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

Performance and temps yes. Was playing the crew for 2 hours straight, never reached above 67c

 

In future there is a lot of tweaking potential too For now you may find you don't really have to.

 

Yep. I'll just stick with an easy +135/200 and wait for the future. Will be good enough.

 

Can I get your complete system config. I'll add it to the first page.

Laptop Model:
EC Version:
System BIOS Version:
VBios:
Windows Version:

Thanks!! Congrats on that upgrade. Your laptop will be a beast for a couple years again. Sandy Bridge performs great even today.

 

Did you have the turbo fan on the whole time? 67c during gaming is way lower than I get. I hang out around 77-78c while playing Farcry and Dying Light and the like.

 

Laptop Model : MSI GT780DXR
EC version : 1761EMS1 ver4.19
System bios version : E1761MS.10H
Vbios : 84.04.22.00.05 ( MSI GT72 Upgrade kit )
Windows Version : Windows 7 ultimate 64
Nvidia official drivers ( no inf mod )

It's without turbo Fan, with a zalman NC3000 and modded backplate. Used prolimatech PK3 as thermal past and phobya pads.

 

@edryr
Yeah I'm placeing an order for PK-3 30gram right now =p

Can anyone upload the vbios of the MSI GT72 upgrade kit of the 980M?

 

PK-3 is my go to paste usually. Its great stuff. I find performance similar to or better than ICD7, and it doesn't come with a chance of scratching your GPU/CPU die if you remove it incorrectly.

 

I need help/advice. My 970m is running very hot, early on in gameplay, and with turbo fan on. I would like to believe my pasting job was a good one. I applied Antec Formula 7 Nano Diamond thermal compound and the thermal pads that came with the card. I used a small amount, paper thin spread over the entire chip. I am at a loss. There is tearing and stuttering, causing gameplay to be unbearable. The installed driver is 347.52. I just ordered fujipoly pads that Talon used and pk-3...hopefully this helps. Can anyone shed some light for why my temps would be so high?

 

Cpu looks good to me.

Try this on the GPU.

Spread a thin layer over the entire GPU die. Then apply a small grain of rice size down most of the middle of the GPU die. I know this sounds like a lot of paste but it really isn't. All heatsinks are different in all laptops. It's not like a desktop application and sometimes you have larger gaps to fill.

After you do that your tenps should drop significantly.

If not you have a thermal pad issue that is causing the heatsink to not sit flat on the GPU die and is causing poor contact and therefore high temps n

 

This is how the thermal pads and thermal paste were applied prior to removal. Is there anything wrong with the way this looks?

 

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/9499385 Is this good?

 

Looks low to me. I think your card is throttling due to those temps.

The paste on the GPU die is probably too thin of layer. Think you need to apply a line of paste down the middle.

 

I ran that test after using more thermal paste. I should note that, that test was not the extreme test. I am running that now. I will post results when it finishes.

 

Here are the extreme results. http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/9499429 This seems low but the temps for the gpu and cpu didn't even reach 80c without turbo fan.

 

I added additional thermal paste and reran 3dmark on performance mode without turbo fan....thoughts? http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/9499495

 

I don't understand. My 3dmark scores are low but my temps have dropped and I no longer have tearing and stuttering. These are my temps 10 min into gameplay where before they were above 90c. Turbo fan is on.

 

I always spread a thin layer of paste on both surfaces. Now I know it's not correct (oily skin etc) but on both layers I use my little finger to dab lots of peaks in the paste, to make sure that when both surfaces come into contact, the paste bridges any uneven / imperfections between them.

 

Much appreciation to the OP for the guide enableing me to confidently upgrade my GTX 780M to a GTX 980M!

Laptop Model: MSI GT70 2OD-099UK
EC Version: 1763EMS1 Ver. 5.01
System BIOS Version: E1763IMS.703
VBios: MSI GTX 980M (the one linked to on front page)
Windows Version: 8.1

(I also upgraded to the latest EC firmware just for the sake of it and that also functions fine)

My temps are pretty high without turbo-fan on. If maxing out the GPU, it will hit 85C° before the fans kick in and cool it down, but at least I can max it out with turbo fans off. That would have been unthinkable with GTX780M.....Idles very cool though...seen it down in low 30C° range. To be honest, I think the cooling solution in the GT70 does kind of suck. Would also be nice if I could change the temp ranges at which the fans power up. I hate the noise of the Turbo-fan but can't tolerate such high tmeps on such an expensive piece of kit.

Now, I wonder if anyone could tell me what sort of price I could get for flogging a used GTX 780M on ebay?

 

Talon, do you think my card is throttling? I ran the skydiver test for gaming laptops. http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6085815

 

You do throttle yes. It's obvious with your combined score.

Here is mine with no throttle and a cpu weaker than yours :
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6086167
Try to monitor your cpu and the power drained by your PSU.

 

If you want to eliminate large gaps change the thermal pads ALL to 0.5mm. Paste should only be applied as a small blob/line to avoid air pockets, spreading it before hand is simply not going to ever be as good.

 

Thanks! I will do this and post results.

 

Hello guys

I have a problem with fire strike score in my gtx 980m.

here is my score http://prntscr.com/6bohle

I saw someone with gtx 980m and he got 8000 in fire strike.

Can someone help me with this ? or it is normal?

I use latest bios and EC.

Vbios: 84.04.22.00.12

laptop model: GT60 2PC

windows 7 64 bit professional N

 

@alabri
While there could be many reasons for the low score (from the readings that I have done, 980m should be able to do between 7800-8200 easily)

I actually recommend that you add your system information to your signature, this way people will be able to, at a glance, know what system you have in your next post (think of what will happen once someone will answer you on the next page [68], anyone else that could potentially help you might not do so because they wouldn't know which system do you have.

In other parts of this forums \ other communities, posts with the same nature of this one (gpu upgrade) are very module specific and so there's no point writing your laptop's specifications as your signature since everyone speaking are using the same laptop.

However, that is not the case here.

Additionally, I didn't send the above as a PM to you for the sake of helping others that might come here in the future... it needs to to be honest, this needs to be written in the first post of this thread, and the title should say [READ FIRST POST]

[also download links to all available vbios versions of both 970m and 980m cards could REALLY be appreciated...]

 

@samXLR
Thank you very much for telling me that.

I will write my laptop information right now.

Here is my Vbios :84.04.44.00.12 Here

 

Thanks!

 

Ok guys, I'm thinking I'm in the same boat. Scores below are with the turbo fan on and stock speed.

Firestrike: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6095111

Sky Diver: http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6096705

Video BIOS Version: 84.04.22.00.13 I'm also using the latest Nvidia 345.20 driver.

My temps in HWINFO64 don't look bad. GPU temp maxes as 64C and CPU maxes at 75C. I used the Gelid Extreme thermal paste.

Dragon Age Inquisition's internal benchmark set on ultra has a min of 28 fps with average of 36 fps.

Any suggestions?

 

Throttle stop didn't seem to help either. Benchmark with throttle stop was consistent with the other results. Also running in high performance mode in the power management.

 

I have reapplied thermal paste correctly and changed all thermal pads to 0.5mm and this was my most previous score. http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6107803 My temps are fine. I believe without a doubt that my card is not overheating. I don't understand why I am having the throttling issue.

 

If you are not able to see the issue, please post up MSI afterburner graphs over the course of a 3dmark firestrike run.

Please include CPU frequency and temperatures, GPU frequency and temperatures and any other relevant figures (just screenshot all the graphs to be safe)

 

Try using AIDA64 to verify the temperature readout, and you can also use Stress Test to push the critical components such as CPU/RAM except GPU.

The other utility you can use is Intel XTU.

 

There are many options but MSI offer a nice graph and this makes it easy for us to read.

I suggest you let us read the information rather than trying to read it yourself to prevent confusion.

 

Ok guys, this is the output of a logfile from my last Firestrike run. It was stock settings, and turbo fan. If you want, I can also provide the whole log file for your review.

Hardware monitor shows as paused as I stopped it after the run.

 

When I get home I will post my results. I have been running my benchmarks with AC power connected and battery removed, would this affect throttling and in turn the low scores in 3dmark?

 

I'm getting similar results to you, and I have the battery installed.

 

I have been researching this issue and what I have learned that the throttling could be a power drain, overheating, or a buggy driver. I used the modified inf 347.52. Could there be a bug with this driver?

 

Possibly. At least in my runs, the results have been consistent with both driver versions I've tested: 345.05 and 345.20. No significant differences.

 

Just for perspective your firestrike scores are low. My 980m is hitting around 8450 with an OC on it. But the overclock doesn't do that much score wise I was still over 8000. CPU is 4710mq.

 

I just ran 3dmark again...with the battery in...thoughts? http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6109226

 

I recently hailed installing my GTX 980M into my GT70 2OD as a success.

During that process, I flashed the bios of my Clevo GTX 980M, with the vBios supplied in the OP of this thread, installed the latest Nvidia drivers, then got the dreaded black screen upon restart.....

.....so I restored my computer to an earlier point, und voila, everything came on. My GTX 980M worked on the pre-existing drivers that were installed for the GTX 780M, and when I updated again to the latest Nvidia drivers, they went on fine. Everything was good, games running much faster.....but I was getting a problem in having Windows 8.1 recognise my HMDI audio output. When I am at home, my GT70 sits in front room hooked up to LCD TV. Now, I have had sound coming through the HDMI since updating to the GTX 980M, but it involved lots of cable pulling in and out....restarting the laptop etc. So taking this and a collectiton of other wierd issues and bugs that have been with my laptop for quite some time now, I decided to start afresh and do a clean Windows 8.1 install.....

oh dear.....

With just the Intel VGA drivers, I can either hook laptop up to LCD TV and get desktop showing on that, or I can get display showing on laptop LCD. Switching between the two also requires pulling or plugging of cables and a restart. Also, no HDMI audio, no matter what.

So moving on to installing the Nvidia drivers......

.....instant black screen upon restart.....

....and that is that.

anyone got any suggestions?

 

I suggest you just use the Clevo vBIOS.

You're alternative to getting the laptop to work perfectly with the MSI vBIOS is to simply update your SYSTEM BIOS to the latest version listed on MSI website. This will allow you to use any vBIOS (Clevo, MSI, and unlocked Prema and SLV7 vBios).

Please follow MSI instructions on updating your system BIOS. There is a proper order to installing those BIOS versions, and if you do the wrong order you will brick your laptop. To play it safe, I suggest updating to the older version first, and then to the latest version.

 

I updated the system bios following the instructions on the MSI website. I done this after I flashed vBios from the Clevo to the MSI. Afterwards, all worked fine....except for the HDMI audio issue and other little niggles which made me decide to start anew.

I guess you would now recommend that I reflash GTX 980M back to Clevo bios and stick with modded drivers?


============================================================================

As an aside, I am noticing that HDMI audio issues with Windws 8 / 8.1 and the HD4600 are very very common indeed. Anyone got any experience of this? Would W7 be an altogether better option?

 

How do you flash vbios?

 

I done so with a tool called nvflash.
It is a dos tool (or operated from the cmd window).
I used the guide provided here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1523391/easy-nvflash-guide-with-pictures-for-gtx-970-980
Obviously that is for the GTX 970/980, but once you have the correct vBios, it is all the same thing.

 

Correct, I would simply use the Clevo vBios if you are experiencing issues with MSI vBios. You won't gain anything from using MSI vBios. In certain cases using MSI vBios would have allowed for normal drivers, but in this case, and in the case of the 970m, normal Nvidia drivers install for me using any vBIOS after system BIOS update.

 

where do I find the vbios, with a google search or did you attach one to this thread? For OCing do you think I should go with the SLV7?. I ask b/c I remember Omega mentioning that OCing was utilized with my current driver. B4 I take that route though I was hoping you would confirm that I am no longer throttling. http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6109226

 

Zacb01, their is a link to a the MSI GTX 970M/980M VBios in the OP.....

....mores to the point now that I want to go in opposite direction, is there a good resource for vBios somewhere on the internet.

I thought it would be easy to find my original Clevo GTX 980M bios.....but not so!

Anyone got any suggestions?

Edit: I would use the search function to sift through this thread for the info....but their isnt one.

 

Need help. I flashed bios the first time successfully as an msi gt70 2pc but when I flashed the 2nd time to ensure I was on the latest bios I noticed too late that my model was showing as an ms 1762. I proceeded with the bios update for my original bios and I am now stuck in a boot loop.

 

Here's mine ... http://www.3dmark.com/sd/2847367

Your graphics are slightly better, my physics is slightly better, but your combined is a good bit better. Not sure if it's the difference between Haswell and Ivy Bridge.

I just spent a good while playing Dragon Age Inquisition and had no problems - no stuttering or excessive heat.

I'm not sure what to make of all of this. It plays well - so am I just getting hung up on a benchmark or can it do better?