GT780DX Upgraded to GTX 980M & i7-2960XM

You're still using a standard hard drive for your OS and your games. Once you get that good solid state drive it will help tremendously. It will unlock the full potential of your processor

 

Now time to overclock the refresh of the screen

 

I'll have more updates soon...

@AdamManMsi it is ok to use the standard battery with the new 230W charger correct?

Thanks

 

This is with no tweaking of any kind, just a straight run

 

Pretty bad, probably partly due to the CPU. 8000+ is the default area, gfx 9000+.

 

Yes the default battery is perfectly fine. As long as it holds a charge. You're going to use it plugged in 95% of time anyway

 

Why do you think the CPU would be causing a throttling issue or a lack of performance. As far as I knew he has one of the most powerful processors made. Is there some way to tweak it to gain better performance?

 

For instance my 7820HK is about 20% faster. But there might be downclocking due to hitting TDP - my older GT70 0NE didn't allow almost any overclocking due to BIOS/EC restricting performance. Best to run under HWInfo and look at what it shows under stress.

 

Thanks zipperi, I've got HWInfo running, what should I specifically look for? Are you saying to keep it running in the background during Firestrike? In this area I'm not as familiar so if I could have some guidance I would like to see ways to improve my score.

Just to note, my posted score was on balanced, switching power setting to high performance resulted in a score of 6665

 

The CPU temp has never gone over 88 since I have put everything back together - is that good?

 

Over here Ninjaneer smoked my score and his CPU was a i7-2670QM

Anyone familiar with using Throttlestop?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...0-70-970m-980m-upgrade-thread.765058/page-282

 

Ok, so using RivaTuner while playing Doom I can see that the CPU is throttling from 3392 MhZ to 798Mhz..

Any way to improve?

Is flashing my BIOS to the unlocked one at Techinferno the only way to get around the throttling, or can I just use Throttlestop...or is there another method?

https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/files/file/34-msi-g-series-unlocked-bios/

 

This is with ThrottleStop at defaults and running in the background. Definitely prevented throttling, but score still low..

Is it safe to raise my multiplier by 1 (37T + 1)?




Edit: also have not overclocked the GPU at all

 

Getting closer, what things can I try to get it to 8000 range?

 

My question is have you installed the MSI system control manager and the Nvidia overclock tool and all of the other system proprietary software that goes with that machine. As well as updating all of the drivers past the Windows driver, you really need to find the actual drivers for each item. The windows drivers are only there to provide basic functionality. You will need to update everything in your system and make sure all the drivers are good, and also update all of the system software and utilities provided by MSI for that machine. In order for the machine to fully utilize the components that you've added to it i believe you should start there first

 

No I haven't, but I am confused where to start if the MSI site has drivers only for Windows 7 and 8. Could you recommend a good source to get the most recent and correct drivers?

 

Official GT780DX drivers (Win8 64):

Sentelic Touchpad/Synaptics Touchpad
Intel Rapid Storage Tech
Intel 6 Series Chipset
Intel Management Engine Driver
Realtek HD Audio
Realtek Card Reader
Intel Wireless LAN_crane peak
Realtek LAN
NEC USB.0 Driver (beta)
Intel Bluetooth_N130


Official GT780DX drivers (Win7 64):

Sentelic Touchpad/Synaptics Touchpad
Intel Rapid Storage Tech
Intel 6 Series Chipset
Intel Management Engine Driver
Realtek HD Audio
Realtek Card Reader
Intel Wireless LAN_crane peak
Realtek LAN
NEC USB.0 Driver (beta)
Intel Bluetooth_N130


Utilities:

Keyboard LED Manager (already installed)
S-Bar 2.0 (this gave me issues with Bluetooth when installed in the past)
S-Bar 2.0(20.011.05137)
Intel Turbo Boost Monitor 2.0
MSI Cinema Pro II
Nvidia VGA OC (v. 11.03.2801)
THX EQ
THX AP
Easy Viewer
Battery Calibration
Nvidia VGA OC (v. 12.05.0801)

Not exactly sure how to proceed, I don't want to install outdated drivers....do I need to get some official MSI drivers off of the pages for other models like the GT60 / GT70?

​

 

A lot of times with those drivers they're not necessarily outdated. They were created at one time for that machine and the hardware that's in it. Such as the Nvidia overclock tool. It was created for that machine. There's no real update for it. So it's not outdated. I have always installed the drivers that were provided from the MSI website for the appropriate operating system. Using the Windows 8 drivers Works mostly for Windows 10. The system control manager is proprietary to that system. It will work with Windows 7 8 or 10. The drivers for the unit are not like other windows drivers. They're more like apple drivers. Yes some of the components inside will have updated versions of their drivers, but things like the battery calibration and the system control manager and the Nvidia overclock tool and so on are designed for that model. They work with that model no matter what the operating system is and there is no need to update them. I have tried to use newer versions of the system control manager and overclock tool and they do not work. Those software programs are designed to go with the hardware buttons across the top. And with your function key buttons. They are not dependent on age or operating system.

 

Not sure which of these are essential, but the lights on the keyboard work as do the bezel buttons. Is the Nvidia OC tool necessary and which one do I need? Totally lost as to which system control manager and CPU chipset to use...and of course Windows 10 automatically installs drivers on a clean install..

 

You have to understand that this is through my experience through trial and error. I have spent weeks working on these machines in order to perfect my install. I have a separate file for each machine that I come across and I've got it down to about 4 hours. Drivers included. Tomorrow evening I can sit down and make a list of all the drivers that I have in that file for that machine. They all work and are up to date as far as I know. You're not going to find brand new 2018 drivers for some of the hardware in there things like the Wi-Fi card and stuff, they made drivers for it they updated them a few times but now they've moved on to bigger and better things. A lot of times if I have an issue I use driverscape.Com and you can look up the actual item and find the driver for the appropriate operating system. The drivers don't necessarily have to be for MSI. The driver needs to be the newest version for the appropriate Hardware

 

You need to look at the MSI website and find the appropriate Nvidia overclock tool for your specific model number. It will be for the hardware. There will be no update for it and newer versions of the overclock tool are for newer versions of their machines. It's not one program that they continually update for all machines, they make an individual program for each machine and it doesn't change, there is one program for your machine and it will be applicable to any operating system.

 

That would be awesome and very much appreciated!

Are these missing drivers part of the reason that my Firestrike score is lower than normal? Temps seem good, and with Throttlestop running I don't get the CPU stepping down

 

You should find the newest Intel Series 6 Windows 10 driver. That one from Windows update will probably be the best newest. But that's for the chipset, and that's a separate driver from the utilities. The drivers for the CPU and GPU and audio and those things are individual pieces. The same drivers for a Sony or an HP will be the same drivers for yours. You just need to find the newest driver for each individual piece of hardware, on the other hand the hotkeys and the function keys and the overclock tool and the system control manager are proprietary to the machine not the parts inside of it. As far as the system control manager goes it is absolutely necessary. It really should have been the first or second thing that you installed. The machine needs it to Route proper power to proper items. I always install the CPU driver first then the system control manager then the light managers and other such things like the lock indicator and stuff. Then I install the NVIDIA drivers and then I go through and finish out installing the Wi-Fi and the audio video sound controllers and the management engine and all that other stuff. Intel management engine and Intel rapid storage technology and so on that all go along with the main chipset driver.

 

You need to check the resolution on your benchmark. Don't try and run a 4K Benchmark on a 1080p screen. Set the resolution to 1080p on the benchmark resolution. Make sure that all the settings on your benchmark are appropriate for the screen and the video card that you have

 

There's really not much more that I can do to help. If I was able to sit down and look at the machine for an afternoon I guarantee I could sort out all of your problems. But without having the ability to physically look at it, it's kind of like trying to get a mechanic to diagnose your car over the phone. My dad's a mechanic and I know how annoying that is

 

I would start with all of the drivers provided for Windows 8 on the MSI website. If the driver is older than the driver that you have installed Windows will tell you that it's inappropriate and it will not allow you to install it. If you can install it then that means you're replacing the basic Windows driver at least with something provided by the manufacturer. The windows drivers are really crap

 

Ok thank you for that

If you could tell me the correct SCM driver to use that would be great. On the MSI site there is only an SCM driver for Win7 32. So after a Google search I found 3:

MSI SCM x64 13.017.06089

MSI SCM x64 13.017.04187

_ap_MSI SCm x64 13.018.03063._13.018.03063_0x8b4df550

How can I get the correct SCM from a trusted source if not from MSI's site?

 

can you possibly get the Final Fantasy XIV stormblood Benchmark. That's the one that me and all my buddies use. We usually set it on hi laptop at 1280 x 720 windowed.

 

And is the P1 turbo button supposed to still function? It looks like even in game the CPU drops to 798 occasionally, even with Throttlestop running (Throttlestop does improve things though)

AdamManMSI - you had talked about needing the extra wattage because this CPU can get up to 4 GHZ correct?

 

Yep, will run it and let you know

 

I have got to go to bed. I can look that up tomorrow and tell you the one that I used for the gt780. Unfortunately it's getting late. I was asking about that Benchmark because it would give me more of a baseline to go off of. I have scores for that test in that resolution saved for approximately 45 machines. Then we can compare it to other builds of the same caliber. My gt70 scores 10463

 

No the turbo button will probably not work. As I stated much earlier in this post the turbo function becomes Auto. When you push the system hard enough to need the turbo it will automatically turn the turbo on itself, at least that's the way that processor has always acted in my experience in the machines that I have used it to build

 

CPU was definitely not steady at turbo - I had riva tuner running and could see it at 798 MHz through a good portion of the benchmark

 

@AdamManMsi - there is an unlocked BIOS on the Techinferno site that claims to allow for using Throttlestop to get around the TDP stepping down. Not sure if you would advise that or if its necessary, just wanted to mention it

 

Did you disable "BD Prochot" in Throttlestop?

 

@Falkentyne - I am running everything at default and haven't changed any setttings. Are you saying to uncheck BD PROCHOT (bi-directional processor hot that causes the CPU to look at the GPU temp)? How about my multiplier, do I keep it at 37T or bump it up 1 digit? Thanks for your help here

@AdamManMsi - I won't do any more stress testing/benchmarks/gaming before I get the correct drivers installed, don't worry

 

That actually looks pretty good for running on a standard hard drive. That's a fairly decent score. I've scored other machines even with the 880 and 870 and they only score 82 - 8600. I think the major problem is that you're still running on a standard hard drive. When your processor can't compute the information fast enough because the hard drive can't read it fast enough and throttles back. You have a crazy processor. I would recommend getting a Kingston hyperx gaming hard drive. The red one

 

After you get your solid state drive installed but you are Benchmark tests on the solid state drive not your standard hard drive storage Drive. Unless you go with two solid state drives. And that will improve your score

 

I'll have an SSD to benchmark with tonight

@AdamManMsi - if you get the chance to find out the correct drivers, I'll install them on a clean install tonight

If I run Throttlestop, should I uncheck BDPROCHOT?

 

Ok,

SSD is installed and kept the OS offline - a blank slate. This is just a basic Kingston SSD for now, not the gaming one yet. Though I was probably going to put an 860 Evo Pro in there if that is as good or better..

This is the driver install order I think @AdamManMsi is recommending:

CPU
SCM
Light Manager, Lock Indicator, (S-Bar - this gave me bluetooth issues in the past)?
GPU
WIFI
Audio/Video sound controllers
Intel Management Engine/Intel Rapid Storage/Chipset

Then other utilities like Nvidia Overclock tool/ THX/ etc.

@AdamManMsi - I am around tonight and if you can let me know correct drivers/install order I'll do more benchmarking. Looked around on MSI, Driverscape, etc. but would like to verify exact version numbers with the files that you use for this model - thanks!

 

Hey buddy I just got in from work. I had some crazy things come up and I had to deal with customers tonight. I may not get a chance to look at stuff this evening but I promise I'll do it as soon as I get home tomorrow..the driver install order that you have looks pretty good. I just basically looked around on the web for the newest driver for each item in the driver list. In the device manager. I looked at the properties in the device ID and then looked up the driver for each item and saved it. Driverscape has a good list of new Windows 10 drivers

 

http://www.driverscape.com/manufacturers/msi/laptops-desktops/gx780r-gt780r-gt780dxr/4259

Skip the Nvidia driver because it doesn't apply. use the newest version from GeForce experience. I used the drivers with the newest manufacture date or release date for the appropriate operating system. Just select Windows 10 64-bit and this should give you all your basic drivers. Then go to MSI and get the utilities for that model and use those. There are no newer versions that are applicable in the utilities. As far as I know the utilities are created for that machine and have not changed. I can give you a list tomorrow evening of the drivers that I use for that, but I just told you how I got them so you should be able to find the same ones. And you can actually probably find newer ones than I have because I compiled my driver list for that unit a couple of years ago

 

Thank you AdamManMsi, will be working on this through the night and will post new benches

 

Ok, here's where I'm at:



I'm sure the SSD helped, but the major thing that I did different was to run Throttlestop with BDPROCHOT unchecked - seemed to have helped as I watched the CPU going up to 3.5 Mhz in some parts...awesome

..how this is able to work on an official MSI BIOS (not unlocked) I'm not sure, but sure glad that it does!

 

Final Fantasy Bench:

 

Now I did!

 

Wow...... that's the highest score I've seen so far. Maybe I need to start tweaking mine a little bit, LOL

 

You shouldn't have any problem playing any game ever oh, wow. I don't think I've ever had a machine score that high.

 

It would be awesome if other people would run the same benchmark at the same settings and post their scores. I'd like to know how our MSI machines compared to other high end gaming laptops. I know they don't compare to desktops and that's not what I'm asking. Laptops only please, 1280 by 720 High Laptop Windows settings. That way we can all be on the same page with comparable test. I really like this test because it bares a strong correlation to gameplay ability. Much more than others that ive used.

 

You can compare laptop benchmarks between different video cards in https://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html There are game fps, too.