Official MSI GX640 Owner's Thread

Well - my month old GX640 is going back for an RMA. It started by giving me a black screen when resuming from sleep (with old MSI drivers). Then when I restarted the system, the drivers would disappear and Device Manager would list a Generic Graphic Adapter. Multiple uninstalls and re-installs of the Catalyst drivers until finally the drivers told me there were no ATI cards installed. Final nail in the coffin was on cold boot, I didn't even see the bios screen - just all blank.

I'll give them (MSI) one RMA - but if it dies again then I'm lemon law'ing this sucker.

Funny - my GT627 with the 9800 GS is still chugging strong, but then again, so is my old Asus with an ATI x700.

 

Don't worry about how many frames you get , that thing will run anything you throw at it You will always drop frames in heavy battles or stuff like that. Even @ 25 the game will be enjoyable

Where you at in Athena ?

 

More info about my non-resuming-from-sleep laptop.

If I manually set clocks, turn off powerplay, then go into sleep and try and come back.. everything freezes up. Not just the screen is off. The touch controls no longer respond, nor does anything else - including the power button. After entering sleep mode, I am forced to remove the battery to cut power to the laptop. The last time I tested sleep, I had to pull the battery and upon trying to reboot I got a black screen with the blinking "_" that did not change. I removed the battery for a few minutes then tried again - and it booted up.

 

Now you're just making a small problem worse by tinkering with it.

 

I don't consider it a small problem, as I effectively cannot close the lid of my laptop without first totally shutting down. Very inconvenient.

 

Pretend it'sa MAC then you can call it a feature!

 

Does it happen with hibernate as well as sleep? And maybe change your power options to not goto sleep when you shut your screen? lol

 

I tried that. It still goes into sleep.

I have not, however, tried hibernate.

 

Try it out never know lol. I prefer hibernate over sleep anyways. Also finally ordered my gx tonight. So this time next week hopefully i'll be up and running

 

I just finished Butcher Bay, and I'm starting the Athena campain.
I don't worry about the number of frame per second fraps draw on the screen. But in some chapters where you're driving an exoskeleton, I noticed that the game was not very smooth. Also, whenever you break a glass, you drop frames. Note that I play this game on my TV at 1280*720, AA 2x. If I turn off AA, I can play on the laptop screen at native res.

I think it's more a game specific issue, as I can play Portal at 1680*1050, everything high, AA 2x (I don't see any difference going higher) smoothly, and Crysis runs good as well in 1680*1050, high, no AA.

This laptop is a beast, I know it That's why I've been surprised when I saw that Riddick was not always smooth, and knowing that it's not an incredibly beautiful game. It seems that it's not playable if it's not running at 60 fps... weird ^^.

Anyway it's really worth buying this PC. I can't wait to run Diablo III !

 

Ok hibernate works fine. That's good news.

 

Good, that makes me happy cause that all i'll use lol. Really the only time my laptop hits the bag is going to and from school. So hibernate is much more desirable for me. And the time waiting for the system to power back up is really just nothing in my mind. The system boots in less then 40secs for most, i couldnt imagine saving 40 secs is gonna make or break your day lol.

 

I like windows7, cuz even startup doesnt take more than 2minutes. And that's on my old desktop (AMD Athlon 64 3200+), and on my old laptop (AMD Turion X2 TL=58). Each have only 1gb ram. I'd imagine the GX would fly right by. I think if I get the GX, I'd be spoiling myself, from what I've received from all your stories

Hopefully I get into grad school. A new lappy will be my reward, is what I've decided. (That's why I havent made the purchase yet, guys).

 

Oh I agree, the 40 seconds is no big deal. It's just that I really want my new laptop fully functional.

Edit: I hadn't ever used hibernate before.. but it's actually pretty nice. Timed the resume.. 28 seconds between fully in hibernate mode to back connected to wifi and on the internet. Thanks in part to Google Chrome

Another Edit: For whatever reason, my laptop enters sleep mode when closing the lid occasionally... even tho I have all my power options set so that sleep will never occur, and closing the lid enters the laptop into hibernate mode.

Issue not resolved...

 

Alright, so I have a quick question about overclocking. I have never done any overclocking prior to owning this laptop, so I am not really sure what a "safe" OC will be. I understand that no matter what you are increasing the stress on the GPU and therefore likely decreasing its lifespan, but for playing crysis warhead I have been OCing to 725 and 1100 from the stock of 625 and 1000. I have read of several people going up to 800 and 1200, but I really don't know what would be pushing my luck. I want this laptop to last me at least 2-3 years so I definitely don't want to kill the thing.

 

I've got mine at 750/1100 and it's rock solid. I tried 800 but got artifacts and black screens. The OC also increased my framerates in Crysis. I don't know how much you'll actually decrease its lifespan, but as more heat is generated, the more stress the card endures. Since adding the copper shim on my heatsink though my temps are better overclocked than at stock clocks without the shim. I would say that with the shim, my GPU is going to last longer now that the cooling has improved significantly than before with the poor heatsink contact. Then again, I can't see into the future so who knows.

 

Zaner, I also had the same problem with sleep mode on mine, even with all lid settings on "do nothing." Weird, but I think that the infamous powerplay plays a role in this. But since the new vbios, it hasn't bothered me since sleep and resume actually work for me now.

 

Well, so it seems my gpu has crapped out on me already. First I started experiencing artifacting in Bad Company 2. I then tried to upgrade my drivers (yes, I selected the drivers under mobility radeon, not notebook, on ATI's driver download page). The screen then zoomed in and got all pixelated (like it does when you have no driver installed). I then proceeded to install the graphics driver from the driver cd. It said I had the latest driver, so I tried uninstalling the driver. The program that was uninstalling would then just sit there, with no progress being made whatsoever. After using task manager to quit the program, I tried it again, and then it seemed to work. Then I tried installing th driver from the cd again. Once it finished, nothing happened. It didn't make any difference. Then I opened up cpu-z just out of curiosity, and it didn't list a graphics card under the grapics tab. After a reboot, it listed an ATI graphics adapter under the grapics tab. Also after the computer started up again, I got a message that ATI Catalyst couldn't start up because I don't have a compatible driver or it isn't working properly. Then, as a final attempt to resolve this, I tried restoring the system from the system recovery discs I had made. When I clicked on "disc recovery 1" from the recoverydisc. The recovery program would start up fine, but when it came time for it to start "recovering," it would just sit there, without a progress bar or anything, until I would get a window saying the program has stopped working. I then clicked on "disc recovery 3" out of desperation, and while it said dis recovery 1 hadn't finished, it proceeded to go to a screen with a progress bar, so I assumed it was doing something. And that's where I am now. I'm waiting for it to finish. It looks like I'm going to have to send my computer in again (my GX640's gpu was overheating). Am I doing something wrong? Or am I just really unlucky? Also, is this MSI's fault, ATI's fault, or my fault? Sorry for the wall of text.

 

Did you uninstalled your previous drivers before installing new one ?

 

I updated my vBios hoping that it would fix the issue, as many have said it has, but no luck. I need to reflash I guess

 

Anybody know how to change hd to compatibility in bios? I'm trying to dual boot with XP. I keep getting the bluescreen on install.

Another question is, is this DATA partition full of garbage or useful stuff? Is it ok to delete it?

 

For me, the DATA partition is nearly completely full with just recovery stuff. Useful I suppose.

 

1) You can do this in BIOS. There's an option where you can select IDE mode for SATA.

2) If you have created the 2 recover DVDs, it's safe to delete it.

 

Sorry I didn't read through all these pages, but can someone summarize total pros/cons of the GX640? Mainly gaming and GPU / CPU temps and performance? Is it even an issue? Thanks.

 

Temps are only an issue if you are super anal about getting the best temps. You cant buy this laptop and expect alienware type levels of cooling. If you understand that this is a budget laptop (comparatively) and nothing really exists in its range with similar specs to really compete.

Heats are tolerable is the general consensus. Not amazing not horrible but decent. As far as performance i dont think ive heard one person complain about it in those regards. I'll let you know more when i get mine this upcoming week.

check out these well done reviews
http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/474857-msi-gx640-098us-review.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/477436-dspr_02s-msi-gx640-098us-review.html

And ignore notebook check, their methodologies are less then scientific and clearly biased towards certain products.

 

hi, im a noob that just have bought a gx640 and been reading this thread and would be very grateful if someone could explain this questions to me.

* I like to install catalyst 10.5 do i have to update vbios first or?

* there is two different firmware files, "nb vga firmware" and "nb camera/vga/ec firmware" do i need both or just one?

* On the msi download page there is info about ecall.bat for firmware but it doesnt seem to work for win 7 64 edition. How should i flash the bios then?

thx in advance!

 

Thanks. What's battery life like? Is it true that they don't use the IGP in this laptop?

 

What's IGP?

The battery life is fine in my opinion. Considering it's a high power gaming laptop.

On stock clocks, while gaming, don't expect any more than an hour.

Stock clocks, doing easy stuff.. up to two and half hours.

Downclocked, doing easy stuff.. a bit over three hours.

Easy stuff = simple web surfing, word processing, etc.

I assume turning off wifi would increase the battery life even more.

Undervolting should also help.

 

Yep , no IGP.

Welcome to NBR.

*No

*One is for the vbios and the other one is the NB Firmware. Wait for the final release and update accordingly.

*Bootable CD or USB Stick

 

Does IGP = Integrated Graphics Processor?

 

Yes it does

 

Do the Core i5 mobility processors even have an IGP at all? I know some laptops disable the IGP and only use the dedicated card, but I know some processors don't even have an IGP. I've heard the i7's don't. Do the i5's?

 

All the arrandales have an IGP. None of the clarksfield have them. Using the IGP would require a connector be used to switch between the IGP and dedicated GPU, which is not included in the GX640.

 

I am thinking about buying this laptop but should I just wait for the MSI GT660? When do you think it will come out? I would love to have a new laptop before I head off to college in august.

 

You may have to wait a while, and at that point you might as well wait for the new Fermi core GPUs to be released. MSI is already planning a Geforce GTX 460m model. Plus, the GT660 looks a lot bigger and bulkier than the GX640 and will undoubtedly cost significantly more.

 

So I just read that the CPU downclocks the RAM.. is there a way to reverse this?

edit: Whoops, wrong thread!

 

LOL .....

 

whoa, cold outside, just came in here to warm up.


This is the GX640 room isn't it?








JK'ing

 

You can deal with this...



Or you can deal with that:

 

Finally... My GX640 will be delivered on Thursday. That would be 3 weeks less a day from the order date. Kind of ridiculous, huh?

 

Depends on who you ordered it from i guess.

 

Any longer they would have discontinued this model by then............

 

I'll be getting my GX640 by Friday and I'm a little concerned about the temps. Where I live, ambient temp was as high as 38C as recently as 3 weeks ago. It has dropped significantly since then but it's still a very warm 31C.

So, if the laptop does end up running too hot, I'll probably need a laptop cooler and was wondering what would go best with this laptop, the Zalman NC2000, the N3000, or the NZXT Cryo, in terms of fan/vent placement?

Thanks in advance!

 

On a recent trip I actually had some use for the battery on this thing. Underclocked to 100/150, running at full brightness and full volume and playing a DVD, it lasted for around two hours; battery life was similar when I played some 720p TV episodes off the hard drive later.

 

That's not bad considering you're pretty much purposely burning through the battery by putting everything that sucks out battery to use, and getting 2ish hours. Not bad at all. I'm sure this thing would last me through a grad school lecture (2+hours)

 

Well, the CPU and GPU aren't really pushed hard by video playback, so you would get much poorer battery life while, say, playing a game.

Nonetheless, lower brightness, no sound and general non-intensive use would definitely give you more than 2 hours.

 

Good news guys... CSU Long Beach admitted me Waiting on Fullerton and San Jose State now.

 

I wonder about fan speeds for gx640. When i change the control to manual in ccc and 100% i cant really notice any difference in temp or sound of the fan. Is something broken or do bios overule software control? Do anyone have a clue regarding this subject.

 

Fan control isn't working. And it could not work unless it would be a system utility, not GPU only. This is because single fan cools both CPU and GPU (including all other components). So for example disabling fan from catalyst control center could cause processor temp to rise too high and vice versa.

Just forget manual fan control (at least for now)

 

Got my gx640 from xoticpc today with new thermal paste.

Booted it up and just a black screen. Leds, fans and hdd works. But the screen is all black. Not even a bios screen.

What could this be? a faulty gpu?

At xotic the said that they run comprehensive tests after they install new th paste. But in this case they maybe didn't. Gonna call them later.

Just soooo sad.