, battery technology and integration,backlit keyboard and overall build. I must also note the Power adapter for the Macbook Pro is smaller than the 1722 PSU (which is pretty small by notebook standards IMHO). The battery life under OSX is also very, very good. The extra 5-10% in ergonomics and little conveniences (IE, the maglock for the power connector is slick) will cost you ~$1300+ more than a 1722, but if those 5-10% "icing on the cake," details are important to you, then it is worth the $1300.

People say Apple laptops are overpriced, but having used a Macbook Pro 17", I can see and feel the difference and understand. You're not getting a more powerful laptop than a 1722, but the ergonomics and small details are exquisite IMHO.

 

If it's red and black, that is the ID2. Did you get yours from ebay? That's where I got mine.

 

well this should be fun. i look forward to building my laptop, and "experimenting" OS X wise if ya know what i mean The turbo button, is it on all models? Thanks for all the help guys!

 

actually, thats the plan

How did yours come in? Was it nice and brand new in the box? Any issues with it?

 

Mine came in a brand new-sealed box. It most likely will not come with a turbo button, but you can still OC within the bios.

 

Hi there, I have a T7700 CPU (Merom Socket P) and was wondering if it would work in the MD-1722 ID2?

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLAF7

I realise it would be very hard to answer this without somone actually doing it (as the T7700 is Merom and not in the CPU support list). I read on this forum people have used T3200 and P8400/8600's. Anyway I just just thought I would ask in case sombody knew for sure