MSI GT660 with Nvidia GTX285M

ATI driver support for mobile chips is better. And in desktops, both are equals

 

I am eager to get my hands on this ASAP lol, I have already checked out a place in Australia that will be bringing them in, but I aren't sure if provantage will be stocking it also. Does anyone know if provantage allows custom configs? or does anyone know other places that ship to Australia?

 

Up on xoticpc now.

 

I always buy my computers from the US. The best way around customs is to e-mail a website and ask if they'll mark the laptop as a lower value or simply mark 'parts/replacement' so you avoid 90% of the 14% customs fee. Every seller has done it for me and my family, so

Edit: Between all of us, we ordered 5 laptops in the last 2 years. I'd say 50% of the shops will agree to do it and the other 50% will mark it as the 'real' price. Luckily, my 1400$ laptops show up to my house with a measly 30$ custom fee

 

Dam man, I might need to pay $300 in fees/taxes. For the RK, my configuration is like $1975 USD, calculating into CAD, paying customs fee, then HST, WOW THATS A LOT.

BTW, just to be clear, what country is XoticPC based in?

 

US I believe but I already asked them, they won't mark the value down when shipping it. Other shops do, though, if you email them. Check your PM /wink

 

Lmao, I think I am screwing around with XoticPC. I am trying to purchase the GT660, but I can't get my payment option right. I selected Check/money order and that wasn't it. I then selected Wire Transfer, but it doesn't tell me how. I am trying to pay with two credit cards, but they don't seem to accept it.......

 

I got a GX660 ordered
Once I learned it came with a 5870 I was sold, it's on the smaller side compared to other gaming laptops(around as big as GX640)
14.7" x 9.7" x 1.1"-1.4" which is pretty amazing for all it's power, the new cooling system looks very promising with the huge fan and heatsinks.
Yeah it took a long time but think it will be well worth it.
I don't see anything else matching it's gaming power with the native res it comes with.
I'm going to add a 840QM and INTEL SSD which I picked both up very,very cheap
It should scream once I'm through with it.

 

LOL God hates you

That happened to me when I tried buying a smartphone from Bell, I tried for 2 hours straight and finally had to go to the store to buy one.

Btw, that GX660-063US looks amazing but it's a three week wait >.< I don't think I could handle my 10 year old Emachine for that long of a wait lol

 

I am sorry for dual credit cards you can call in and provide the information. Wire information is manually sent out when we open up on orders that are placed after hours. Let me know if I can help with anything. We will have all 3 models of this up on our website today.

 

Justin, why isn't there an option for a 2nd (non-optical bay) HDD as seen on the GT660 for the GX660?

IKAS V, good luck with your rig. Hopefully it has a decent quality screen as opposed to previous MSI models.

 

The thing is, I live in Canada and I don't think the dual credit card is a option for international customers anymore.

 

Thanks!
That's one of the first things I asked about,keyboard flex too.
From what I was told the screen is very good and keyboard flex is gone.

 

From what we know now the GX660 will have one Internal HDD and you can add one in the ODD. Since they are not in the states yet this could change. Hopefully we can get some confirmed updates regarding this soon.

We have no issues with Canadian Credit Cards. (as long as your bank is like most other Canadian Banks)

 

Odd. One would think they share the chassis with the GT and would have the same amount of drives available. Surely the heatsink isn't bigger so as to prevent 2 HDDs in addition to a ODD.

 

I agree with you, in theory it should have it since it appears to be the same chassis. Trying to get a confirmation on it..

 

Both the GT660 and GX660 single drive models are supposed to have the 2nd SATA HDD controller in the chassis from the factory giving the option to add the 2nd HDD. The GX660 model is supposed to have the HM55 chipset so it will not be able to support raid but can support the drives as independent. The GT660 single drive model is supposed to have the PM55 chipset and will support Raid if the raid bios is flashed. At this time only Raid 0 is supported. This is the info currently available from the manufacture and the model we have here.

 

Great, thanks for the info. I'd imagine most people are interested in a small SDD for OS and core programs while using a trad HDD for media. So, your response is encouraging. Thanks for the info. I look forward to a review from you IKAS V

 

It will be some time before I get my laptop so until then....
I like performance but I'm not a benchmark junkie but I'll put up some sort of review.
If you people want make a list of some things you would like to see .
Just don't ask for a unboxing video becuase I don't get the point of them

 

*leans against a wall and whistles waiting for dookie to come by and ask for SC2 benchmarks*

 

Lol!!
See now that was funny!

 

I just want build and screen impressions. The hardware in it has has been reviewed to death. It just looks like the vegas strip with all that damned shiny stuff.

 

The lights can be turned on or off with a hotkey which more than likely I will do after the initial novelty wears off.
I'm not getting this laptop for the fancy light show.
They should have saved the lights for a backlit keyboard.

 

I have been looking at these notebooks as well but was disappointed at the P55 chipset. There is always something I guess. .I don;t see an issue with the P55 chipset it is actually a better chipset from what I have been reading



Yet I read this:

As of January 2010, Intel has also debuted the new H55, H57, and Q57 chipsets. These chipsets are lower-end chipsets aimed for use with the new Core i5 600 series processors. They are not significantly different from P55 but are aimed at lower price systems.

Read more: Core i5 vs. Core i7: Differences Between Intel's i5 and i7 Processors



Then I read this chart: The Calpella Platform Update : Mobile Core i7-920XM: Power Is The Price For Better Performance


I have looked into the following machines and eliminated them ...

Asus has BIO upgrade issues and PSODS
Dell is ...well Dell
Sager is too expensive for having the same basic parts.
I was excited about the GT660 but don;t need the Blue ray and would rather save the empty bay for an SSD when they drop in price. and will wait for the 004 to come out without the extra drive and blueray player.

 

The PM55 chipset supports raid 0, the HM55 will not support raid but can use
the drives as two independent.

 

The PM55 is the older chipset, but the difference between the 2 is just that. PM55 supports raid, and has the basic options. HM55 has anti-theft, multiple screen support and the basic options. So it really comes down to wanting, performance, or security/media options.

 

I pulled the trigger on the GT660R-004, from XoticPC. They confirmed by payment, I think even though I don't see the transaction yet on my credit card. Now it's being assembled. Should be getting it n 5 days or so. Gonna cost me a pretty penny, but I think its worth it. About $2400 with shipping and taxes.

 

Nice!
What's your configuration?

 

WHOA!? $2400!?!? is that USD? that's pretty expensive isn't it? unless you got like SSD and all...

I am waiting for IKAS to get some reviews up first *hint hint*, but I am getting pretty close to pulling the trigger myself also...

upgrading the CPU to i7 720qm and everything stock on the GX660 will set me back around $2350AUD

 

I'm in the same boat lammi... waiting for IKAS's thoughts and about to get the same eg. GX660 and cpu upgrade i7.

Are you looking to buy from LBO?

Logical Blue One - MSI GX660-053US NEW

Jack from LBO says that the above mentioned model states from Msi it has a 16" panel where others i have read state a 15.6", he dosent have any yet to confirm.

 

Well I hope you fellas can wait a while because ETA is mid August.
And that's without any delays.

 

really? yeah chewpa, been talking to Jack about it. getting the 720 i7 upgrade. It seems cheaper overseas but with customs and delays and all, it's not worth the hassle.

IKAS, it seems like LBO (aussie store) has a ETA of 5th of August

 

Anyone know where ill be able to get either model in the United Kingdom?

 

GX660 for $2000 with tax?, what is that in?? It has less stuff than the GT660, on XoticPC its like $1300. I basically got the IC Diamond, 2 500gb w/ 4gb ssd hybrid hdd. Plus Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200. I changed the blu-ray to dvd-drive.

 

That Link that chewpa posted, GX660 for $1999 is in Australian Dollars.

If I went to Xoticpc and got the same basic config, it would cost be around $1600ish (with conversion to AUD). however, customs will most likely catch you and you'll have to pay import tax and duty which ends up to be around $250-$350... so I rather buy it locally unless there substancial savings $200+

 

...and ben still doesnt know which one to order...
I'm glad I'm waiting out though.
I decided to bail out of the forums for a LONG time, and magically I stopped thinking about buying a new laptop...

Now, the 660 caught my eye O_O

 

Yes I blame these forums too for making me want to buy a new laptop.

 

I concur... i was just wondering why someone hasnt paired a top tier gpu with lower reso. in something around a 15".

Then.... BAM!

2 that I know.
1.CLEVO W860CU/NP8690
2. MSI GX660
The MSI will be out in about 2-3 weeks.

I then read this from your post IKAS in the Asus G53 thread, and thought what is the second option ... now i must have the GX660!

 

have you pre-oredered yet chewpa?

 

Not yet... i want to find out if its 16" or 15.6" so many different listings of the spec's. Will probably wait until someone (Jack from LBO) or whoever gets one to confirm the exact spec's.

But im really liking the initial specs etc.... will probably relegate my G73 to the desk/lounge and use this GX660 as my new lan machine.

 

I know this is going to sound strange but this is how it is:
GT660 is a 16" laptop
GX660 is a 15.6" laptop
You say how can this be?both use the same exact chassis and are both the same dimensions.
Here's the difference
The GX660 has a wider bezel to compensate for the smaller screen.
Why they use 2 different screens for the same laptop I really have no idea but I suspect the GT660 might support 3D(or they thought about adding it and did away with it)and the used a different screen, now I could be totally wrong but that's my best guess.
Unless you put them side by side I doubt the extra .4 inches would be even noticeable.

 

Just found out that the vent is on the left side! This is great news for right hand mouse gamers like me~. I hope it is still the right side hand rest that is warmer though : /

 

There's actually 2 vents, one for the CPU and one for the GPU.
Both use 1 fan to vent the heat produced.

 

lol, the screen size doesn't really matter to me, But I need time to organize the sale of my current laptop to fund this one (Envy 15). So I think the ETA is more important to me at this point..

But I just don't understand how LBO could be getting stock by 5th of august if the states are getting it on the 15th

 

The GT660 WAS looking good until I read this part:

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 285M With 1GB DDR3 VRAM-With Support For DX 10

What I don't get is why NEWER models don't have DDR5 VRAM and DX11 like previous 640 models.

 

I think the graphics card is user-upgradeable. They simply just used a GTX 285M because it was within their budget. Still, I think I like more driver support rather than having my graphics card fail here and there.

I have officially bought a GT660, my transaction appeared on my credit card bill. I am simply waiting for assembly and testing. Hopefully they will finish testing by today, and send it soon.

 

Wow, I asked XoticPC for a update on what stage my order is at, and no reply. It's been a day since I asked. I really hope I get it by tomorrow. I hardly think putting a few things in, and testing takes more than 3 days.

Argg, seems that XoticPC doesn't work on the weekends. So my order has only been in assembly for 1 day only. *sigh* more waiting.

 

Damit.... XoticPC is sure taking their time. I just got a call asking me if I wanted Raid 0 on my GT660. I've already been waiting 5 days - 2 days they weren't working. Now they are just starting......

 

Better that they take their time and do it right then rush and then you have to RMA it

 

Did you read my post lol? They just STARTED, after 3 business days of my purchase confirmation..