MSI GX640-098US Review

Gah, you dont need switchable on a gaming machine, its not what it was designed for,

I know that the GPU is on with the CPU for switchable isn't it?

 

I think the higher, powerful Core i7 doesnt have a GMA4500HD onboard or whatever it is.
And I truly ask you, why the hell do you really need switchable graphics? Get a 18 cell battery, lol

 

Cuz you can! did it cost them?! they already have a integrated gpu on the i5...

 

You won't be able to do so , and most gamers don't give a damn about it.

There's more to it than just drivers and a switch.

 

just asking again to reassure myself..

GX640? or E7405? lol

E7405 Specs

Thanks again, having read through a good portion of this thread, makes me think that I may have made the wrong choice lol or something.

 

At the end of the day , it's down to personal choice. I would go for the E7405 as i don't see myself game on a 15incher ...

There's no big gap in prices as well. Warranty period seems good too.

On top of that you will be getting a faster GPU too (Not by much but faster it is)

 

...and smaller hard drive too.

 

lol yea...180gb smaller...that's quite a bit. i could replace it but that totally defeats the point of getting the e7405 :S But then again I won't need that much room...but still...I dunno.

I already ordered the e7405 and am waiting cause of back order. that's why I'm having second thoughts of wanting to get the gx640 instead (though that's on back order too). If I had gotten the gx640 instead of the e7405 I'd have it by now lol

And my current laptop is 15.4in so it's not a big deal to me...

 

Coming from a 17" gaming laptop (Gateway P6860FX), I can say that the 15" size is absolutely perfect. With 17" machines you're really talking desktop replacements, while with 15" you can actually travel with them. I did some traveling with the Gateway but it was a PITA at times. The GX640 is great because not only is it a beast with performance, but it's actually pretty thin and light. I use it for work too, so portability is important.

 

Anybody travels with these? They dont have a battery life darn it!!!
OK, Ok it shows a battery life of say 2hours and some minutes with a 9cell and I get 12fps on GTA IV

 

lol well the only time I travel with them is to use at work (so public transit) and stayin at my mom's house or goin to sleep over at a friend's...and most times (99%) i like to play window mode lol

 

Well, I always plug in when I reach a customer's site. The only time I leave it unplugged for a bit is when I'm at Starbucks or something.

 

So ? Mine came with 500 and i downgraded to a 320.

 

So mine came with 250gb, i suck in general!

 

ha ! Get a caddy like i'm about to do

 

Then what? External DVD Drive?

 

None for me , i don't need it. I haven't used mine in ages .. Most of my games are digital and have a dedicated External HDD just for back-up.

Might use it as an external bluray player for my desktop

 

Oh so steam? Is it?

Or torrents is it?

 

100% Steam ! stupid sales has put a hole in my pocket

 

why would you downgrade to 320? lol when the 500 came with it?! lol

I'm hoping the e7405 comes so i don't have to go through the hassle of cancelling my order, making sure it's cancelled and 100% refunded and then ordering the gx640 lol...dont wanna screw things up and end up paying for both!!

 

I think the 500Gb offered with ours was 5400RPM, so maybe thats why.

 

What cooling would be best for the GX640 during high quality gameplay?

 

Well short of gaming in a commercial grade kitchen refrigerator a laptop cooler would be your best bet. Although imagine how cool you'd run in a 33F fridge lol.

 

A lot of water, no thats bad, maybe Ice...Dry ICE , hmm, LN2 anyone ?

With Cooling I suppose you mean Laptop Coolers? So there are a few like Antec 200 and the one death was using I forgot its name.

EDIT : you can just try raising the level of the notebook with the help of somethings at just the four corners while not blocking any vents, that too should make it better.

 

I still think gallons of nerdy man sweat after our military crawl aerodynamics laptop test will still cool better then any other form!

 

Sarcasm pours like water here ah?!
its alright.
I think im gonna make my own laptop cooling pad, made entirely by... FANS!! and then im gonna take over the world. but first, ill make a cooling pad... yeah...

 

Cooling pads arent really gonna help much if you dont plan on a termal paste upgrade with Mx-3 and a back cover mod.

The limitation is the volume of air that can be forced through the blocked vents.
Death modded the back covers and the GPU dropped to 31*c at idle. yours 5xxx series should be cooler than that though.

EDIT : Even my custom cooling pad is pending, but I am planning more on the side of say, something like an AC.

 

My permament set up is something like this,
Amazon.com: Table-Mate II Woodgrain - Dark Walnut (Dark Walnut)…

Ive contemplated drilling holes into the MDF base it has and mounting multiple 120mm fans underneath and mounting a PSU as well to give me epic cooling systems for my current rig.

 

wow so many things to think about!!!! cooling...what cooling to use :S I don't want to use anything too pricey or something that requires an insane amount of modding that would void warranty or only for use by veteran modders lol

 

Like I said just use something to raise the level of notebook by placing some say blocks of wood at four corners and that provides required ventilation, even a 30-40$ cooler should be good enough.

 

Seriously, coolers help a little but not that much. They certainly will not drop CPU/GPU temps by 10C or so like some manufacturers claim. I took my Rosewill cooler and changed the fans and Power Supply to run at 12V/2A. It's a lot better now than the wimpy 5V/550ma that USB provides, but I seriously only see a difference of 1-3 degrees C. Now if I take the bottom cover off, that's a different story.

I'll say it again, the real problem with heat in this unit is the poor contact between the GPU die and heatsink, caused by the thickness of the memory's thermal pads. If you take your heatsink off you'll see that MSI placed an enormously ridiculous amount of thermal paste on the GPU which is there to compensate for the gap. Too much paste always has a negative effect. I added a copper shim to make up for the gap, and my temps are great now. Here's my post.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/482836-thermal-past-upgrade-worth-6.html

Don't waste your money on an expensive cooler or just a thermal paste swap, it won't do the trick in this case.

 

Yes, that's what I meant, I did take the bottom cover off. The GX640 has a huge bottom panel that exposes the entire heat sink / heat pipe assembly as well as RAM, WiFi chips, etc to the air flow. Running Furmark used to peak at about 94C, and now peaks at 80C. That's more than enough of an improvement for me.

Granted, though, this wouldn't work for the majority of laptops out there, for which a cooling pad can at most cool the bottom chassis, and no direct air flow will ever reach the components.

 

Just be more frequent in dust removal sessions for your laptop, since you use it this way.

 

I don't think this affects the dust build up. In the vast majority of cases, dust builds on inside the heat sink assembly on the side of the heat sink blades facing the fans. Everywhere else, in my experience of taking apart and cleaning laptops, is usually clean. There is no air filter on the panel I took off anyway, so any dust that would have been sucked in by the on board fan still would have regardless of whether or not I remove the panel. Otherwise, I would imagine perhaps less dust will settle on the internal components, given the much more rapid air movement over the components compared to in the standard configuration.

 

Static electricity hates pc components. Just my 2 cents.

 

Hehe, anyone who ignores deads statement i will personally slap silly,

Problem with cleaning the fan is, if you somehow manage to get some dust into the motor while cleaning it (Which sucks believe me,)

It could eventually ruin bearings, slow the fan down, change the pitch/noise of the fan,

On the bright side, the machines are so easy to clean, its great.

 

hrmm...so for a newbie at the whole cooling process, esp. for laptops, would just taking off the bottom panel be enough? I usually use it in a cool setting like at work (where the AC is blasted in the summer) and at home in the basement (where it's quite cool).

As well, this doesn't void warranty would it?

Thanks! This thread has been most helpful for those who are looking to purchase this beast or for those who just got it/ordered it.

 

You know removing the back cover cannot void the warranty in Europe and EU Laws dont rely on "Warranty Void if Tampered" stickers, as for the US, MSI reps have said its cool. But the rest of the world, including mine own, I have no idea, but a Call to MSI to clarify things before removing the cover should cover it all.

 

haha yea I'll do that, after I get my laptop. And I live in Canada...so I dunno what the laws are here lol I'll do my best not to get those pesky stickers off the laptop lol

 

MSI has stated before that removing warranty stickers will not actually void your warranty. They intend for you to open your system and change ram/hdd's as needed. Even CPU's i believe.

 

really? hrmm...that's surprising since I thought that if you try to alter the laptop, it would void the warranty you have on it. This is a first lol since my current laptop I had to wait until the warranty was gone or take it to a professional to do it so the warranty would remain intact. Current laptop is a crappy Lenovo 3000 n100.

 

Notebooks - FAQs - **Please read first!**

"You can upgrade your notebook, by adding in more memory, replacing the HDD etc, without invalidating your warranty.

You'll have to break any 'warranty sticker' you see covering a screwhole in order to do so, but providing you do not cause any damage in the process, your warranty will not become void."

 

Yeah, MSI's policy is great allright,

 

wow that's fantastic! lol though I don't think I will be upgrading any time soon haha Just the stock should be good enough...though the cooling is a little sketch...but at least it's much better than the ASUS n61jq? lol cooling wise i mean.

 

Well, the N61JQ probably runs cooler because its hardware is significantly weaker - the 5730 consumes a lot less power than the 5850.

 

oh really? but i heard the n61jq has heating problems :S and overheats a often.

 

I haven't seen temperature testing for it, but I hadn't heard it was particularly bad. Do you have a link?

 

it's just the reviews on like newegg that say it overheats or gets really hot on the left side of the laptop or something.

 

But on upgrading a CPU, you do lose your warranty. The warranty is definitely lost for the new CPU and additionally any damage or problem caused in the rest of the notebook, due to CPU upgrade.(technically they could deny all free repairs cuz of this second thing)

 

You dont loose it on the CPU itself, but MSI doesnt cover the new part, if something breaks you can slip in the old CPU,