MSI GX640-098US Review

Do you play on your lap or on a desk ?

 

I play on a desk, and the area around my laptop is clear. So if it is overheating, is there something wrong with one of the components in the laptop?

 

I doubt it , it has to be a bad thermal job .. these things happen even to new machine.

 

Bad thermal job as in they didn't do a good job of applying thermal paste?

 

That's right , probably didn't apply it properly. The good news is you got 3yr warranty .. bad news is , no gaming for a week or so.

http://service.msicomputer.com/msi_user/rmaform_p.aspx

 

He could try reapplying the thermal paste...
If it doenst work...
Just send it in, dont even mention that you changed the paste...

 

Alright, thanks. That's really frusterating, I've only had this thing for a couple days, and I was waiting to get it for a long time.

 

I don't know...I'm pretty new to this. Is applying it right pretty tricky?

 

I would have done that

It's very easy but i'm pretty sure it will void your warranty.

 

So should I apply it myself? Also, the fact that I can't play for more than 20 minutes now while I could play for a couple hours before without any problems is bugging me...

 

No , just send it back .. make good use of the warranty Should take about 5 to 7 working days

 

I tried to buy the the GX 740 from them and it was really weak.
I called a few times and sent an email asking them to price match something and they said I would have to make an account and make the order with a side request for the price match and submit my order.
So basically i have to tie up $1500-$1600 on my Card just so that they can decide if its worth their time for my business. WEAK
When I call I get the scripted response.

What should be done is,
"Hi can you price match {....}"
ncix "sure let me look into that"
"ok"
ncix"1 no sorry, 2 submit an order and if we can do the price we'll send it through and we won't touch your creditcard till then, 3 Yes we rool, I'll email you when we have that ready for you." <--none of that was close

I'm still shopping and found better prices since then.

 

Ok, so I just tested my laptop again, but this time with the default driver from the disc. I don't know if that would make any difference, but I played crysis for at least an hour without a single crash, and every 5-15 minutes I would check Hmonitor. When I would check hmonitor, after playing a little bit, the gpu temp was usually between 90 and 95, but this reading always jumped down almost immediately to at least 90 and sometimes to around 85-89 degrees. I don't know if the initial readings are false or what. If I waited a little without playing (even with crysis running in the backround), the temp would steadily decrease to around 70 degrees. I realize these temps are still a little high, but why were they so high earlier? It doesn't make sense.

 

The reason the temperature jumps like that is when you alt-tab out of your game you've taken most of the load off the GPU. The maximum value recorded is a little more meaningful, but for best results you'd want a graph of the temperature.

It's strange that you're having trouble with the newer drivers but not the default drivers, though.

 

Well, I had problems with the stock drivers earlier, too. When I noticed the lower temps most recently, I thought that maybe I was only getting high temps with the stock drivers earlier because the computer had already been stressed quute a bit. I'm not really sure what to think.

 

Finaly i got the CZ version of GX640.(The no Windows in this version is big +)
I managed to get 106C in furmark and it looked it would go up 1-2C more with more time . Do you think i got the thermal pads instead of paste?
Apart from the lot i like about this notebook, there are four issues that spoils the fun:
-I got the powerplay trouble too. - hopefuly it will get fixed with time. The PCIEx1 problem seems to be fixed in 10.3 for me.
-Its loud. My previous notebook(considered loud by reviews) sounded more like a stream in forest. GX640 sounds just like blowing air really really fast and it doesnt stop even at 55C.
-the space key flex is awfull- it even makes a crackling sound of plastic. I think my keyboard is especially badly seated. My poor old ACER,thou badly designed, had big piece of metal under the keyboard and thus absolutely no flex. Also why numpad?? I could use more wide keys instead of that. Especialy the arrow keys are too slim and badly localizable(bad english? ) in night. They have highlighted them and all, and then they kill the whole thing this way..
-BLUE LEDS, and just under display!!! What have they been thinking??! Start using red, orange, green LEDS morons!! or at least adjust the current to them - its hurting eyes as hell even mile away! - I fixed it temporarily with putting some random non transparent stuff from the mess on my desk to cover it . Did someone figured out some elegant non varanty voiding solution for that? Is it posible to slip some dimming layer between the leds and the panel? the guys fixing the flex had it dismanteled, so perhaps they have some insight?

 

106? eek. Mayb consider some ICD7 or something. It's totally possible that your thermal paste/pad application got fudged, and is too much/too little/off center etc.

 

Ok, well the drivers definitely don't make a difference in temps. I just played crysis again, and in 10 minutes the gpu got to 105 degrees. Just a question- how powerful is everyone's fan? I can definitely hear it, but it doesn't feel like much air is coming out of it.

 

Man reading all these problems makes me nervous. My gx640 is still shipping, and god knows how long it will take...

 

for those who have this already, is there enough space to fit 4mm thick copper heatsinks on the copper pipes and on the parts covering the graphics card?

 

My GX640 reached 110 C running Furmark in 5 minutes. A MSI tech told me stressed tested these machines to 99 C, so 100+ C cannot be normal. I'm sending mine back.

 

Can you guys run the 5850 at 5870 speeds by over clocking and if so, does it get to hot or reproduce heat as a 5870?

Am I expecting to much from the 5850?

 

Well, KrOoze, I also have the same CZ version (Living in Prague currently).
So far when playing crysis warhead or GTA4 for few hours I get maximum GPU temperature of 87 in room temperature (ambient temperature is the same as yours more or less). I guess I have to try some furmark stressing to see what happens.

Also, it seems, that I'm the only one having this issue: when volume is loud (above 50%) from the vibration of speakers keyboard buttons start to also vibrate and make this annoying noise I was talking about earlier. I don't love keyboard flex on space key, but it's no big deal for me.

And notebook also acts very strange on battery. I even had to reinstall video card drivers because they prevented me from booting up (black screen).

Speaking about battery: A day before I made a test with battery eater in "reading" mode/minimum brightness/wireless off/downclocked gpu. In the end it lasted 2 hours 45 minutes from 9 cell battery although in the beginning of test program reported about 3 h 20 minutes. The battery discharge graph is nice and linear. Yet I believe proper powerplay could make some difference.
For me it seems that the biggest power eater is video card. I'd really wanted to undervolt it. Processor is OK with 43-45 when idling with reduced multiplier. WIth colder video card maybe even fan could be stopped? I'd really love to see it idling around 45 C. Maybe it's too much to expect from this powerful board?

 

I really want one of these dam machines lol, sounds like it would be well fun to try n tame, with the temps n all .

The 5850 should OC to 5870 clocks just fine, but yeah its possible you could expect more heat for certain.

 

WE can tame heat 5870's OC'd would be even more fun

 

Are you able to undervolt the Cpu or GPU ?

 

Me ? No , i don't do undervolt , i personally don't see the point in getting a powerful machine and do those things ... I push mine to its limits instead.

 

There's plenty of different kinds of limits. Battery life is one of them.

 

Undervolt makes you spend less energy (so heat) and keep the same performance (with the heat economy you can also overclock easyer)

 

Heat never been an issue with my machines , that's the least of my worries

I won't buy a gaming notebook and worry about battery life .. If battery is what i needed , i would look at something with a crappy IGP.

 

That is also a way to think , but once I 've tried undervolt I couldn't live without it. I've earn +- 5C° in idle and more than 10C° in full (with a T2400).
You should at least try it (if it works in this computer)

(sorry for my bad english)

 

I know what you mean , but there's also other ways to bring temps down

My fully oc'd card don't exceeds 65+ when gaming and 1hr+ of fur burning test thingy with an average temps of 68c and max 70c .. without undervolting .. I'm thinking of getting a bigger psu to even squeeze more power out of it

 

Dead2th3world, what measures of bringing temps down have you used so far?
Thermal paste/external notebook cooling pads/playing in a freezer?

 

I know one thing he does which is put bulletholes in his bottom panel

 

I can't ! , frostbites sucks As Notenough said , i've drilled the crap out of my bottom cover , replacing crappy pads with paste and using a cooler.

Have a look at your bottom cover , don't you see some black grill thingy it helps keeping dust out but doesn't help air circulation.

 

Dead do you know where I could buy an extra bottom panel? I wanna mod one up

 

Can you take a picture ? It seems cool

 

That's the hardest bit , eBay is your only friend or you can try getting in touch with those who sells barebones.

Here http://forum.notebookreview.com/5863617-post88.html IF patience is your thing , you can make it look better (which i lack )

You don't need that many holes , unless ur crazy like me

 

haha yea, it appears dead wanted to put in enough holes that it teeters on the edge of being able to be called a bottom panel

....grrr someone needs to come out and sell a 1656 bottom panel

 

Dead is there enough room to put 5mm copper mods on the heatpipes without them touching the bottom panel? You're the only one crazy enough to mod an msi that I can see

 

5mm will definetely fit the GPU memory area .. as for the heatpipes , i doubt it(can someone check).

 

dead has the gt725, so it may/may not have different clearance.

 

Hahaha !! Sooo many holes !!

You could put a "protection" against dust like this
http://bilder.afterbuy.de/images/21129/p407_nah_jpg.jpg

 

or this as protection against dust

Amazon.com: Compressed Air Duster - 10 oz. Can (2-Pack): Electronics

 

Get out of my head ! I went down my local Hardware store couple of days ago and came across some cool grill thingys .. was thinking about making a bottom cover .. should be cool as long as they don't bend and hit the mobo

Yeah those air dusters are always handy.

 

Dead, if you make a nice grill that'll fit the 1656 and don't charge too much I'll buy if off you

 

I'll look into it

 

We need the bottoms first

 

but where to find em :'(

 

min2209 great review. Like your comparisons were to a Asus G1 which was my previous notebook also.

Great notebook, the dimensions are great. I would say this is the option to buy for 15" notebooks. I like the look of it, except for that red panel above the keyboard.