The Official MSI GT60 & GT70 Owners' Lounge

I just picked up a GT60 and was going through this same thing. Not sure if it is exactly the same with a GT70, but on the GT60 0NC, if you flip the laptop over, with the keyboard closest to you, the bay on the top left is for the SATA III drive (where you want to put your SSD). The drive closest to you on the bottom right is the SATA II bay, for your HDD. The other way to tell for sure is if you have done it right, your SSD will have the label on the SSD facing up. You can verify by booting into BIOS and verify that your drive is in P1.

The drives have a little metal bracket that you can take off and put on your SSD. Pretty easy.

Edit: Just saw your pics. It looks like you have them in the right place, but you may want the bracket like the one on your HDD for some extra security. If you don't have one, may be tricky to track down. Maybe Gentech or XOTICPC or someone can point you in the right direction.

 

Just a heads up, there are new Nvidia Drivers available on the download page, under Windows 8, they also work with Windows 7 as Nvidia uses the same driver since R304. These are R305 drivers.

 

I own a GT60-ONC 16F3 but when i opened the box there was an extra bracket in there to put/screw the 2nd SSD or HDD, so strange that you don't have that it shoud be there when you bought it new.

 

If you're not gonna be plugged in all the time, there's a reason why Nvidia Optimus exists.

 

Quick question. I broke the Raid format and switched to ACHI in the BIOS since I am going to be using an SSD+HDD combo. I made the mistake of not backing up the recovery partition before I did that, so I lost everything that came installed on the laptop (GT60 0NC, 670M). I have the driver disc, and I was able to get Windows up and running along with the drivers on the disc. It looks like there are some more updated, and maybe additional drivers on the MSI web site. Did I lose out on anything by failing to back up the recovery partition? Was there anything critical or even nice to have that came pre-installed?

 

So I just got a MSI GT700ND202US and I was wondering:
1) There are 2 hard drive bays, are both SATA 3? If not which bay is SATA 3 and which is SATA 2?
2) I bought 2 128GB Samsung 830 SSD drives to use with my laptop but the laptop only came with one bracket for a 2.5" drive, where can I order another one?
3) How do I install windows on the SSD that will be my operating system drive without a disk? The laptop came with everything pre-installed.

Thanks for your help and sorry if these topics have been covered already.

 

Okay, so I have a huge noob question. I just got my GT70. 2x 128 SSD + 1x 750GB HDD with Super Raid 0 enabled. Which drive should I be installing my software and games to? Two drives show up in My Computer; a C: drive labelled as OS Install that has 183GB free of 238GB capacity, and one New Volume D: drive that has 698GB free/capacity. I figured D: must be the standard HDD and C: must be the two SSDs combined.. my question is which one am I to be using for games for the best performance (Skyrim, etc). Thoughts?

 

Looks like Win8 drivers are starting to appear. Bigfootlan and few others are missing, but overall its gettin there. By Oct I imagine everything will be up.

 

Does anyone know what the differences are between the MSI GT60/70 and Valkyrie CZ-17 barebones? I know that only the branded MSI models have gold-flashed audio jacks, logos, multicolored backlit keyboards, and two year limited warranties with a year of accidental damage protection. The Deviltech Devil 6700 review on Notebookcheck suggests that the MS-16f3 (GT60 barebones, which I assume is similar to the Valkyrie) has mediocre build quality and input devices, but reviews of the Valkyrie don't mention that, and the lessened weight makes the CZ-17 tempting.

 

hey man i was wondering about how many FPS you get now that you have the better graphics card selected?

 

about how many FPS do you get now that you have the better graphics card selected?

 

Just ordered the GT70 0ND-202US, hellas excite. Just one question, is it possible to upgrade from a 675m to a 680m by myself? Just swapping out the card?

 

Elite GT70 0NE-276US spoken HERE! Why not join the other owners?

Since the primary C:/ drive is 256GB mSATA (2x 128GB in RAID0), you should have plenty of headroom in allocating your drive space. It's simply a matter of your preferences here. Typically, on a system setup with a primary SSD and secondary HHD, it is best to use the SSD for all system & OS related files, and all high-volume multimedia files (music, video, document, pictures, etc.) are then placed on the secondary HHD. If you had a small primary SSD drive, I'd say install all your games to the secondary..... but with the space you have, there is plenty of room on your primary too.

ENJOY!

Perhaps THIS POST will be helpful. Therein I was explaining how the Valkyrie CZ-17 was NOT a GT70 0NE-276US, but rather just a barebones MS-1762. In this case, it is a situation wherein IBuyPower has simply dubbed & logo'ed a barebones MS-1762 as a 'Valkyrie CZ-17'.... as though it be their own unique brand. Though it may be legal, and I have seen other resellers resorting to this tactic, this is somewhat confusing, deceptive, and misleading in my view.

 

It's been said countless times. Yes, because it has MXM 3.0

 

Ummmmm, not necessarily. If history repeats itself as with the 580M and MSI's GT780 series, this may well depend on who manufactured the 680M (Clevo/Sager/AW/NVidia), and MSI's proprietary MB/EC firmware. I have yet to see it confirmed that an MSI 6xxM can be swapped with an MSI 680M. Perhaps a 680M of another manufacturer can be used, but will it be plagued with the throttling issue (as was the case w/ the GT780, when Clevo/Sager/AW 580M's were used)..... and will 'ThrottleStop' have to be used as a work-around?

 

Looks like someone is suffering from Throttling Phobia. ;p

 

Naw, I'd just prefer not to use unnecessary software running in the background. The MSI GT783 (NVidia produced 580M, directly shipped to MSI) was one of the few models NOT throttling when the 580M was released. Why use ThrottleStop, if it's not needed?

Thus far, I am happy to report no signs of throttling in my 680M GT70 0NE-276 either. If I don't have the disease, no need for the cure.

 

Got it, I searched through the thread and read a little more about it. Basically at this point, I will just be happy with the 675m it's more than enough for my mobile needs, and in the meantime wait for someone else to swap out the card and put up a tutorial on exactly what needs to be done and what brand 680m to use to get this fully functional.

 

Yeah, again if history repeats itself, when I attempted the same with a GT780 w/570M, the swapped MSI (NVidia produced) 580M would not work..... only performing at 570M levels. I later found it would require swapping the MB too, with one from a GT783 model. Only then, did the MSI 580M perform as it should. Having to swap both MB & GPU made this a ridiculously expensive proposition, and one would do better just buying a GT783 from the beginning. In the end, this experiment turned into a big waste of time, and after returning borrowed components, I eventually sold my GT780..... later purchasing a new GT783.

Others managed to accomplish this swap with 580M's from other manufacturers, but I believe all suffered the throttling issue. I highly suspect the same conditions will exist for GT70 models.

 

Hi guys. need help here, Im a newbie.
Is the new NVIDIA Drivers under Windows 8 fully compatible and operational with 670m windows 7 64 bit? thanks If yes, is it advisable to upgrade to the new driver?

I have an MSIGT70 without an SSD. With 670m. Stock drivers. Im feeling that im not getting the best out of this laptop. Im getting average 30 FPS on skyrim. ultra settings full screen. with TDE im getting a bonus of 2 FPS. Also when i play Assassins Creed i see a screen tearing. like it is loading the graphics. it is a pain in the eyes to see. it is not smooth at all.
and in Batman Arkham City. Very high settings, Fullscreen. no directx 11 i get :

low 23
max 62
ave 40

is this normal? ive seen better from other guys. Is it because i dont have SSD? thanks! I need help to fully enjoy this laptop.

Another thing sir/mam, do i have to burn recovery disks right after i pull this laptop out of the box? or is it fine to burn disk even after some time of usage? im quite confused. im feeling hopeless already. Ive read that restoring things back to factory settings might fix my low FPS on games. thats why im interested on this
i havent burn disk when i first acquired this. so i think ive screwed up.

And where can I get the benchmarking utilities you guys use? i want to compare results. ><

Finally, ive seen in youtube that they use MSI afterburner to max clocks. Ive done that as well. But it doesnt do anything even after i click apply. Skyrim on one gt60 reached 60 FPS max. while I only get 30 max on OC settings. Please I need help. I need your help guys. Youre my only hope xD

 

OK with Batman AC I have the Res set on 1600 x 900, full screen, Vsync off, AA set on Medium, DX11 off, all setting's on, detail setting to Extreme and PhysX set to Normal and I get this when Benchmarking..



Same again with PhysX off and this is what I get..



During that Benchmark the FPS only drops during scene changes otherwise the minimum would be higher.

I use Afterburner to clock it at 770/1540 (And just to note I only just now realized I wasn't using Afterburner during those Benchmarks) I don't have an SSD, which wouldn't make a difference in performance in games anyway I don't think.

You could try installing the drivers again but for W7 64bit not W8.

 

i see. so it is not good to update with the new windows 8 driver, thanks!

 

I will be joining your ranks soon. I just ordered a GT70 OND 202 from newegg. I wish I could have bought a customized one from one of the resellers around here but I need it really fast.

I will be hitting you guys up for info on how to get my OCZ Agility 3 set up as my primary drive.

Thanks to all you guys who contribute to theses threads, they are a tremendous help.

 

You should have ordered 0NE-276. mSATA in SuperRAID is much better than just a single ssd. And the 680m has 4 gigs of video memory which is great for futureproofing. You can see Striker's "GT70 w/ GTX 680m owner lounge" thread if you want to see the speeds of dual mSATA.

 

That would have been nice but this time it was all about the budget, after the rebate I will have spent $550.00 less.

 

Is it normal in the windows sound options You cant get the subwoofer to make a noise on it's own?

 

Awesome, I actually just ordered the exact same one from newegg, its a great laptop at a great price. I can always order an ssd later, I have one in my desktop, ocz agility. It's nice but really not a necessity in the least.

 

anyone tried the new 306.02 drivers for msi gt70 with 670m graphics card? it is not in the MSI website. But it is available in Nvidia site. or do we have to stick with the drivers posted on MSI only? Thanks

 

I have purchased a GT70 0NE and love it. The single problem I have with it is that when my e-sata hard drive is plugged in it freezes on boot up. If I plug it in once it is booted, it works fine and i can assess all content on it until I next reboot. I can't even access the BIOS when it is plugged in and rebooting, as it freezes on the screen where you select to either go to boot menu or BIOS.
The drive works fine from my old computer and boots when plugged in. I suspect it may have something to do with the sata port settings in the bios, but since i have the superRAID operating system drive, I'm worried things will break if I can chnage it. ANyone know the fix for this issue?

 

2 things,
1) how old is your enclosure for the esata? might be using a old firmware or something.
2) check your boot order in the bios and also make sure your bios is set for AHCI or RAID. ( I know you said you have superRAID, but you might just have a ssd?)

 

Elite GT70 0NE spoken HERE! Why not join the other Owner's HERE<click me, darn you!>?

I am not presently using an external eSATA drive, but try this.........

With your eSATA drive plugged in, boot and go into bios <DEL key>, and check your 'Boot Option Priorities' under the 'Boot' tab. See if your eSATA drive is appearing in the boot priority list. If so, and you occasionally plan to 'boot' from this drive (if it's a bootable drive), move it's priority to an appropriate position beneath the 'Intel RAID' drive. If your eSATA drive is not bootable, then simply 'Delete' it entirely from the boot priority list. Then 'Save & Exit' bios, and allow the system to reboot into Windows normally. Hopefully this will resolve your issue..... let us know.

If this helps, keep in mind you may have to repeat this process after 'flashing' to future bios updates.

This will not interfere with your RAID set, but if you have SuperRAID, while in bios you can check the 'Advanced' tab to see your 'SATA Mode'. This should be set to 'RAID' mode. and there is no need to change this.

Also, as the other forum member mentioned, insure you have the latest firmware for your external eSATA drive.

I hope this helps, but again, let us know if the issue still exist.

 

I just tested a eSATA hard drive and booted no problem. the eSATA hard drive enclosure I am using is a generic brand.

I've seen other brands eSATA drive doesn't work so if you try a different eSATA drive enclosure it should work.

 

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately it won't let me into the BIOS when the drive is inserted, it freezes at the screen where you choose boot device or BIOS. Even 'ctrl, alt, del' won't work, I have to use the power button and unplug the esata for it to go further.

Thanks to the other poster for the firmware update advice. I have checked and there is also no newer firmware for my device. I honestly think that it is the 'RAID' option in the advanced field that is my problem, because what my research seems to suggest is that changing when AHCI and IDE can fix this problem, but this would surely break my operating system if I move it off RAID.

It does have USB 2, which isn't anywhere near as nice as esata speed, and is not as neat given esata port is at the back of the device, but i'll use this until i can get it fixed. I'm going to try and borrow another esata HDD caddy off a friend and see if it is a problem with just my drive, or any when set to RAID.

By the way, in every other way outside of this little problem, I am LOVING my GT70 0ne, never had anything so bleeding edge

 

Thanks for the advice. Did the system you test against have the super RAID mSata setup? If you can test against this then that would be great as I'll happily buy a new enclosure if it can work in this configuration.

 

I can't find that Driver, is it the Beta Driver?

 

yes it is beta

 

This is interesting..... I am using a USB 3.0 external drive with no problem, but your situation almost has me seeking out an eSATA drive, just to test. I would not mess with the bios SATA Mode, and hopefully we will soon get confirmation from Ken regarding his eSATA test with SuperRAID.

Be patient, and hang in there......

 

I tested two units one with AHCI and one with Super RAID, eSATA drive connected and booted right to the Windows without any problem.

I think it's your eSATA enclosure not compatible, try another brand or just buy a different enclosure should work.

 

Beta drivers are for hardcore enthusiasts.

 

Question for those of you with an eSATA drive: I assume your eSATA enclosure gets power from the wall? One of my major disappointments with the GT60 is the eSATA port is not powered, so my 2.5" eSATA drive (which has no AC adapter and relies on power from the eSATA cable) is useless to me.

 

Mine gets power from a USB cable.

You should be able to swap the eSATAp cable with a eSATAp to USB+eSATA cable; like this one:
3ft eSATA + USB to eSATAp Cable - Black 844660084938 | eBay

 

Does anyone have trouble with the mic for video chatting not being loud enough or crackling for the other person?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

The mic is blocked by a plastic inside the screen bezel, you can try remove the bezel and then remove the plastic:

 

Thats annoying... I have no idea how I would do that... why would they put that in there

 

Because that's where it should be.

 

But if it hurts the quality of the mic then why would they do it?

 

I'm gonna let Ken answer that.

 

Why? Good question! Who knows, but that was an old production problem/issue which began in the GT780. I would have thought MSI would have corrected this by now. Removing the plastic is the current work-a-round. Just remove the plastic blocking the holes and it will improve mic performance.

Ken, did you ever get an answer on this from MSI?

(DANG, now I gotta go check and see if I have this problem in my new GT70 0NE-276US! I certainly hope not!)

 

the truth is their assembly guide forgot the step to remove that plastic.

It's actually pretty easy to remove:

 

I dont know what we would do without Ken@GenTechPC...