The Official MSI GT60/70 970m/980m Upgrade Thread

I hope it all goes well and that it is fully compatible GX660 deserves such a powerful GPU, making it one of the longest lasting balanced gaming laptop computers

 

Eh guys. I would like to inform you that this version Nvidia 345.05 (from Asus) dated 12/14/2014 is very Oc'able friendly.I tried it and its working flawlessly.
For those of you who would like to try it out here is the link

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/DriversForWin8.1/VGA/VGA_nVidia_Win81_64_VER918134505.zip

The installer can be found here

http://laptopvideo2go.com

And here is the modified inf (modified by myself) which is Prema and svl7 friendly. This .inf can be used for Ivy bridge and older intel processors. For haswell I think you can just click the setup.exe.

http://www.filedropper.com/nvam

For those user with Gtx 980m who are using Prema mod and if the modified .inf is not working, just post your hardware id here and i'll make one for you.

FYI. If you don't know yet where to put this "nvam.ini" driver, here is a sample of the directory
Ex:

C:\345.05\Display.Driver

Just disable driver signing (back read the post's here on how to disable driver signing).

 

Alright guys, I should be giving this a whirl tonight. My card will arrive tonight, and I borrowed a dremel tool from a coworker. My plan is trying the stock driver first, and going with the modified driver afterward if I have problems. I'll mess with the vBios a little later once I get this going.

 

What do you mean by OC friendly Omega? How is it different from say 344.80? It doesn't go past 135mHz does it? And Talon you didn't post my system I posted my specs a few pages back. Also am I the only one with a 980m in a GT60 so far?

 

Perfect! You should beat me to it then, and we look forward to your results. I would make sure you're running the latest system BIOS/EC version prior to trying to perform the upgrade. I have high hopes that this will work. If it does indeed work, the GX660 laptops with 920xm CPUs could still be rocking modern games at high settings.

 

I do believe you're the first one on here with a GT60 980m combo. I bet you're enjoying that beast. I'm already thinking about when the 10xxM series releases and my desire to get a 1080M beast for this laptop. Then again if the 1070M is as good as the 970M has been, maybe I will just spring for that version again. We shall see.

Also updated the first page with the information I was able to gather from your posts/PMs. Can you please post here or message me your Windows Version, EC Version, and BIOS/vBIOS.

 

Hi Guys! Testing the PremaMod vBios for the 980m, it runs hotter than stock bios but games run faster, runing shadow of mordor on ultra settings with the HDR pack installed for ultra texture settings, getting max temp@89c, he really did a nice job with the clevo vBios im using nvidia drivers 347.25

 

hey guys
it's been a while since i posted here . but i really missed you all
i finally purchased the 980m . it will take around two weeks to get here to egypt . so until then i need to prepare my laptop
as i mentioned before i have a msi gt70 2PC dominator with 870m .so from talon's recent updates on his thread , it says that all i need is to upgrade my bios to the latest version and it's a plug and play matter so when i checked on msi's official upgrade page i found that the 1st available bios version for me is E1763IMS.50V .
and i need to upgrade to the next bios then the next then the next to the latest , so i don't brick my laptop
my current bios version is : E1763IMS.50R - uefi . and the oldest bios version is dated to 8/4/2014 and it's
E1763IMS.50V
so is this one safe to upgrade to then to upgrade from it to the latest
E1763IMS.518?
msi says that :
If your system BIOS version is E1763IMS.500 ~ E1763IMS.508, please must update BIOS to E1763IMS.50V before you update to the latest version E1763IMS.51X.
is my bios which is E1763IMS.50R included in this warning/note ? what should i do cause i really fear to brick my laptop
here's a screenshot for my HWINFO 64


and here's the link to my laptop on msi
http://www.msi.com/support/nb/GT70-2PC-Dominator.html#down-bios&Win8.1

 

Mizosafaga yes you are correct in your assumption that you need to update to BIOS version 50V before updating to latest version 51X.

We just dealt with this situation when another user had to update his GT70 2PC laptop for a 980m card to install with normal drivers.

Since its not clear from MSI instructions, we concluded it was the safest option to just update to 50V first, then update to 51X version. After updating to 51X the card installs with normal drivers, and the BIOS will then recognize your laptop as a GT70 2QE. Enjoy the card!

 

except it won't recognize my laptop as GT70 2QE because GT70 2QE has 970m .no gt70 series got equipped with 980m.so what would my laptop be reconginzed as ?
i really appreciate it if anyone here owns the 2PC and upgraded to 980m so he would tell us what he did
also , is 50v is the immediate successor to the 50r ? or is there something else in between those two versions ?

 

No you are not the only one . I have gt60 2pc with 980m

 

what kind dremel tool head used when you cutting heatsink can you add a link or photo your dremel heads?

 

I'm going to try one of the grinder looking heads. I'll snap some pics as I do mine and post them.

 

I started with the grinding stone on my dremel, but it was taking forever. I had much better results using one of the sanding bits, used carefully it flew through the metal

Mick

 

I just used a metal cutting wheel, working across sections I wanted to remove bit width by bit width (about 1-2 mm). Didn't take too long, maybe 15-20 minutes being cautious and deliberately slow..

Just remember, take your time, and safety first. Wear safety goggles, maybe wear a face mask (you will kick up a LOT of metal dust/shavings, which probably aren't the best things to breathe in), use clamps/grips to hold your board in place, and check the fit as your go along. Make sure you clean the heatsink before attaching it when you are done (compressed air the metal shavings/dust away at a minimum).

 

How do I check my EC version? My windows is 8.1 btw. BIOS Version: E16F4IG6.70R And then do you think I should flash a bios update to fix the modded drivers? I don't really mind having the modded ones, but you made a note of it on the post on the front page.

 

Except it will.. I literally just responded to you and told you we dealt with this already, last night actually. What I told you to do, is what you need to do. And yes it will recognize the laptop as a GT70 2QE as per what I was told from the owner of the laptop.

Think about it for a second, why would MSI tell you to flash a version first, before flashing 51x if there were some mysterious intermediate version that isn't listed? Does that make any sense to you?

 

Well you have a barebones laptop, and I'm not sure of its compatibility with retail BIOS. If you were to flash your laptop to the newest version available (you could contact your reseller) then most likely this will allow for non-modded drivers to be used. This has been demonstrated on all other Haswell GT60/70 laptops so far.

 

Ok, well I'm not gonna mess with it because it's working perfectly as is but it would probably work. Anyway how will updating work? Do I just download a new modded one from laptop2go? I don't mind if I have to stick with this one NVIDIA seems to be making terrible drivers updates, which is one of the reasons I got rid of my 880m for the 980m, the latest drivers literally throttled it.

 

Darnit! Tried to edit post, but ended up quoting myself? Sorry. Curse you new forum!!!!!

 

If you decided to not update your system BIOS, then yes you can simply follow the procedure we discussed to get it to work again in the future when you desire a newer driver. I agree. I am sticking with 344.75 or 344.80 for now. I will update when they implement DSR or some other performance enhancing features. For now the breaking of overclocking is a deal breaker for me. I like to overclock for BF4.

 

Gah the post office drives me nuts. Wife wasn't home to sign for it, so they left me a card to pick it up or reschedule delivery. Go to the post office and the carrier wasn't back yet. Gotta wait until tomorrow now.

 

That right there is grounds for a divorce IMHO. I would make her sleep in the garage with no supper!



Obviously joking.

 

How do I check my EC version?

 

Lol too funny! The Mrs. got a good laugh out if it too.

 

It's reported in bios.

 

What I mean is that you can use MSI Afterburner or other same apps (Slideable core clock and mem clock) for short Tweakable. And Nvidia 345.05 driver got the latest update (12/14/2014) compared to Nvidia 344.75 or 344.80.

I am using it right now and no hiccups

 

Hi Guys,

I sent my machine in. Arrived Friday at MSI, shipped out Monday to me. Pretty darn nice service! But I will be on vacation for a week after it arrives, so I'll report back then.

Cheers

 

Awesome seeing all the notebooks added to the list!

Sent from my LGUS990 using Tapatalk

 

/me bangs his head against the wall.

lol I bricked my system like 2 weeks before you, and you'll prolly get your system back before me... blah... A week to be delivered... Another week before they noticed it was delivered... At least they've printed the shipping label today... Yay! Hopefully they don't forget to actually ship it... (Is it possible to have withdrawal from being parted from a specific computer, even if you have other computers to use? Or am I just missing my dragon that much... )

Have a good one!

 

thanks talon for your clarification .it's just it's my 1st time i flash a bios and boy i am so afraid
but i guess no risk no gain right ?
i will flash them gradually .1st 50v then 51x . and report what happens here .

 

I fully understand man, especially since others have already been dealing with bricked laptops. Me and another forum member were messaging back and forth last night as he was doing exactly this procedure. I wish MSI would offer more clarification on it, and make it easier for us to understand which versions require the intermediate flash to 50v first. We figured that since the intermediate version (version 50v in this case) updates the flashing procedure, flashing/updating that procedure again cannot hurt anything. The same cannot be said about not already having that updated procedure in place, and them taking the leap to 51x. That would result in a brick.

Take your time, and read the MSI PDF on the bios download page. Follow it to the T!

 

The intermediate version should be X.0V before moving onto any of the newer version.
Yes, they should have made sure that everyone sees the message otherwise many people risk bricking their PC without knowing.

 

@mizo

What specs of your notebook? is that ivy bridge or haswell? If that's ivy bridge, I don't recall updating from .50v to .51x. I know that 50v is for haswell procs. I updated my bios ivy bridge from 30p to 51x and thats it. If you force update to 50v and you own an ivy bridge proc then you'll brick your notebook, just what Talon said

 

My wife can tell by my mood if I have a really annoying issue with my personal machine, it's not just you

 

Hi! I've been talking with SteelSeries support for getting SteelSeries Engine working and they said me this:
Please take the following steps to re-install your SteelSeries Engine software. (note: this process will remove any custom profiles that you have created):

1) Clean temp folder by going to start -> all programs -> accessories -> system tools -> disk cleanup
Make sure that "temporary internet files" is checked and run the utility.

2) Ctrl-alt-delete to access your task manager. Under the process tab, find SSEngine.exe, select it, and end process

3) Uninstall the SteelSeries Engine software through control panel -> programs & features / add-remove programs. When prompted to keep custom profiles, select no.

4) Open your start menu and in the search bar, type: %appdata% and hit enter. This will automatically take you to the appdata/roaming folder.
a) In the folder that it opens, find the SteelSeries folder and right click -> delete it
b) Navigate to the main appdata folder. To do this, simply click on 'Appdata' in the directory bar at the top of your window.
Note: If the actually address shows up, simply delete Roaming and hit enter: C:\Users\your-account\AppData\Roaming
To get to appdata main: C:\Users\your-account\AppData
c) Open the 'Local' folder, once again find SteelSeries Engine and delete this folder.

5) Unplug your SSE device and wait 10 seconds, then plug it back in

6) Download the latest SteelSeries Engine software here (please do not rely on a previous download - when prompted, be sure to select 'save' to save the installer to your computer - do not simply run the installer to avoid any complications):
http://steelseries.com/downloads

7) Right click the installer and 'run as administrator' - complete the installation to the default directory

The problem of that is at the point 5). Anybody knows if there is a way to unplug the keyboard without dissassemble my whole computer? XD Thank you very much guys! If there is someone with a GT70 and 980m, please ley me know if SSE is working for you. Thank you!

 

Hey Txordi! No matter how I try I just couldn´t get SSE working too. I got GT70-2OC now with GTX980M it´s identified as GT70-2QE still SSE ain´t working. I´ve reinstalled Win7 64bit lately and still no go. The app just says that there´s no SSE compatible device attached or installed. Will have a closer look at it on weekend ;-)

Still it works for Talon as he mentioned earlier..

 

no omega i'm haswell .4800 mq is my processor's model .so i guess going for the update won't be a problem if it's already my appropriate version to upgrade to , which talon clarified

 

Yeah I know. I suppose is because GT60 2QE exists but our GT70 2QE doesn't exists. MSI does not sell any GT70 with a 980m. There is a way to get working our backlit, this is via KLM, did you know that?

 

Yup my model is originaly Dragon edition so I´ve been using KLM all the time. But tried SSE without success. Even after reinstall I tried SSE first before installing KLM and no go :-( But what the hell.. Even KLM does it´s job :-D

 

My SSD is working fine.. btw... Talons ssd is working right? can ask him if you want

 

for those who has the gt70 .
what thermal paste did you use upon repasting ?
should i use ic diamond , Zalman ZM-STG2 Thermal Grease , atctic mx-4 or arctic silver 5 ?
can someone arrange those for me in the order of the best to the worse ?
also what is the best method to apply the paste ? ( dot method - spread method .. )

 

Im using the EVGA Frostbite on my barebone gt70, i allways use the big dot in the center method,

 

Ok guys, I picked up my card at the post office today. It came with the stock heat sink attached with weird screws and the x bracket on the back side. Any suggestions on removal?

Thanks,

Super

 

Talon mentioned using a screwdriver from front to back to push bracket off. Apparently there is an adhesive/heatsink material as well holding it on so it's tough to get off.

BTW... I get my 970m card today too...... hoping we're both up and running. I'm all set with 51x bios, new EC and the 5 min dremel job on the heatsink.
Just need the card.

 

Let me know how yours goes. I'm probably not going to start working on mine until around 9pm EST - got some stuff to do after work. After looking at it a bit more, I'm thinking the heat sink is just pasted/glued on there so it should come off without too much trouble. I may leave the X bracket on and use the Clevo screws. Guess I'll see when I actually get in there what I need to do.
Last thing I want to do is bork this card.

 

The adhesive on that is really really strong. I took the plastic from a hard blister pack (I think it was from an SD card), and cut it into five small pieces. I would use a small screw driver to push the mount point through the hole just enough to slip one of the pieces of plastic in like a shim, just to there was a constant amount of pressure working against the adhesive. Then I would take the fifth piece of plastic and slowly "cut" the adhesive away. The extra force provided by the shimmed X-bracket made this pretty easy, and it popped off in a couple of minutes of cutting away at the adhesive.

Just be careful you don't use something really hard/sharp and damage anything on the back of the card (like if you slip with a screwdriver and slam into a solder point). Someone also mentioned heating it up with a hair dryer to make the adhesive more malleable.

On my old GT780 (1761), it is impossible to leave the Clevo X-bracket on because it would block the MSI mounting points. This would cause it to not sit properly in the chassis, if you could even push the card down at all after putting in the MXM slot.

 

I am fairly certain the heatsink comes off with a screw driver? I don't' remember that being any trouble removing at all. I removed the xbracket by taking a laptop screwdriver (tiny screwdriver) and pushing into the screw holes one at a time. With enough constant pressure the adhesive will come free. Do one at a time and work your way around until it comes completely free. You have to take your time, and take care not to slip, otherwise you could easily damage the card. Though I don't remember it giving me too much trouble, you just have to take your time and remove it. DO NOT attempt to leave the xbracket on because the MSI heatsink screws won't work.

 

GX660 update.

Ive got the card installed and it boots into windows!! WooHoo

Problem is I cannot fathom out how to load the drivers. I have downloaded the 'hacked' drivers and inf, and after disabling (I think) driver signing the nvidia install goes ahead..But in reality I have no access (right click) to any sort of nvidia control panel/program and the screen refreshes like there is no gpu fitted

I ran GPU-Z but all its fields are blank, every single one, not even recognition a nvidia (or any card is fitted)

Boo

Any ideas?

Mick