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    Dspr_02's MSI GX640-098US Review

    Discussion in 'MSI' started by Dspr_02, Apr 20, 2010.

  1. KamiliaKoala

    KamiliaKoala Notebook Consultant

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    Will you void the warranty if you remove the stickers?
     
    KamiliaKoala, Apr 27, 2010
    #51
  2. NotEnoughMinerals

    NotEnoughMinerals Notebook Deity

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    no.... they're just stickers, not warranty seals
     
    NotEnoughMinerals, Apr 27, 2010
    #52
  3. KamiliaKoala

    KamiliaKoala Notebook Consultant

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    Oh, i see. Sorry, I am kinda new with MSI notebooks, never used them before.

    Is there a solution to remove the residue left by the stickers?
     
    KamiliaKoala, Apr 27, 2010
    #53
  4. Tree_Burner

    Tree_Burner Notebook Deity

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    i used goo gone. be careful not to get it in the keyboard. OR isopropyl alcohol.
     
    Tree_Burner, Apr 27, 2010
    #54
  5. NotEnoughMinerals

    NotEnoughMinerals Notebook Deity

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    I use the good old fashioned way and take an eraser to it
     
    NotEnoughMinerals, Apr 27, 2010
    #55
  6. Tree_Burner

    Tree_Burner Notebook Deity

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    wow! eraser works great. never knew that before.
     
    Tree_Burner, Apr 27, 2010
    #56
  7. battousai10k

    battousai10k Notebook Evangelist

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    what's the camera software for? Is it just for the webcam? Mines just arrived, and I'll pick it up after work. I want to know what I should first do interms of drivers/bloatware. Right now I have the following

    -install 10.3 drivers to get rid of x16/x1 problem
    -disable powerplay to get rid of sleep problem

    Am i missing anything?
     
    battousai10k, Apr 27, 2010
    #57
  8. NotEnoughMinerals

    NotEnoughMinerals Notebook Deity

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    haha I didn't believe it either when my 11 year old sister suggested it to me but it gets the job done
     
    NotEnoughMinerals, Apr 27, 2010
    #58
  9. Dspr_02

    Dspr_02 Notebook Evangelist

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    Yep, the eraser did the trick but I will still use acetone to clean the palmrest since I am paranoid like that! :devil: lol :D
     
    Dspr_02, Apr 27, 2010
    #59
  10. min2209

    min2209 Notebook Deity

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    Uh.

    Here's how I took the big label off:

    I ripped it off. It left a huge sheet of glue. Starting from the corners, I started rubbing. With my finger. Until a wad of glue formed. So I rubbed until the wad of glue took off the rest of the glue. The whole thing took like 10 minutes. LOL... Absolutely none left.
     
    min2209, Apr 27, 2010
    #60
  11. Dspr_02

    Dspr_02 Notebook Evangelist

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    That is what I did last night, but today, I used the eraser to erase the little specs of glue that did not leave...worked fine.
     
    Dspr_02, Apr 27, 2010
    #61
  12. ydaf

    ydaf Notebook Consultant

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    WD40 removed all of mine in 30 seconds. Just spray WD40 on a cloth or paper towel and then use that to rub the extra glue residue stuck on the computer. It just degrades it all and doesn't alter the aluminum surface.
     
    ydaf, Apr 27, 2010
    #62
  13. buff-daddy

    buff-daddy Notebook Enthusiast

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    buff-daddy, Apr 28, 2010
    #63
  14. ECKS

    ECKS Notebook Prophet

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    ECKS, Apr 28, 2010
    #64
  15. fadegs

    fadegs Notebook Geek

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    The GX640 is NOT 5.94lbs with battery. With the 9-cell battery the GX640 is around 7lbs (I weighed it using my postal scale).
     
    fadegs, Apr 28, 2010
    #65
  16. BenLeonheart

    BenLeonheart walk in see this wat do?

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    Dspr_02, OMG, you're only get 60fps in CSS? gx640 sucks...
    </troll>

    hahaha!!
    MAN! I cant wait for you to continue benching this beauty...
    :D I was looking @ BFBC2's setting screen and I can't believe you didn't post the in-game pic! ugh :(!

    I want to know how is it handling the heat while gaming?
     
    BenLeonheart, Apr 28, 2010
    #66
  17. peekaboom

    peekaboom Notebook Consultant

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    You positive you are not thinking the GX740? I had BTO tech weight a GX740 for me with it's 9-cell battery and it was 7.3 lbs according to their scales. That would mean the gx640 weights the same?
     
    peekaboom, Apr 28, 2010
    #67
  18. fadegs

    fadegs Notebook Geek

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    Yes, I have the GX640 and weighed it with and without battery. I mail stuff regularly so I have no reason to doubt my postal scale is wrong. I will post a pic when I get home.
     
    fadegs, Apr 28, 2010
    #68
  19. Dspr_02

    Dspr_02 Notebook Evangelist

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    Well I tried to post a pic of the in game but for some reason why I "Ctrl+ V" it comes up with a white screen.

    I raged at this.

    I get around 45 - 60 fps in BC2, average of 59/60 and lowest was but that was a glitch with Windows Firewall and Updates.

    This laptop is gust great!
     
    Dspr_02, Apr 28, 2010
    #69
  20. ziddy123

    ziddy123 Notebook Virtuoso

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    When you use Fraps, press F10 to take screenshots. You can't take pictures with just printscrn because of the overlay.
     
    ziddy123, Apr 28, 2010
    #70
  21. BenLeonheart

    BenLeonheart walk in see this wat do?

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    Oh my word...
    tough call between gx740 & gx640...
    what about the heat?
    :)

     
    BenLeonheart, Apr 28, 2010
    #71
  22. Dspr_02

    Dspr_02 Notebook Evangelist

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    The exhaust is warm while on/gaming thought not uncomfortable by any means.

    You can also use it comfortably on your lap as long as the exhaust port is not blocked!

    Also miner came with DDR3 1333 Ram :D
     
    Dspr_02, Apr 28, 2010
    #72
  23. BenLeonheart

    BenLeonheart walk in see this wat do?

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    andy HWmonitor numbers on temperatures?
    "warm" is a subjective term....
    75~80c?
    whats the max temp reached while gaming? :)
    I'll thank you for this :)

     
    BenLeonheart, Apr 28, 2010
    #73
  24. Dspr_02

    Dspr_02 Notebook Evangelist

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    [​IMG]

    After 50 min or so of playing Just Cause 2 maxed out completely on my blanket!
     
    Dspr_02, Apr 28, 2010
    #74
  25. BenLeonheart

    BenLeonheart walk in see this wat do?

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    Santisimo Cristo de la Gloria!

    i'm 80% GX640, 20% GX740 now...

     
    BenLeonheart, Apr 28, 2010
    #75
  26. aintz

    aintz Notebook Evangelist

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    15.4inch > 17 for me thats why i got the gx640. but if u wanted more power the clevo w860cu is an option. i got gx640 because the battery life was longer and i didnt customize anything (if you customize a gx640 its more expensive than w860 which has a 5870)
     
    aintz, Apr 28, 2010
    #76
  27. battousai10k

    battousai10k Notebook Evangelist

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    Played Dragon Age on max everything, 8x multi-sampling, frame buffer effects, v-sync off with high 50 frame rates. During battles it dropped to 40 or even high 30s. Turning off frame buffer effects increased FPS to almost 80.

    Now for the bad news. Max temp on CPU was 82 and max on GPU was 90!!! My room temp is about 20 celsius
     
    battousai10k, Apr 28, 2010
    #77
  28. Dspr_02

    Dspr_02 Notebook Evangelist

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    Thats not too too bad in terms of temps (hey, I had a dell at one point, 102*c idle was usual :D ).

    Also as Aintz said, 15.4 > 17.3, atleast for me since I do take it to work/school regularly and a 17.3 would be overkill.

    It is one of the bigger factors that resulted in me not getting the GX740...
     
    Dspr_02, Apr 28, 2010
    #78
  29. battousai10k

    battousai10k Notebook Evangelist

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    as long theres no throttling, i dont mind. I only tested it out for like 10 mins, so not sure what the long-term performance would be. A cooler might still be recommended though for long periods of gaming.
     
    battousai10k, Apr 28, 2010
    #79
  30. aintz

    aintz Notebook Evangelist

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    try running furmark for 5mins with extreme burn checked. after 3dmark my max temp was only 80C. 5mins of furmark got me to 92.
     
    aintz, Apr 28, 2010
    #80
  31. Winkyeye

    Winkyeye Notebook Consultant

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    Can someone comment on the building quality of this laptop? When you pick it up does it creak? Does the keyboard flex? Does the screen warp if you tried twisting it? etc.
     
    Winkyeye, Apr 28, 2010
    #81
  32. aintz

    aintz Notebook Evangelist

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    no. keyboard is not the best but its ok. screen doesnt warp but mine has minor bleeding at the bottom. i really dont like where they put the ports (ethernet usbs and power) and oyeah only 2usb ports. but overall this is a good laptop for its price.
     
    aintz, Apr 28, 2010
    #82
  33. BenLeonheart

    BenLeonheart walk in see this wat do?

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    thats pretty hot :\

    as long as there's no throttling...

    oh well...
    back to 50/50 on gx640 and gx740
     
    BenLeonheart, Apr 28, 2010
    #83
  34. NotEnoughMinerals

    NotEnoughMinerals Notebook Deity

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    haha Ben, still having the internal debate huh? Both me and Tree Burner were having the same dilemma and went for the GX640. It's a really tough decision tough....really tough
     
    NotEnoughMinerals, Apr 29, 2010
    #84
  35. BenLeonheart

    BenLeonheart walk in see this wat do?

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    Yeah... good thing is I dont have the money YET. So I can have all the sleepless nights I want...
    Pricewise; both come in at around $1300...
    So price is ok...
    I'm just waiting for more ppl to point fingers and say "GX_40 sux!"
    Proven with benchies/temps, and I'll have a bit more piece of mind...


     
    BenLeonheart, Apr 29, 2010
    #85
  36. lackofcheese

    lackofcheese Notebook Virtuoso

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    If it will be proven that "GX_40" sux, benchmarks definitely won't be responsible. Temperatures mostly look fine too, so I wouldn't count on proof like that if I were you.
     
    lackofcheese, Apr 29, 2010
    #86
  37. Dspr_02

    Dspr_02 Notebook Evangelist

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    Actually, this is not true, if you try plugging a USB device into the eStata port, you will see that it works...

    So the correct thing to say is that :

    This laptop has only 2 USB ports AND an eSata USB combo port.
     
    Dspr_02, Apr 29, 2010
    #87
  38. lackofcheese

    lackofcheese Notebook Virtuoso

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    I hadn't even realised that that extra USB port was eSATA.
     
    lackofcheese, Apr 29, 2010
    #88
  39. BenLeonheart

    BenLeonheart walk in see this wat do?

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    Its not that I'm digging to find THAT proof...
    I'm just waiting for enough user input, so I don't make the same mistake I did with the xps m1530...


     
    BenLeonheart, Apr 29, 2010
    #89
  40. ECKS

    ECKS Notebook Prophet

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    If you guys can wait a couple of weeks, I will be making my purchase and doing a video review of its capabilities. I'm thinking of streaming some gaming action on justintv, if it can handle it. I imagine that this super computer WOULD be able to though, so we'll see.

    **Note, I will be testing SC2 beta first, of course. If you guys have any game suggestions, I will let my buddy know so he can lend me those games, as I have only a few.
     
    ECKS, Apr 29, 2010
    #90
  41. Dspr_02

    Dspr_02 Notebook Evangelist

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    PONG!

    Jk jk...

    I will keep the updates going for a while, just installed W 7 Pro X64 so I need a little bit of time to re-adjust things for optimal win use of laptop.

    Review updates will commence soon.
     
    Dspr_02, Apr 29, 2010
    #91
  42. ECKS

    ECKS Notebook Prophet

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    Woohoo! Sounds good thanks Dspr
     
    ECKS, Apr 30, 2010
    #92
  43. Truth999

    Truth999 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I know that I've been waiting to find out if this machine can handle Pong! Or failing that, King's Quest 1: you need some serious graphics power to run that, right? Does anyone else even remember the King's Quest series?

    Actually, I'm wondering if you have a way of benching video or photo editing software. That's Cinebench and Vantage, I believe (I'm still not up on what all the benching software does).
     
    Truth999, Apr 30, 2010
    #93
  44. Tree_Burner

    Tree_Burner Notebook Deity

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    [​IMG]

    temps looked good with pong. (i know i was sucking :p) ran flawlessley
     
    Tree_Burner, Apr 30, 2010
    #94
  45. Truth999

    Truth999 Notebook Enthusiast

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    ROFLMAO! It's good to know that this machine can handle even the most advanced games. Still waiting on those KQ temps though...
     
    Truth999, Apr 30, 2010
    #95
  46. Damn Dirty Ape

    Damn Dirty Ape Notebook Consultant

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    aww man I loved that KQ series.
     
    Damn Dirty Ape, Apr 30, 2010
    #96
  47. battousai10k

    battousai10k Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm finding Dirt 2 taxes the GPU heavily. I'm running it at full rez, 2 x Multi Samp, mediium preset settings with some tweaks and I'm getting an average of low 50 FPS.

    Running on ultra brings FPS down too much. I'm curious to see if you're getting similar results. Use the benchmark in the game to test it.
     
    battousai10k, May 1, 2010
    #97
  48. ECKS

    ECKS Notebook Prophet

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    Wait, wait. Are those good things or a bad things?
     
    ECKS, May 1, 2010
    #98
  49. BenLeonheart

    BenLeonheart walk in see this wat do?

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    YOu're on performance mode, stock clocks, and updated drivers?

    search gx640 on youtube and watch dirt2...
    does it bring fps down like that?

     
    BenLeonheart, May 1, 2010
    #99
  50. battousai10k

    battousai10k Notebook Evangelist

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    yes on performance mode, with stock clocks and 10.4 drivers. Dirt 2 is very taxing on the GPU, that's why i'm waiting until someone else has the done the benchmark, so I know if I'm right. On medium though it still looks pretty damn good.
     
    battousai10k, May 2, 2010
    #100
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