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

Hey guys, im a long time lurker and first time poster. Ive been contemplating making this upgrade for a few months. I finally got some money freed up and bought a 970m from RJ Tech using Talons initial post. I am having the same issue that TribalOne was having. I cant install the nvidia drivers without the screen just getting stuck on the windows login. I can hear it load windows and go to my desktop but the screen doesnt move. After installing the nvidia drivers it tells me that the Intel card couldnt find enough resources to start.

Im using a GT70 E1762IMS.30u bios. I have the original Clevo vbios on still. I tried the modified inf and the normal drivers. Both give me the same result. Talon, if youre still around can you please send me the directions you sent Tribal? We have the same setup. Id greatly appreciate the help guys!

Thanks in advance!! Also Talon, i just want to say thank you so much for the original post. I would read it daily and follow along other peoples problems and it helped me decide to do the upgrade.

 

With Talons help i was able to get my laptop updated with the 970m. I made the mistake and flashed the wrong bios and had to RMA my laptop to MSI. He got me ont he right path with the right BIOS and now im golden. PRAISE THE SUN TALON! PRAISE THE SUN!

 

Great news bud. Glad we were able to get you squared away. Now go enjoy your new laptop, because that's the performance increase you'll likely see with that 970M.

 

I know this thread is for 970/980m upgrade so sorry for the ot.
I have upgraded to 980m and I am super happy with it, but I feel my cpu is somewhat of a bottleneck now.
So I am thinking of maybe upgrading my cpu, I currently have a 4810 mq what is the best cpu we can upgrade to?
Will we be able to upgrade to comming generation cpu with custom bios?

 

The 4810MQ will not be a bottleneck to your setup if you are simply playing games. If you are number chasing, or are encoding video, the best you could upgrade to is a 4940MX.

You could also overclock the CPU for extra performance. I believe with the 4810MQ, you have 4 extra bins to upclock to.

 

What about comming generation cpu`s? if the socket is the same will I be able to use one with a custom bios?

I am mostly playing games, so to say it is a bottleneck is to exaggerate. It`s not that I need it, more that I want it

 

Simply answer no. Also you 4810MQ will not be a bottleneck in any way for your 980M while gaming.

 

Nice post man,

I'm actually thinking of upgrading my GPU to a new 980m 8gb; my laptop is a GT70 20D-001US

So before venturing there i have a few questions...

will it work with my laptop model?

which graphic card laptop model should i buy the one that says P150SM-A

Thanks in advance

 

Hey Mike,

Yes this upgrade will work perfectly with your GT70 2OD, just make sure to update to the latest MSI system BIOS. Please NOTE: Make sure you follow MSI instructions on updating your system BIOS, AND ensure you update in the correct order as per the instructions on the download page. Failure to update in the correct order will lead to a bricked system and will require RMA to MSI for servicing.

After you update to latest MSI system BIOS, and after the small heatsink modification as per original post, the 980M 8GB Clevo card will be plug and play.

Yes the P150SM-A card/package will work fine. You are simply selecting which Clevo heatsink you want with the card, and this doesn't affect the actual MXM 980M itself. Since you are just going to be throwing the Clevo heatsink aside, it should not matter which one you select.

Let us know if you have any further questions, many guys here have tons of info and most are willing to help out.

 

I didn't change any voltage because I don' wanna play with fire . Right now I play on 3k screen and GTX 980m can give me 75 FPS in BF4 under lower settings but still thinks look really pretty. It is all without over clocking. I've also played Witcher 3 and GTA V on high settings as well.

Don't know the maximum voltage but 180W adapter is more than enough

 

After I upgraded to GTX 980m, I changed my CPU to 4900 MQ from 4700 MQ and now I feel that it is pretty much balanced. If you have 17 Inches laptop then you can try 57 TDP processor which is desktop grade CPU. But with large adapter and good cooling solution you can get away with this. I have 15 inches so 4900 MQ would be the limit for me.

 

What I felt is otherwise. In BF4 online, I felt that 4700 MQ was a bottleneck and now with 980m + 4900mq, I can even manage 75 frames on my upgrade FHD to 3k screen.

 

A 4810MQ and 4700MQ are not the same. The 4810MQ is 400MHZ faster at its boost clocks than the 4700MQ, and shares the same clock and boost clock speeds as the 4900MQ. The difference is in the cache size and unlocked turbo bins. However, with the GT60/70 laptops you will never be able to get the CPU to turbo to the +600Mhz on the 4900MQ nor the +400mhz overclock on the 4810MQ and hold steady in game. It will power throttle. Most I was able to get my 4900MQ to hold stable across all 4 cores under load in game was 3.9ghz X4.

Therefore, the 4810MQ is perfectly suited for him and he will not notice any performance gains worth mentioning by upgrading.

The 4930/40MX CPUs are a different story, but given the chassis limitations for cooling you would have difficulty cooling the chip to realize the performance potential.

His best bet is to download Intel XTU, undervolt the 4810MQ by around -75 to -100mV depending on his chip, and overclock with the unlocked turbo bins. He should be able to get around 3.8 - 4.0ghz stable across all 4 cores.

 

By default, when I turn the power plan to High Performance, HWMonitor shows me the CPU is clocked to 3.8 GHz and I never reached to 3.9 GHz on any core let alone all 4 cores. Is there a way a processor can turbo boost beyond it's normal limit without overclocking like you've mentioned +600MHz?

Second, I did some heat sink modding in my GT60 as well and in-game (online BF4) when GPU is used like 98% and CPU is used like crazy (more than 70%), my temps remain under 75C for long gaming sessions. If 4900MQ can turbo boost +600MHz, I would like to try that. How can I do that?

Third, how can you overclock your CPU by under volting? I am new to all this so bear with me

 

The reason you can achieve I higher clock by undervolting, if I am understanding it correctly is because you are essentially using less power to achieve that clock. The 4700, 4800, and 4900MQ CPUs including their respective refreshes are all partially unlocked (a few unlocked turbo bins 2, 4, and 6 multipliers respectively) however, their power limits are NOT, at least not on the GT60/70. For every given clock or multiplier ratio you run the CPU will draw a certain amount of power, the higher the multiplier the higher the power draw. Once you hit the power draw the CPU will no longer turbo and will probably throttle back a bit to stay under its power limit.

By undervolting, you are essentially allowing the CPU to hit that multiplier but at a smaller power draw thus allowing you more headroom as far as the highest multiplier you can achieve, and better yet which ones you can maintain 24/7 under load.

Best way to determine your maximum clocks under load is to download Intel XTU, and begin under volting. I would start around -75mV on the Dynamic CPU Voltage Offset. Play a game, or run a few benchmarks and test stability. If stable, try decreasing voltage in -5mV or -10mV until you get a Blue Screen and restart. Once restarted it will reset to default voltages and you again set the offset and try again.

Now that you've gotten lowest usable voltages for stock, you should go back and now begin to determine the maximum clocks you can achieve by overclocking the turbo ratios. It will take some trial and error to determine which undervolt and turbo multipliers yield the best possible performance. For me it was 3.9ghz X4 with about a -80mV offset.

I would for testing purposes I would use an On Screen Display via HWiNFO64 and RivaTuner Statistics Server. To monitor loads and frequencies.

 

Hmm, interesting and I'll give it a try to test this theory. I've downloaded all the software. As always thanks

 

I am getting nearly same fps with every settings (low-medium-high-ultra). My cpu is 3630qm, it could bottleneck to my gpu ? Because it is working underperforming. In gta 5, gpu usage is between 40-60%, fps is between 20-40, i think that something is wrong for my computer. Also i am getting low score in 3dmark11, nearly p7000. What can i check ? This cpu is not enough for this card ?

Also cpu usage is nearly 60% in games , not full.

 

I'd also want to upgrade my i7 4700MQ on my GT60. Where can I buy a new CPU and which sould be the recommended one? Should I consider a 4900MQ without any cooling mod?

 

I bought 4900mq from Amazon for $400 and no you don't need any cooling mod except use high standard thermal paste and thermal pads. This would be enough.

 

One suggestion is to change power plan to high performance and clean install the GPU driver. Second, what is the temperature you get on your CPU and GPU while playing games? It may be throttling.

 

Hello guys,
I don't know if I should post this comment here
I hear a buzzing sound when I start playing games with headset or not.
I searched a lot about it and I found that when I plug in the battery and disconnect the AC adapter, the buzzing sound will disappear.
So, what should I do? buy a new AC adapter? 330 watts might fix the problem
Thanks

 

Hi guys,

Love this thread, it encouraged me to try and upgrade my laptop too.
I have a MSI GT-70 2OC, with the latest BIOS and Firmware. Running Windows 8.1

I bought a new MSI 970M, Installed it and the first boot-up it detected fine, I had to uninstall old drivers, worked. Restarted my Laptop and then suddenly the 970M disappeared from the device manager, it wasnt being detected.
Multiple restarts didnt bring it back, formatted my laptop and still the same outcome.

I reopened my laptop, cleaned everything again and started, the card was detected and everything was working. I decided to restart my laptop and again this time the card disappeared again.

Repeated the steps and same outcome, was detected, then disappeared.

Any idea if the card is faulty? Or if something else is wrong here

 

Hey where do you suspect the sound is from? Because i think i have the same problem too, this may sound silly but i swear it comes from the gpu or somewhere really close to that position, and NOT from the fan
It only happens when my gpu has to work under high load...

 

If it disappears after restart then one reason would be if you are using moded drivers and you have to disable driver signature checking. After you restart it gets enable again. By the way, what is version of your BIOS, is it ending with 51x?

 

Hi Thanks for the reply,

Hmm yes it is the 51x, Image below:-


I just downloaded the drivers from the NVIDIA website, not modded ones. Hmm is there anyway to check from the BIOS to see if the card is being detected?

 

I've uploaded the BIOS snapshot of my laptop and there was no information regarding NVidia GPU. By the way, you've said that in the compatibility check step during the driver install, it found your GTX 970m only for the first time and not again because otherwise next step would be to install the old drivers? I am just trying troubleshoot the problem with you. By the way, did you try GPU-Z to see if it is detecting your GPU?

 

By the way, is it your laptop page?
http://www.msi.com/support/nb/GT70-2OC.html#down-bios&Win8.1 64

Because, the latest BIOS showed here is 71B not 71D

 

Hi Yes, cause I got mine flashed at the Service Centre cause my attempt bricked the laptop, had to get them to reprogram the BIOS for me, thankfully they didnt charge me anything lol

Looking at the date, seems like it is a newer BIOS

When windows doesnt detect the GPU, even GPU-Z doesnt detect it to be connected

However when it is detected, everything is okay, GPU-Z sees it fine too and the NVIDIA drivers install fine.

Seems like everytime I disconnect the GPU and reconnect it, boot up, it gets detected but once I restart my PC, then it is gone. Tried it a few times, same problem, weird problem

 

I definitely don't have the exact answer to your problem. But, if we continue brain storming then let's say, if you install your card again and start your system. Then BIOS will detect the card as 970m, fine. Don't install the driver and restart your system to see if in the next boot if the card is detected or not. If after couple of reboots the card is still detected then if you install the driver and card is gone this means there is something going on with the card's vbios and nvidia drivers. Then changing the vbios may help then? It's just a theory.

 

Hmm I reinstalled windows and the card wasnt detected. That why I was leaning to the card being faulty but I was assured it is a new and tested card.
The card was ordered from DELL, and before it was shipped to me it was tested on an Alienware Laptop.
If I were to flash the VBios of the card, do we have updated steps on how to proceed with that?

Might be the way to go I think.

 

BTW it is a 970M 6GB Card

 

The sound that I'm talking about comes from the speakers or the headset... Also, I do hear a buzzing sound comes from the right side of the keyboard and it is not from the fan as you said.
Any solution?

 

Is this AC adapter new?
The sound is constant, right?
I suggest to you to isolate the ground of your AC adapter.
It usually works to eliminate interference coming from AC adapter.

Give it a try...
My GT60 is working at least 2 1/2 years without ground pin...

 

Is this AC adapter new? No
The sound is constant, right? yes
How to isolate the ground of my AC adapter?
Do you mean to change the surface? or to open it up and change something inside it?
Thanks for your reply

 

In Brazil the electrical installations usually doesn't have a ground connection.
Newer devices comes with 3 pins in the power cord, (Line/Neutral/Ground 110-127V or Line/Line/Ground 220-240V).

The ground connection is good to prevent the risk of electric shock, but it also can be a problem since a lot of devices can throw garbage in this line, everything that has a ground connection can in any way throw some signals that can interfere in other electronics devices, in most cases sound devices are more sensible to this things.

As you told us that the Sound system is working perfectly with battery, seems to be an interference not a permanent issue.
The battery supplies continuous current and doesn't have to modulate anything, just supply the power directly to the laptop.
Sound devices work a lot better with continuous current supply.

If the problem happen only when you plug the AC, it means that "sound" you are hearing comes from AC adapter.
Try something easy, put an adhesive tape in the ground connector (in Brazil they are the center pin) isolating it from wall connector, after that connect it powering up the laptop by AC.
If the "sound" stop, you know that it's coming from ground connector.

 

Sorry, connections problems...

 

Sorry, connections problems...

 

Thank you very much
As you said I should disconnect and isolate the ground connector from anything.
I will tell you later if this will work.

Edit: I did that it looks like this http://prntscr.com/7thnk8 Right? ( the socket is rusty and dirty)
What changed is that the buzzing sound increased a bit and when I touch the area between the touch pad the sound will become much lower but i still hear it.

 

Mine is Clevo GTX 980 and it was working fine with Clevo vbios. May be you have to flash MSI vbios in the card. But make sure, to select the vBios from the first page correctly as you already have bricked your laptop once . Following is a good post regarding this

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/guide-for-flashing-bios-of-nvidia-gpu.119955/
or

 

Well, it seems that the problem is coming from your AC adapter.
Good luck!

 

Oh god
I will find a way to fix it
Thanks for your help

 

guys , my screen has been plagued with some bad pixels for a while . and i was thinking of replacing it .
along with the battery ofcourse because it drained out
then i was thinking , it would be awesome if i installed a 3k screen on my gt70!
but i googled for 2k or 3k 17.3 screens , couldn't find one but the 15.6 3k screen for the gt60
so , can someone tell me where can i find one ? and will my new 980m be able to run it smoothly ?

 

I am thinking same upgrade but could not find information , also could not see 17.3 4k panel

 

I can't answer the screen question, but I can tell you that the 980m drives the 3K screen in my GT60 just fine.

 

Good luck for you, I've upgraded the FHD screen of my GT60 with 3K after upgrading to 980m. Yes, you can upgrade your screen to 3k or even 4k provided your laptop is fulfilling certain requirements. First, Intel i7 4th generation use eDP technology to send signal to screen and if your system supports that then you are good to go.
Second, by default GT60 uses screen LTN156L01 and it's the same screen model that is used in Lenovo 4k model. But, it's 4K model doesn't have very good reviews regarding color accuracy so I didn't use that.
Third, by default GT60 uses 30 pin connector and these 3K or 4K screens use 40 pin connector, so you have to buy 40 pin eDP cable as well.
Fourth, another thing to notice is the pin-pitch of the connector on the screen, it should be 0.5 mm. All sharp screens ( which are better in color accuracy) uses pin-pitch of 0.4mm so it will not fit with the connector for GT60 laptop.

Now, the 15.6 inch screen that you can use to upgrade 3k is following and it is the same screen used in GT60 Dominator 3k model. I can provide you the seller link as well but for now I am providing you the panelook site link.
http://www.panelook.com/VVX16T029D00_Panasonic_15.5_LCM_parameter_24354.html

The connector you can find here:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Genu...-X8-LCD-cable-support-2560-x/32313859648.html

You should make sure that your BIOS is updated. As far as the perfomance is concerned. I regularly play BF4 online on this screen with no problem. I played Witcher 3 and GTA v on high settings without anti-aliasing because you don't need it on this screen. Awesome result.

For any other questions, let me know. I am planning to make a youtube tutorial as how to upgrade to 3k/4k screen but I am very busy now a days so let's c. It is coming soon

 

just one question : where would i find a 17.3 inch 2k/3k/4k screen

 

You wont find high res 17.3" screens as they are not made yet.

 

I second that. I don't think there is any 17 inch laptop with higher resolution out there.

 

It's just the panels are not made as the market for 17.3" panels is much smaller than 15.6" and below.