Official MSI GE60 & GE70 2012 Owners' Lounge

They may not be necessarily soldered on, but the motherboards are pretty much specifically designed to run that one card for that system. In the past there are some users who have been able to do a certain amount of modding to upgrade to higher cards on the MSI GT series but you have to take into account TDP ratings and its doubtful the board on these are designed to handle the TDP of the higher cards.

 

The CPU is switchable (though the laptop can have cooling issues even with the 3610/3630, so I wouldn't recommend it), but the GPU is fully on the motherboard (~fully soldered). These GPUs overclock pretty well though, so you can get a significant performance increase out of that.

 

I received a MSI GE60 ONC-498US last week and it is running great. I went to do a factory reset using the F3 System Recovery on start up and I get an error message stating

BOOTMGR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

Windows loads fine but everything I have found on the internet states I need a Windows 7 disc to repair this. As it is an OEM system it did not come with any Windows disc. I have e-mailed the vendor but I have not heard from them in over a week. I tried to call the number and I get no answer.

This is a stock system with the additional mSATA Mushkin 120 GB SSD installed for the OS and I upgraded the DVD burner to a Blue-Ray combo drive.

Any suggestions?

 

Make your own Windows 7 x64 installation USB flash drive from Official Microsoft ISO file downloaded from Digital River.
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-59465.iso

Use the Microsoft USB/DVD Tool to unpack the ISO onto a USB flash drive.
Microsoft US Online Store

After the files are on the USB stick open the files and expand the Sources folder.In there find ei.cfg and delete it so all versions of Widows 7 x64 can be install from a single USB stick.

Remove all hard drives from the notebook except the hard drive you will be installing Windows 7 x64 on.It optimally should be in the primary drive position 0 on the SATA bus.I you got your notebook with only one hard drive that drive will be in position 0.

Doing this will insure that a MBR is created for the installation drive.

Make sure the bios is set to ACHI.

Now your ready to install either Windows 7 x64 Ultimate,Professional,Home Premium or Basic.Install the version you have a key for.

Put the 4GB USB stick with Windows 7 x64 in a USB port and press the power-on button.Quickly start pressing the F? key on your notebook that allows you to choose to boot from the USB stick.

The 1st sceen will be for keyboard layout>OK
Install Now>OK
Licence Agreement>OK
Custom Install>OK

A screen that has disk utilities and Driver Installation should be showing.

Click on the Disk Utilities.A screen will open where you can view all partitions.

Format all partitions that are showing.

Then delete all partitions until only one large full drive partition remains remains.The total space and usable space should be exactly the same.

Windows 7 will now begin to install.

During the 1st reboot in the Windows 7 installation process remove the USB stick.
If you don't remove the USB sticks the installation process may start from the beginning after the reboot.

When W7 install finishes install the 2 drivers/software linked below first,then your othe drivers,software and utilities.

Intel Chipset Installation Software( intel drivers pour chipsets)
MS netFramework 4.5( Download Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 from Official Microsoft Download Center)

 

WTP

Why would I want to do a complete reinstall when I just need to do a repair to an existing working OS.You are wanting to put a cast on what needs a band-aid. All of my OS discs I have are Windows 7 Pro. This is the first system I have that is running Windows 7 Home Premium. Vista I know it did not matter, you could have a higher grade version and it not matter. 7 is not like this and I know for re-installs the full correct disc is needed. As this is just a repair to replace missing files I am unsure.

Other suggestions?

 

Make an installation disk from the links I supplied to attempt a repair on the second screen after booting the Windows 7 flash drive.

If it fails to repair then the best option is a clean install rather than to spend a lot of time looking for causes and cures.

It's always good to have an installation disk anyway.

In the end,the choice is yours,whether to keep trying to repair or bite the bullet and do a clean install.

Did you try booting into Safe Mode and doing a restore to a time where all was well?

 

Just curious, what temperature do you get on Iтеуд PCH? You can use HWInfo 64 for that and run sensors only type of program. TNX.

 

I am wondering if people are downgrading to windows 7 because they don't like the metro interface?

That'd be sad if so.

I use the windows 7 interface on windows 8, by running classic shell.

Just takes a minute to download and install, problem fixed.

Welcome to Classic Shell

 

That seems to be the common theme for people wanting to change the OS from Win 8 to Win 7. There are still some software apps out there that just won't work on Win 8 in their current iteration, but for the large parts it's because of Metro.

 

You can download and burn a legit official windows 7 disc from your version. With this disc image you can perform the repair. You can also try booting a windows7 USB bootable image and perform the same repairs.

This happened to my GX660R at some point after installing some software, rebooted, and BAM BootMGR lost. But I had a fresh copy of windows 7 I just burned so I was able to repair. It took me three times with the repairs options to get it fixed, just in case yours does not work the first time.

 

Interesting point. I will keep this in mind because I will have to deal with windows 8 soon haha.

 

I'm thinking about upgrading my CPU to a 3740 or 3840, however I'm not sure if they can be overclocked in the GE60 as well (like in Clevos for example) using that Intel tool. James, could you only OC your CPU because it's an XM or would it work with the 3740/3840 as well?

 

Why wouldn't you buy the same CPU I bought for only 250$ or even lower if using best offer (QBC1)? It can go higher than 4.5 at 4 cores but on my machine it is only 3.8x4 cores ATM. Intel XTU does not work on GE - only unlocked BIOS. I think you can OC 3720QM and higher through BIOS.

 

Where did you find a BIOS for the GE60/70 that unlocks CPU overclocking? :O The only custom BIOS I've seen was the one on TechInferno made by Prema, but that only unlocked GPU clocks (and not even voltage).
I didn't really check on the prices yet, but if I could snag an XM CPU for 250USD I'd definitely go for that one of course.

 

I personally made them. Unlocking hied settings is pretty easy on our BIOSes. I can give it to you in PM. I do not share them on forum in open way because they are based on Prema's BIOS and he asked about the only source being TI Forum.
Overvolting our GPU will give not so big OC potential as you expect, trust me. I was very disappointed as benefits can not fully cover overheating you get.

As about unlocked CPU... I can not be 100% sure that this CPU is the earlier version of 3920XM but specs fit for me: 8MB cache, unlocked multiplier and faster performance per megaherz than 3610QM.

Here is an album where you can see manual CPU's multi setting menu
And here is NBR Theme about this CPU. Start reading from this post or earlier page.

 

So these are basically 3920XM ESes labeled as 3720QM for some reason? For 200 dollars it would be pretty awesome. While I don't understand most of the BIOS options in the images, I've read through the thread you linked as well, where you say RAM OC is possible as well. Did you try OCing the stock RAM at all or only the Corsair one you have now?

Also a few questions about the CPU:
- About the TDP, I guess it supports the 55W, but after a certain level you would need to increase the power supplied as well I guess. Did you run into the limits of the 120W PSU?
- How hot does it get? I see you're running yours with 2 cores at 3.8GHz. Would it be possible to get it to run at that frequency on all cores (I'm running with the backplate off and on a CoolerMaster U3, so that would be ok, but adding extra copper might be a bit more complicated)?
- Also Meaker said there is no overvolting support. Did you run into voltage limits or it would have burned out of it's socket before getting there?

Anyway, I'd love to try that BIOS because of the RAM stuff as well, so if you can PM it to me that'd be great. (Does it include the unlocked GPU OC as well by the way?) I've really started considering getting this CPU and upgrading to 16GB RAM now..
Also thanks for the loads of information and help, +rep (edit: when I can..).

 

So many questions
1. It is not labeled as 3720QM. Older CPU-z thought it is 3820QM while newer say 3720QM. Anyway all this is because of stock clocks I assume. Throttlestop author approved that CPU-z write only what it thinks it is. BTW stock clocks must be 2700GHz I guess. But some programs believe it is 2600. Practically I am not 100% sure is it 2.6 or 2.7 but who cares if it works at 3.8GHz
2. I run it at 3.8GHzx4 cores. NOT 2. Those photos are old. But my signature is "updated"
3. Voltage auto increases when you set higher multiplier. Only if you OC fsb (which is impossible ATM on our lappies) you need to set higher voltage. But I repeat it is not a problem for our lappies.
4. I think I reached AC Adapter's limit Ocing to a 3.8GHz. When I set 4.0x4 I get BSOD while booting. 3.9 is not stable too. When you mentioned TDP I said hmm... But anyway short time TDP is about 67W.
5. Temperature. I use CoolerMaster Notepal U3 too But without coolers. And ALSO I use indium Heat Spring thing which makes temps even lower. I put here archieve with stresstests with MX4. And I feel myself an @sshole because it is a month when I should do same tests with indium HS but still didn't cause can't make 2 environment with same temperature as in those stresstests. I have to figure out smth tomorrow.
So again... it doesn't overheat when I decode video BD Remux to a 720p. But it will (most likely) if I stress it with Intel Burn Test or Prime95. When I play Metro LL it hits 85C.
6. RAM Ocing is dangerous thing. If you try OC too high some sticks and they fail you will have to either search for better OCeable RAM and put it in or send laptop to a repair Center. Powerdrain does not help. I do not OC Vengeance. I wait for Samsung which come on 7-th June.
7. Do you have Win7 or Win8 laptop? If you have Win7 then all is OK. Win 8 is... more complicated.

 

Typically the ES 3720qm hit 3.8ghz, fine tuning the clocks is something that happens with the chip revisions.

 

Okay, thanks a lot for all the help. I'm going to look at ordering a CPU in a few weeks then after I'm finished with my exams. Being able to get it to 3.8+ instead of the 3.1 my 3610QM can do now is pretty significant for 200 dollars (maybe cheaper if I can sell the 3610).

 

Sorry, but it is not the same. The settings in Win8 are still a messy mix of Metro & what we are used to. I gave W8 about 2 months & it wasn't worth the mission. MUCH happier back on W7. Speed increase? Yea, if you are happy with it never actually shutting down properly & keeping all your USB ports active for a quicker start up. Just stupid for an "increase" you wont even notice.

Now, if they would release a service pack that fixed the UI.......

 

Same situation for me as well.

Too many cons to Win8 for very few pros.
The fact that you have to download additional software just to make it function says the program was not designed/fielded properly.

 

Hello Everyone!

After 7 months with GE70, I have noticed that little red LED inside headphone jack are not shining anymore :/

anyone ever had it?

 

Hello sorry for my english.

i bought a MSI GE70 OND, for two times, because MSI change de first one.

i want to know a litlle list of the problems of this model of computer.

In my computer there are two problems, that i know, i don`t know if there are more, because i don´t know so much of Computer science.

The problems in my computer are:

--In windows 8, after of install a program or game appear the following mesage: Preparing automatic repair

--A IT technician say me that the HDD is corupt too, becauso don´t permit after clean windows 8, install windows 7.

Please answer me soon.

 

Didn't know there was a red LED there. Never saw it.
I'll check tonight.

 

Could you answer me please?

 

What I've noticed with mine is that if the Realtek driver is not installed, then the red light will be on, meaning there is SPDIF output all time, but with the official driver installed, the light will turn off until a cable is plugged-in, and then you choose the SPDIF and the light will turn on again. It is all about just SPDIF output.

 

Hola amigo me referia a fallos en el disco duro, u otro tipo de fallos me compre el ordenador hace 6 dias y el windows 8 se pone en REPARACIÓN AUTOMÁTICA, tras la instalación de cualquier juego o programa

 

@legrimov, turn off system restore. Official language here is English. Nobody has to answer smn's posts here as we don't get paid.

 

Sorry it isn´t my intention,

The computer that i bought is MSI GE70- 218ES, now is on sale MSI GE70- 459ES, ¿Do you know if it is a improved version?

(This is the same computer but different version).

¿Have someone of yours this version 459ES?

 

I dont know.... i always had that red light on... its not like i see it...

 

Its the optical output for digital audio, turning it off when not in use saves power.

Those models look to have the same specs. Maybe the hdd is another make or the wireless card.

 

Hi All,

I've newly bought MSI GE60 " MSI GE60 0ND-463UK 15.6-inch Full HD LED Gaming Laptop (Intel Core i7 3630QM 2.4GHz, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 750GB HDD, Nvidia GeForce 2GB GDDR5 GTX 660M Graphics Card, USB 3.0, HDMI, DVD SuperMulti, Bigfoot Killer E2200, THX TruStudio Pro Audio, Windows 8): A" which is Win8 embedded.

And I also bought SanDisk Extreme 240 SSD to use it as primary HDD, with running win7 as OS iof win8

Purpose: Install win7 into newly bought SSD on laptop

Actions taken:
Powered off
Removed original 750GB HDD and put SanDisk SSD into its place successfully

Powered on
After MSI logo shown-up, moved to BIOS settings to check: 1st Boot is CD/DVD and verified that Sandisk SSD has been recognized and bios is set to ACHI.

Issue:
When pressing power-on button, just MSI logo show-up and ideally it should continue to start win7 installation via CD/DVD but it is reading cd/dvd for a while with a fully black/blank page and it directs me to BIOS settings again.

So, I couldnt find-out a way to install win7 into SSD even I tried with 3 different win7 setup dvd.

Any idea?

 

Hey everyone,

Due to being bored today I made a customized MSi GE70 wallpaper. Feel free to use it! (for personal use only, do not modify, publish or claim for yours in any way)

Tell me what you think?

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4558/ge702.jpg



Erik

 

Nah, I will print it out in 100 pcs and gonna sell it on a flea market

I bet you can make the one with changed specs like " i7 3920XM@3.9GHzx4cores" on the left instead of 3630QM and " GT660M@1111MHz" on the right))

P.S. Can I show it on another forum? Quoting your nickname of course.

EDIT: The area on the text "GE-70" looks dirty on the upper right corner of number 7.


Also I believe you could change that cut places on that number.

 

Yeah, I can totally make a customized version for you if you'd like. Just give me a list of things you want on it and where.

Feel free to show it on another forum, if you mention my name, that is.

Here's the version with the 7 fixed:



Thanks for your feedback!
-Erik

 

Very cool background man!

 

Download MSI Afterburner to overclock it. You can get quite a bit more performance out of the chip. Personally, I put my GPU clock on +250 (that's the max, I think) and the memory to +200. I managed to play Metro Last Light on med/high settings with an average of 40'ish fps.

MSI Afterburner

 

Hey guys, how is the GE60 ONC? The one with the i5 processor, I was almost tempted to get it - but I may hold off, and wait for the new laptops to be released.

 

Hey,
It should be a powerful laptop that´s good to work with. Great price/quality value. The build quality isn't that great, but the specs are truely amazing.

BUT, in my opinion you can better pay a little extra, and get the GE60 0N D. The quad core i7 processor makes a huge diffrence. I have the GE70 0ND myself, and I absolutely love it. I got it one and a half week ago, so no, it's not an outdated laptop. It's absolutely great to work with, and it wont dissapoint.

Contact me if you have any questions.


- Erik

 

The new graphics chips are a big step up so it will be worth getting the new models.

 

I guess it's been a year since I got this computer.

It was my first MSI.

I have to say I'm really impressed, this has been great.

The main selling point for this laptop for me, was getting a fairly fast GPU in a relatively light and thin laptop.

The models that accomodate even faster GPUs are necessarily much heavier and bigger to accomodate better power supplies and cooling. When I saw how extreme the weight/size difference was in person, I realized it wasn't a trade I was willing to make. While I'm not very cost sensitive, the price difference was also major.

The real tradeoff for me with this model is speakers vs weight.

MSI's heavier models have macho awesome speakers, but those laptops are SO much heavier and bulkier.

I guess I'm torn on the issue because I care about speakers more than most, but also appreciate the light weight and smaller size of this model.

I realize that there isn't a lot MSI can do to improve speakers with such a small form factor, but I still would appreciate them taking a hard look at the issue for future models.

The gaming performance exceeded my expectation, with the nvidia 660m GPU.

As far as MSI, I'm very impressed and will almost certainly buy another laptop from them in future, highly recommended. The quality is very good for the price.

I'll be real tempted to get a new one when they make a major upgrade in the GPU, with a similarly light and thin laptop.

 

Cons:
- glossy finish (partially solved on newer 2013 versions where only cover is glossy);
- AWFUL touchpad! It is too small for FHD and its buttons are SO HARD that I want to kill its designer. Besides it is actually 1 wide piece of plastic so there why it is so hard. And it is WAY ABOVE the touchpad itself like on the 2nd floor. And NO continuous scroll;
- Keyboard. It is way flex when you push it down unless you put smth under it like piece of paper... many peaces like I did. And earlier versions had keys which missed pressing. Also no backlit! (solved in 2013 version) and way awkward positions of keys. no context menu buttons etc;
- your fan start rattle if you use turbocooling button often or just put laptop under heavy load very often. I heard MSI changed brand of their cooling fan recently though.

 

You have high standards in my opinion because all the things you mentioned are on the my current laptop.
Just so I can better understand where you are coming from, what laptop does all those things better with the same internals and for the same price and warranty?
Just remember that there are several trade-offs for a product, you never get all things perfect including price and it depends on what you prioritise as a user.

 

I agree with you. I bought this laptop because it's by far the cheapest on the market with these specs. Look at Lenovo. They build decent laptops. My friend has a Lenovo which was 50 pound more than my MSI GE70, and I'm the one with the quad core processor, he only has a dual i5. Even though he has better build quality etc, I have the better specs of the two.

 

We can't go to the point asking me to find the same but better laptop because we go to the point how much do you estimate different disadvantages using the private theeriks's pricelist which I do not know and so I let him to appraise it himself.

As coming back to cons, MSI did not tell us "you will get what you payed for" while they told us "This is STEELSERIES gaming keyboard. Wooooow!" while it is cr@p.
It is like buying Mercedes with 20% savings while after you bought it you see that 4-th wheel is made of paper... and you can not change it yourself on the real one.

As about quality... find somewhere Sony VAIO F12 or F13. I recently met a mate whom I sold my ex VAIO F and after I typed couple words on it I was ready to cry.

 

This is unification post for owners of MSI GE-series notebooks (gaming non-thick laptops) and you can find here information you may need​

Official support sites: GE60 0NC, GE60 0ND, GE70 0NC and GE70 0ND.
PDF instruction of How to disassembly the GE70 (similar as GE60)
Quality YouTube Review of MSI GE70 by XoticPC. Pay attention that they did a mistake saying that Turbo button overclocks GPU/CPU. On GE series it does only launches IE and opens 3DMark page. If you uninstalled IE (through Windows Uninstall Panel) it does nothing but you can set it to do whatever you want using programs KeyMan or KeyTweaker (at least on Windows 7).

Known BUGS:
1. Nvidia Boost does not work on Win8 laptops! You need to flash latest 514 version of BIOS to fix it.
2. Keyboard on earlier models (mostly on 0NC) may be faulty and some keys misses hitting them. Warranty is your ALL.
3. Fan rattle problem. Using TurboFan button often or stressing laptop very often may cause fan rattling. Later MSI changed supplier (nstec) for newer fans made by T&T (not approved info). So again, pray for your warranty and it's good it is 2-year one.
4. Windows 7 install over OEM Windows 8:
- Unknown device in device manager called Radio-module bluetooth. Latest firmware had to fix this;
- Wi-Fi button's LED will react on pressing however WI-Fi and Bluetooth itself may not be turned on at all. Perhaps latest Win8 firmware fixes it. Another way to fix it is to flash Win7 firmware (NOT BIOS!) but in this case it is possible that Fn combination for brightness control will not work.

OVERCLOCKING GPU and non-official BIOSes:
Programmable method. You need to use Nvidia Inspector and create a text file (later you change extension to *.bat). To find the proper code read more about it here or look at the code for GT 650M.
Overclock.bat for GT650M 306.97 driver:
nvidiaInspector.exe -setBaseClockOffset:0,0,135 -setMemoryClockOffset:0,0,500 -setpowertarget:0,111 -setVoltageOffset:0,0,0 -setGpuClock:0,2,1100 -setMemoryClock:0,2,2800 -forcepstate:0,1
where -setGpuClock:0,2,1100 is core clock
-setMemoryClock:0,2,2600 is memory clock
Default.bat:
nvidiaInspector.exe -setVoltageOffset:0,0,0 -setGpuClock:0,2,750 -setMemoryClock:0,2,2000 -forcepstate:0,16
Flashing BIOS method. Easier way as it works with every Nvidia driver version.
ATTENTION! FLASHING BIOS MAY BRICK YOUR LAPTOP. IT IS A RISKY PROCEDURE!
Simply flash the proper BIOS and then you may use any overclocking software without any bat files etc.
BIOSes are created by user Prema and he kindly asked not to share them anywhere so the only way is to download them here. Please READ INSTRUCTION CAREFULLY!

Overcklocking CPU and non-official BIOSes:
The ONLY way to overclock CPU on GE series is overclocking UNLOCKED ONE: i7 2920XM, 2940XM, 3920XM, 3940XM and experimental or ES versions of CPUs mistakenly named by CPU-z as ES 2720QM Unlocked and 3720QM ES Unlocked.
And you need to flash BIOS with unhied OC CPU Multipliers settings for that! Only available for laptops which did NOT originally came with Windows 8!
ATTENTION! FLASHING BIOS MAY BRICK YOUR LAPTOP. IT IS A RISKY PROCEDURE!
I created them myself and will give only if you personally need them.

 

hey so ive own my laptop for almost 10 months and my battery is in a need for a replacement?
Can someone please tell me a legitimate, non-shady website where I can buy MSI GE60/GE70 batteries? If you could send me the link, that be much appreciated. If you just tell me the website, that be fine too.
Thank you!

 

My cousin just purchased a GE70 2OE and his backlit keyboard isn't working, maybe due to some software uninstall.
He pressed the backlight button at the top left but nothing happens. He doesn't recall it working at any point so maybe it came dead.
I don't see any keyboard specific utility for download on the MSI website.
Does anyone know what is required to get it working?

 

When playing games on my GE60, i frequently experience stuttering or hanging.

This is when everything is playing fine and normally, but then the game will freeze for 1-5 seconds and continue normally. This is very frustrating and annoying as it happened during a lot of good and important moments in gameplay.

Has anyone else had this issue or know a way to fix it?

 

I'm not the best expert on MSI laptops here, but that seems like a classic throttling problem. My brother has an older MSI (GE620DX) and too had this problem - though it seems that on GE620DX models it's more common.

Try using MSI Afterburner / GPU-Z / other monitoring software to see if your GPU is getting throttled. CPU-Z should help you check CPU throttling.