The Official MSI GT60 & GT70 Owners' Lounge

RAID0 is riskier because if either drives fails you lose all data -- it doubles the odds you will have a catastrophic hard drive failure.

(How risky is a hard drive failure these days?)

Either way whenever using a computer you must always backup any data you don't want to lose to either
a) another disk in the same machine
b) an external location (ex: usb or networked drive)
c) an offsite location (ex: cloud storage)

As Vicious mentions another option for you is RAID1. This is disk mirroring where all data is written to both disks. If you lose a disk you have to replace it before the other fails. It doesn't have the same speed advantages as RAID0 though and you 'waste' half the total disk space in that if you have two 500GB drives in RAID1 you only end up with 500GB of space.

But I would still recommend a backup to an external location even with RAID1.

It almost doubles disk reads and writes. For games and opening office apps and what not it would could mean a few seconds faster opening, windows will boot faster, etc. Generally I think if you are asking 'Do I need RAID0' and if you don't find yourself looking at your hard drive light whenever there is a small pause on your computer (like me) then you don't need RAID0.

have fun with your GT60!

 

With 2 drives in play in a 2 drive raid0 array there's 2X the chance of drive failure.

To many the performance gain from 2 SSDs in a raid0 array far outweighs the risks of a broken array or drive failure.

"Jesus Saves But God Backs Up"

For most users a single SATA III SSD properly setup is more than enough.

I'm not a fan of the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid platter hard drives.Too little solid state memory for the best caching.

IMO,a large platter hard drive and a caching SSD like the Crucial Adrenaline is a better performance solution.

The MSI Super Raid has a lot of potential for great performance if the mSATA SSDs are selected carefully.

Right now I don't see anyone posting Super Raid benchmarks with various mSATA SSDs.

Reviewers usually benchmark from a different boot drive on secondary virgin SSDs before any data is added that will slow them down.

Better scores can also be obtained by benching in safe mode.

Benchmarks that use a good mix of compressible and incompressible date will yield a truer picture of real life performance.About 80% of daily activity resides in 16K or smaller writes.

SSD companys like to tout the big sequential numbers but they only account for 1% of normal PC reads and writes.

HM77 chipset features:
Mobile Intel® HM77 Express Chipset

 

thanks for the replies.

suppose i buy the original configuration, can I disable raid 0 afterwards?? after diable can i switch to raid 1? is doing all this really complex??

i had a hard disk failure once but selkie saved me and I got all my data back.

i do mind if my hdd blinks more than 2-3 sec extra than prescribed time for any sw but i think going from my current XPS M1530 (4 yr old) to GT 60 will be a big leap and I hope wont notice lag if any is present.

have u guys ever heard or experienced failure of RAID 0 setup. Whats the probability. I mostly keep my laptop on my desk and only take it out when I travel out of city (once a month) also do air travel and there are turbulence and other physical shocks that one might exp during travel. do these add to the probability?

 

Reimaging a single drive after a RAID failure is not difficult as long as you have a disk for a single drive setup (i.e original Windows cd or recovery disks) or a backup image of a single disk setup. RAID 1 would work if you have very important data that you couldn't afford to lose. I have written and Powerpoint reports to do, but I save them on a portable 500GB drive. If you do regular backups there shouldn't be a real problem with losing too much data.

I've had RAID 0 arrays before that lasted well over a year. But when they failed, it was spectacular! LOL! While physical shocks could certainly cause drive failure , on an airplane it would have to be some pretty gut-wrenching turbulence...the drive would probably last longer than YOU would. Most RAID failures are caused by corrupted files...either something you downloaded or just some current files that decided not to cooperate with associated files and have filed for divorce. Power shorts/brownouts can cause a RAID array to pack up and leave also.

My GT60 is currently in RAID 0 array....I'll enjoy it while it lasts. In the event of a failure, I have a backup image of the RAID 0 array and I also have recovery disks to either set up the RAID again or go with a single disk installlation.

 

Self-welcome me to the club...

Coming from a 6y/o almost-dead-workhorse HP nb. Want to rediscover the joys of gaming... Q2 "The Edge" anyone?

View image: 2012 05 07 20 47 00

Mine's only the 750GB normal HDD version though.

2 questions:

1) Did anybody manage to register at Member & Product Registration Center ? It's down for the past few hours... not very assuring.

2) Where is the backlight manager at? Is it supposed to be pre-installed? Doesn't come with the included CD... can anyone point me to a download link?

Thanks all.

ADD: Found the ans to my qn 2 - KLM under MSI folder in prog folder.

 

Is there any special process for making a backup of a raid system?

 

Both the GT60 and GT70 have Optimus right?

Will it actually limit the performance of the GTX670M?

In the past, Optimus is heck of a problem, everyone would stay away from gaming rigs with Optimus or switchable graphic option.

Now it's fixed?

 

so can I disable RAID 0 after I get my GT 60 and use both the drives as independent??

 

Not any different than any other backup except it will be for a RAID array. You can't use a RAID backup image to make a single disk setup (unless they've come up with something new that I haven't heard about). The F3 Recovery partition may be a different story altogether and is able to do RAID or single drive. Maybe someone else around here is more knowledgable on that matter.
I use Acronis to make backup images onto my portable hard drive and found it to be very reliable. What's nice is that you can use it within Windows to make the backup image.

Not sure, but like I mentioned above, I assume that the F3 recovery partition can restore the factory installation onto a single disk after you have configured it for so in the BIOS. Could be that simple. Delete the RAID array in the BIOS, then use the F3 Recovery to image a primary disk with the factory settings and use the other for storage.

Frankly, I LIKE this RAID 0 on this machine...makes it quite zippy. And I have backup files of everything...wav files, pics, wallpapers, downloaded software (I make a DVD of all "keeper" software I download), app CDs,etc. etc.
I could reimage the disk(s) and have it all back to what it was in a matter of maybe an hour and a half max. So I'm not too worried if the RAID 0 array goes south. It isn't really all that catastrophic if you just plan ahead.

 

Just ordered my MSI GT60-002US! Should be here in a few days

Would love some advice/clarification on this issue:
From my understanding, the Super Raid adapter is essentially just a PCB that has slots for two 1.8" mSATA drives and plugs into the standard 2.5" SATA port in the primary drive bay, is this correct?

assuming that it is, does anyone knows if it supports 6gb/s mSATA drives? like the runcore t50 or mushkin atlas deluxe?

Also, assuming that at some point in the (hopefully near) future MSI will make just the adapter available to retail, would it be possible to install it and ONLY ONE mSATA SSD in the adapter, with the idea of adding a second in the future (as funds allow)?

I know these are likely not questions many will knows answers to, but maybe someone here knows where this information might be available?

Also on an unrelated note, does anyone know if the MSI GT60's wireless card supports simultaneous dual band (300mbps x 2) as well as bluetooth?

 

Sup guys, I am deciding to buy a new notebook again. I bought the GT660R 2 years ago but not its just underpowered. The GTX285m that came with it is completely useless for the games I want to play and can barely pull enough juice to even run at low. Because of this, I am not sure if I want to buy a MSI notebook again; but with the new illuminated keyboard and what not I am reconsidering. So should I get this notebook or find another one?

I live in Canada and I am looking for online custom retailers for the notebook but it seems Canada lacks this. The only other way is to get it from the USA but I would have to pay extra fees to get it here.

So what I am looking for is:
Screen size - Honestly always got 15'6 or 16" but I am willing to bite on the 17" size.
Wi-fi - Definitely want the Bigfoot Killer Ethernet card.
HDD - Definitely want the SSD + HDD combo, so I can have SSD cache. Though I am not quite sure what it requires.

I want to be able to run my programs seamlessly and if that requires SSD then I am all for it, XoticPC gives a option for SSD Cache but is that different from the 2x SSD mSATA?

Either I try to get a custom notebook from the USA with SSD Cache, or should I just get the GT70 with super raid?
What is the difference between SSD + HDD in raid 0 compared to 2x SSD m-sata + HDD?

 

The HM77 chipset supports 2 SATA III 6gb/s drives at position 0 and position 1 on the sata bus.

Now the question is if the Super Raid adapter plugged into the seconday drive bay uses 1 or both of the SATA III allowed by the chipset.

SATA III mSATA SSDs should run at SATA III speeds in the adapter.

One drive should act as a single drive.

This all needs to be tested by someone actually with the module installed with one and then 2 mSATA SSDs.

The stock Intel N2230 wireless card is a single 2.4ghz band 150Mbps wireles card with Bluetooth 4.0.

To get Duel Band 300Mbps you'll need to upgrade the wireless card to a Killer 1102 or 1202(w/bluetooth 4.0).Your router should support 300Mbps simultanious duel-band.

Intel 6205 and 6230(w/Bluetooth 3.0) are also 300Mbps duel band.

The Bigfoot Killer 1103 and Intel 6300 are 450Mbps duel band cards that use 3 antennas.

New Intel Wireless ProSet v15.1.1.1 and Intel Bluetooth v2.0.15.30150
intel drivers pour chipsets Reseaux (Lan) & Wifi (Wireless)

 

LOL Illuminated keyboard! That's what ya need to make it a serious gaming laptop!
All kidding aside, this is a great laptop. It games really well, it has the new intel processor, the RAM is upgradeable to 32 (despite OS limitations), and the video card itself is in an MXM slot, so upgrading the video card is also an option. I don't see how you can go wrong with this laptop. I used it all weekend and it played SWTOR and Arkham City fantastically.

 

I am in Canada as well, and there are (at least to my knowledge) know online retailers that offer the option to configure the notebook to custom preferences, like exist in the states. Some USA sites will ship to Canadian addresses, but at that point, border charges result in such a high added cost that it is not worth it.

That is why I have ordered the standard GT-60 model, and will be upgrading it with parts that I purchase separately. (Intel 6230 wireless card for my dual band router, likely an extra 4GB of ram so that in the -hopefully near- future when i upgrade to an ssd I can turn off windows page file, etc., and also a Blu Ray optical drive). And it still comes out to WAY cheaper than ordering from the USA.

So on that unfortunate note to all Canadian adopters of this laptop, make sure you realize there will be significant border charges if you order from an American online retailer.

I do have one more question, though-- i have never upgraded the optical drive in a notebook before, is there anything I should watch for as far as compatibility is concerned? (obviously the SATA connection and drive size, but as far as installation method or compatibility with the gt60 disc drive faceplate?

 

I am still trying to determine whether or not to get the m-sata ssd or not. I'd like it to run as fast as possible with as less load time as possible. So I am wondering if I should go with SSD drives, but to do the super raid 0 or just a normal SSD + HDD. Which is better? And if I did, i'd have to order from the USA, or instead I can just get the GT70 that already has super raid 0.

 

Recall your settings & performance for Arkham City?

I started to bench it and would like to compare.

 

I've bought a GT70 from a German store as I live in Belgium and it's way better priced over there. Now I just received this laptop and I would like to change te keyboard as it is a German keyboard and there are all kind of weird signs and placings on this keyboard.

So I did a search on google and found this: MSI Genuine SteelSeries Full Color Backlight Notebook Replacement Keyboard S1N-3EUS271-SA0

It looks exactly the same, my question is, before I spend 100 dollars on a new keyboard, will it fit the GT70?


Thanks in advance

PS. This notebook really packs a punch I love it

 

I don't recall number for number, and I couldn't find anywhere to adjust the settings in Arkham City. The built in benchmark utility and whatever the install settings were, I think my low was 27, high was 62, and the average was 59. Somewhere in there.

 

That's a good idea. I have a fresh copy of that...haven't installed yet. This should be interesting...It's my understanding that this game is quite brutal on graphics cards.

 

With read speeds of 1000mb/sec super raid must have two sata iii ports.

 

Shows Sata 6gb/s on my hardware monitor

 

hi guys, why dont we start posting benchmark for 670m
wondering how far can it go
i did vantage n i pulled P15.5k so far with stock driver and stock cooling

 

Hmmmm.....I pulled just around 12.8. Why the diff I wonder.

 

He didn't say "stock clocks".

 

AHA! You're right....LOL.

 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

There you go
the clock was around 820ish core
memory, i cant really overclock it , it was 1600ish and if i go up, artifacts will start appearing

 

If it were a single port you would get 575mb/sec max.

 

Greetings,

A buddy of mine and I are considering trading my gt783r for his gt70.
The gt70 is the lowend, single drive version. I went in
and set SATA mode to RAID but I don't see the RAID BIOS
setup message show up. Win7, now under storage controllers,
shows the RAID controller. How do I access its setup?

And on MSI's site they separate out the BIOS by raid/non-raid.
What's the difference if it's just a setting in the system BIOS to
enable/disable it? The actual RAID BIOS setup? So is it just a
matter of flashing the RAID BIOS on the thing?

Any assistance would be great.
Thanks!

 

Got my new MSI GT60 from Gentech today. Pretty pumped until it froze during setup, so i turned it off. Now it wont start back up. ! Anyone got any suggestions besides it being DOA?

EDIT:fixed it.1 bad memory stick was all the problem. i feel so relieved now =)

 

Pretty nice score ! One French guy got it too, he said Memory is also stuck @ 1600mhz, mainly because of the 3GB VRAM...

I think that's enough for nice gaming!
Enjoy )

 

I am considering buying a GT70 ONC-008US from a reseller that upgrades the CPU to a i7-3820QM. I don't want a GE70 because it doesn't have an eSATA port. I want a fast laptop for CPU-intensive simulations. The graphics performance isn't important for my applications. I have some questions for the GT60/GT70 owners:
1. Does the BIOS support selection between switchable graphics and forcing either graphics processor? (This allows me to use drivers supplied by the GPU manufacturer when MSI stops providing driver updates)
2. Does the BIOS allow tuning the RAM clock and latency?
3. Kingston HyperX RAM owners please report whether CPU-Z indicates full-speed use of these low-latency RAMs.
4. Does the primary bay support 2.5-inch SATA drives with a SATA III (6 GB/s) interface?
5. Specifically with the GT70, how quiet is the fan when doing word processing, email, etc.?

 

Hey guys this Thread has been a great help and im planning on buying the gt60 once i see a few reviews(can never be to sure) but i was wondering if there was anywhere i could buy this laptop from that would add in the 7970M for me thanks for your help

 

Do you guys think that later on, MSI will release a version of the notebook with the gtx680m when it comes out?? Also doesn't optimus limit the performance of the GPU??

 

I think so, that would explain why they didn't carry over the 580M as the 675M when they released the new laptops.

 

You guys have good software for OC on the GPU or doing a vbios flash to do it?

 

hey mate!whats up . saw ur 7970m thread n u're awesome!
yeah, this is the new machine i am carrying, it feels lighter and awesome
i dont know why people want to buy gt 70 just bcoz of msata super raid(it's heavy . mine has msata single only but it's fine with me. i'll just add crucial m4 256gb later
but even ssd is like my 3rd priority after 7970m n kingston hyperx 1866
so i am still wondering whether u still have it or not

if the msi with gtx 680m is to replace msi gt 783r/gt685r, then this msi gt 60 and 70 should've been equipped with 675m , that makes more sense. this time msi again rebadged their laptop vga

nvidia inspector(gpu) + throttle stop(cpu) seem the most stable for me since the first time i do overclocking
for AMD it would be sapphire trixx

 

All covered for overclocking.

If you need to flash the vbios, I would advise you the Svet tuner to overvolt and flash the clocks you want - other than that you can just get the right vbios from someone who has the software and flash it through the DOS with the usual procedure.

 

I did a reinstall on my GT70 with W7 Ultimate and I installed all drivers, but it looks like my system only uses the integrated Intel HD 4000 GPU and not my nvidia gpu when playing games. For example, I am able to run Minecraft with custom shaders and optifine on my previous laptop and get around 30 fps fullscreen. On the GT70 I only get around 12 fps and I'm not even running fullscreen.. I also noticed that the Windows Performance Index uses the Intel HD 4000 GPU for benchmarking and it scored quite high (around 7.4 if I'm correct), so I thought my nvidia gpu was used after all, but my games are telling me something different :S anyone who has an idea about what might be going on?

EDIT: Ok nevermind, I found the option under the 3D Settings in the NVIDIA Control Panel to not auto select GPU but always use the GTX670M.

I am still hoping that someone could tell me that the backlit keyboard on previously launched systems from MSI will fit my GT70, as it is a german keyboard and I did find some normal Qwerty's but they're meant for GX780's and some other 17 inch msi gaming models.

 

NVflash for windows works pretty well too. AFAIK it's the same keyboard.

Optimus would have limited performance with anything twice as powerful as the 580M. However we now have pci-express Gen3 which has doubled the bandwidth (which was the limiting factor) so that should have gone away now.

 

I currently have two Momentus 750GB Hybrids in RAID 0 on the GT60. I was thinking about possibly replacing one with a 256GB SSD to use as a primary and one of the the hybrids as storage. Not sure. Think it'll be a bit faster? Will there really be a significant performance gain? I haven't seen any comparison charts that show these two configs. I DO see where an SSD walloped the Momentus SSD Hybrid, but none that compare the hybrid in RAID with a SSD. I assume the SSD will still outperform the hybrids, but by how much?

 

It will be the same to be honest as raid does not help the weakness of the XTs.

 

Please explain "weakness".

 

I hope they make one with either the 660m or future 680m. I really want a keplar card

 

The mech part.

 

Hi all. This has been a great read for the last week or so for me. I was oringlally going to get a GT60 barebone and customize it. The place I was getting it from seemed a bit dicey so I opted to cancel my order and get the GT70 from newegg. I picked up the GT700NC-012US version from the egg and I have a few questions to anyone with experience.

(1) what bloatware comes included directly from MSI. I know some of you have barebone versions with clean installs is why I am asking. I have a full version of Win 7 pro sitting here and wanted to know if it was worth it to just go ahead and install it.

(2) I have never owned a ssd drive before. I resisted them and used WD Raptor drives for a number of years in a desktop but I know their is no comparison in performance. What do I need to beware of with an SSD drive in a laptop?

(3) Does anyone know the specific order of what drivers to install for a clean OS ie chipset,intel ME,etc?

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

 

2. Sean's Windows 7 Install & Optimization Guide for SSDs & HDDs is a Great link on what you should follow to make the most of the SSD to Optimize it and reduce writes to the SSD. Generally you want to turn off certain System features such as Readyboost and others that do 4K writes to the ssd to prolong longevity of the ssd. SSD's

3. No specific order for drivers are needed on a clean install. Generally however it is the Drivers and Chipset software and then General applications/software.

 

Well after having a Clevo P150EM for a couple weeks I decided to return it yesterday. I was getting some screen artifacts and had only one working speaker (right speaker and subwoofer were dead) among other minor issues.

I decided to order a GT60 and will be getting it in a couple of days! Hopefully I made the right choice!

Just a question to those that have it already: does it come with a W7 Install disc? I have a Samsung 830 SSD that I would like to install to replace one of the 2 conventional HDDs. If not, is there a recovery disc creator? Thanks.

 

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...AABM0/-BuN9xnlq5Q/s1200/DSC_4088corrected.jpg

From: http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/660266-viciousxusmcs-ultimate-msi-gt70-unboxing-review.html

 

I have the GT60 and it does not come with a W7 disc. It does come with a burn recovery program which is what I think you want. I have not tried it yet, so it might not be what you want.

 

It does not come with a W7 Install disc, but the recovery disc creator is pre-installed. First of all, create your discs and then replace the HDD.

You could also do a clean copy if you so desire by using the windows serial key under the battery and obtaining a windows 7 SP1 ISO from Microsoft.

Enjoy your gt60