Ryzeki's MSI GT60 2OD-026US review! Haswell plus 780m :D

Well it seems multimonitor gaming indeed does not work for GT60-2OD. I set up the 4 monitors, laptop+3 external but the option for surround does not appear. It seems, from the diagrams in nVidia control panel, that the HDMI and displayport are routed to the GTX 780m but the VGA and internal monitor are routed to the HD4600.

It seems only the GT60 3k edition will be the one to support Surround.



On the plus side, multitasking is much easier once you have 4 monitors haha.

I don't know why imgur reduces the size of my image but here is an example: Link!

Sorry for the dark image, but this is to get an idea of how the setup looks. I will try to get a better image. My setup!

 

Here is a "better" image to get an idea http://i.imgur.com/b6G9YbE.jpg

 

Thanks for taking the time to try this out, I'm disappointed as well. MSI was very misleading in how they marketed this "feature", as far as I'm concerned they were intentionally deceptive. This was one of the "features" that swayed me to purchase this machine, as monitors are getting cheap and taking up less space and I've wanted to give it a try. Even more disappointed because its obviously possible as Meaker has pointed out the "3K" edition can do it.

Very poor marketing MSI, as I know I'm not the only other user that was duped. Well I guess I'll get back to my rattling noisy fan and hot stock temps while "extreme gaming" on my "Matrix" monitor setup of one!

EDIT: Do still enjoy the machine as a whole

 

Honestly I dont think you would want to do surround gaming on this anyway. Even the 780m (which is about a 660ti) wouldn't be enough for 3x 1080p span with any game at reasonable settings.

 

All games no, but many of my flight sims/racing sims would work awesome, which was my plan all along... War Thunder is a great example, great fun modern game with gorgeous graphics, but even maxed at 1080p I only see around 20% GPU and CPU usage at the most... runs really well. I've got the flight stick, throttle unit, and rudder pedals; surround screens for when stationary at my desk was a big selling point. These games don't require massive GPU's, and the 780m would run them perfectly as such.

 

YEah I wasn't planning on expecting Battlefield 4 with 3 monitors and max settings or anything. A GTX660ti (keep in mind we use it OC, which is a 680) is more than capable of handling gaming at such extreme res, but obviously at lower settings to at least get playable framerates.

Older games, or games that run insanely high fps (I am watching you, DeadSpace 3) would run just fun at such insane res.

In a way, it's how Surround was designed that this was even an issue. nVidia surround is less developed than AMDs Efefinity but more than that, it wasn't thought out to work through Optimus itself, and from the get go all drivers and software was developed using physical connectors directly on the GPU.

 

Nice set up. Time to break out my 1080p monitor I have laying around and test it out.

P.S You should try a 2560 x 1440 monitor. Gives me enough destop space for using browsers and videos at once.

 

Well, I will declare the main review finished I added a bit of battery life, and comments on matrix display. Every update now will be done through this thread and I will continue to accept requests as needed/wanted.

And yeah Hendrickson I am considering buying a 32 inch 2560 x 1440 monitor. my 24 inch monitor seems too small for me, and my 40 inch tv seems too large haha.

 

I did try and tell you since I had the same setup on the old workstation (3rd gen ivy but same monitor setup as the new models) with the same results.

The 3k has all 3 display ports to the GPU so can do surround (possibly even 3d surround but that would require far more horsepower).

 

Oh sorry, the way you mentioned it seemed like you were guessing rather than had the setup with these models! But yeah, it seems we need the 3k edition to even try it.

Full 3 monitor setup with 3D would be awesome, but at the same time require massive horsepower! You are giving me ideas for a desktop setup haha.

I am also wondering about the new wider 21/9 displays that are coming out... They could be a compromise between triple monitor and a single wider one. Without the need for massive power haha.

 

The 1440p korean IPS monitors which you can overclock to 120hz will give plenty of headroom for a tweaked 780M setup to stretch its legs.

 

Does anyone know when the GT60 3K Edition is supposed to be released?

 

Awesome! I just started reading about overclocking the hz of the monitor, I am definitely considering it. I also saw the new AOC Q2963PM monitor which spiked my interest. The only worrying part is the size, which is a bit small heightwise for my taste.

I will check some IPS panels 1440p and see what's up.

It should be soon but I haven't seen dates yet! I am considering it but then I tell myself I don't need it yet haha. Too much money for now

 

The nice thing as since the DP is connected to the dGPU it's possible to do that with an external monitor

 

Anyone try 3d on these bad boys yet? I think the only way to do it would be the DP to dvi adapter to 3d display right?

 

The easiest and most reliable would be to have a DP 3d monitor.

 

I have one of the nvidia Acer 3d displays at my disposal but it only offers hdmi and DVI. Im pretty sure getting an active DP to dual link DVI would work but can you install the nvidia vision software?

Even with the latest driver, there is no option to check to install the latest vision software like in the desktop version of drivers. Odd.

 

When I used nvidia 3D I had to install a particular driver for my monitor, using PS3's monitor to work the 3D. It indeed works but as mentioned, HDMI only support up to 60fps on 720p or 24fps on 1080p. Display port will work with higher bandwidth available.

All I remember is that it was a pain to install nvidia's 3D software haha.

I agree

Yep, I will definitely try it and start using the DP port more now!

 

Im wondering though how you install the nvidia 3d driver? Normally it just comes with the regular driver but these notebook driver downloads dont have that option when running the installer for some reason.

 

When I tried it, I had to install the 3D software separately, but before doing that I had to mod the driver of the monitor to be recognized by nvidia software as.... compatible? of some sort. It was a weird and ackward procedure. Gaming in 3D did work for some games but it was not very stable and the monitor behaved weirdly so I reverted back eventually. It was a nice experiment but I think they really botched the implementation.

Maybe when I get home I can help by looking what I was doing and let you know.

 

Yeah seems like a pain. Honestly Im going to use this monitor to complete my tri monitor setup at home so not going to be using it with this laptop.

Here is a question though, have you gotten a 3d blu ray movie to play over HDMI to a 3d tv?

 

That's a good question and I haven't tried it. Luckily I do have a 3D bluray and a 3d monitor so I will definitely try it out and see how it works.

 

3d bluray should be easy since it just needs 48hz 1080p.

 

For now I give up, I can't set up the PS3 3D display to work with cyberlink powerdvd 13 ultra. It does detect, according to it's advisor, that everything is ok and should be fine, but launching the 3d movie never enters into 3d. The only way I have seen 3D working so far with this laptop and monitor is using side by side forcing both content and ps3 3d button.

Perhaps another 3d display could work but I think nvidia is wonky here, with it's support for the ps3 display. Not sure how to fix this currently, and I have tried changing the drivers for the ps3 display but it just won't work.

 

You're doing better than I am with PowerDVD... I can't even get it to play a regular Bluray period... has given me an error since day one, regardless of version or updates etc.... Cyberlink sucks

 

Really??? I simply updated mine with a download it prompted me from, and it has played any dvd/bluray without any issue whatsoever. The stock bluray player that comes with MSI laptop doesn't work with 3d blurays though, but I do have Cyberlink powerdvd ultra 13 and it's the best player I have used in a while.

 

Would you say, OP, that your results are the same I should expect for a similarly equipped barebones, closest I can find to the GT60, the MSI MS16F4-018?

 

Yeah, the 16F4 is the GT60 barebones. If equipped with the same or similar CPU and GPU will perform basically on the same level. Just keep in mind barebones need for you to put more pressure on MSI if you need updates for BIOS or EC etc they tend to keep branded on a priority it seems.

 

Hello guyz, want to know whether the GT60 model klm software has the audio mode like gs70 model...????
Also can I update the video drivers from nvidia site rather than the msi's one cause nvidia launches the latest drivers frequently which is more compatible with the current games...
Thanks for your help guyz...

Here are some link for the same but its not there on the gt60 :

MSI GT780DX - Hacked MSI Keyboard Led Manager - YouTube

Magic Keyboard | MSI GT60 2OD-53FR | By Steelseries - YouTube

 

No idea on the keyboard lights, but yes you can use the latest Nvidia drivers directly, as our GPU is now supported in the .inf install file.

On a side note for others curious, if you are using svl7's modded vBIOS you still will require a modded .inf.

 

I haven't seen or used much of the backlit keyboard, so I will check it out later to confirm the audio mode.

Yeah, thankfully we can use official drivers now, but as be77solo pointed anyone with a modded vbios will most likely still need a modded inf.

 

Yes the GT60's have audio mode on KLM. Just try not to use it often because the LED backlight won't last long

svl7 needs to modify the deviceinfo string so that's why the card doesn't get recognised and needs manual setup.

 

Ryzeki,

How is the MSI display compared to your Asus pc? Is the 3K panel, that MSI has, worth the money? Or is the matte 1080p display more than good enough?

Thanks in advance!

jc

 

My my! It's been a while since my thread was alive

The display on my Asus N550 is hands down superior to the MSI stock 1080p panel. However! The 3K version is also IPS and I have heard VERY good things of it. If you are considering a new MSI, the stock 1080p works well and I like it, but I will not lie and say the Asus isn't superior nor that the 3K most likely looks absolutely beautiful

Keep in mind you will use this laptop for some years, so if you have the money, why not get the 3k version? It also has the capability of multimonitor gaming

Since I bought my GT60 before the 3K version had arrived, I couldn't choose any different version and the stock panel works good enough. But given the choice right now? most likely would have gone the 3K route myself.

 

Thanks Ryzeki, i'm leaning toward the 3K.

 

Are you aiming for a 15.6 inch version? If you are not in a hurry, I would suggest to wait a couple of months There are strong rumors of new GPUs from AMD and nVidia, and since MSI launched GT72, you might consider that magnificent beast

 

Decided to go with a MSI WS60 with 1080p display. Thanks for your helpful comments.

jc