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

Yes I just did. This time around I ran 3D Mark 11 with an overclocked processor to 4.1 GHZ and the turbo fan on and got a score of 9203. I know this might be kind of good but I want more. Tell me if you know anything in terms of overclocking because every time I try to overlock, I get no performance boost or the driver crashes. Other than that the GTX 980M runs fine. I’m running driver 350.12, this is the one that works best for me

 

@Aladin Thomas

You mean Firestrike right and not 3dmark11? I was able to get around 8400 out of a 780M OC and 4900MQ OC, and much better on my 970M when I had that. Your 980m should be scoring much higher if this is really 3dmark11 you're talking about.

For reference if you are talking about Firestrike my 5820K 6core desktop at 4.0ghz X6 and a GTX 970 does around 10700 overclocked slightly. I think for a laptop you are sitting very good if you're talking about Firestrike.

 

No, not firestrike. I’m running 3D mark 11. Is it underperforming?

 

Please link to the online result, thanks.

 

Here is a link. I don't know if it will work
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10010719

 

That seems ok, more will require an unlocked vbios and potentially a bigger brick and the unlocked EC for your model.

 

I already have an unlocked vbios and getting a bigger brick is not a problem. How can I unlock the EC firmware? I am very much interested in doing this

 

What's your current BIOS & EC firmware version?

 

I have an MSI 16f3 barebones with GTX 980M and 3840qm.

BIOS Version E16F3IMS .51X, Build Date and Time 03/28/2014

EC Version 16F3EMS1 Ver T .18, EC Build 04/08/2014

 

There was one floating around the msi.com forum IIRC.

 

Yup, you already have the unlocked EC firmware.

 

Assuming I already have the 330 watt adapter, once inside the system bios, is there options related to the EC firmware I would need to change in order to draw more power? Or will it be just plug and play?

And once on the desktop view, is there any application/program I can use to know how much power or watts is being drawn from the adapter?

Let me know, Thank you

 

How I managed to upgrade my 770m to a 970m. Thanks Guys

 

watch the unboxing video and you will see the card it self. It is the BLUE GPU CARD not Green, the green one is my old gtx770m

 

Well, I can officially join the ranks of those that have upgraded their machines. I was able to put a 980m into mine. I did not modify my existing heatsink though, I purchased the actual 970m/980m heatsink. I didn't want to mess with the dremel process.

 

The 970m/980m heat sink cost 50GBP, while the dremel tool cost 11GBP, I bought 2 x4gb ram for 39GBP . To me the extra Ram was worth the stress of having to use the dremel drill and do it my self

 

Very well done FeelGeorge, I liked the video. I think you deserve massive credit for showing others how easy it is to be done, saves people from upgrading the whole laptop for a generation. Thanks for mentioning me as well as the seller.
And yeah we use the BLUE ASIC /PCB , it is higher quality. Kind of what you expect when you see the "Made in Canada" rather then "made in CHINA"
(Yeah i caught that in the video, I laughed hard, in a patriotic way, proud to be Canadian and all.)

 

Brings back nostalgia for me It's going to be the only choice for the chassis if GPU layouts change again.

 

I upgraded my 0NC GT60 to Windows 8.1, but now I can't get new BIOS files for it, or I can't install them. The reason I want to installed a new BIOS in to hopefully get my new GPU working.

If I select Win 8 on the MSI GT60 0NC BIOS page, it list .50X and .70X, which are both .NSH files. But my laptop (being originally a Win 7 computer) cannot install via the instructions provided because I can't install via EFI Shell.

I am trying to upgrade my GPU, it is installed, but Windows 8.1 will not boot unless I have the GPU disabled in device manager. Here is what I have done so far.

1) Installed newest official MSI BIOS for Windows 7. (.30U)
2) Installed new SSD
3) Installed Windows 8.1
4) Installed all official drivers, to include most recent nvidia drivers for my GTX 670M.
-PC Ran great here. played GTA V at high settings for hours.
5) Installed Guru3D "Display Driver Uninstaller"
6) Uninstalled all GPU drivers via Safe Mode.
7) Installed new GPU and required heatsink.
8) Booted into safe mode and installed MSI official nvidia drivers for my new GPU.
9) Rebooted, stuck in a loop of errors occurring on startup, had to boot into safe mode, disable to new GPU, now posting from what I imagine is the Intel GPU.

 

Enabled the card once I was already booted and loaded up GPUZ... not looking good. Games won't work either.

 

What's the problem on GPU-Z?

 

Clocks are all way low. There no way to make them go back to what they're supposed to be.

 

That's the Nvidia powermizer clocking down when the screen is running on Intel - you should run some 3D program to get Nvidia to work and see the clocks then.

 

Did you read my post on the previous page?

 

Try another driver - 353.30 is the latest; I'm on it now.

 

It won't boot into windows with the card at all. I don't think it's a driver problem. Most likely a BIOS problem... But I will try.

 

A few problems with your steps. You need to uninstall all nvidia display drivers from the programs and features prior to running DDU. You shouldn't install drivers from safe mode unless you are ONLY installing a single driver via device manager. If you are running an install program in safe mode to install drivers, it might not install all components as parts of the OS are disabled to prevent any further damage to the OS and it will cause the errors you are running into. The issue is not BIOS because the computer is recognizing the card as a GTX 880M via GPU-z.

Follow these steps.

1. Once you get into windows, Uninstall ALL nvidia drivers from the programs and features.
2. Restart.
3. Run Display Driver Uninstaller
4. Restart
5. Download the 880M driver from this website http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us ensure you select the correct card and OS.
6. Enable your 880M in the Device Manager. If the card is not present in the Device Manager, Scan for hardware changes.
7. Install the driver you downloaded from the nvidia website.
8. If it installs correctly then you should be good to go and do not proceed further.
9. If it does not detect the card when installing, then perform steps 1-4.
10. Now follow the instructions in the INF modding instructions I attached to this post and follow the "do it yourself" instructions.

Let us know what happens.

 

Just some further testing/digging around, I attempted to force the laptop to use the gtx970m so I could get dxdiag to finally use it as the display device for information and as another last resort to see if d3d is on or needs to be forced on.

Strangely enough, now my laptop's dxdiag report says I have no displays:

 

I upgraded my gt70 with a 980m yesterday.
I followed the guide, and modified the heatsink as described.
Everything went without any problems and the pc started right up.

I couldn`t be any happier with the upgrade
My 3dmark score went from 8760 to 11267.
Temperature wise I would say that the 880m and 980m are much the same, but the 980 might be a littlebit cooler.

Last of all: a big thank you to Woodzstack who supplied the 980m
Excellent communication and fast shipping(6days to Norway)

And to Talon for testing it out and posting up the diy

 

DXDiag has no idea about via Optimus working Nvidia card and if your Intel is not in use that's the result.

 

Yes the Nvidia card is not exposed to any software on the system (This is to ensure optimus does not need special drivers) so all software will see the intel card.

 

Whats your GPU temperature? in heavy gaming?

 

My GPU temperature is in the low 70's but I haven't done any heavy gaming yet. So not sure how the temperature is after longer periods of gaming.

 

my 970m is around 58- 60degrees, not seen it go past 65 which is really good, on idle it is 29-33degrees. I am happy so far. These temperature are with out the turbo fan switch on. I am waiting on Nvida next mobile GPU or AMD before i decide if I will upgrade again.

 

One very big bonus I came across last night about upgrading my GT60 to the 980m is I no longer have to have the battery in to game on it.

I don't know if it's the settings I have on my machine, or the combination of the BIOS and EC, but doing a 3D Mark 11 run with the battery out netted me a GPU score consistent with having the battery in, and the CPU score only dropped by about 500 points. Which I can live with. Needless to say, I am thrilled with the idea of not having to have the battery in if I don't want to.

 

hello guys
i've purchased and upgraded my gt70 to the 980m a while ago thanks to this thread . when i've always asked about anything relevant or irrelevant to the upgrade topic i've always found support and someone to guide me . thanks everyone for the great support for noobs like me
i've 2 problems , i hope someone help me out with them :
1 - when i removed my 870m and installed the 980m , i ofcourse repasted the cpu .i noticed that my cpu temps are around 50-55 on idle and 79-78 on gaming load .
today i repasted my cpu/gpu . my gpu as previously done good temps . 45-48 on idle and 78-79 on load .
but the cpu , became warmer . it hit 70-75 on 12% load like browsing and the core temp hits around 90-95 !
i did repaste job . 3 times . and it's always the same .
i googled it and found out that if you don't tie the screws very tight it might make the contact surface less which lead to the bad temps . so i made sure the heatsinks are tied properly , still the same temps
please someone tell me what to do . i tried the line pasting method ( a thin line in the middle of the rectangular cpu ) and the even paste method ( the same previous method but spreaded the paste using an old credit card ) , still bad temps . i am using arctic silver 5 thermal paste

2 - about the witcher 3 game , on ultra everything with nvidia hairworks off and that fooliage thing set to high instead of ultra and on 1980*1080 , i get around 45-55-57 FPS . shouldn't i get a steady 60 FPS ? how is the game performing with you ? what to do to increase the performance ?

 

I noticed my cpu temp on idle increased after my upgrade but not by much, maybe it has to do with the BIOS update. I think 50-55 is high on idle, you seem to be doing ever thing right. Try putting your laptop in "power saver" in Power options and see if that helps, also did you use thermal pads?

 

This puts me back at square 1. Its starting to sound like it could be I need to get the GT60 driver for the integrated graphics display? My laptop is a GT70 0ND, but after the bios flash/etc.... it shows as a GT60, possibly I need the intel integrated display driver for the GT60's now?

The D3D error seems to only happen with full-screen steam games. If I run anything else outside of steam or run a windowed application through steam (such as Blender), everything runs perfectly fine and uses the gt970 card.
Another oddity is that the Windows 10 upgrade reserve says I won't be able to update to W10 and lists the reason as the gt970 card.

Regarding 1>

For the CPU thermal paste/heatsink, I typically try use at least 91% Isopropyl alcohol when cleaning the CPU and heatsink. I would make sure there are no left-over fibers when cleaning it and check for any possible scratches/grooves in either heatsink or CPU. Sounds like there could be bubbles in the paste.

How long of a period of time are you going with each application of paste? It shouldn't be something that needs to be switched out often. If everything seems fine in the cleaning department and there are no scratches or grooves in either heatsink/cpu, then see how the dot method works (pea-sized dot of thermal paste in the center of the CPU) or give a different thermal paste a try.

Regarding 2>
This is probably normal as there could be a bit of a bottle-neck elsewhere in the system, but the more-likely story is that the game (as great as it is) still has lots of improvement in optimizations to go through. The Witcher games are great, but even with the first 2, there were months of improvement times. Keep with it and eventually they'll get a ptach that hits that sweet spot where you'll see the constant 60FPS

 

So you've flashed a gt60 bios onto your gt70?

 

Yes, Svet had me flash the GT60 bios (.51x) to continue with the rest of the installation during the initial process*. He also configured a modified EC to install afterwards.

*The GT70 0ND 219-US did not have any updated bios available to complete the modification with though was included in the listing of laptops the modification would work for

I believe I found the problem (at least with steam games). I had installed a Mimo usb-monitor weeks ago to monitor the temperatures while launching various applications. For some reason, the driver for this monitor (even when it wasn't plugged in) was causing the D3D error.... as though it were trying to launch everything on the monitor that wasn't even plugged in.
I've done a complete uninstall of the monitor's driver and so far things seem to be working again.

I'm still seeing the W10 upgrade assistant display the following:


I'm not as worried about this at the moment though as it maybe just be an issue with the upgrade agent and could be a different story when the OS comes out/downloads. At most, its a little concerning (as I will need to upgrade my laptop to W10 for work) but I'm sure there will be a workaround at worst when the time comes.

 

Did you disable driver signing for it? That could be why it does not like the 970m. Putting it back to standard vga may work.

 

yes i used thermal pads the same that were installed before i even begin the update of the card .
the weird thing is that the first time i repasted the cpu when the card arrived , nothing was out of the normal ranges .
the second weird thing is that the GPU's temps are good . 75 average on load ( crysis 3 - ryse son of rome )
i honestly can't figure out what's wrong

ok i will order some good cleaners from amazon . and ic diamond , with some good thermal pads
the problem is that i live in egypt and those things aren't available here . and due to taxes and other stuff i will wind up paying double the price for everything i get
i will then repaste and check out what's wrong . is the core temps hitting around 90 when gaming is a seerious thing ? because i can't stop playing the witcher 3 until the paste and pads arrive .which would take like a month !

about witcher 3 , i remember getting very low FPS'S on witcher 2 .and it turned out that it was the exe's problem . when i changed it to the GOG exe's , game stood on steady fps like a charm
any fix like this one ?

 

Why

Why dont you buy some cheap thermal pads and paste from China? Alibaba, if its going to take over a month from Amazon why not buy more from china for the same duration of shipping time

 

Forgot to mention, mabye try a copper sheet as well inbtw your CPU and heat sink, see what works best!

 

Don't worry about getting anything expensive when it comes to the rubbing alcohol as that stuff is extremely generic so when looking for it online, try to find a nice medium between the proof % and price (also not a lot is needed so keep the size of the bottle down to help in expenses). Also either Q-Tips or a lint-free cloth of some sort

I don't know of any exe fixes yet similar to Witcher 2 that are out for Witcher 3 yet... but will keep my eyes open for anything like that.

 

alibaba will take more time . stuff from china tend to arrive even more late .
what is a copper sheet ? is it like a copper shim ? if it's , there's no rectangular one for laptops' cpu . only square ones for like the GPU .
forgot to mention a very very annoying thing : i've purchased the coolermaster sf-19 cooler . i heard very good reviews about it .but when i used it , nothing changed ! not a single drop in the cpu/gpu temps! that's even before i repasted my cpu/gpu this recent time . and i really really want an explanation for that .

i will get ic diamond as my thermal paste , and those for cleaning and thermal pads :

http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silver...pebp=1435344709395&perid=018X9QR2AGCVXF02BAGZ

http://www.amazon.com/Thermal-Pad-U...pebp=1435366488169&perid=1EB1MJA2958KMD9DNEPM

hope it makes a difference . i am getting bored . every time i repaste i look up my previous paste job and it looks perfect . very good spread of the thermal paste . i really don't know what to do next .
any suggestions would be helpful . any thing . right now i am only typing this post and my cpu temp is freaking 72 degrees !

 

For best cooling performance you should use 0.5mm thermal pads all round and have a good paste job. If temps are still bad there may be an issue with the heatsink.

 

I bought my self a laptop cooler as well, in winter the heaters are on and its always roasting inside the house. reviews dont lie, this cooler is really good. Before my upgrade i noticed a change in temperatures. The fan is constandly on, really quiet. You will hardly know its on, plus its not too expensive. you can get it on amazon uk or US
HAVIT® HV-F2056 15.6"-17" Laptop Cooler - Three Quiet 110mm Fans
http://goo.gl/2s4esg

 

Coolers will struggle to help this more indirect cooling design usually.