Official MSI GX640 Owner's Thread

the speed of your ram depends on your processor.

i5 -> 1066 mhz
i7 -> 1333 mhz

 

Damm than i have buyed ram with low speeds for my CPU. Do you notice the difference between te speeds?

 

can't tell since I'm still running my stock i5-430m I think that the gain isn't that huge though. the stock ram of your gx640 should be able to run on 1333 mhz, so you can compare for yourself if you still have it.

 

i didnt fill up those gaps though
as the heatsink doesn't touch the gddr(chips around the gpu area)
so its save and works just fine

 

that is incorrect..
this laptop supports 1066 / 1333 ram
i used to have 8gb 1066 ram and upgraded 1333 ram last month..

 

yes i see, i have the old ones and i have now 8 gb ddr 3 pc 8500 @1066

 

sorry, I thought that msi would equip every gx640 with 4gigs of 1333mhz-ram. I checked mine and I have 4gigs of 1333mhz-ram running on 1066mhz, since my i5 only supports that speed.

 

sorry, I thought that msi would equip every gx640 with 4gigs of 1333mhz-ram. I checked mine and I have 4gigs of 1333mhz-ram running on 1066mhz, since my i5 only supports that speed.

 

Will the gddr's not overheat when you dont cool it?

 

nope..
its kinda more cooling rather than using those thermal pads!

 

Oke nice thanks

 

Hello Everyone

I've got a problem with mine GX640.

I readed that it's a typical defect of this laptop but I got still problem with mine.

When I turn off mine for some time (like 10h) sometimes after Windows loading screen, my screen goes black. Just like in sleep mode. Than I need to do system recovery. It's working for some time, than again. I readed that I need to update Vbios and drivers. I did it yeasterday. I dced battery and AC adapter for a 10min or so. But todays morning it happend again. Black screen after loading windows. After system recovery its working fine. Any suggestions?

Regards!

@edit: I noticed that blue Moon LED light near Wifi and battery leds is ON all the time.

 

I have got my Copper Shims 0.66mm. I have put one copper shim on my GPU. And i started my notebook up. All the temps where below 55 degrees . And when i put gaming mode on an run furmark stock settings full screen for about 13 mins the temp stayed below the 99 degrees . this all without my artic coolpad 2 fans. Its perfect, i recommend it to everyone. Its easy to install just buy a copper shim and scrub it with sandpaper P1000 for a few seconds. clean it with alcohol. Clean the cpu and gpu with alcohol two. Place the copper shim on the GPU heatpipe cooler with artic cooling mx-4. Put artic cooling mx-4 on the GPU and CPU, place the heatpipe cooling to its originally place and tada. you have a smooth cooling.

My specs are:
GX640-084NL
i7 740 qm
hd 5850 M 1 gb stock
500 gb harddisk
8 gb ram DDR 3 1066
-changed the thermal pads with extreme's
-placed copper shim on the GPU
-changed thermal compound to artic cooling mx-4

 

Have you updated your bios and your vbios. I had that two when i buyed my notebook. just look at the bios, and firmware section at msi.com:

MSI ? Notebook - GX640

I have updated all and the problem was solved.

 

Question about this forum. How come that my Rep Power is 1. I have helped some ppl?

 

This is actually true. The stock ram is 1333 Mhz ram, but when i had the i5 450m it was locked at 1066 Mhz. With my i7 840qm my ram now runs at 1333 Mhz. Ram speed is processor dependent.

 

Sweet Jesus! I updated the BIOS but not the VBIOS. My bad. Sorry!

Hmm... I don't see any instructions for updating VBios on MSI website. Can I do it from Windows? Or should I do it same way as updating mainboard bios (booting from pendrive to freedos and flash)?

 

glad you got it right
try to remove the thermal pads and get some copper ram mate!

 

Hmm... I readed this forum, and MSI official website. I figured that I should update VBIOS from DOS so I made a bootable pendrive. However Im not sure what command should I use to update my VBIOS with VBIOS downloaded from MSI site. Any suggestions?


OK Done. Just had to use provided bat files from dos environment. However moon led next to wifi and battery leds is still ON. Well. We gonna see tommorow if it boot or not.

 

Does anyone knows iff the Fn key on the keyboard can be replaced for the Ctrl and the Ctrl changed for the Fn key ? Because with gaming it sucks. if you want to crouch you press always the Fn key.

 

my copper heatsinks arrived today, so I did my first tweak putting them on the gpu-cooler

conclusion: [i5-430m, hd5850m with stock settings, furmark, back lifted ~2cm, backplate mounted, room temperature: 22°C]
without heatsinks: reached 105°C mark after 6:30
with heatsinks: reached 105°C mark after 10:00

not that much gain temperature-wise, but its something to start with. more heatsinks, thermal paste and the magic copper plate are ordered and on their way!

 

I think you have done it not that well. I'm sure that it will help allot. What kinda of thermal compound did you use and have you placed the thermal compound on both sides of the copper shim.

 

i think you got me wrong. my only "tweak" so far was to put vga-ram heatsinks on top of the gpu-cooling-unit, i didnt repaste or mount the copper shim.

 

Oke, you i have got your wrong. I had placed ram sinks on my GPU en CPU it ware even getting hotter. But i didnt wanted to open the backplate of doing something to my case. so thats why i ware getting hotter

 

btw: downvolting and underclocking to 150/[email protected] made a HUGE difference for me. I'm currently idling at 40/52°C (cpu/gpu) and the throttling of the fan seems to be gone.

edit: what are your experiences in over/underclocking cores and voltages? any changes in battery life? any stability issues one should check?

 

You should go for 100/100 @ 0.7 or 0.8v for idle. Been undervolting my 5870M since I got it. Keeps it nice and cool

 

is this your core in battery mode only or in general? I'm wondering if it makes any sense having slightly higher clocks (eg 300/300) when charging.

 

in terms of thermal compund, which one would you recommend? There are many of them on the market and I find it quite confusing since I haven't found any rankings so far. which method do you use for spreading the paste? how much g's of paste will be needed to repaste both the cpu+copper shim and the gpu?

 

Ill help ya. I have used mx-4 thermal compound. Between the copper shim and the heatpipe cooling you need to paste one line of thermal compound at the heatpipe cooling, spread it out with a plastic card like a old bank card or somehing. Spread the thermal compound on the heatpipe cooling till the square is filled up with a small layer of thermal compound. Press the copper shim on it. Paste the GPU the same way like the heatpipe cooling. Put it all back to its originally place and screw the screws tight. and your done

Cheers,Robert

 

Here i have an ranking of thermal compound 2011.

http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/3699/timoveralltemp.png

No problem.

 

Why would you underclock your graphics card? besides to lower the temp?

 

battery life, and maybe letting the graphic card, thermal paste, bla bla bla tats inside to last longer

 

There is no need to use more power then necessary. Cool and quiet is the way to go

 

Unless you really love the internet enough that you won't have it if the scrolling isn't smooth

 

Hey niff I heard you sold your msi gx640?
What are you going to get next?
Get m18x withh 6990m cf! Haha

By the way I just repasted my thermal paste to tuniq tx-4
Paste on gpu die + copper shim And some on gpu dggr
Seems a lot better
Idle just downloading torrent at 44c
Max temp playing bad company 2 for 2hours 750/1000 at 72c
Room temp is aboUt 23-26c
:d

 

nice temps! you mean you removed the thermal pads on the gddr ram an filled up the space with thermal paste?

 

What thermal compound did you had before?
And what difference you see in temps?
Nice temps. Ill play bad company 2 for two hours and my gpu is getting around the 90c.

 

used to have artic mx-4 and artic silver 5
i have no idea why artic mx-4 doesn't doing great on my system..
im getting like 83c when i used mx-4
artic silver 5 did quite a good job though running about 77c when playing bff2
and now tuniq tx-4 is the best so far.. steady at 72c.. all above test using 750/1000 clocked
im idling at 44c when torrenting!

 

Thanks looks perfect. I do now use artic mx-4. I have looked at the internet but no shop in the netherlands sell's tuniq tx-4 . but i am gone look for tuniq tx-4, lets give it a try. Did you gave it a few days to heal?

 

try ebay
i believe theres no curing time though..
but yea lets see how the temp goes on..
hows your furmark temp?
im running 750/1000 1.04voltage
10 mins max at 86c..
let me know whats your max temp

 

len888, did you fill up the whole space of the thermal pads with your tx4-compound? sounds to me like an insane amount of paste would be needed for this..

 

I have tested it last time with furmark at 13 mins 96c...
stock settings of furmark burn in test at full screen.
stock graphics card no overclock.
But i replaced the cpu for an i7 740qm

 

since the i7 needs more power than the i5 (45W compared to 35W), I'd say its quite normal that you result in higher temps.

 

Yes i know. i'm pretty happy with the temps now. before copper shim the temps where been around 106c at gaming bf bc2 or call of duty black ops. And let me not talking about furmark ~110c so i am fine now

 

its still not clear for me what you guys did for cooling the gddr ram. did you just leave the thermal pads where they used to be? did you buy other pads? did you remove them? did you replace them with thermal compound?

 

@panta! same as the gpu die
replace those pads use copper shim to replace em but don't forget apply thermal compound on both sides of the copper shim..

@robert1989
glad that copper shim helped you..
hmm upgrading i5 to i7 i believe that raised up your CPU temp not GPU temp though..
try removing all the thermal pads
don't worry theres a space between those gddr ram and heatsink, they wont touch and burn~

 

how thick should these copper shims be then?

 

The heat pipe cooling it self will be hotter so the GPU two. My I7 is at gaming around the 80c

 

I have used one copper shim with a thickness of 0.66mm and 2 x 2 cm

 

Why are there normally thermal pads on them, I think that msi not place the thermal pads on the gddr's if it didnt work. Right?