Owners Lounge for the totally configurable MSI 1651 ID2

That review is for the GT627, which has the 9800m GS instead of the GTS 160m... The distribution of heat will be similar, but temps may vary with the new card.

 

whoops sorry xD but at least You get the idea of it not running hot at all.

 

I get mine tomorrow so I will write a review of it and include pictures, benchmarks, and will test it out with some of my games including, crysis, cod4, cod World at war, far cry 2, assassins creed, and company of heroes.

 

just got my force 3551 today. I really like it so far but installing stuff is very boring. haha

 

oh and lunaandbela let me know how well it plays crysis cuz i might get it. thanks

 

That would be great!
Cant wait for the review.

 

Just got word of my system being done....(YES!!!! )
T9900 in it should be fun.

 

I was able to get a stable 3.67ghz OC (20%) with a t9900 in a gx720.

 

If I have spare time tomorrow I will right the review, but so far it really is great. In regards to Crysis which is the only game I've installed before, it is able to use all settings in high, and that is what setting the game tells you can handle using the optimal system configuration. I played to the part where it becomes day time and you are near the first lagoon. The water looks amzing and that water alone has impressed me . I experience no flaws whatsover during my playtime. With the heat there is barely any heat that can be felt anywhere on the laptop except for the vent. The fan did not cut on at all until like 30 minutes into gameplay, and i stopped playing 10 min ago and the fans are back at low setting, and can barely be heard. I'll write my review once I play a couple more games. Next up is Company of heroes, followed by fallout 3, farcry 2, call of duty 4, call of duty world at war,and finnally assassins creed.

 

What tool did you use?
Factory OC is only 15%
Shipping monday and it should be in the next couple of days.

 

Is 15% the max for this notebook? the gx720 had three options 16, 20, 24. It would work with 24% but would become unstable with games. You could always try setfsb and see if that works.

 

With the latest bios it doesn't have a option to change the OC % as some of the older ones did. At the point this is the max you can do with the MSI Turbo Button.

 

Woo my barebones just shipped from AVADirect today! Should be getting it tomorrow (fingers crossed). If I didn't have to leave for college so quickly I'd do some benchmarks for you guys. I'll just give a few thoughts here and maybe install a game or two to try out.

 

Hello everyone, I've researched for a few days now, and found the cheapest way I could configure my mini beast.

MSI 1651 ID2 - FrostyComputers using ebay - $899.99 - 10% bing cashback - 3% mr. rebates + Free Shipping = $782

Shirley's Q9100 off ebay - $220 - %10 bing - %3 mr. rebates + Free Shipping = $191

Intel 5300 wireless $18 - %13 + FS = $16

WD Scorpio Blue 500 gb - $98 at Zipzoomfly - %20 bing + FS = $78

OCZ DDR3 1333 4gb (2x2gb) - $60 - %20 bing +FS = $48

That leaves me with a total of around $1115 for a gt628 with a q9100, faster than default ram, upgraded wireless card, and fast hard drive. WAYYY cheaper than getting it preconfigured that way, probably by about $500

Any critiques or comments on my build?

 

Looks great!
Thats what getting a barebones unit is all about, getting the exact parts you want and installing them yourself.
It's fun and firing it up for the 1st time once you install all the components is very cool, most important part is take your time don't rush slapping it together.

 

Hmm this or the GT628? Prices for the GT628 are up. Buying a GT628 in Canada would be the same price as importing a 1651 from the US and buy parts in Canada. The difference is that the GT628 would have blu-ray and an extra year of warranty...

 

Nice!!

I am about to do the same.

Is it ES processor?

 

Yeah it is.

I was originally planning on getting a q9200, but i haven't been able to find one for a couple of days now.

There is also a QS available for 280 instead of 220, I don't know if the performance difference of the two chips is worth the $60, especially considering they are essentially the same chip.

anyone have any input on that?

 

Hey guys i have the day off work tomorrow so i will have time to write the review for my laptop. sorry for the delay but work has been killing me.

 

so I just got my barebones half an hour ago! I'm still messing around and I was wondering how I would go about updating the bios and firmware to get the Turbo OC feature enabled? The flash utility included with the bios files doesn't work in 64bit Vista so now I'm kinda stuck. Any ideas?

 

Follow this guide and use a USB Pen Drive to update the Fimware and Bios. (Use the latest bios/firmware on the MSI website for your model)

 

Thanks Justin! I'll try this out today hopefully.

EDIT:
I'm gonna hold off on doing this since I don't want to screw anything up less than a week before I head off to college. I'll man up eventually when I have a good amount of downtime to tackle it =P

 

My Review for the totally configurable MSI 1651 ID2:

First off I'd like to say that I've overall gotten what I was looking for, a gaming laptop that had some portability in regards to weight and also a decent battery life. I've gotten these options and have only had to cut a few losses. In the following paragraph i'll describe different aspects of the laptop and discuss what I liked and didn't like. My specs can be seen in the first post of this forum.


Design: I absolutely love the overall design of this laptop. The black brushed metal with silver trim looks highly stylish, while still hiding the look of a gaming laptop. This is especially good for me when I go to college next year becuase it reduces the chance of my laptop from being stolen. Another cool thing about the design is how the edges are curved where the keyboard meets the edge of the laptop frame. Also all of the media buttons aren't buttons but touch sensitive areas that light up in a vibrant blue when you activate the camera or bluetooth among other things. The most coolest thing I like about the design is that there is no hinge, but instead the laptop is held closed magnetically. This magnet is good at keeping the laptop securely closed. while overall I am impressed with the design of the laptop there i;s one thing I dislike, and that is the fact that the touchpad in my opinion is too close to the keyboard. It is to the point where you have to turn off the touch pad to avoid messing up while typing. Although this is an annoyance it is easily managed by quickly turning off the touch-pad using the Fn and F3 keys.

Weight: The weight of the MSI 1651 ID2 is low enough that it is easy for me to carry it around with little effort. I have no concern for next year at college when I will have to carry my laptop in a backpack all day.

Screen: The screen is another good about this laptop. text is as readable as a book from almost any angle in which you would read a book. The only exception is if you look from above the laptop. One of the things I was worried about was if I would be able to see the screen clearly with office like lighting. In order for the glare to be seen the light has to be directly shining on the screen. I really expected alot of glare but there really isn't much of any.

Speakers: The speakers are pretty loud, but they have several faults. First the sound can have a tinny ring during some songs. The sound as little if no bass. While these may seem like a turnoff from buying this laptop. Most laptops are renound for having lousy sound. This is not a big setback when you buy a good pair of computer speakers for only 20 bucks that have good bass and sound.

Ports: I will only discuss usb ports due to the fact they are the only ports I will ever use with this laptop. On the left side is one usb and on the right are two usb, all ports are located at the front. The only thing I dislike is that there are 3 and not 4. I'm the type of guy that needs a usb for everything:1 for speakers, 1 for mouse, 1 for usb stick, 2 for external hard drive, 1 for printer, and 2 for charging phone and mp3 player. But I already bought a usb hub with 4 more ports so that is good enough for me. I don't need everything at once but it would have been nice to have 4.

Game playing ability: This aspect was the most important to me. I wanted a budget laptop that still could play some pretty high end games with at least low settings. Window vista rated the system with a 5.5 rating with the my 2.66 dual core processor as being the reason for 5.5, the next lowest was data transfer rate with a score a 5.7, gaming graphics, graphics, and ram all received a 5.9 rating. First I will start with crysis, but will sum up all other games in a sentance for each. In crysis there is a option in the graphics that picks what to put all settings and still be able to run the game. I chose this and it puts all settings in high. I ran the game and was amazed right away at the graphcis due to the fact the last run through of crysis was on an older budget gaming laptop that could only run the game in medium. I played about 30 minutes and the fan started to come on around the time I stopped playing crysis which was also impressive. I only had one or 2 sputters the whole time I played, and they were minimal:a tree would twitch for 1 sec.
The second game I played was company of heroes, while the game recommend several options in high settings, but I chose a couple medium instead to reduce the slight lag I got with these high settings the game recommended. Third game I played was call of duty world at war. all settings were on high and there were only a couple instances of short lag, but I had this with my old laptop and the lag this time was not as noticeable. The game overall looked very beautiful. Fourth game I played was Farcry 2, you can run this game on almost high settings, but don't expect vibrant colors, because the game developers chose drab colors especially in the jungle with the almost gray colored grass? The last game I installed was supreme commander. This was the game I was so excited to play on full settings with zero lag and 8 players. However this was not the case, even on low settings in an 8 player skirmish the game clock is delayed by like 10 seconds. so fro each second it is 10 seconds of real life. This especially is a happiness killer when the ETA for the completion of the megalith is 162 minutes and you know you have to multiply that by 10 to get the real world wait. However,
this issue of delayed clock of game time for an 8 player game has been noted by peopl with much more impressive laptops and desktops than this budget gaming machine. I was able to still enjoy 4 player games without this delay .
I will soon play left 4 dead, cod4, assassins creed, and a couple other games and will update with info on them.

Battery life:
While I haven't had the time to drain the batter when unplugged the battery indicator says the laptop has 3 hours battery life. I may or may not test this. If i have time i will.

Tech support: A very good thing i bought my laptop from Powernotebooks.com because my 3 warranty comes with next day shipping when it gets fixed, lifetime labor, and 3 years parts; but most importantly it comes with 24/7 tech support. As tomkin2 pointed out earlier in this forum this wonderful 24/7 tech support is also available at xoticpc.com. I made several calls to this tech service all from problems they quickly helped resolve including that I need an OS to run anything (I know I'm a noob ), that to turn on the camera there is a touchsensitive button next to the multimedia buttons that has a picture of a camera to turn it on and off P once again I'm a noob), and tech support helped me update drivers. I'm especially glad that I have this 24/7 tech support especially when most of these calls I've already made were at 3 in the morning .

Keyboard: The keyboard's best feature is that it is a regular standard size keyboard in a laptop smaller than 17 inches! However this has resulted in several issues. First the fn is the last left key and the ctrl is not this sometimes makes me have to go back to copy something or have to repaste it. Second the extra number keys almost mesh with the keyboard touching the arrow keys, but this does not cause any issues. Third there is some flex but it is minimal and it is widespread so it is not noticeable. Forth something messes me up when i type and I can not figure it out. I will type a sentence and inconsistently my keyboard will make me type in the middle of a sentence. It does not happen often but it is annoying. I thought it was the touchpad, the small shift(me hitting the smallshift and the arrow key) but when i turn the touch pad off and i type in lowercase this issue still occurs. if anyone figures out what is causing this let me know. if I find out i will let you know. will these issues are not really issues but more over annoyances. the keys feel nice and it is not drastically a turnoff.

Heat: Another huge plus considering that this laptop has a powerful cpu and graphics card. The heat is very minimal, and it can only be felt at fan vent, and the very front on the bottom. While i was concerned about the vent being on right side since I'm right handed it is not a real problem. most of the time my mouse is near the front of the laptop away from port, and if it is next to port it is not that hot, so don't expect to boil any soup using the heat from the laptop while gaming .

Final comments: overall I'm glad I chose this laptop. I got what i wanted and 3 years warranty without going over budget. The laptop is very nice and I recommend it to whoever is looking for a budget gaming laptop. I made add benchmarks later but currently i don't have the time to add them but here are powernotebooks.com benchmarks: http://www.powernotebooks.com/specs/images/p15-2/benchmark/ , and xoticpc.com benchamrks: http://www.xoticpcforums.com/showthread.php?t=4629

Thanks everyone hope you like my review.

 

is the touchpad on your laptop by sentelic or synaptics? i figured out that mine is sentelic. with its drivers in win xp, it has a setting to disable the touchpad when typing and enable the touchpad for a time after you stop typing (my delay is set to 1 second). i didn't expect different touchpad types (sentelic vs. synaptics) when i researched this laptop. i haven't tried the modded touchpad (synaptics?) drivers that enable a right-side vertical scroll area. i sticking with tapping the upper and lower right corners of the corners for scrolling up and down for now but i can see why others have disliked the sentelic touchpad for its scrolling.

i'm using win xp pro until windows 7 comes out. i had some issues installing win xp but eventually worked out most things. i forgot about installing the MS KB888111 patch for SP2 before applying SP3. i also had to slipstream with nlite the modded intel text mode drivers for the ICH9M southbridge to use AHCI mode. the only thing i haven't fixed in win xp was installing the ENE CIR driver but i haven't been bothered by it yet. see the list of links below for stuff i found useful during installation. i'm using the latest drivers for the realtek alc888s, nvidia hd audio, and the video card.

the keyboard is ok. don't really notice the flex unless i try to look for it. i changed my caps lock to the left control key with keytweak so the fn key location doesn't really bother me. i'm was previously used to no keypad on my old laptop so setting my hands slightly more left of center was a small adjustment.

the HD idles at 35-40 C. hdtach gave me an average of 80 MB/s over a few runs. i think i saw a peak transfer rate of 130 MB/s but can't remember for sure.

i managed to transfer large files to my laptop from a CIFS share over GigE at about 60 MB/s over a few concurrent connections. i haven't done any thorough tests over 802.11 n yet.

my observations with the battery life just about agrees with the other posts. i am expecting the laptop to be able to output a typical 2 hour 1080p movie to my HDTV on the 9-cell battery but haven't confirmed it yet.

i found that the power plug can fall out easily from the laptop if you're not careful when moving the laptop around while it's plugged. the AC adapter also has a right angle connector which can bump into the 9 cell battery.

my GPU idles at 40-45 C depending on the time of day. i forced powermizer to be active when on AC power (see link below). the gpu and memory clocks are 169 and 100 MHz at their lowest modes. previously powermizer would only kick in when using battery power and the GPU always idled at 52 C at full clock speed (600 MHz) when plugged in. the reduction in temperature made the right palm area feel cooler. the GPU also bumps to full speed and 52 C when i use dual view with my HDTV.

concerning HDTV usage, 1080p and AC3 is working with the laptop. i can't speak for DTS since my A/V receiver does not support it. i can get dolby digital to work over both the HDMI => TV => receiver and the toslink port directly attached to the receiver. my receiver also does not support HDMI. i currently prefer the toslink method since it doesn't have the audio delay when stop/starting a video file with MPC-HC and ffdshow. i think this audio delay is a HDMI issue since i can get the same effect when connecting my DVR to the TV over HDMI and then the TV to receiver with a toslink.

i haven't tried any games yet due to lack of time. also, i'm not interested in any other games, that i haven't played yet, to play right now, esp on a laptop.

drivers/links that i used for installing win xp pro on this laptop that were useful or seemed better than whatever was on the MSI driver DVD:

- enabling powermizer all the time: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=273276
- toshiba bluetooth driver: http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=122525.0
- sentelic touchpad driver: http://forums.msiwind.net/internal-hardware/sentelic-driver-download-here-t6327.html
- barebones intel proset drivers only: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=3062
- intel chipset drivers (found somewhere but forgot to note the link)
- jmicron card reader drivers: http://blogntech.com/download-msi-gt627-vista-drivers.html
- with modded intel text mode sata driver (See 2b): http://www.msfn.org/board/Integration-Intel-Sata-Raid-drivers-t107504.html

i'm basically content with the laptop. it's not perfect but good enough.

 

Got mine today!
Running XP
1280x800 screen looks great ( yeah I got the lower res screen, for me reading text is much easier than on a 1680 x 1050 screen , and playing games at a laptops native resolution makes the games look much crisper as a added bonus you get more FPS when gaming )
T9900 really makes this laptop shine, only game I have tried so far is PROTOYPE and at max settings this thing runs beautifully, averaged 35fps to 45fps and never dipped below 25fps(only during heavy action scenes with lots of explosions but this lasted only very briefly)
3DMARK06 score of 10820 with NO turbo....... 11242 with turbo activated.
Build quality is very good and I do not notice any keyboard flex(on my laptop you have to press down really hard to notice any movement, and If you type as hard as I was pressing down....lets just say you have some anger issues).
Palm rest area right of the touchpad does get a little warm but nothing thats do bothersome or uncomfortable.
Overall I'm very happy with this laptop,it's thin and light, 160M GTS performs much better than I expected and It looks great.
What more can you ask for.
Will be doing more testing soon, next is CPUgenie to undervolt.

 

Just remember that most 3dmark06 scores are done at default 1280 x 1024

Do you still have the np 9262 that's in your sig?

 

Yes I do know but but still pretty darn good and yeah I do still have my NP 9262.

 

So I've been tinkering around with my laptop for a couple of days now. Here are my specs:
1680x1050
P8700
WD 320gb 7200rpm 16mb cache
4gb kingston DDR3 RAM
and of course 160M GTS

I lucked out and have no keyboard flex but I'm apprehensive to use the touchpad much due to the problems with the GT627. Anyone have thoughts about touchpad wear with the barebones?

AVADirect supplied a bunch of benchmarks of my laptop for me (thanks!) and I got a 3DMark06 score of 8213, which seems a bit low. I'm really tempted to get the Turbo button going but how risky is the BIOS/firmware update? I played a few games of multiplayer Dawn of War 2 at native resolution and all high and ultra settings with shadows and rain detail on medium. The game played flawlessly and I experienced no FPS issues (but I didn't have an FPS counter on).

While playing the palm rest area got pretty warm as well as the side vent. I have a temp monitor up right now though and I'm getting 39C for both processor cores, 45C GPU and 42C for the HDD.
All in all I am *very* happy with this laptop and I'd like to thank AVADirect for working with me to ensure that I received my order within my time frame.

 

How long did it take for you to get your laptop from AVADirect? I'm thinking of ordering one tonight but I need it before the 28th.

 

Well AVADirect has to order all the parts and then build and ship the laptop. According to the site this can take 7-10 business days. You can pay for rush order which means they'll pay for expedited shipping on the parts to receive them sooner. I would email them and ask them but honestly I think your time frame is too risky.

 

SUCCESS!! I followed all the steps and the Turbo OC works! I go from 2.53ghz to 2.99ghz! Woo and it was pain free.

Question though: in the guide it said I would see an option in the BIOS for setting it to 15% or 20% but I didn't see that, let alone anything about Turbo OC in the bios... am I not looking in the right place?
Also, what are safe temps for CPU, GPU and HDD in a laptop? This is my first laptop

EDIT: Just ran 3DMark06 and got a 9466, versus 8213 non-OC

 

That feature is no longer in the BIOS...the manual is old

The Turbo overclocks right at 15%

 

wow 2.53 to 2.99?! I think I'll eventually try to get the turbo button to work. I'm just afraid i'll mess something up .

 

If you follow the instructions Justin quoted and get the bios and firmware from here: http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=135&prod_no=1670 (thanks Rob) it'll work. Just don't rush anything.

 

ordered today at AVADirect! Got the second day shipping just in case.
Specs

# MICROSTAR, MS-165141-013 (GX620) Silver Core™ 2 Duo Notebook Barebone, Socket P, Intel® GM45, 15.4" TFT WXGA TFT Glossy, SATA, DVD±RW SM, BT, NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600M GT 512MB Graphics
# INTEL, Core™ 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz Processor, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 cache, 25.0W, 45nm, Retail
# CRUCIAL, 2GB PC3-8500 DDR3 1066MHz SDRAM SODIMM, CL7, Non-ECC
# SEAGATE, 160GB Momentus 5400.6, 5400 RPM, 8MB cache, 2.5-Inch, SATA 3 Gb/s, OEM
# MICROSTAR, 8x Super-Multi DVD±RW Optical Drive (Included)
# ACCESSORY, Built-in 4-in-1 MMC/SD/MS/MS Pro Media Card Reader (Included)
# INTEL, Wireless WiFi Link 5100, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/Draft N, 11/54/300 Mbps, Internal PCIe Mini Card
# NOTEBOOK ACCESSORY, Built-in Bluetooth Module (Included)
# LOGITECH, FREE SBF-96 Optical Mouse 400dpi, Black, USB, OEM
# NONE, No Operating System (Choose OS or subject to Limited Support)
# WARRANTY, Assembled and Tested (1 Year Limited Parts, Lifetime Labor Warranty)

Now the waiting begins I CAN'T WAIT!

oh btw I know I only got 2 gig ram but I had to cut some costs to get it to around 850$ I'll buy another 2 gig later.

 

Just curious...why did you order the old GeForce® 9600M GT 512MB and the phased out P8600 processor instead of the current GeForce® GTS 160M w/1GB...that this thread is all about?

I see you did get DDR3 system memory...but it is confusing to see the old video card and old processor in what has to be the new shell that supports DDR3 system memory. Or, is the DDR3 system memory a mistake?

 

nope not a mistake it's just what the system is built on. On the site it says GTS 160m graphics card. I guess the mobo is different while the case is the same?

http://www.avadirect.com/product_details_configurator.asp?PRID=14367

that's where I bought it from. Please tell me that's the correct machine or I'm going to kick myself to death.

 

From what you posted you ordered the previous version model (MS-165141-013) with the 9600M-GT VGA. In the link you posted the two newer models are listed in the first drop down box. 937-165141-019 & 937-165141-016, these two have the 160M VGA

 

If that is the model you ordered, then not only does it not have the new GTS 160M video card, it will not take DDR3/1066 memory...it only supports DDR2/800.

Their configurator is extremely confusing for sure. I can understand that if you are not technically up to date you would not understand the differences. I am just surprised they didn't contact you and let you know that your configuration is not compatible. I am also surprised they would offer both versions of this model on the same configurator, but offer memory that is ONLY supported by the new ID2 version. They will be scratching their heads trying to install DDR3/1066 memory in DDR2 memory slots.

 

desmondhume333, I think you better contact AVADirect and get your order changed ASAP.

 

wow that is just perfect lol. I'd better call them otherwise the order may never come.

 

Sorry I got this done too late for you but I have a much easier method for anyone who needs to update the bios and firmware on the MS-1651!

I just finished a bootable CD with the latest bios and firmware already injected.

If anyone else needs to update their bios and firmware so you can enable Turbo Mode just email me and I can send you the ZIP file with the ISO.

This will cut the procedure in half, just burn the ISO to a CD and follow the enclosed directions to flash and enable Turbo Mode!

I just have to finish the readme file with the procedure, will have it done tomorrow.

In the ZIP file:
Procedure to flash bios and firmware
Instructions how to enable Turbo Mode
Bootable ISO with bios and firmware

 

Thanks!
But I ordered mine with you guys and already had it installed
But I will make a backup copy just to play it safe.
The more I use this laptop the more it kicks @ss , this thing rocks!

 

Hrm, so I checked my temps while running 3DMark06 again and both CPU cores hit 90C and the GPU hit 90C at certain points. Is this cause for concern?

 

Are you using the Turbo function when running 3DMARK06?They will be higher when in use.
In Turbo mode my CPU cores hit 83c and 89c and GPU topped out at 83c.
Did you use a thermal compound? Takes about a week to fully cure and then temps should be lower.
I would not worry too much.
Have you run into any problems?

 

Yup I had Turbo on while running the tests and I did have AVADirect use Arctic 5 Silver thermal paste. I haven't had any problems so far and I'm sure any games I play won't be putting the notebook under such heavy load as the benchmarking.

 

Yea, lots of subliminial marketing going on for sure. MSI must really be working it but guess that's freemarket capitalism. Sometimes I wonder if it's a thread or a stinking advertizement. Couldn't get MSI to back what they sold me. Trashed it and bought ailenware. Should have spent the money. RRM

 

hey where did you guys download 3Dmark 2006 from? And rob i'll be sure to email you for the turbo file. thanks for making it easier for not so tech savvy people like me .

 

I just went to Futuremark's website: http://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks/3dmark06/download/

 

hey guys

i figured this is the best place to ask a quick question about my 1651 that just came in.

i ordered it without an OS because i have a vista 64 bit disc at home. my laptop came with 4 gb of ram. the installation completes but everytime it tries to load desktop for first time, my laptop restarts and hangs at the windows loading screen.

any suggestions?