Official MSI GX640 Owner's Thread

ha really cool! how would i use a 30gb ssd though?

 

A small 30Gb drive is only useful as an OS drive. You will need another larger drive for storage.

 

Are there 2 drive bays? or would i just use the power over eSATA port. Because im getting a power over eSATA hard drive enclosure for christmas along with a 500 Gb 7200rpm SATAII 16mb cache hard drive for extra storage

 

There aren't two dedicated drive bays but you can pull out the optical bay and get an optical bay hard drive to get a second drive in ur machine

 

you're sure eSATAp can handle a 7200RPM drive?

 

As NME said, I pulled out the Optical drive and replaced it with an Optical Bay Caddy from Newmodeus.com. A Caddy is an enclosure that fits in an optical drive bay but holds a laptop hard drive. The Optical drive is a SATA device and replacing it is trivial. I love how easy it is to pop things in and out when needed. To be honest, I have not missed the Optical drive one bit.

 

An external optical bay is infinitely less cumbersome than lugging around an external hard drive

 

it should or else they wouldn't make the enclosure for it. i guess i'll find out lol

 

Hmm cool. i might try that some time

 

I found a cool article about eSATAp. Check it out, there are some good facts about it. eSATAp Guide on Windows

 

That doesn't say if eSATAp can handle a 2.5in 7200RPM drive.

I'll ask in the esatap enclosures thread.

 

It says it can handle a 3.5" 7200rpm drive so it should handle a 2.5" but u can't trust just one article

 

That's with a desktop eSATAp port, not laptop.

 

oh i figured it would be the same. Every eSATAp port should supply the same amount of power

 

Let me know what u find

 

Man Crysis Warhead looks and runs so good on this laptop. I am using CCC with the highest level config in dx10 with no AA and high res textures at 1680x1050 at a smooth 25-50 fps depending on the scene. Check out these amazing screens i took
Crysis Warhead CCC Highest Config pictures by jonny30bass - Photobucket

 

does anyone know why i cant overclock my cpu as high when i added a 4gb ram stick in place of a 2gb ram stick in my laptop. before adding the extra ram i could overclock my cpu to 3.3ghz and now i can only overclock it to 2.8ghz

 

You may have to tweak your RAM settings with Memset--> http://www.tweakers.fr/download/MemSet.exe

Also, maybe your 4Gb stick is just not as good at tighter timings. Loosen CAS to 8 and see what happens. You are simply increasing BCLK when you OC and that pushes everything higher.

 

Thanks i will try that out

 

Memset doesn't work with this laptop. When i open it, it says "NOT FOR THIS SYSTEM!"

 

Try CPU-Tweaker instead, it's from the same guys. Works with my i7 in my GX740.

Memset is for systems with memory controller integrated in the chipset, whereas CPU-Tweaker is for systems with the memory controller integrated in the CPU.

Tweakers.fr

 

Sheesh...my fault. I am still stuck in the LGA775 mentality.

 

What is the easiest way for a normal pc-user to update the VBIOS? Burn the file to a cd and press F11 while computer is booting?

- Having problem with a black screen after going sleep mode.

 

Hi and welcome to the forums.

You need to make a bootable CD/USB to update the VBIOS. Make a Bootable USB first, then download the latest VBIOS from my signature and run VBIOS.BAT at the DOS prompt.

 

hey thanks i will try that

 

lol its cool thanks for tryin to help though

 

in cpu-tweaker CAS# Latency is greyed out but RAS# to CAS# Delay, RAS# Precharge, and Precharge Delay are not. how do i adjust it?

 

Hi!

Thank you, it worked, or at least I think so. My values were the same as yours when inspecting the VBIOS version

I updated my drivers for my graphicscard but some of the icons still look very cheesy and you can see the pixels very well.


Is it necessary to update the BIOS aswell? Is it just as simple as updating the VBIOS? Would a patching remove any major problems that I havent even experienced yet?

 

I would recommend updating the System BIOS as well. Just make sure you remove the battery and let the system sit unplugged for about an hour before you reboot. MSI suggest this because it is supposed to reset the embedded controller.

How to reset the EC (Embedded Controller)

As for the pixilated icons etc, that should go away after a complete re-installation of the graphics drivers. Download AMD's Installation utility and proceed from there.
http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx

I have not tried the latest drivers, I am still on Catalyst 10.11. It works quite well and I don't really see the need to change.
Good Luck!

PS# Remember NOT to reboot unless your flash is successful with no errors. Keep trying until it works.

 

Don't know if I dare to flash it after looking at the "How to reset EC"-link

 

Here is the correct DL page for notebook drivers--> Global Provider of Innovative Graphics, Processors and Media Solutions | AMD

I was scared too, but it is no big deal. The VBIOS is a bigger deal actually. It seems that a lot of people messed up their flashing and sent the notebooks back to MSI for a fix. Purely user error. If you are uncomfortable, try reinstalling GPU Drivers first. If it fixes your problem, then you do not have to flash the System BIOS.

Also read this thread---> http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi...clocking-undervolting-using-ccc-profiles.html

 

I tried to use MSI's "Live update online" to see if there were any out of date drivers. It only found one and it was for my mainboard. But the strange thing is that when I allow it to install the driver my computer tells me that I'm about to install an older version of the driver

 

Don't use that software. Try downloading everything from their website instead. What driver are you stuck on? I would also download the latest chipset drivers from Intel's site. Did reinstalling GPU Drivers help?

 

I tried to reinstall the drivers for my graphic card. First I removed the ATI Catalyst Install Manager + ATI Stream SDK from my computer. (Strangely enough my resolution still looked the same after a reboot.) Then I installed the file again. But directly after the installation was finished the message " no ati graphics driver is installed or the ati driver is not functioning properly" poped up. There was no difference to the resolution of the icons.
- I have tried this 2 times with the same message and result

Would you mind sending me a link to the file/files i need to update the chipset? or is it this one: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...oduct=Mobile+Intel®+5+Series+Chipset&lang=eng

 

Aw well, I flashed it now with the latest bios from your link. The two last sentences in the prompt are:

Result: The data is identical

FPT Operation passed

I suppose that that means it went well?

 

3 posts in a row

Well the computer runs fine but I still have a problem with the World of Warcraft icon looking crappy.

Things I noticed after the BIOS/VBIOS-update

+ The computer can come back from sleep mode
+ The computer seems to be cooler and not as noizy

- Didnt solve my icon-problem
- The option "Press F3 for recovery" while booting is gone.

The BIOS/VBIOS won't reset if/when I run my recoverydisks, right?

 

I remember asking this way back when but I forget, looking at optimizing my bottom panel, any clue why the shiny plastic piece is there directly covering the vent by the GPU? Thinking about trying to pull it off but I don't know why it's there.

 

Did you remove the battery brick (which resets the Embedded Controller)?

I would suggest purging all ATI drivers, doing a Windows update and then trying. If it still gives you problems, try Catalyst 10.8.

Good to hear that the CMOS Flashing worked out well.

Edit#
----
Can you post a screenshot of the icon/desktop?

 

I removed the battery for about one hour before I rebooted the computer yes.

Something I forgot to mention in my last post was that the resolution actaully got crappy when I removed ATI drivers after updating the BIOS/VBIOS. That was something that never occured before the update, meaning I could never tell if i had or didnt have the ATI drivers. - Wierd

By purge, do you mean something else than just going into the tab "uninstall or modify"-tab? Like removing All folders in C: containing the name "ATI"?

Yes, you can find the picture of my desktop in the link below. Look at the World of Warcraft-icon and compare it to any other icon. Looks awful.

Imageshack - badicon.jpg

 

I had that on my GT627, took it off (saved it just in case I would need it later).

Might be there to redirect airflow over other components.

I just wanted the best GPU temps that I could get, I dont care about other components or dust or anything.

 

Try using Driver Sweeper to remove ATI Drivers---> Guru3D - Driver Sweeper (Setup) download from Guru3D.com

Desktop looks normal to me?

Here are the 10.8 drivers--> http://downloads.guru3d.com/ATI-Catalyst-10.8-Win-7-|-Vista--%2864-bit%29-download-2609.html

If none of the above work, try restoring your computer back to an earlier date.

 

Thanks, I think I'm going to remove it then. Considering i already drilled holes all over the panel and ripped the mesh off the vents by the CPU, dust isn't a factor.

 

Are you speaking of the small plastic piece stuck to the vent on little foam pads? If so, get rid of it. It serves no useful purpose.

 

took it off, not much difference, maybe a degree at most.

 

More than drilling holes, a few sinks on the GPU plate will drop your temps like a rock. I would say at least 10 C. Just jam in as many as you can find.

 

I'm thinking about it but I'd really like to keep my warranty in tact. What ram sinks did you buy btw?

 

I've been getting these ones: DDR DDR2 RAM Cooler Heat Sink Heatsink f RAM VGA RHS-03 - eBay (item 270552511746 end time Jan-18-11 00:29:42 PST)
Ive already put one set on and i just ordered another set yesterday.

 

are you just covering the heatsink with them? How easy are they to pry off? (if i ever need to)

 

I just used whatever I could lay my hands on, an old set of Vantec BGA Ramsinks. The sinks are a very tight fit to the plastic rear cover, so there is no chance of them coming in contact with any electrical connections. You can use the sticky thermal pads that come with it. I simply slapped some AS5 on the back-plate and slapped the sinks on. The positive pressure on the sinks more than suffices to ensure good contact. Plus, AS5 is very thick, so lateral motion is minimized.

Prying them off is very easy in either my case or with the stock thermal pads. Remember to remove them by twisting. Do not try to yank them off.

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

 

Looks good, I saw you only need 6 sinks there. I'm guessing buying 2 sets should more than suffice?