MSI GS40 Phantom-001

I would wait for a better review than that one, as it doesn't tell us anything about temps or throttling. Also keep your eye on the P640RE, as it's launching soon and is a direct competitor.

 

I'm overall very pleased with the machine both in build quality and particularly gaming, where I think it would be hard to beat in this form factor and price point.

 

Good point about the KitGuru review neglecting temps/throttling. The GenTechPC review suggests the GS40 has good temps, and others in this thread have said throttling hasn't been much of an issue for them, but it'd be nice to see additional reviews that cover this. And thanks for pointing out the P640RE, I'll have to see how it compares!

Separately: for anyone who's interested, here is a list of reviews of the GS40 in English I've come across (not many so far), including those posted by others earlier in this thread. (Note that this list does not include any older "previews" from when before the GS40 was released).

KitGuru (new review, not preview)
GenTechPC
Tech Showdown
LorelynF
NewGadgets

And while it's not a review, the MSI unboxing video provides some useful info: MSI Unboxing

 

Hi all,

Happy Holidays!

I just purchased a GS40 about 10 days ago. All in all, it’s been great overall. I like it’s speed, portability, size, etc.

I would say that the SSD size of 128GB is pretty small. I only have one game installed, Guild Wars 2, and no other applications, and the laptop is already warning me of only having 25% disk space left.

I am running into one problem though. I’m not sure if it’s an hardware, video card, Windows 10, or a Guild Wars 2 issue. Basically, when I’m somewhat idle in game, like AFKish on a relatively empty map for about 10-40 minutes, the game client will lock up and freeze, and the game will become completely unresponsive. The only thing I can do at that point is kill the GW2 task.

I’ve run Memtest86+ for about 30 hours (single threaded mode), and run Prime95 for about 10 hours cumulatively, and both tests pass.

I’ve tried various Nvidia driver’s from the current December 2015 one, to as far back as May 2015, but the problem still persists.

I've installed GW2 on various Windows 7 and 8.1 machines over the years and it's been pretty stable and robust.

Does anyone else have any other suggestions?

Thanks everyone in advance!

 

I've run memtest as well with zero errors so I'm pretty confident it could be guild wars. The only comparison I've got is that I play Wildstar with no issues when going afk and returning. Try reinstalling it?

Also, why are you installing massive games to the SSD? I'm literally installing everything to the HDD, games are still loading incredibly fast and performance isn't an issue, everything still runs as good as I hoped. Got Syndicate, TF2, CS GO and Wildstar all installed on it, maxed out and it handles them all.

 

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

Sure, I'll try re-downloading the game and see how that goes.

On my other laptops and desktops, I generally instally the OS and all apps on the SSD, and use the mechanical for user data and files.

Happy holidays and thanks!

 

Ah no worries happy holidays to you too!

While in normal circumstances I'D 100% agree to keep apps and OS on the SSD, but because 128 is so small when games are so big I'd end up having to compromise at some point as to which games to keep on it vs HDD. So my solution is to keep all of them on the HDD, plus if Windows crashes again for me, all those 30GB games are safely backed up in case I need to wipe the SSD, its happened once already so I'm prepared this time lol.

 

Hi again zShaw,

Well I'm sure if I end up keeping the GS40, I'll be upgrading the SSD after the 1 year warranty expires. But thanks for the suggestion!

I don't need to install many apps on this laptop, as I play GW2 pretty much exclusively. Though I'll need MS Office, and simple IDE.

I did a game "repair" and am testing gw2 again now to see if it has resolved my issue. I'll report back either way.

After many hours of browsing GW2, Windows 10 and Nvidia forum threads, I thought this would be a good place to come.

Thanks!

 

For the ssd space, windows 10 updates itself and has a large 16+gb old file you can delete. It will clean itself after a few dozen days or so

 

30 days is how long they hold it to let you revert back.

 

Oh, thanks for the information. May I ask what this file is called and it's location?

Thanks!

 

UPDATE:

Well I installed installed GW2 clean and kept everything at default settings, and the same game freeze occurred after about 30 min of idling.

I have browsed the GW2 forums pretty extensively and I can't find an example of what is happening to me, which leads me to suggest that it could be hardware, I'm not sure.

In the Nvidia control panel, I have also specifically stated that that game should run on the 970m, and not the integrated graphics. Because this problem is happening when I'm AFK, is it possible that it's switching to the integrated graphics or something, even though I have set it not to?

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

its in your C drive called 'windows.old'

the thing is you'll need to "take ownership" of the folder in order to delete it. at least i had to. there is a program called 'take ownership' that lets you do exactly that so you can just right click delete.

As for your gaming issue, maybe its you power settings? try going into you dragon gaming settings and selecting high performance and sport, under device settings tab.

goodluck

 

Windows provides you with a method to delete old installations/Windows.Old directory. Search for the application called Disk Cleanup. Select the drive that the Windows.Old is on. Once the main screen loads, click on "Clean up system files" in the lower left. You will have to select the drive again. Once you are back to the main screen, you should see an option to delete Previous Windows installations and Temporary Installation Files.

 

Thanks for the info on the Windows file. I'll keep that in mind if I get desperate for space.

And as for the power settings suggestion, I've been running high performance and sport. Thanks for trying though.

 

I'm still battling to get the damn speakers to be louder. Has anyone managed to successfully increase the max volume? It's upsetting that my Tab S2 is louder by nearly double!

 

Try letasoft sound booster. It doesn't work for games though. Vlc media player and YouTube it works great. Good audio quality up to 200%

 

i had it before my Windows crashed but it was just crashing constantly so I gave up, however I've uninstalled Nahimic, reinstalled sound booster and I'm able to get it up to 500% without it crackling in VLC. About to try some music, but for now it definitely is working as I hoped it would! Terrible how quiet they are normally though, it's poor that MSI would release a device clearly ignoring the volume being quiet.

Music still sounds crap with any hint of bass above 110% which is no louder than usual anyway. Only flaw with this laptop, my phone can handle bass better than this.

* EDIT * Ended up reinstalling Nahimic, needed to be able to adjust the bass with volume booster installed for music. Don't think it's ever going to be great but a bit of tweaking between VB and Nahimic is certainly an improvement from stock.

 

As a follow up to the questions about whether the GS40 Super Port is/will be Thunderbolt 3 capable: I participated in the following exchange with the MSI representative in the "[Official] Questions for the MSI Rep!" thread, which confirms that the Super Port is not yet, but will be, Thunderbolt 3-certified in the future:

So it appears that the Type C port is Thunderbolt 3 capable, but MSI is referring to the port as a "Super Port" until it officially obtains Thunderbolt 3 certification.

This pretty much seals the deal for me, especially considering the P640RE doesn't have a Thunderbolt 3 port. I'll probably buy a GS40 this coming week, with an upgraded SSD and a stealth wrap to hide the logo and red line on the lid.

 

Now they're actually advertising it as thunderbolt 3 on their website so maybe they got it certified?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

They put "(optional)" at the end of the lines under Thunderbolt 3.

 

Maybe it requires a new BIOS flash which would be an optional decision? Literally just thinking out loud!

 

UPDATE:


Ok, I think I may have figured out my freezing problem in Guild Wars 2.

As a last ditch effort to get things working properly, I factory reset the laptop by using the restore feature. Then, on booting the first time, I immediately disabled automatic device driver updates. After that GW2 seemed to run fine.

I then proceeded to install the Windows 10 version of ZoneAlarm Antivirus and Firewall. As soon as I did, the problem came back, so I’m fairly certain it’s the culprit.

It’s too bad, as I’ve been using ZoneAlarm products since the XP days, but, this is my first PC with Windows 10, so I’m unfamiliar with ZoneAlarm’s behaviour on this OS. I did notice that there is no mention of their partnership with Kaspersky any more. Perhaps they have changed something in their antivirus scanning engine.

I did another factory restore, and installed, the basic ZoneAlarm Firewall (Not Antivirus and Firewall), and everything seems fine for me in game.

Thank you for everyone’s help and time.

Happy Holidays!

 

Have you tried another application to playback music?

I have noticed that the default music player is quite low as well.

I've had a lot of luck with VLC Player. It also has a configurable playback volume of up to 200%.

Thanks!

 

I listen to mixes on Soundcloud 99.9% of the time, so my options are limited. It's strange because gaming is more than loud enough, especially CS:GO. I wouldn't need it any louder than it can go on max, but music is where the speakers suffer most. Maybe I've just been spoilt with relatively good speakers on Macbooks for when I didn't want to have headphones on, but it's not a deal breaker. Still love the machine every day I use it.

 

Just wondering if anyone has had any luck updating their Network Adapter (Ethernet and WIFI) Drivers.

I've tried the suite from Killer Networking (1.156.1590 and 1.1.57.1665) but I can't seem to get the install to complete. I had to resort to install the driver only version (Manually installing the .INF files) instead.

Thanks!

 

Notes after 1 week owning the GS40 6QE (2015, Skylake, GTX970M, 1080p). I owned the GS60 "2PC" before (2014, Haswell, GTX860M, 1080p), until it was recently stolen and I went with this one.

• Build quality is roughly on par with the GS60, a tad more plasticky on the sides, but also feels like the screen bezel is less flimsy/bendy which is good.
• 14.1in vs 15.6in is a huge difference (my only regret), but of course the case is proportionally smaller / more portable. I also feel like they wasted less bezel space around the screen, for the GS40.
• The GS40 loses the cool multicolor programmable Steelseries for static red LEDs, and loses the numpad. I won't miss them much, although the multicolor keys were a solid showoff feature. No numpad also means the trackpad is more central, which I really prefer.
• The GS40 is 10-15% thicker than the GS60, and it's noticeable enough to make it feel like it's a "small laptop" rather than a "slim laptop". It's also 10% lighter supposedly, but feels pretty similar carrying it.
• The upside from that thickness is that they put a larger battery in the GS40 than the GS60 (61Wh vs 47Wh?). I think that's around 3.5-4.5 hours of web browsing (claimed, not verified), vs the 2.5-3 hours I had on the GS60. I also feel like the GS60 battery deteriorated over 2 years -- maybe the new "don't charge unless below ~90%" feature will help preserve this one. Although I'm not sure if it's a Win10 or EC feature.
• No obvious FN+key shortcut for toggling the Bluetooth. I'll keep looking.
• My GS60 had the annoying issue that the trackpad would sometimes become unresponsive for 10 seconds every 10 minutes, regardless of driver. GS40 doesn't have that problem. Otherwise they work similarly and have the same reasonably-flexible software. I don't think MacBook trackpads are necessarily any better (I know I'll get flamed for this).
• When the 1TB HDD is spinning, it sounds like a small continuous fan i.e. far from silent. I'll be replacing it with another SSD soon or after 1 year -- I wish removing it didn't void the warranty (some say it doesn't, but the "warranty void" sticker on that last screw says otherwise). Until then I'll try to figure out how to tell Windows to shut it off immediately after boot. It cannot be disabled in the motherboard BIOS.
• The GS60 originally had a firmware that left the CPU fan at 20% (?) even at min temps. I had to get someone to share their modified EC which they made with Svet's EC tool (which I was too cheap to buy myself since he required donations). The GS40 doesn't have this problem and does go to 0% fan at idle.
• The power button is poorly placed, at the top left corner of the bottom case. It's not improbable to grab the laptop there, or even let your hand rest there, and risk pressing it.
• Another issue with the power button is that the "orange" (dGPU active) vs "red" (dGPU inactive) states are coming from the same point light and it's not obvious which one it is. The GS60 had a nice big LED ring around the power button to show "orange" vs "blue". User interface 101 fail (oh and good luck to the colorblind).
• There's not much bloatware pre-installed. I got rid of the "Test me" versions of Office and WinZip, and some of the MSI reminder/backup/autoupdate stuff. Comes with 2 months of Norton Security.
• The default EC CPU fan profile could use a bigger hysteresis. Sometimes the fan will go on/off/on if hitting a short loading screen in a game for example, slightly distracting (and can't be good for longevity).
• The keyboard keys feel sturdier. The GS60 had issues with caps lock (or was it tab?) getting stuck if pressed off center, and the spacebar not registering if pressed off center.
• They crammed the pgup/pgdn keys on the same row as the spacebar, which means they're both tiny which requires some getting used to.
• GS40 comes with Win10 Home, which at first I thought might be insufficient compared to Win10 Pro, but turns out is fine since the "No Remote Desktop support" just means as a server, not as a client (so I can still connect to home/work desktop PCs). No particular comments on Win10 vs Win7 -- you win some and you lose some. They managed to make Edge browser even worse than IE11 though!
• Gripe: brightness buttons change brightness 10% at a time, I wish it was 5% because 10% is still quite bright at night and I feel like I'm wasting power (and of course 0% is too dark). You can set by 1% increments in Windows at least, but I don't have the patience for it.
• The power cord is the same as the GS60 one (not small, and no cord wrappers). I might look into the slim Razer one which I heard is compatible (?).
• The GS60 came with a reasonably nice / useful zipper sleeve, the GS40 doesn't.

 

Nice little review. The only concern I have is the weight. In Gentech's review they weighed it at 4lbs, where it's supposed to be closer to 3.5lbs. If you have a kitchen scale lying around could you give it a quick test?

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

It's 4.08lbs on the kitchen scale. Official specs say 3.75lbs, and I believe that's because they measured without the Hitachi HTS721010A9E630 HDD, which weighs 0.25lbs. Not sure where the other 0.08lbs come from.

 

Hey Lads

I recently got myself the MSI GS40, it's a great machine performance-wise there isn't any throttling no matter what game i'm playing, despite its design that could have been slightly better and its plastic built part which could have been better. (Okay i was using a macbook pro before, in no way those two products can be compared i guess, due to their hardware differences)

Anyway, great machine so far, and sick that it works fine in a 14'inch format (which is also why i bought it ), however there is something that bugs me ... a lot ! Those damn fans that start to spin while my CPU is only 42'C hot. I mean what the hell are these lame fan profiles, the threshold are juste way too overkill for that temp i think, yet that's not the core problem indeed those fans are quite noisy, why the hell would they spin at minimum 3300 RPM... I mean why MSI wouldn't teach their fans to spin at lower and more ordinary speeds that matches the stress situations. The machine is always working on a Cooler Master Notepal U3+ yet i have to deal with sometimes those weird fans kicking in every 5-10mn when i'm browsing the web, which i find quite sad for a machine worth the equivalent of more than 2K$ in my country.

So yeah , i was wondering if you guys know a way to get rid of that or set our own temperature threshold any bios tweaking solutions or whatever ? any software options available or upcoming ?

I thank you a lot in advance for your help and wish you a happy new year + a good day.

NB: I reinstalled the latest drivers twice for the GTX 970M and pretty much most of the drivers are up to date and the machine is running fine under W10 PRO 64bits. Also wanted to add, that this isn't much of an awful problem if we put it aside the qualities of the machine, it's still a great computer and i really recommend the machine provided you take a good warranty with it.

Cheers

 

I agree 3300 RPM is overkill, I think someone said that they could not lower fan speeds less than that even with svet's tool. I would check out svet's tuner on the MSI forums and see what tweaks you can make by contacting svet as his tool is probably the only option if there is a way to change it I think you can change the hysteresis. Pretty sure you have to donate for it too.

 

Thanks for your reply shinobi ! I have no idea about who that Svet is or anything, but i'd be extremely by his work, if it can solve our problem without voiding the warranty. I'm for sure ready to donate .

 

Svet works over at the MSI.com forum, I've worked with him on several custom bios/vbios projects.

 

My review is here, if anyone is interested:

http://www.ultrabookreview.com/9542-msi-gs40-phantom-review/

 

Anyone else having problems with wifi dropping with the killer N1252 card? Every few hours it would go to "no intenet access " on the network notification. I have updated all drivers , EC firmware, bios.

 

Yeah I've done that already, is strange .... The speed is quick but every few hours it would disconnect for like 1 minute?

 

Congratulations on your new rig... Could you please share whether the keyboard and the palm rest area are hot when gaming?

 

How did you manage to unplug the battery? I have opened up my laptop but do not want to damage the connectors. There is a little black square is that the latch? and how do you undo the latch?

 

Thanks for the info! Please update us after you try other games

 

Ah good to know I'm not the only one facing these problems, did the network logo have a yellow sign ? If you right click it should say "no internet access"

 

The laptop doesn't get hot when you game, I was playing tomb raider on max details for around an hour and around wasd area it gets warm but not uncomfortably warm.

 

I have been reading about other laptops which uses the killer network card. What I have done is update the latest drivers only and uninstalled the network manager thing from MSI . It happens every few hours now rather than once or twice an hour.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

The right side of my palm rest gets warm when playing Guild Wars 2, but nothing too serious.

Also, with regard to the dropping WIFI, I didn't have the issue with the original drivers, but, I did upgrade the Killer Networking (driver only, 2015AUG04) update.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the install stopped when it was about 90% complete, but, after rebooting, both WIFI and ethernet ports seemed to work well, and again, without any WIFI dropping.

Thanks!

 

Still using August version? Try December.
http://www.killernetworking.com/support/driver-downloads

 

I was referring to the Killer Networking drivers only, not the suite:

http://www.killernetworking.com/support/driver-downloads/standard-drivers/item/drivers-only

I actually tried installing the recent Killer Networking Suite, but, I couldn't get the install to complete. It kept hanging towards the end. I tired it more than once. Have you been able to successfully install the suite on a GS40?

Thanks!

 

How are temps on GS40? Fans loud under load? ( quieter then the GS60!)
Thanks!

 

Download the driver first, then remove the driver package completely, reboot the system, and reload the driver.
If issue persists, perhaps you have other issues in the system preventing it from running normally, then I would advise performing a system refresh or reset to a clean stage before trying the driver update again.

 

So it looks like there will be an updated version of GS40 (soon maybe?) with a GTX 960M but also with a docking connector on the back.
This means that the current GS40 won't be able to use the dock, which blows.
I mean, the GS40 just came out and they're already making a discrete GPU dock only compatible with the second version... :[

I kind of doubt MSI will work on their BIOS to enable GS40 gen 1 users to use Razer Core either...

 

Thanks for the tip!

I'll do that when I update the driver again.