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

Do you have a power meter that you can measure the power draw from the system?
Just curious if this is like a constant full power draw, or fluctuates as it's supposed to due to Optimus.

 

Ahh...that could be the reason because im using a ups instead of the battery which died a few weeks ago...i dnt knw how to measure the power draw but i will search and post it later...but im pretty sure its got something to do with the power supply.

 

What is your ups designed to deliver?

 

It is APC RS 550
output 550VA/300W
voltage in battery 230 vac rms
Frequency-on battery 50hz,60hz
Battery 12V, 7.5 Ah

 

In the gpu-z, my ROPs/TMUs is showing 48/80 while Talon's is showing 48/106 and the texture filtrate is showing 73.9 G Texel/s compared to Talon's 97.9 G Texel/s. Is there something wrong with my gpu?

 

I have a the same system that you (GT60 0NC).
I`ve updated the BIOS to the 51X and the EC to T18 too...
And I have the same Orange LED, it never goes white, only stay orange, the meaning is that the nVidia card is being used.
The only moments that I see the white LED is during the Windows loading and when sleeping...

My system is working in this new BIOS and EC FW since I`ve decided to upgrade the GPU.
I have no problems, and also the GPU is cold when it isn't in use.
My new card (980M) will arrive on next Tuesday, up to now I`m running the Default GTX 670M (Stock, no vBios mods).
Well I think there's no problem to be in this way, maybe we have less battery time, but my Laptop is always plugged into the AC...

 

What makes you think this is not GPU-Z messing up? Have you double checked the readings with another program? Have you tried running the version he is?

 

Same issue here with 51x bios/ t18 EC.

Always orange button with 970m gtx except during boot

No issue with original 670mx gtx

 

Well i finished making the heatsink mod, installing the thermal paste pads etc... and everything now work fine a friend of mine helped me (he's the one with steady hands) and now i'm enjoying the GTX 980m 8GB and playing Witcher 3 on Ultra and getting FPS of 38~ so this card its amazing. But i see its getting a bit hot (90°C - 93 °C) with turbo fan at max speed. so should i worry about this and buy a better thermal paste like Diamond or something like this?

EDIT: forgot to say that this card is amazing and after updating my bios everything was plug & play like the instructions said.

 

It seems like the paste job itself or the pad layout is not quite right, did you take a picture before you put it in? What pads and thickness did you use?

 

You can reapply thermal compound which can help to reduce a few degrees.

 

I was trying to remove my GTX 980M from my GT60 and sell it since I no longer play video games. You told me that if I have an unlocked bios, in the long list of options in the unlabeled arrow of the first page, I could change graphics mode from SG (switchable graphics) to IGP so that the fan would not go crazy spinning all the time without a GPU inside the laptop. However there is no such thing. The only option is muxless and it's already selected

 

That's the wrong setting IIRC you need to find the other one.

 

Does anyone here have firsthand experience with upgrading a GT72's GPU through MSI's upgrade program?

 

There’s no other option for that, that’s the only one. Maybe my unlocked bios is different form others? I don’t know

 

It was not immediately obvious and buried, maybe create a youtube video of all the options?

 

Did you already flashed the unlocked BIOS?

 

It’s already flashed. I got it from svet. I searched high and low and there is no option to perform this move

 

hello i kinda need help from pro's i have msi gt 60 onc x51 bios and i upgraded to gtx 770m but the card runs very slowly at 135 mhz i have moded the inf file and tried with several driver versions if anyone could help it would be you guys

 

I see, ask him directly about this and see what he says.

 

Hello Everyone,
I recently upgraded my laptop again to windows 10. After the update the drivers for the gtx 970m installed without any problems. The device manager is recognising the card too. But the problem is im not being able to run any games with it. I play League and Dragon Age 3 and whenever i start those games i get 7-8 fps for DAI and 25-30 fps in League at maxed settings. I have tried to change the default setting from the Nvidia control panel and tried launching it by right clicking it and selecting the nvidia gpu.i even tried disabling the HD4000 graphics and still it wouldnt use the Nvidia GPU. Can anyone help me with this problem please.
Please not that everything was working fine in windows 7.I played league in 60-90 fps and DAI in 45-60 fps at high settings.
Msi GT 60
i7 3610qm
Nidia driver 353.62
12gb ddr3
gtx 970m

 

Hi!

I have a similar issue.
970m in ms16f3 was working great in 7 and 8.1 except the light always orange. Was it the same for you?

What is your bios version?

Edit: I see that you have the same problem with orange light

In the bios, if you move from legacy to uefi, is it working? Mine reboot in bios until I disable it

 

Yes..when i used it in 7 it worked perfectly but the orange light was always on...im using the bios and ec from the link in page 1, the 51x and T18. The thing u mentioned about switching bios to uefi didnt work...i think a clean install in uefi mode ans disabling secure boot might...but i have not tested it yet.
Bdw have u tried using the 32 bit drivers?

 

No, it doesn't. I try even by removing all the HDD and SSD with no difference.

I try also with three different vbios but I suspect that the problem is in the bios

Could someone post a link for the 84.04.22.00.11 vbios?

 

What have

what did u try? Clean installing windows or the 32 bit driver.If u did clean install windows then did u disable secure boot?..i was gnna try thât now but i wont bother myself with that if u've already tried it.
Why do u think its the vbios?

 

Yes I tried full clean install windows.

I was thinking that it could be a problem with the bios cause it's not normal that uefi doesn't work.. Seems like incompatibility

But I want to try this vbios as a last chance

 

I dont know what else i could try to fix this. I've been searching the internet extensively but nobody has a solution which can solve it other rolling back to 8.1 or 7.

 

Same problem.
Even when drivers got installed games can't see my 980m.
But in most cases drivers just won't install.
May be we need new modded INF file for Win 10.

 

Did you install win10 in legacy or uefi? I've read in forums that disabling secure boot in uefi solved many hardware problems. i've installed in legacy mode.
Did you try installing 32 bit drivers? im downloading the modded inf now if it works for me i will upload it for u.

 

I installed the modded drivers and it works now! Try follow these steps.
1. Download driver and inf from http://laptopvideo2go.com/drivers?dev=13D8&sub=110C1462&whql=0&lang=0&orderby=version&dir=desc&os=&os[]=win8x64
NOTE. For 980m the values will change. Go to Device Manager,expand Display adapters,double click NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and note down the Hardware ids in the Details tab. Enter those values you see in the link above.
This step is important because if the values are different the driver might not install or worse damage your card.
2. Download the driver and save the inf file as yoyo.inf (in the save as dialog box save as all files NOT .txt file) (rename it to nv_dispi later).
3. Extract the driver and replace the nv_dispi.inf in Display.Driver folder.
4. Follow these http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2284749/completely-uninstall-amd-nvidia-gpu-drivers.html
5.Restart PC
6. Now you have to Disable Digital Signing. To disable Driver Signing press (windows key+i) go to Updates and Security, Recovery tab and Restart now under the Advanced startup option.
7. Once you have rebooted u will need to choose the Troubleshoot option, head into Avanced options, Startup Settings then Restart.
8. After restart you will be given a list of startup settings that you can change. The one we are looking for is Disable driver signature enforcement. See the number which lists it (for me it was 7) and press it. Your PC will restart.
9. Install the modded driver. Reboot.
You can try this. It worked for me.

 

Ok, will try now.
Is number 4 necessary? Seems boring. May be just use clean install?
And number 6 you can just click restart holding SHIFT.

Will write results.

 

Follow it...it wont take more than 5 mins

 

Thank you.
This INF file works on any win 10 drivers without uninstalling previous.

 

It works with Clevo vBIOS 84.04.22.00.12.

But when I flash to MSI vBIOS 84.04.22.00.0A same problem again: games can't see 980m.

 

Is your VGA card from MSI or Clevo?

 

Clevo

 

I have the latest version from MSI, which is 84.04.35.00.17.
Email me directly if you are interested.

 

Same story.

Any MSI vBIOS not working.

Clean install results infinite black screen with cursor.

Flashing to MSI vBIOS from working Clevo vBIOS + moddrivers = results 980m appeared only in device manager and can be stressed by AIDA64, but in fact not working at all, and not detected by any application.

16F3, 51x, T.17(18).

 

It might be the card itself being defective, have you tried swapping back to the original card?

 

After upgrading windows 10, my gpu locked fps to 59.9, if i close vsycn nothing change. Also screen getting tearing. Anybody tried windows 10 ?

 

But it works in Win 8.1 with any vBIOS, and works in Win 10 with Clevo vBIOS, but not with MSI.
And I'm sure original card will work, why not.

 

Has anyone's Optimus appear to have stopped working?

Earlier this week, mine was working fine.

I was originally running Windows 8.1 Enterprise and tried to follow a downgrade procedure to switch to 8.1 Pro so I could upgrade to 10 Pro. However, after that failed (and everything else still seemed fine), I no longer get the power LED switching color to indicate which GPU is in use.

Both appear to detected fine. No issues with drivers or anything. However, it's stuck on the orange LED, implying that the Nvidia card is active all of the time. Sometimes when it's sitting idling, the fan will spin up for a minute or two to cool it down, then turn off.

I've tried various Intel and Nvidia drivers (some modded, some work unmodded). Nothing changes. I've also been bouncing between Windows 8.1 and 10 and getting the same results. I also did the EC firmware reset and reset bios back to the defaults.

It appears with HWInfo64 that the Intel graphics card is active most of the time as the 970M is shown as sleeping. However, the 970M is also showing 4GB of RAM instead of 6GB. GPU-Z reports the right RAM.

LED starts up white and boot, and switches to orange when Windows boots.

So is Optimus still working, and there's no LED changes showing it, or is something jacked in my laptop? I wouldn't think that a change to an OS would jack it up like this, let alone persist thru multiple installs. Is there something I'm missing or not doing right?

Thanks,

Super

 

Looks like my card blew up.

I tried Dragon Age for a little while tonight. The driver took a dump about 20 minutes in, and now I can't see the device at all in the device manager. I can always try wiping my system, but I'd like to avoid that if possible. Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

 

Do you have a spare HDD? If yes, then you can try a clean install with it.
But generally, it is not good when device disappearing from the device manager.

 

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this thread. I have MSi GT70 20D (Haswell) GTX780M. I'm thinking of doing this GPU upgrade project. After going through the method and guide provided (credit to Talon), I'd like to get the 980m as my next card. But I have no Idea if it would work or not. So, I'm asking any MSi GT70 20D user guide here that have succeed in upgrading their card to help me with some tips to start with. I'd be really thankful to all of you guys for your help.

My Laptop specs:-
processor: intel i7-4700MQ 2.4ghz
os: windows 8 64-bit
Bios version: E1763IMS.50J, 10/7/2013
vBios version: 80.04.97.00.04
GPU: nVidia Geforce GTX780M 4GB

**sorry for my bad english**

 

Yeah, I have the old SSD loaded with Windows on I migrated from when I got the EVO. I'm going to try doing a migration from the old to the new as I know that one worked. See what happens.

If not, I'll play around with it some more. Right now, my laptop's just a glorified workstation. It'd be a really nice server lol. But I don't have anything to lose at this point. So if I gotta do clean installs ... oh well.

Do you think switching between UEFI and Legacy boot will make any difference? Or going back to Windows 7?

 

I think it's dead, Jim.

I tried another SSD, as well as secure wiping it to make sure it was completely clean. I tried Windows 8.1 and 7 both in UEFI and legacy modes. All it sees is the Intel IGFX.

Weird thing is that it starts up white and switched to orange during boot, then stays orange. Almost like it's working, but it's not. Still no card in device manager, the Nvidia installer didn't see it either. Neither do GPU-Z and HWInfo.

I think I'm SOL. Darn shame as I love this laptop. I may make it a server eventually. In the meantime, it'll still work fine for work and stuff.

So the question is, where do I go from here? I don't have a lot of cash at thee moment. A new vid card would be about 450 plus shipping. My other option us to wait on the Skylake laptops to come out in Septemberish and go from there.

Anyone know what Nvidia's doing with gfx chips?

Thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Super

 

Hit Troy-C, we have the same MSI laptop.. I have the MSI GT70 20D Dragon Edition 2 with GTX780M.. Now After going through the discussion, I found hope in my beloved Laptop.. I was planning buying the MSI GT80 TITAN-SLI but it not worth it though.. Luckily I have GPU uprade kit reseller from illegear around Malaysia.. and they just confirmed there is P150M-A Clevo GTX980 8GB card the same as from the RJtech.. $883.03 for a card is pretty good rather than spending $2000-3000 for new laptop with the same card.. anyway thanks for the guide.. regards!

 

HI Everybody!

I’ve upgraded my GT60-0NC-004US with a GTX 980M.
It’s working fine, no great issues to install it.

My last benchmark using a GTX 670M gave me 2004 (2300 OC) points in FireStrike.
I’ve tested my new 980M and the result was over 6595 (Link: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/5584038 )

@Talon
Please update the tested configurations:

MSI GT60 0NC (Ivy Bridge i7-3610QM) – GTX 980M Tested and Working
BIOS Version: E16F3IMS.51X
EC Version: 16F3EMS1.T18
Clevo GTX 980M 8GB with Stock vBios Version 84.04.3E.00.01
Windows 8.1 Pro (x64) / Windows 10 Pro (x64)
Modded INF Nvidia Drivers (Link: http://laptopvideo2go.com/drivers?dev=13D7&sub=110B1462&whql=1&lang=20&orderby=version&dir=desc&os=)

Hi gsk_1905!
I got the same issue!

When I was on Windows 8.1 all tests that I made in 3DMark it had run at full speed, now on Windows 10 I got stuck in 59.9 FPS, the exception was very demanding apps, like Firestrike which the 980M cannot perform over 60 FPS.
Using Afterburner to monitor CPU/GPU temps, I’ve also verified that the 980M was using only less than 100% in some games with a lot of Screen Tearing.
I had to enable V-Sync in almost all games to minimize the tearing, but when I disable is the GPU Usage remains the same.

Battlefield 4 – 30~55 FPS on Ultra (GPU Usage 40~60%)
Tomb Raider – 30~60FPS on Ultra with TressFX (Usage 30~60%)
Far Cry 3 – 28~35FPS on Ultra (Usage ~50%)
The Crew – 28~35 FPS on Ultra (Usage ~50%)
ProjectCars – 30-45FPS on Ultra (Usage ~50%)
Shadow of Mordor on Ultra – min 31 avg 60 max 131 (Usage 80~100%)
Killing Floor 1 – 59.9 FPS on Ultra with some frame drops, but still playable (GPU Usage less than 30% almost all the time)
BLUR – 100FPS on Ultra (Usage 60%)

These were the games that I’ve tested up to now.
Thanks all of you guys, I won’t change this GT60 soon.

 

http://www.panelook.com/B173ZAN01.0_AUO_17.3_LCM_overview_25358.html

It looks , 4k panel will come but i dont know we can upgrade or not