MSI GS70 Stealth Pro Theard

How difficult is it to switch RAM? I would buy one with 8 GB, remove the one and put in 2x8 GB from same manufacturer.
Possible?

 

Possible but not easy. It will require a complete tear down of the computer. When you open the bottom of the computer the RAM slots are on the other side of the motherboard. So you have to remove pretty much everything to get to them.

 

Come on HTWingnut, you know a full teardown of a laptop is just a usual Friday night for you

Having said that, I can vouch that it's a bit involved based on my GS60 teardown and not for the faint of heart... be careful with all the tiny connectors.

 

Yeeesssss... especially the ones hidden underneath the part you're actually removing...

 

Had totally forgot about you asking that... I wouldn't say it would give additional performance in an absolute way, as normal loads according to my tests won't see the power draw go higher than 150W, and the adapter seems able to handle quite a few watts more without giving up... So let's say it would be a wise choice for someone intending to game the crap out of this day in day out, for longevity more than performance. That being said, I wouldn't be so much surprised to see the toughest games out there tapping in the upper range of 150W pretty frequently. And in this case it may mean that you're less likely to see a power related throttle of the GPU if you plug in a more powerful adapter. But the point here is longevity.

 

My new GS70 Pro came today! I just have a few questions for people who are using it. I haven't used windows in a long time.

1. Can I install another SSD? My model came with a 1TB HD and 128GB SSD (2-PE). What's RAID. Do they have to be in RAID? I couldn't make much sense of googling it.

2. Never used a SSD. I have OS and applications on the SSD . Media (photo, video) is on my HD. Is that ok? What stuff should I put on an SSD.

3. How do I change the lights on the keyboard?

4. Do I need a program to backup data or do I just copy and paste it onto an external HD? I backup data on my mac with time machine.

5. Why is the touchpad so bad compared to my mac? Do I need to update drivers?

I feel like a bit of an idiot asking these questions but it would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Where is the mSATA drive located? Is it easy to remove, or would it require some level of disassembly to access?

 

They are right under the bottom panel. Once you get that off you'll have direct access to them.

 

Thanks bud.

 

Ah, good. Thanks.

 

Joco,

when you reinstalled, did you do this from an MSI Burn Recovery backup or a clean install from a Windows 8.1 USB?

Are you booting in UEFI mode or Legacy mode now?

F.

 

i use a ubs stick with windows 8.1 still just in UEFI.

I looked a bit if i could use recovery or generate a iso from the current installation but couldn't find it.

 

I reinstalled with a usb and used the CD driver disk because there is a driver on there that is NOT on the website which enables switching between both gcards

 

Anyone understand what the new bios update is suppose to fix?

 

1- You may install up to 2 additional mSata SSDs if you want to also keep the 1TB HDD in.
2- SSDs are used for programs mainly. So it is okay as you are now. If you ever buy an additional SSD, you could decide for example to install the Steam client and games library on it... or just use it as an extension for your main SSD to install programs on when space will become limited.
3- The "+" and "-" key of the numpad can be used with the "FN" function key to either light the keyboard on or off. The SteelSeries Engine driver/app allows you to customize it to your heart's content.
4- Copying it does the trick, but may become tiresome. If you want a free, easy alternative to automate a backup routine, have a look at the "FreeFileSync" freeware.
5- No Windows based laptop's touchpad will ever be as good as on a Macbook, I think. But configuring the GS70 touchpad within windows settings and Synaptics or Elantech settings (depending which one your version has) will help you achieve much better results than "stock" driver, and you'll have options as for multigesture,

 

Been a few days with my GS70 now, love how much power it has in such a small package & I'm getting used to the Steelseries keyboard layout - but this touchpad (Elan) is just horrible to use, I've played with settings in both Windows & Elan Settings every few hours and it's got a bit better to use but still a long way off what i'd hope for.

I'm really hope they release some better drivers/software for it - A way to add dead-zones so we can click the pad corners without it registering a movement as you place/adjust finger would be a good start.


Another note, minor issue with the SteelSeries keyboard but I can adapt if need be - I've remapped Delete to Pause/Break, but holding down Pause/Break only deletes 1 letter & doesn't repeat, is this how it is right now or am I missing a way to make it repeat ?

 

Clicking this thing is awful... but there's no point clicking it when you can determine a finger tap for left click, and two fingers tap for right click. You can still remap the actual clicks to do something that doesn't require precision, like going back to desktop. I think it's quite a good trackpad, considering how terrible most of them are.

As for the keyboard, isn't there a setting to make it repeat while holding? I would be very surprised if it didn't, but I guess it's possible.

 

Just got this laptop the other day and i love it, it's awesome! Just wondering though (and this may be a totally dumb question) but the msi website says you can install 1 extra hdd... with 2 free msata slots, how do I do this? Does one slot have sata compatibility? Apologies if this is a dumb question!

 

I'm assuming you got the version with 1 mSATA SSD and 1 SATA mechanical HDD (128GB SSD + 1TB HDD). There are a total of 4 slots on the GS70. 3 of them are mSATA and 1 is a regular SATA slot. Currently 1 mSATA is occupied and 1 regular SATA slot is occupied. You have 2 mSATA slots that are free.

Sidenote: Make sure that when you add more mSATA drives, you buy the exact same models to ensure RAID 0 compatability!

 

yeah, i've got 2 msata slots free, but I would like to put another normal hdd in, not ssd - the msi website says you can add 1 extra normal hdd ( MSI Global GS70 2PE Stealth Pro down by the super raid 2 stuff). Or am I reading the MSI website wrongly - do they mean you can have 3 ssds, plus the 1 hdd which is already in? They make it sound like it's an extra hdd on top of the one already in, but looking at it, it may just be badly worded.

 

i didn't use any driver cd, just installed the nvidia and intel drivers and the switching between them works fine, most of the time for me intel card is used.
and if i really start ag ame nvidia lights up and does the job.

 

in total its 3 msata en 1 2.5" sata disk.

so if you buy a model that already has one msata and 1 hdd. Then you only have 2 msata slots left
Why would you put in another hdd i wonder? its already 1TB driver, and you can put in 2 samsung evo's or or crucial M5 ssd's that are not that expensive anymore
And those are way way way faster then any normal spinning hdd anyway.

 

I thought so, funny wording on the msi website confused me. It's more the need to reinstall windows which I don't fancy - maybe in the future I'll do it. My game collection is becoming exponentially bigger, so would like a couple of decent sized drives. We'll see!

 

I think the Dell trackpad on my old laptop must have just been exceptionally good & it's spoilt me for this one, I'm learning to use the tap-clicking as much as possible and I am getting used to it but I still find the odd instance where 2 finger tapping (for right click) doesn't work at all depending on the application - but never-mind! It's usable and I'm sure i'll get more adept with it.

Back to the keyboard, doesn't look like there is an option which is quite surprising.... I decided to remove my remap now so I'm getting used to the Delete key being in a different place.

I look forward to letting it run for a couple of months to check theirs no "It burst into flames" / warranty issues then I'm probably going to install a bigger msata drive in it or take the 240gb SSD from my old lappy and replace the 1TB drive for a 100% Solid-state setup.

 

Im sorry if this a little late considering it is 1 month after your post but I found it for roughly $1800 here. MSI GS70 StealthPro-024 Intel Core i7 16GB Memory 1TB HDD + 128GB SSD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M 17.3 Notebook Windows 8.1 64-bit - GS70 StealthPro-024 at TigerDirect.com

 

I am having a big problem, when I first re-formatted my pc It said on power saving like 4-5 hours of battery time. Now when I have all my drivers loaded and up to date I can't even get 2 hours on battery saving mode. Anyone have any suggestions? I really want to figure this out.

 

if somebody has a solution for this then i am all ears
I have configured the touchpad now quite ok, except that one, somehow 2 finger tap (popupmenu) is not the same as really right click on the the tabpad itself
Many times i have to tap 2 times or more to get the popup menu and yes there are even certain area's that it never does come up and i have to really click..
You would say that they are sending the same event.

If i really look at the same time to the notification icon then i do see that 2 fingers are registered so it really knows that i pressed with 2 fingers.

Is there a place to report this stuff?

 

This thread is very helpful.

What is the exact SSD model that MSI equips GS70 2PE ?
I'm from Greece and I can't find anywhere in Europe the 3Xssd's version. So I want to buy the 1Xssd version plus two exact same ssd's.

 

Did you do your battery calibration since then? I don't know that it helps, but I wonder. Will look at mine today, I did clean install windows 8.1, perhaps the same goes with mine.

Will look into this problem with my settings, see if I can reproduce it.

You won't know until you get it. I got a Sandisk X110, others got a Toshiba SSD... MSI will source whatever SSD costs the less to have similar specs and install it in any machine under production that needs it, indifferently... unless of course providing two-three units for Raid.

 

I was afraid of that... thanks anyway for the info, I will have to wait for the gs70 to arrive then.

 

Indeed... and you may want to double check carefully about that MSI's super raid 2 adapter... I know that the GT70 uses one to configure that Super Raid 2, but there's little to be found yet about the GS70 2PE. But I think that without one you may very well find that you can configure only 2 mSata SSDs in Raid 0, and then the third one will act like it's own drive.

And well... I don't want to create enemies here, or start a heated discussion, but you do know that outside of benchmarking it you won't see much day to day difference using a single SSD, usual Raid 0, or MSI's Super Raid 2... and that you're taking the chance that your OS will one day crash on you? BUT... it's cool marketing, I'll admit it. I'd much rather have many SSDs that serve their own purpose, though. I'd go for a Raid 0 just for fun and because I can do it out of the box, perhaps, but it's not like I'm hunting down mSata SSDs to actually do it... One day I'll have some money to waste... or not.

 

Couldn't reproduce that problem... can you specify any app that creates it? With Chrome, on desktop, in Office, on Start Menu, there's just not one place where my two finger tap doesn't do exactly what it's supposed to do.

You did map that two fingers tap with the so called "Pop Up Menu" action? (why not just label it "Right Click" I dunno...)

 

Well I finally came around to test mine about this. It was on the Gaming Mode when I first checked : 76% battery/about 3h37. Clicking on the battery icon, I could see that Windows was seeing Gaming Mode as Performance Plan, and I was given a choice to switch to Balance Plan. Didn't touch it, went back to SCM instead, and switched to Office Mode. Didn't change anything on the battery. Clicking on the battery icon, Windows was seeing Office Mode as Balanced Plan, and now offered an option to switch to the Power Saver Plan. I did check the option. Still no change on the battery. Finally went back to SCM, and switched to Eco Off Mode. Now that changed something, still with 76% left I went up to 4h42 left... Windows was still seeing it as Balanced Plan.

Now, waked the computer about an hour later. Was still in Eco Off Mode, and although the battery was at 72%, my estimated runtime was now 3h13... Applied another mode, went back to Eco Off mode, still 3h13. So I went out on a limb there and reapplied the "Power Saver plan" Windows offer... and guess what, still with 72% battery I went up to 4h07 estimated runtime.

So... this thing is half broken, or takes time to actually adjust, or I don't know. I say, switch to Eco Off Mode, click the battery icon, choose the Power Saver option, and have a real life casual browsing endurance test with your laptop. If the battery is full and it dies under 4h I'm guessing you're having a serious problem with it already. But I wouldn't care too much about what estimated runtime you get until you confirm this with real life use.

 

One easy way to determine if it's a physical battery defect or software issue is to run a battery report:

Windows 8: Check Your Mobile Device's Battery Health - HelpWithWindows.com

Assuming your battery is ok, it's a software/driver issue. Either way, I've found battery reports useful and handy... good luck!

 

Thank you very much guys!

 

I dont know what adapter the GT70 has, but i didn't find any kind of adapter in the GS70, only 3 msata slots and i just put 3 ssd's in there, configured it in the bios (its really intel raid, not really something special of msi i think)
and i had 3 ssd's in raid0

I know it doesn't bring me 3 times the performance (or better said the 3 times the visible,real world performance) . Because a current single ssd's the benchmarks will show differences but real world its hard to tell at this point.
Maybe pciexpress ssd's (NVM Express) will give us a real boost that we may really detect again.

I do think that if you work constantly with big files, like video editing , then you will notice it because that is one area that is really faster (read is over 1500MB and write is over 1000MB for me)

Problem is that i don't really use that i use loads of small files (programming,compiling classes). So for me the 1-4K with a dept of 1-3 threads at the same time is most important, and thats exactly the spot that ssd's don't really get much faster in the last years. (and raid doesn't really help)

 

its even in chrome for me, but not that bad, the popup menu is not always popping up when i do 2 finger tab.
Most of the time it does but sometimes i have to do it twice.

But the most visible place for me is my programming environment Eclipse, There i have views that have a popup, but it almost never comes up (sometimes it does)
real right click on the trackpad always brings it up.'

 

Does anyone in the US have this? I pre-ordered from gentech in mid march and they said ETA would be "end of march"....its May now and it still says "pending"

Do any of the resellers in the US even have it yet or have any information from msi? It seems wierd that the US would have to wait so much longer than the rest of the world for it since it isnt usually the case with other models.

 

The first shipment should be here by the end of next week according to MSI, It was delayed due to lack of GPU chip (that's what they said).

 

If you have read the forum you would realize that all of us are in the US and we have the laptop already for weeks now. Tons of places have it. Fry's Electronics is where I got mine. MSI GS70 StealthPro-024 17.3" Notebook GS70 STEALTHPRO-024 is another good place.

FRYS.com | MSI

 

all of us? not me

 

Hello,
I have the gs70 2pe-010us version, arrived a couple days ago. Today after some gaming, wireless cut off, i have checked device manager, computer do not detect intel 7260 ac card. I formatted the notebook. Nothing changed.
Is the bluetooth module integrated on the wifi card? Because bluetooth works.
I was considering buying a new adapter and change it, but im not sure if the problem is the wifi card itself or the wifi slot or mainboard. Dont wanna risk it by tampering the warranty sticker..
I could use some help here, thanks in advance...

 

Reseat the WLAN card.
Make sure airplane mode is off.

 

I am not going to remove the backplate because of the warranty stickter on left bottom side. Airplane mode is off, i tried everything, it is a hardware problem. I will send it back, sadly.

 

*3* mSATA slots?
I didn't see a 3rd slot when I added the 2nd mSATA to my GS70.
Can someone confirm this and post a link to a picture of the location of the 3rd mSATA slot?
Thank you!

Bart

 

It is to the bottom left of the other two. Covered by the black plastic so you'll have to move that out of the way.

 

Thank you! I'll check it out. 4 internal drives- crazy and awesome.

 

sorry if this has been asked before but can someone explain what the difference is between the various GS70 models? I've seen stealth pro-024, stealth pro 2PE, etc. I'm planning on purchasing one soon, and would like to know. Thanks.

 

incredible !!!
so u sayin u installed 3x SSD samsung evo ?
can you pls show me your mSATA to SATA adapter ?
can u run as ssd too ?
and if u can pls RAID utility and RST in windows
thnx so much


PS: think will be selling my tablet and buying this laptop !