MSI GS60 Ghost/ Ghost Pro Thread

Hello again, I got my GS60 Pro today, can't wait to get back home and unbox it!

I read the complete thread and found that the RAM I need is:

Kingston MSI16D3LS1KBG/4G 11-11-11-28 @ 800 MHz

I can't find this particular module anywhere in 4 or 8GBs, was wondering if you guys know if this model will work instead:

Amazon.com: Kingston Technology 8GB 1600MHz DDR3L (PC3-12800) 1.35V Non-ECC CL11 SODIMM Intel Laptop Memory KVR16LS11/8: Computers & Accessories

It's DDR3L at 1.35V, do you guys think this particular module works with the 870M GS60 Pro?

Your help is greatly appreciated

 

It's a bit interesting that everyone is posting numbers around 6.7-6.8K for the 870m, but notebookcheck has it at 7270, which is a pretty large/significant difference, albeit it's sourced from their review of Clevo P170SM-A which had a 4800MQ vs the 4700MQ in the gs60. I'm still hoping that by the end of its life the gs60 will be hitting 8K thanks to drivers and oc.

 

Not bad! Do you have any intentions of overclocking the gpu? I wonder how much further you can push it consider the temps are 90c out of the box.

 

I did some testing with less intense games. Fallout New Vegas for instance. After 45 minutes of gaming, max CPU was 50, max GPU was 60. Much better there.

I tried Borderlands 2 next, and hit 53 cpu and 76 GPU.

Looks like the temps really do depend on how hard the chip is working.

 

I wonder what would be better, overclocking the 860 or undervolting the 870

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk

 

What good reason is there to take the far weaker GPU?

To me 90C isn't that bad. Sure the number is high, but it's not going to damage anything.

 

Exactly what I'm thinking. Tons of systems run in the 90s for high end GPUs, and the 870m is definitely that. 2 year warranty, to me means they are comfortable with the temps too. I bet the new blade runs at the same temps with its 870.

 

Except it's 94C+, and that's not even in demanding games or even while gaming or after any actual usage with dust accumulation and thermal paste degrading... not to mention the extra heat stuffed inside the slim chassis that has to go elsewhere to other components...

I ask, why pay extra & buy the 870m with the intention of having to throttle/undervolt/downclock it? What's the point? Does 4xAA over 2xAA really matter on a 15" screen, assuming the 870m is noticeably faster once throttle/undervolted? I can vouch from actual usage, while gaming I have seen Blood Dragon and Star Citizen push the temps quite a bit higher (8-9C) higher than 3DMark11, which on the 870m is already at 93-94C per XoticPC/Gentech during a run of 3Dmark11.

Not to mention, the hotter the inside gets, the outside/bottom gets that much hotter!!

The GS60 is a great new step for MSI, and I put my money where my mouth is and bought one; my biggest complaint has always been their dated/oversized designs. IMHO, the 870m Kepler is too much for this chassis, Maxwell will of course change things but that will be the next version. In the meantime, I'm loving the slim design and think the 860m is the better compromise on the whole.

 

Do you expect there to be a Maxwell 870m any time soon?

 

Question for the owners (or more specifically the resellers). The "void if tampered" sticker on the bottom of the laptop, does that really void the warranty? I've check all over MSI's website but can't find anything that says yea or nay. I'd like to upgrade the ram and eventually add another m2 SSD, but i'm worried about voiding the warranty.

 

No, nothing soon and especially not anytime soon regarding a GS60 refresh even if there is a "870mx refresh from Nvidia"; MSI was obviously dedicated to the Kepler architecture with this design based on the motherboard. I was simply saying that it will come in time as upgrades always do... there is always something new and exciting yet to come, and I'm sure there will be a Maxwell model that packs fantastic power with better temps.

 

My 94 degrees on the 870m was in Metro 2033. Less demanding games stayed under 80.

 

I plan to replace the 1TB drive with a SSD soon.

 

Standard response and MSI take on that sticker around here is that it is to keep people out that don't need to be messing around inside the laptop. If you break something while playing inside, it's your fault and no warranty, otherwise you are still covered if you say swap a HDD drive and something totally unrelated fails later.

 

Perfect that's what I was hoping for.

 

XoticPC got 94C on 3DMark11, Gentech got a comparable 93C on 3DMark11, even after repasting with IC Diamond.... games will push temps further.

 

My take, play with the machine a few days and make sure everything works, then break the sticker and have fun :thumbsup: I documented my teardown a while back in this thread with a couple internal pics if you are interested.... see my prior posts for pics.

Have fun!

 

Modern GPUs are designed to run at high temperatures 24/7, heck AMD guarantees my 290Xs can run at 94 degrees for their entire life, and people have these processors mining day in and day out at these temps and I'm yet to see reports of massive 290X failures on any forum or hardware site.

Granted, this is a mobile GPU, and it would be ideal for it not to run so hot as it affects the way you use it (I for one would hate to roast my balls by resting it on my lap for long periods of time) but in most scenarios your laptop will rest on a cafe table, a desk or the tray of a plane seat, heck, I always carry a dual fan laptop cooler in my backpack along with my laptop, so that alone helps a lot.

If Nvidia deems the GK104 is designed to run at such high temps for long periods of time before it even starts throttling, then I guess they did the math, if not chances are it'll be fixed in the new driver release, or MSI will release a firmware update that corrects any issues, I wouldn't sweat over it (pun totally intended) and enjoy what definitely is one of the fastest portable systems in the planet at the moment.

The days when GPUs would fail due to weak soldering points that break due to temperature changes are behind us, Apple, HP, Sony and others made sure Nvidia learned the lesson, I fully agree a cooler system is more desirable, but I'm confident MSI has built a robust cooling system and even Razer trusts this particular GPU can be used on a thin chassis as proved by it being the one powering the new Blade.

Me, I'm happy with my purchase, I'm an enthusiast who pushes my systems to their max, and rutinelly run OCd systems 24/7 crunching, folding and mining, and have yet to see a single one of my GPUs fail (and I've had many)

During the TPU challenges even my trusty 17" Sammy runs at over 90 degrees for over a week and the system is rock solid.

As for the GS60, it's everything I hoped it would be! What an awesome screen! Was hoping to get the 2014 Blade, but 3200x1800 would certainly push the 870M over the limit, and scaling, even if every pixel is perfectly squared, never looks as good as running at native resolution IMHO, so at 1080p this laptop is the perfect one for gaming and browsing.

It saddens me greatly no one has been able to answer my question about the RAM to use, I guess I'll go with the Kingston module, and might even repaste the GPU and CPU with some Gelid GC Extreme while I'm at it, it works really well on my water cooled GPUs, so I think it'll probably be a bit better than whatever paste MSI use, although TBH, dunno how I compares to IC Diamond, I've never used that paste before.

Will keep you guys posted on how upgrading to 16GBs and dual channel goes, I read in the Amazon reviews people used those modules for the GT60 successfully, and the GS60 uses factory installed Kingston modules, so I hope it'll be OK, as I stated before, if anyone has any input on this matter I would greatly appreciate it

 

If the cards go 94c+ they will start to throttle, especially once the paste starts degrading or dust builds up in the fan. Maybe higher temps will lead to a lower lifespan of the card. Maybe not. But it will also lead to lower performance, and that's a big issue.

 

I haven't heard of any throttling issues from the reviews or current owners, have you?

I am currently downloading 3dMark (among my favorite Steam games, Titanfall and TESO) and will run it with AB monitoring the GPU clock in the background to see if there's any throttling, will post my results tomorrow as I have to get my son ready for bed.

 

Greetings Warlock, glad you love your new machine!

While I agree that GPU's are designed to run hot, I've been burned (literally and figuratively ha) by too hot GPU's... I've got a perfect condition Sager 4780 and an Asus G51 that both are paperweights due to failed GPU's that ran hot during their short lives. Of course things are assumed better now, but nobody actually knows until things start to fail. Your AMD 290x comparison isn't exactly a fair comparison simply because those aren't integrated into the host motherboard stuffed inside a .7" chassis..... not much room to dissipate heat before it soaks surrounding components in our GS60's. Slim notebook computing is quite a bit harsher environment than desktop computing.

A by product of this as you said is chassis temps that are unbearable to touch. I don't carry a laptop cooler with me in my bag like you do, so external temps do matter to me... if I wanted to lug around a laptop and a cooler everywhere, I'd simply carry my GT60 and be done with it. The point of the GS60 to me is portability.

On my GT60, 1.35V Ram works great... I'd assume the same would be true for the GS60, just make sure it's not 1.5V! That failed miserably for me in the GT60, which is the same Haswell chipset.

 

Greetings to you as well

Yes, I fully agree a laptop chassis is a much harsher environment than a PC case, like you said, all components are affected by the heat of the system, including the battery, which might shorten its lifetime, as Li-ion chemistry doesn't last long when stressed under extreme temperatures, don't take me wrong, I would desire to have a cooler laptop or system than a hotter one, otherwise I wouldn't have invested in better cooling for my rigs

I'm sorry to hear you had a couple laptops die on you, lead free soldering has been to blame for the demise of many laptops and even the infamous 360's RROD, but in the last couple of years both AMD and Nvidia have invested a lot in researching better lead free alloys, as they both got literally badly burnt in the late 2000s (don't you love puns? )

It's my understanding that high performance Maxwell parts were delayed due to the inability of TSMC to get good yields from their 20nm process, which has lead us to a very mature 28nm manufacturing, the process has been around for almost 24 months, maybe a first for any given optical process in decades, allowing engineers to optimize GPU architectures and keep churning faster and more efficient Kepler dies (and Hawaii dies for AMD) that consume less power or can stand higher temps than the original GK104 could back in 2012.

By now Nvidia has thousands of cherry picked low leakage dies in their inventory, which are going into the 800M parts (and Titan-Z for GK110), such chips are certified to operate at higher temperatures, and/or clocks than the ones found in the old 680M and 780M GPUs.

What most people don't know is that these dies can safely operate at such high temps, what I mean is the silicon won't burn or anything, but all other components around these dies must be certified to reliably work at such temps or higher, components like solder points, PCBs and VRMs (which can safely operate at 125 degrees!) As a bit of trivia, most modern silicon processors wafers go through a "hard baking" phase where they're heated in special ovens at 120-180+ Celsius for over 30mins after all the etching chemicals have been safely washed from the wafers. At normal operating temps the worst enemy of silicon is electromigration from over volting (up to a certain threshold)

That's where a robust cooling system that can safely exhaust this heat comes into consideration, hopefully the TIM and heatpipes/fan and radiators have been designed to serve that purpose, the fact that the CPU stays relatively cool even though the GPU reports such high temps makes me think the design MSI chose is working as designed.

As for the RAM, thank you very much for your advice! I already ordered this module:

Amazon.com: Kingston Technology 8GB 1600MHz DDR3L (PC3-12800) 1.35V Non-ECC CL11 SODIMM Intel Laptop Memory KVR16LS11/8: Computers & Accessories

It works at 1.35V, I read many pages ago that you opened your system, and even saw the pictures you posted, thank you very much for that important info! Any advice you have for me when opening my system? Any particular tough areas that required extra effort when opening your system?

Once again, thank you so much for your input!

 

Svet at MSI forums figured out the "issue" with the GS60 CPU fan noise:

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=179676.0

The EC firmware sets the CPU fan to a minimum speed of 48%, even when the CPU is cool. Svet claims the fan won't support a setting lower than 42% (fan stability limitation), but 0% and 42%-47% are valid options below current defaults.

Supposedly, one could reprogram the EC with Svet's "EC Firmware Tune" to set the minimum at 0%, with the next threshold at 42%, then going up with the standard curve.

Btw I just received my GS60 today. The fan at 48% is not really "noisy", but is definitely noticeable when accustomed to 0% fan speed at idle (or when sitting in a completely silent room).

Custom CPU fan curves sounds like it would make everyone happy, but I haven't done more beyond read that forum thread above.

 

Hi guys!

I asked some pages ago about the noise of 860m model. I'll asked it again, since there's a lot of new users with it in hands. So, I'm almost buying one, but what worries me is the fact that I will always use it at public spaces, such as classrooms, libraries, and rooms with others sleeping. Will the fan noise disturb others while I'm using the web, adobe, or word?

Thank you in advance,

 

In this economy?! Hell no.Newegg and NCIX are already running deals with free shipping,etc.Product is not moving like it should.

 

Someone asked if we will see a maxwell 870m....

In this economy?! Hell no.Newegg and NCIX are already running deals with free shipping,etc.Product is not moving like it should.

 

Would someone with an 870m check to see if the voltage can be controlled via Nvidia inspector. The 860m can't so I suspect it can't ether. If not we can look at a modded bios. Would love to see how much we can under volt to save to heat but keep the performance.
Has anyone tried the same with the CPU. I'm guessing with the separate cooling fans it won't make a massive difference to the GPU temps.

 

+1

I have pre-order a Ghost Pro and also would like to know if the 870m can have the voltage controlled via Nvidia Inspector without a modded bios.
Thanks for anyone that could check that.

 

Hey guys, can anyone tell me if your Battery level is SLOWLY draining while Gaming even tho the Power is plugged in??

I'm using the Ghost Pro, and my Battery level drops from 99% to 79% after 2 Hours of continuous Crysis 3 gameplay.

Can anyone help double confirm on this before I make a trip down to service center?

And does IC Diamond really helps in cooling down the temps? Or will it just help by a mere 1 to 2 degree Celsius? Have to find out more before I make a trip down.

Thanks a bunch!

 

Its probably because the PSU can't provide enough power so the notebook pulls the rest from the battery. I don't know if its normal for the gs60, but the gt60 does this as well and it was actually marketed as a "feature" (look up msi hybrid power).

 

Hey thanks for the heads up. I believe that's the cause but I would like to double confirming with other users to see whether if it's really the case as you mentioned or I got a faulty Power Brick/Battery.

I know for GT60/70 series, they feature this NOS, Hybrid Power thingy, but it's not advertised for GS series.

Do hope anyone can help me double confirm on this!

Thanks!

 

Hi Guys, been following this forum closely as I just ordered an MSI GS60, non pro version in the UK, so thank you very much for everyone that contribbuted, was very helpful. But I still have my doubts:

Basically I want to play Elder Scrolls Online and Titanfall. How well do these titles run on the stock 860M at native res?

Also i was contemplating between the GE60 Apache also, but this one is thinner and lighter with the dual cooling I guess it will run cooler despite it being keplar?

The noise seems to be a major CON for this laptop, will there be any Firmware updates or any fixes in the pipeline?

Thank you so much in advance

 

You can see results for Titanfall and TESO on the 860m here:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M - NotebookCheck.net Tech

 

Yep, I've heard that about the R9 series. Of course, at those temps they're dynamically throttling, so you're not actually getting max clocks. I highly suspect that the same functionality is going to reside in the 870m equipped notebooks [light-thin ones at least].

Granted, my GTX780Ti reference does the same thing [at 83c] and I can adjust the fan level to compensate, but on a notebook like the GS60, even if they still HAVE a "max fan" button, I don't think dynamically scaling up the fans is going to help it enough to keep it from throttling down.

You can say what you want about binning, you can say what you want about solder points, 94c in a notebook is just TOO DANG HOT, ESPECIALLY when max allowable temp is in the 100-105c range. It'll last through your warranty, maybe, but I'd LOVE to see numbers 3 or 4 years out showing the failure rates on these things.

Of course, at the moment, the whole thing is opinion, and only time will tell. I had a GT70 with a fermi, and it ran at those temps and THROTTLED at those temps. TBH, Kepler was supposed to initially get AWAY from those fermi nightmare temps IIRC, but it looks like someone @ nvidia didn't learn the lesson [or the guys in design & marketing have never used their own product]

I hope I'm wrong, I honestly do. I've had notebooks die on me, and I've recovered drives for friends and family. It's not a pleasant experience, and it always sucks to get a terminal return on your investment. For now, though, all we can do is watch and wait...

 

Thanks I had seen that but was looking more for GS60 specific benchmarks if possible, like real world user numbers on the native res with the Keplar 860M.

Thank you

 

I'd be happy to do this if someone can give me a primer on using NV inspector.

 

Just download the Nvidia Inspector ( you can download at guru3d NVIDIA Inspector Download version 1.9.7.2 )
After the download is done, extract and run Nvidia Inspector.
On the bottom right you can see "show overclocking", click on it and then "yes".
In the new tab you can see if the voltage is unlocked or not to change it.

 

OK I'll download it and report back shortly.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S5 using Tapatalk

 

I apologize for bringing something negative up, but I was wondering if any of the newer owners in this thread can report the same thing happening with their laptops? Once I notice imperfections on any of my products it's all I can stare at and I'd like to avoid it before purchasing this amazing laptop. Thanks in advance.

 

I don't recall seeing that issue before, if you're still within your return period I consider exchanging it.

 

Ok so this is what it shows in NV inspector. The slider for voltage is moveable.

 

Mine does have the same small space in the bezel, but it doesn't appear to be causing any issues. It's only noticeable if you are looking for it, and it's not peeling away from the lid or anything unless you try to pry it off with force.

 

It's fairly straight forward, just a bunch of small connectors to be careful with... there is one on the backside of the motherboard that is not easily seen and I almost missed it when removing the motherboard from the chassis. It's the "Audio" connector and is run behind the battery to the motherboard; you can see it (brown flat cable) in the pics I posted of the chassis with the motherboard removed.

Enjoy your new machine, I'm still digging mine!

 

I haven't seen this on my 860m, but over in the GS70 thread, it appears the 870m is sucking more juice than the stock 150W PSU brick can deliver:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/747505-msi-gs70-stealth-pro-theard-17.html#post9629384

ModRQC's thoughts and observations:

"Power Draw : this was totally not expected. Power draw got insanely high. MSI's Gaming Control Center saw up to a 225W load at one point, and there were many power peaks around 170W-200W elsewhere. Now while I know this seems to indicate that we need a 200W+ power adapter to feed this correctly, we're still talking extreme benchmarks here, and still talking of a power draw BELOW 150W for about 98.5% of the time. I think a 180W power brick should suffice for intensive gamers. I also think this is not a laptop to try and OC the GPU."

As far as IC Diamond, it is a good compound and I use it on all my machines, but it didn't make much of a difference on my GS60, and Ken at Gentech reported the same on the 870m that he repasted, minimal drop if at all. It seems at least on these two examples MSI did a pretty good job with their factory paste.

Curious, on mine it shows up the same with the slider all the way to the far left for voltage and looks like yours; is this actually adjustable then? I might have passed along bad info to Mardon when he asked... it is all the way far left so I can't slide it further to lower voltage. Maybe this is adjustable in Inspector and it actually is adjustable? I have no idea, not too familiar with Inspector either.

 

Hey all, I want to replace the ssd that comes default with the GS60, which one of these would you recommend and why?

2x Crucial M550 128GB
OR
2x Intel 530 180GB

 

Has anyone tried the battery calibration tool in the MSI folder? Has it increased your light usage battery life? I'm running it now so I was just curious to see if it helped anyone here?

 

Try using this to compare, but from expirience, Crucial delivers one of the slowests read speeds on SSDs . Samsung would be a greater option, but it comes with "Name price-tag" that all big brands bring.

Just remember that you will need to get the M.2 version of the SSDs. and that u need to lift the motherboard to access it

 

Interesting. Perhaps its not fully supported by Nvidia Inspector. I'll pass on the information to the bloke on the MSI forums and see if he can come up with anything.

 

Is it possible that NV inspector is not updated to work with the 8xx series cards?

 

Neither, you want 2x Crucial m550 256. It is faster than both of the above, cheaper than the 180GB Intel 530 and has all benefits of M550 line (AES, built in capacitors to prevent data loss during power outage). I think as far as m.2 drives go, m550 256 or 512 is the way to go; if you're looking to replace the main drive with an SSD, then samsung evo is the way to go (m550 would be a good alternative if data loss is a key issue for you, but samsung is faster thanks to their RAM caching and actually a bit cheaper.).