*** The Official MSI GS65 Stealth Owners and Discussions Lounge ***

MSI has the hidden BIOS, but many laptop manufacturers don't, so throttlestop is a godsend

 

Thanks again.
Last question - TPL, fan, Turbo Boost settings? Also main window screenshot ?
If I disable Turbo, I get 800Mhz instead of 1.4Ghz with your settings.

 

Hi all!

Third post on here, having owned my GS65 for about a week. Loving it btw, and haven't even undervolted it yet!

HWInfo shows it as having a single 16gb 2666 - one of these infact:

https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/dram/module/M471A2K43CB1-CTD/

For obvious reasons, I'd like to switch that out for a dual channel kit. While ignorant of high-end performance in general (never having had anything close to high-end before!), I know enough about RAM to know that simply matching a stick isn't usually a done thing - plus I can't imagine needing 32gb. And so comes a question:

Should I
a) Buy another identical stick and hope for the best (£100 ish)
b) Sell this stick and buy a 2x8 kit (roughly break even)
c) Leave the damn thing alone?

Demanding usage consists mainly of video recoding, audio production (using craploads of VSTs but nothing 16gb cant handle) and some gaming - Fortnite already runs at well over 100fps...

If b) I'd love some recommendations!

I find it odd that these things have factory seal stickers over one of the chassis screws - I thought that simple upgrades did not affect warranty. Or is this to show that someone hasn't replaced decent parts with crap ones before shipping?

Either way, mine only came with a 250Gb SSD, which isn't going to last long so I will inevitably have to open the case. Considering how much of a PITA it is to get to the components, I'd rather do everything at once (perhaps a repaste as well).

Cheers!

 

I would change the RAM for dual channel, to avoid any bottlenecks. If 16GB is enough for your needs, then do get 2x8 and sell the other kit, otherwise get 2x16GB matching kits and sell the current one Though in general you could use two non matching kits, you might run into compatibility problems, and the system will run at the lowest performing speeds, so it can be a gamble.

MSI has been using factory seal stickers but in USA it doesn't affect warranty provided you don't manually break something yourself. Upgrading RAM/SSDs shouldn't be an issue. My last three laptops have come with one. I don't remember if my GX660R did... but that was almost 9 years ago.

The sticker is more as a deterrent so that if you don't know what you are doing, don't mess with it.

I am in the same boat with you. I will upgrade my SSD to 1TB, RAM to 32, and repaste all at once. I don't like the idea of opening several times the laptop hahaha.

 

Sorry not to make it clear, the multiplier settings in the FIVR menu does need Turbo to work.

Fan CPU - 0%, 0%, 50%, 70%, 95%, 95%
(When a game is running, CPU side spinning faster does help the GPU to cool, but a game usually doesn't use that much CPU processing power so I have the CPU fan to be running on the higher end a few degree earlier)
Fan GPU - 0%, 0%, 0%, 50%, 70%, 100%

The 2 or 3 temperature areas' fan speed are set to 0% is because I use my device on battery a lot and Silent Option doesn't support Plugged-in & Battery mode switching so I go with 0% instead, fan running on battery mode will add a few more watts.

If you have a habit of leaving it in an office or at home and not powering off the device just let it stay idle and with the lid closed often when you go out, I suggest you switch ThrottleStop to Battery mode before you go out as the GS65 gets pretty hot with the usually AC profile when the lid is closed. Sometimes it gets up to 80C depending on the room temperature.

AC settings


Battery Settings

 

Thanks, but you forgot to attach "TPL" button settings.

 

Oops, there you go.

 

Thanks again, this was my feeling as well. Here is where my ignorance begins to show (not that I am unwilling to learn =]) - Anyone recommend a 2x8gb kit for around £100? I understand (a little) about CAS Latency and XMP, but unsure if these variances will make much of an impact. Obviously I don't want a 'step-down' in terms of RAM spec...

 

Don't sweat it. At the very least you can go for "identical" specs as the current RAM it ships, but generally, lower latency is better, as is higher speeds. XMP profiles are the higher speeds modes that some memory supports and can be activated via BIOS, but if you are not after benchmarks and numbers, you will probably not notice much of a difference between a good RAM and a super RAM.

 

Anyone have issues with the RGB lights not working. Finally after 6 months one of my keys won't produce the color Green.

Normally I wouldn't care as I don't needs RGB but I think it's enough of a reason + CPU differential to send it in for repairs.

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So I spoke with MSI Australia (My international warranty is void because of the sticker in AU), so I asked how much it would cost for spare parts and got this answer:


Dear MSI Customer,

Heatsink module( heatsink with 3 fans) AUD 120.00ex

E32-2500290-A87

KB module (RGB KB with palm cover and plate) AUD 280.00ex (My green LED burned out on my LEFT ARROW KEY)

957-16Q21E-C21


Shipping cost AUD 15.00ex

It's the current HS module I currently have in my laptop, so I presume there won't be much of an improvement in temperatures ordering the new HS.

I also looked in TaoBao - AU$58.00

I will probably end up ordering a HS from MSI and will report back.

Spoiler: BIOS Changes made by Dragon Center

Also in regards to BIOS modification by MSI's DC:

1. Fresh Windows Install - Straight from media creation (NOT MSI RECOVERY)
2. Post installation and executing DC

 

Is the existing one defective? There's no improvement there unless the heatsink size has increased.

 

Just the core differential. It's worse if I leave it with MSI stock settings.

It's anywhere between 5 - 12 (best vs worst case between lowest and hottest core)

With MSI stock settings the difference can be as high as 15 degrees.

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Just recieved my GS65. Been doing some testing and benchmarking. Looking good so far. I went to my local electronics store today to buy a mouse and to my surprise they had this model on display (they previously didnt when i wanted to test it out). So im all curious how mine stacks up agains the demo laptop at the store. To my disappointment the build quality of the store version was better.

On my unit the trackpad has this slight tick to it when you are lightly tapping on it, which the store demo didnt have, and instead the trackpad on it sounded like a muffled tap which was much more pleasant.

Secondly there is something inside my screen that is rattling when i sort of shake the screen a bit or tap on the back side of it. Thats kind of annoying.

And lastly, the hinge. I have heard bad things about MSI and their laptop build quality so i have paid close attention to the hinges. Left hinge on my laptops has a slight creaky sound when the screen is moved. I concluded its not the plastic on the hinge because the creaking only happens when the screen moves, not when it flexes. The store laptop didnt have this creaking and felt slightly easier to move and open the lid/screen.

Additional concern with the hinge is its sort of off axis movement. As you can see in the included gif, i tried to demonstrate. I forgot to check the store version for this problem. The store said that they are getting this unit in stock on about wednesday so i might go and change it and hope for better laptop. What do you think?


Also i wana ask, is this hinge movement a common problem with GS65? Is it ACTUALLY a problem? I mean does the hinge eventually break? I would appreciate if people replied. thanks

 

Minus the bloatware, fan/heat issue that was fixed pretty easily, I feel much more comfortable for the amount of money i had to spend now that i've had hands on time with it and have seen that it can run almost anything I throw at it, sometimes after tweaking minor settings but overall great laptop. So thin and light.

 

Does anybody know what version of HDMI and DisplayPort these laptops have? I saw some websites mention say 2.0b and 1.4 DP but others don't have a version including the MSI product page :/

 

Can I have an opinion please guys?

Looking at SSDs for this thing and torn between two at identical prices:

Samsung 970 Evo 500gb
Intel 660p 1tb.

When originally looking, I was happy with 500gb, but there is a chance I'd need more. The seq r/w on the Intel is about half of the 970...

Tom's hardware tested the Intel and reckoned it held up pretty well against WD blacks and similar, but with much, much less power usage which would be good for battery life I'd imagine.

I've got a WD drive in at the moment which claims 3k+ seq and I'm wondering if I'll notice the difference? The new drive will be boot + games, and the WD will be shunted to the other slot for files.

Also considering Corsair Vengeance 2666 16gb kit to replace my single 16 2666...

Any thoughts?

 

Did anybody ever address the above issues? I also have the GT fuses Limit (Current, min & max) and RING Max VR... (current and max) in HWInfo. I believe the RING issue is why I constantly have "EDP Other" under RING in throttlestop, its always there, usually in Yellow, sometimes flashing red briefly. I cannot clear it. This is the last issue I need to solve. I did see a setting in the bios relating to PL4 where I could enable or disable something and set a custom value. I just have no idea what a safe value would be or if it would help, seems like it would. I'll look again and give the path/name of the bios option.

I've actually, finally, been able to run a 10 minute stress test with AIDA with zero throttling. The difference was adding a cooler under my laptop. Max temp was 85, without the cooler i reached 93. I am going to do a re-paste soon since I want to get inside to fix the creaking battery anyway. I'm at .171 undervolt and running 36,35,34 multipliers to achieve this result. I'd like to get those higher and still keep temps hence the repaste.

@unclewebb if you happen to see this I'd love to hear from you. Finding any info about the above has been impossible other than seeing others with the EDP Other always in yellow but so far no solutions. Thanks

 

OK, in the bios I see a "PL4 Override" that I can enable and give a custom value. Its under advanced>CPU, same page as Speedstep/Speedshift.

 

Here's what I see

 

ThrottleStop Limit Reasons and HWiNFO are not compatible. HWiNFO constantly clears Limit Reasons data from the CPU so ThrottleStop cannot report this information correctly when HWiNFO is running in the background.

For EDP Other throttling, try increasing the PP0 Current Limit as well as the IccMax values.

Some Limit Reason data that HWiNFO reports can happen when the CPU is idle. This data is not important. Make sure there is a load on the CPU. If a ThrottleStop log file shows the CPU multiplier lagging while the CPU is loaded, then it is time to investigate further.

All values are safe. Increase these limits until all throttling goes away. If you set the current limit to 500 Amps, the CPU is not going to flow 500 Amps and catch on fire.

 

Limit your iGPU frequency to 1050MHz in the BIOS and the EDP Other will dissapear.

That one means the iGPU has reached 1100 which is the iGPU turbo limit of 8750H.

In short you don't need to worry about it when you see that as it doesn't have any negative effects on the CPU performance.

 

Hello, has anyone here experienced the fan rattling problem for the GS65? My P65 started exhibiting it today and I cannot really RMA the laptop since this is where I am working on my academic stuff. Has anyone found a solution to this or fixed it?

Video to what it sounds like:

It sounds like something is scraping with the fans. It disappears then after some time the sound starts to appear again and it's pretty irritating especially if you are trying to work on you research papers.

 

No work around, may be getting worse. I don’t have P/Gs65 but it’s bad fans, saw often on thin light categories, the fix is only by exchanging the fans.

 

You can clean it out or lower the fan speed.

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I don’t think 3 months old fans would be full of dust unless user live in room that isn’t be vacuumed for a half year, lowering Fans speed isn’t the solution to me.

 

Sorry I should have elaborated a bit more. Sometimes the glue, silicone makes it’s way onto the blade or motor.

Alternatively, I have had fan noise that was attenuated by lowering overall RPMs or increasing, depending at what RPM you perceive the noise is greater.


I had this with my GPU fan, it would rattle at 20% and go silent at 60%+, granted I am sure the increased in dB attributed to fan speed also helped ‘mask’ the rattle.

These are all short term fixes until he finds the time to replace or RMA the fans.

This was my experience with my GPU fan last semester on a 4 month old system that I could not RMA as I was busy with postgrad. I ended up opening and cleaning out the housing and fan blades and my problem was solved, YMMV.


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Thanks for the suggestion. Already contacted my reseller to procure a fan assembly then I will swap it out on my own.

The rattling is more noticeable on my end when the fan speed is at a lower RPM. I might just replace the fan assembly when my reseller gets me a new assembly from MSI.

 

@unclewebb @hackness
Thanks for the responses. I can confirm that limiting the igpu frequency to 1050 cleared ALL my errors= "EDP other" in throttlestop and "GT fuses limit" and "RING: Max VR Voltage..." in HWiNFO. Thanks!

Question for @hackness, since it was your solution that worked, will setting that limit to 1050 have any negative effect on performance? I'm guessing it will not since it appears once 1050 is breached the system is just throttling back to 1050 anyway. Would this be a correct assumption? Its nice seeing no errors.

Another Question, in my futile attempts to clear those errors I followed the BIOS hacks to increase current, etc. When I did this, I got a fatal error and computer would not start up correctly. For a few moments, I thought I did permanent damage. I unplugged it and held the power button for 60 seconds to reset which thank god I had read about earlier. This worked and computer started up again. So my question is, after an error like this should I re-flash the bios?

Thanks for all the help this forum has given me.

 

1. 1050MHz vs 1100MHz has a difference of little to none, I'm actually running mine in 1050MHz to not see any errors reported, however it's just a personal taste . Actually if you leave it at 1100MHz, the iGPU will be running with 1100MHz but displaying EDP Other error, but correctly speaking, it is a little faster than 1050MHz, just a little, not worth mentioning how much.
2. What I would do is load default settings and redo the tweaks again just in case anything is missed. I think re-flash isn't needed.

 

I would recommend returning it. It is a bit generic to say "bad things about MSI and build quality" since you can hear literally the same about any brand, model, any device in history. It is meaningless on its own.

The GS65 is known for some flex because of the thin frame, and I believe some sounds around the keyboard. I don't know anything about a hinge problem on it, or screen rattling? but it does sound that you have a model that came with issues so I would suggest to return it for a new machine and check that one out. At the very least you shouldnt have rattling sounds with the screen. Plus if you felt the store version was sturdier/different, then you should expect a similar experience. I recommend exchanging it.

 

Yes im already gonna try to do it.

 

Thanks for the response. I went ahead and loaded default bios settings then went back and changed 2 things, one being iGPU to 1050MHz. The other being changing the VR setting that was 512 which limits IccMax to 128amps to 600 (I know a lot of people went to 800, I'm being conservative) and changed the IccMax setting in throttlestop under CPU Core & CPU Cache to 150 from 128. I did this because I have seen PL1 and PL2 show up in throttlestop in yellow. This error would always show up when waking from sleep. Anyway, I just woke from sleep and had zero errors in Throttlestop for the first time ever!!! Other than doing a re-paste, I think I am finally done tweaking. The re-paste is due to Call of Duty REALLY stressing my CPU and causing throttling. I was able to get that to stop by using a cooler under my unit but I think I can do better with a re-paste. Max temp with 37,37,36,36,35,34 multipliers and the cooler was 85C. Without the cooler it was 93C. I'd like to get the max with the cooler under 80 and without under 90, we will see. Thanks again!

 

In the future, if you feel the 45W PL1 is limiting you, go to:

Advanced > Power & Performance > CPU - Power Management Control > CPU VR Settings > Core/IA VR Settings

Set IMON Slope to 50.
Set IMON Offset to 31999 or 41999.
Set IMON Prefix to " -" (Negative).

This will have the CPU report the actual TDP to have an offset of -31.99W or -41.99W to avoid PL1 throttle from activating.

For your own knowledge:
Activating the dGPU will increase the TDP usage by 10 watts, which happens in every game that uses the dGPU, so in a CPU intensive game, you'll likely see throttling happen with the 45W TDP limit as you only have 35W left for your CPU to squeeze.

 

Hi,
Changing the settings in Core/IA VR Settings to what you mention is what led to my computer crashing and freezing. There were 2 more settings I changed that you did not mention, On that same page it was the 1st 2 and it was recommended to change the value to 1 (I think it was 80). Also changing another setting to 0, the one dragon center resets if you do. I understand the settings you mentioned fool the unit into drawing more power. without triggering PL1 throttling but in my case the more power crashed my computer. It may be that my thermals caused it or possibly the other setting I changed. I'm no electronics expert but I would like to get the best possible performance but its my understanding that if I give the CPU more power, it will also increase my temps and I have yet to get them fully under control. Anyway, just explaining what happened when I tried that. FYI, new dragon Center came out today, not sure if it is still limiting the power draw, I couldn't find any release notes.

 

@hackness TDC Current Limit and AC & DC Loadline were the other changes recommended on someone elses post. TDC CUrrent limit to 0 (was 640) and Loadline to 1 (they were/are 180)

 

1. If you were to change the AC / DC Loadline from 180 to 1, you need to clear all your voltage offset in ThrottleStop and in the BIOS if you did any. Changing it to 1 means you are only allowed to have about -43mV for all cores on 3.9GHz on the cache voltage offset, where the DC / AC Loadline would allow you to have around -160mV on the cache voltage offset, the main reason you will touch the AC / DC Loadline is to have smaller fluctuation between the highest voltage and the lowest voltage.
2. Changing the IMON settings has nothing to do with the freezes and crashing, it's only adding an offset to the reported TDP, unless you have the IMON prefix set as "+".
3. PS Current Threshold 1 ~ 3 should be left on default, default is as the followings:
   • PS Current Threshold1 = 80
   • PS Current Threshold2 = 20
   • PS Current Threshold3 = 4

 

Anyone know if the GS65 has a monitor for the VCCSA/VCCIO (Mostly interested in the System Agent voltage)?

I am not finding it in HWINFO nor AIDA64. I tried checking BIOS but didn't find any menu that monitors voltages, just the OC menu to set OFFSET.

 

$1281.00 USD for my GS65 8RF, with a 512 NVMe and 120 gb NVMe pcie3x2, 32gb ram

Just got an offer on online but not sure if I should take it. I would save up another $854 USD for the GS65 8SE (2060 with 16gb ram).



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500GB is plenty for the OS (needs about 40GB) and a passel of games and media files. Anything else you need to keep isn't something you're going to need frequently so put it on external storage. There are some quick USB 3.1 thumb drives out there (I run small VMs off of a Kingston DTEG2) and some very quick USB SSDs like the Samsung T series drives.

 

@hackness
Do you know if there’s a power and thermal savings by undervolting the iGPU?
Personally, I have it at -50mV (iGPU and “Unslice”) but haven’t tried undervolting it further.
If it somehow lowers CPU temps when playing games with the dGPU, I’ll start testing a deeper undervolt.


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If it's cash, I'd do it. I sold my similarly config'd unit for about that locally to a friend.

I am not sure you are going to see a big jump going from that model to the 2060 - but if it's worth $854 to you, go for it.

 

If you undervolt the iGPU, the difference is huge for maximum performance mode with 100% GPU usage, but for low iGPU usage, the difference is small but still helps.
But in battery saving mode, the difference is very small.

I'm using -125mV on mine, actually you can down to -165mV, but further may cause freezing.

See table below for No undervolt vs voltage offset -125mV on the iGPU:



Balanced mode is just choosing between 350Mhz and Turbo multiplier based on iGPU usage so it's just jumping between 350Mhz and 1100Mhz.

About lowering the temperature during a game, probably not so much as the iGPU usage isn't really that much when you are using the dGPU.

 

Does anybody know what temperatures the points you can adjust the fan speed % represent?

 

Just got a GS65 1070 yesterday. Trouble is it has a strange form of backlight bleed in the upper left corner. The shop have no more stock of the laptop so exchange is not an option. It was bought with a (6.5% discount) gift card, so I'm tied into the store. My only option is a 10% refund (back to the gift card) or spending more on a Razer Blade 1070 or the GS65 2060 edition at around 20% more cost to me. £1495 (GS65 1070) vs £1900 (Blade), £1950 (GS65 2060).

Not sure what to do yet. Otherwise I love the laptop.

 

https://www.theeverydayenthusiast.com/home/review-msi-gs65

Scroll down. You’ll see my chart for fan speed and temp points in Silent Option.


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Thanks! I'd like to know why MSI don't put in actual temperature values instead of a colour scale lol

Is there any way to change the colour of the keys that light up when you press the Fn key? Or which light up?
Also is the keyboard brightness not changing when you press Fn + keyboard brightness modifier keys?

They didn't do a good job with lighting up the whole keys like the Function keys etc or anything not centred on the LEDs

Did other GS65 users get a driver causes instability on Windows and that the driver will be disabled message when updating to 1809?

 

Nice review!

 

You can’t change the color of the keys when and is pressed. Also, only keys usable with Fn are lit.
To change keyboard brightness, it’s Fn+ PGUP/PGDN
I haven’t seen any driver issues when updating. But I also update drivers anyway when they’re available so maybe I’m dodging bullets.


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Just confirmed with Unwinder about changing the visible voltage range for MSI afterburner's V/F Curve Editor.

Go to:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSI Afterburner

Look for MSIAfterburner.cfg

Copy to desktop

Open the copied MSIAfterburner.cfg

Look for the section in the picture below, do the change, save it and replace the original MSIAfterburner.cfg with the modified one.