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

Do you have an unlocked bios? Do you have an external monitor? You could try setting it to dGPU mode in the bios and seeing if it at least works as a stand alone card.

 

I don't think my bios is unlocked since its options are very limited. Yes, there is an external monitor that I can use.

 

Okay, I already did a reformat and all it seems to fix is the power button turning orange. Now it reflects what is actually happening, not using the GPU so its mostly white. But it turns orange when opening the Nvidia Control Panel or when opening GPU monitoring programs such as nvidia inspector and msi afterburner. Is it normal that the voltage reading in afterburner is 0 mV? It stays like that constantly.

 

You know, I am at a loss for words here. I don't know. you may have a bad card and it is defaulting to the Intel GPU because of it. Have you checked device manager to ensure that the driver is installed properly? I have a PDF I can send you to help with the driver modding. Sometimes if it is not just right, it can cause some problems. I will PM you the file, check your inbox. It shows you how to do it manually. Also, do you have the original vbios of the card? If you do, you can try flashing it back to the original card info then trying the driver mod PDF I sent you to see if it works.

 

I don't know what to say, words cannot express my gratitude to you people for sticking up with me. It finally worked! Really, thanks to you people. That did it. I flashed the vbios of the card back to its original when I received it, the clevo vbios I guess? Then I followed your instructions to allow modded installation. I used the driver that you suggested, the one from GT70 2293, so it's an MSI Nvidia driver. The current version is 344.42 and it's finally detected and being used by applications. Thank You very much! You just gave value to ~$500. Thank you again!

 

No problem! I am happy it all worked out for you! These things can be tricky and finicky but you made it work congrats! Enjoy your new card!

 

Now it's time to enjoy that card and get some gaming done

 

Hi Guys,

RequiemEternal has described my problem to the finest detail. I sent my GT60 in for rma service due to issues with the stock 675m and received it back with an upgraded 870m.

Since then I have not been able to utilize the nvidia GPU at all. The amber light comes on in games, but GPU-Z shows 0% usage. I have tried reinstalling windows and multiple different drivers for both the Intel and Nvidia gpus and it hasn't solved the issue.

I have also updated the bios and ec firmware to the latest on the MSI website.

Floydstime could you please help me out here?

 

Can you not send it back? Sounds like a warranty issue.

 

What was the exact old model? But yes talk to the shop about it.

 

It's was a GT60 0nd 250us with a 675m.

 

I'm trying to remember if that series supported the 870m properly.

 

First, try downloading the driver for the gt60 424 model and install that and see if it helps. Lots of times it has to do with the device id. I am assuming they installed the 870m 3gb model. Try this first if it doesn't work pm me and I'll send you something that might help.

 

Hi Guys,

Can anyone advise if a 980m has been tried in the GT780 Sandy Bridge?

I can see a few that have got the 970m working which is great, but before I go for that I'm looking for any information regarding the 980m in this laptop, can't find much info around the usual forums and given the GT780's history of not accepting the top end Nvidia's after the 5 series I can see why, but I would really love to put a 980m into it!

 

I believe someone got something working with a Sandy. You may want to take a look at the first post in the thread as there's a list of what was confirmed working. It hasn't been updated for a while though.

 

Thanks for your reply Superguy, there is no solid confirmation that a 980m has been tried or tested working unfortunately, I've been through this thread with a fine tooth comb trying to find any trace of an attempt at it, only the 970m has been tested so far.

I'm itching to upgrade the 7970m I currently have installed and to get a 980m working in my beloved GT780dxr would be amazing, the final upgrade before I retire her to the graveyard (back of cupboard) in 2 years time

 

If the 970m is working, the 980m should work too I think. At least, with modded drivers.

 

Agreed.

At the very least, I know I compared my benchies with someone's who was running a Sandy and a 9xx. I couldn't remember whether it was a 970 or 980.

GT60 should be able to handle a 980. 675m and 980m are both rated at 100W, so the cooling should be adequate.

Keep in mind, though, that while the heat sink works, it's not an exact fit as the 675m GPU is more rectangular while the 970/980m is more square. Temps have been good on my 970 with quality thermal paste though.

 

The two have not acted differently to my knowledge BIOS wise.

It should act the same.

 

I've bought the 980m, will update on how I get on with it in my gt780 (ms1761) when I recieve, fingers crossed.

 

Did you ever get it working. Please give us feedback so we know how to help others in the future!

I hope it works out for you!

 

Thanks floydstime, the excitedly nervous wait begins!

 

Now I am right there with you... I just ordered my gtx980m upgrade kit for my gt72 dominator pro. Expedited shipping... Gonna be an interesting weekend!

Remember, take your time and I suggest doing the driver mod yourself if it isn't an MSI 980m. I can send you a PDFs to help you out it is super simple...

 

Yes please can you send me the PDF's that would be very helpful as I've bought a Clevo 980m with the Prema unlocked bios.

Good luck with yours also, same for me delivery wise, I should get the card Saturday and hopefully get the heatsink before then.

 

We'll be waiting! Good luck

 

Yes, I got it working late yesterday. I ended up using GE70 2PE Stealth Pro drivers to get the card working properly.

Thanks for all the help. I'm so glad I don't have to send my notebook in for rma again.

 

ok guys . i am frustrated AF!!.
i bought the 980m from HIDevolution through this link
http://www.hidevolution.com/parts/nvidia-gtx-980m-8gb-upgrade-kit-for-msi-gt72.html
it states CLEARLY that i get :

What you get:

• 1 x NVIDIA GTX 980M 8GB GDDR5 MXM3 Video Card (compatible ONLY with MSI GT72)
• Set of new thermal pads
• Tube of IC Diamond advanced thermal compound - click HERE for more information
• Driver updates
• Lifetime technical support for as long as you own the product
• 1 Year parts warranty from manufacturer and HIDevolution
  
  today i recieved the card , i opened it and that was what's there

• obviously , no thermal pads , no IC DIAMOND THERMAL COMPOUND , nothing .
• i contacted them through their facebook page ,no on replied to me , i am very angry really .
• i live in egypt and no one sells decent thermal pads/thermal paste . and i don't know how to get to HIDevolution because they don't have international phone number , only toll free that can be called from the US
• please anyone in the US can call them for me and i can give him the serial number of the upgrade kit so he can contact them and find out why those thinsg are missing .the kit ain't cheap ( 900 USD after the actuak price + taxes + shipping )
  also , i was wondering if even the card is the 980m . i can't install it now and find out but here's some pictures of it and please someone tell me how can i find out because i sense that they might even didn't sell me the right card :
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• please guys help me out as soon as possible . i can't even concetrate at work because i am really really frustrated

 

The GTX980M from the GT72 Upgrade Kit works perfect with standard nvidia driver without and driver modify in a GT70/GT60. You have only to remove the X-Bracket from behind the Card and you must modify your heatsink (read 1. post).

An User from our german MSI Forum has upgrade his GT70 2OD http://msi-forum.de/index.php?page=Thread&postID=845258#post845258

 

ok but
1 - i can't install the card , how do i verify without installing it that this is the 980m not 970m for example ?

2 - how do i remove that x-bracket without damaging the card ?

3 - ok it will work on without driver modification , but would it need my bios to be updated ? or my EC firmware ? because updating them and installing the card will cause problems with SSE .

 

Hey guys, do you know if there is an unlocked msi vbios avaible ? ( donc want to mod my drivers ).

 

You should check over at techinferno forums for unlocked BIOSes for your model from this link:

http://forum.techinferno.com/msi/1839-msi-g-series-unlocked-bios.html

Or alternatively Svet from MSI's forums. There's a dedicated subforum on unlock requests

 

1. HID Evolution sells alot of these cards, I am sure you got the right one.
2. Take a look at the post in the begining of the forum.
3. It is an MSI card, not a clevo. So it is flashed with an MSI bios. So the MSI driver on the disk will be compatible because it is an MSI card. The only issues I have heard people having were not updating the system bios prior to installing the card on SOME models. It wont hurt to update your bios, it's relatively safe in this day and age. Either way, just go to the beginning of the forum and read through the first few pages before freaking out. Also aren't the thermal pads pre-installed on the heatsink?

 

Ty i'll do that

 

thanks for the reply
i gently pressed the four corners of the x-bracket all together and it came out easily .
the heat sink came with only one thermal pad on it . just a little peace . the rest is gone . also the stated clearly that i get a tube of ic-diamond thermal paste and i didn't get any
i will try using arctic silver 5 . yet i am still frustrated cause i really wanted to try out ic diamond
i will try installing the card 1st without updating the bios so i won't lost the functionality of the SSE . if it weren't detected then i will try other alternatives

 

Hey guys,

I can confirm that the 980m does work in the GT780dxr!!

I have a Clevo card with the Prema unlocked bios, using modified 347.88 drivers and it's working well.

Not done any proper testing yet other than this 3d mark firestrike run

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6445904

Temps never exceeded 65 deg C with my custom fan profile, however 3d mark is not a good indication of temps so will be testing games to get real gaming temps.

Will post more benches soon.

 

Just did 40 mins of BF4 and the card never went above 70deg C, that's 8-10 deg less than my 7970m I had installed previously.

Just a point for anyone looking to get the same config (980m and 2960xm), you need a 230w power adaptor as it tripped out my 180w about 20 mins in (forgot to change over to the 230w originally as I normally just ran on the 180w)

 

Whats the highest 980m score atm?
ATM i got this:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/6450577
8469

 

Nice! I got a soldered cpu... I mean come on msi! But either way my 980m is coming on Wednesday! I'll post when I get it fired up.

 

It's pretty nice that laptops rank just below high end gaming pc's these days. I remember the days when lappys just couldn't do that...

 

That's a good idea, update the bios only if you have issues. As far as the pads are concerned, you can get the off eBay pretty cheap, but you'll have to wait a while. The arctic silver works great so no worries there. BTW IC diamond paste is a pain in the ass to use and do some research about them. I won't use their products after what I read in techpowerup forums. Apparently people were having problems with their product and the ceo blamed the forum members of a conspiracy and and related there accusations to digging up their grandmother out of her grave and shooting the dead body and blaming it on IC diamond. No kidding Google that it's worth the read! Well either way temps only change 1-2C with diamond paste anyways and if you really want to use the diamond stuff go with Antec at least they aren't talking about shoot people's granparents dead bodies... That's what I have on order for my 980m that will be here Wednesday! I also hear good stuff about ceramic paste, ppl are getting temps in the diamond paste range, it's worth checking out, I have no experience with it personally.

 

Take it you have the 240w adaptor as standard with the GT72?

Nice, would be good to see some of your benches to see how my old dog compares

 

thanks for your reply
i was eager to try IC diamond because everyone is talking about how awesome it is . but i finally found arctic silver 5 in egypt . what left of it in particular , it's a friend's leftovers
the whole problem that made me angry is that HIDevolution ( which is a very very respectable company i am not accusing them of anything and i know it must have been a mistake ) were supposed to ship an ic diamond tube along with thermal pads . there were only one thin thermal pad and no tube.and these things are impossible to find in egypt .simply impossible . i know it's hard to believe but i am certain that i am the only one who is even trying this upgrade in egypt at all .
so i am stuck and can't install the card because of something so stupid like thermal pads which HIDevolution could have spared me this pain in the a** .
i already orderd some thermal pads from ebay but it will take a while ( and lots and lots of money . 5 times the original price due to taxes and shipping ) to get here.hope then i will be able to install the card and hope i won't need any modification to the bios

 

Did you talk to them? Maybe they could ship you what you are missing.

 

Here you go! By the way, I now have a GTX 880m for sale if anyone is interested, it's listed in the Buy/Sell/Trade forum here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-8gb-laptop-graphics-card-msi-branded.774052/

 

Dude! You have thermal pads all over that heatsink like I said earlier, I saw it in your picture. There are blue plastic covers on the that say "Laird" you removed those plastic tabs and the thermal pads are underneath. As far as the IC diamond is concerned, they probably just forgot and you should call them or just try and be fine with the arctic silver 5, you won't notice much of a temp difference between the two, the silver 5 is really good stuff... Also the Heatsink looks like it has thermal paste preinstalled. HID evolution may have wiped off the factory and installed the diamond paste on there for you. I don't know for sure, but I'd take a good look at it and see if it looks like a factory job or that HID hooked you up. But the thermal pads are FOR SURE installed, I can see it in the picture.

 

Hey Folks,

Long time reader, first time caller A friend of mine has an GT70-ONC (MS-1762) and the 675m died. I've gotten a replacement 970m from RJTech (thanks to the forum) and the heatsink is awaiting some dremel action. In the meantime I've been trying to sort out the software side - once again, thanks to this forum! However, as helpful as things are in this massive thread, I'm having a bit of trouble sorting out a couple things re: bioses, and hope you can set me in the right direction:

1) My friend has no intention of overclocking the GPU, so I can just use the locked "E1762IMS.71X" drivers, correct? If so, where can I find them? I've seen lots of links to 51x but this laptop has the SuperRAID. (currently running E1762IMS.30U)
1b) With 71x it sounds like there's just a bios switch back to "Legacy" to reenable Win7 OS, am I right?
2) Is it necessary to update the EC? I wager that's a yes with my antiquated "1762EMA1 ver 4.05", but I wasn't sure if it was necessary if you weren't going to overclock.
3) It sounds like you don't need to bother with the vBIOS flashing with the newer bios, correct? The less to do, the better

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I'm loving the fact that you can actually upgrade GPUs on notebooks at all, and this is a hell of a resource/community!

 

ok guya . i NEED your help ASAP
i've installed the new 980m . but it recognized as " video controller " in device manager
here's a screenshot


but CPU-Z recognized the card successfully



now i don't want to flash the bios . it's too risky . i want to install the modded inf file
how do i do that for my card ? in the 1st page it's detailed for the clevo version . i now has the MSI version .
please help me so i would check everything is ok


EDIT : it says on CPU-Z on memory that it has only 4095 MB!! shouldn't it be like 8 gigs of vram ??!!!

EDIT 2 : i downloaded GPU-Z , and it says i have 8GB of vram! which one do i believe , cpu-z or gpu-z ?

 

yes there is themal pads on the Heatsink .i didn't know that these are applied to it .i contacted them via facebook page and confirmed that . i didn't find any problem installing them
now the problem is i installed the card , downloaded the modded inf files , the card is recognized by the system , gpu-z and cpu-z , but not by any game
games aren't working with the card . as if they are magically routed to the intel card.
also what makes me terrified now is that the memory size on gpu-z is 8 gb .but on cpu-z it's 4095 bytes! i am so afraid that the card has only 4 gigs of vram .not 8 .
please help me out for making the card work with the games .and making sure of the actual vram

 

So you magically have to route the games back to Nvidia via Nvidia Control Panel, 3D settings. Either pointing everything to High Performance Nvidia card and /or setting the game exes to run on Nvidia. CPU-Z probably is stupid enough not to understand the memory size (meaning not updated).

 

Try completing driver installation for your 980M and then run GPU-Z one more time.