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

I tried everything but cant solved. Therefore i return to windows 8.1 i am thinking problem can be Ec firmware

 

MSI has to release Win10-certified BIOS and EC otherwise unforeseen issues can happen after the upgrade.

 

@DMTwo a

System config added, thanks for the feedback on your system.

 

Hi gsk_1905 and Kevin!


Yesterday I was trying to figure out what exactly was happening with my system.
After changing the EC FW to T16 and T17 to try better compatibility and performance from CPU and GPU, as recommended by Svet, I had the following issues:

With T16 I have the very same performance of T18 without brightness control.
With T17 I lost the WiFi touch button and also the LEDs near the touchpad stopped working.

I flashed again my T18 and did some tests.

In the beginning I thought that the GPU had problems to keep the usage because of thermal/power throttling.
I started my tests with the MSI Kombustor, after some stress tests I saw that my GPU could handle 100% load without any troubles.
When I started the CPU burner inside Kombustor I saw what was happening, from 1 to 7 threads it was ok, however with 8 threads running together the GPU load dropped almost vertically, from 98-100% to 50% or less.

Sadly I discovered that my i7 was the problem, the GPU was ok.

I spent some time testing it and I realized something very strange, the CPU speed was ranging from minimum to maximum, from 1.1GHz to 3.1GHz.

The games I’ve played were with low FPS but still playable, sometimes it reached 60fps but it couldn’t keep it.

I’ve started HwInfo64 and transmitted the CPU speed to MSI Afterburner OSD.

For my surprise the fps drops were related to CPU throttling, the CPU keep trying to save power lowering the clock because low CPU usage, as the tasks are splitted between the cores/threads the i7 "think" that is not necessary to keep a high frequency clocking down the CPU, so this was the problem.

THE SOLUTION! (At least for now)

I found a program called ThrottleStop from TechPowerUp.
Link: http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/Utilities/ThrottleStop/

With this program I locked my CPU into its maximum speed (3.1GHz with 4 active cores).
For my surprise the games that used to drop frames or have avg 30fps, now run smoothie, locked into desired 60fps with v-sync or over 60 without v-sync.
Now I can see the game using all power from GPU, unless older games that cannot reach it.

I believe that this issue can be permanently fixed with some EC FW mods, I’ll talk to Svet about it.

At least anybody that is suffering with this problem can try this.
For me it worked perfectly.

 

I've been using my upgraded GT60 onc for almost a week now and till now its working very smoothly. One thing which worries me is the temerature during heavy gaming. My GPU goes upto 86-87 degree celcius. Is it normal for a 970m to get hot like that? Also can someone please post a link to the EC Firmware E16F3EMS1 VerT.19. Im using verT.18 right now.

 

Quite normal, although it would be ideal if you were closer to 80 C than to 90 C. This model does tend to run warm, though. Have you upgraded the thermal compound on it?

 

Yes i used cooler master extreme fusion x1 to paste the gpu. I bought the cheap thermal pads from ebay.

 

The coolest temperatures can be achieved by propping up the rear of the machine about the height of a plastic drinks bottle cap. Also repaste using a high quality compound like IC diamond and replace all the thermal pads in the system (except on the thermal bridge, leave that) with 0.5mm pads of reasonable quality. This ensures the GPU core gets the tightest and best fit to the contact plate on the heatsink.

 

Thank you for the advice Meaker. I will try out these suggestions. Will the regular blue silicone thermal pads be ok or should i get another of higher quality. I was thinking of fujipoly pads and collaboratory paste.

 

So long as its 5w/mk or greater and manufactured properly you should be good.

 

That's a special release from Svet, best to talk to him directly to obtain it.

 

MS 16F3 here. Moded 670M heatsink to install 970M. Fitted almost perfect. Running Windows 7 and I can install drivers without modifying .inf files. However, tried a couple of latest drivers and none wanted to use 970M for 3D stuff. Weird. Any solutions?

 

My system is 16MF4 and upgraded to GTX 980M. Now I am using windows 10 and everything is working normal. It's been more than 2 weeks now.

 

did you try this by disabling multi-threading instead of lowering the operating speed?

 

My BIOS doesn't have this option.


It was strange, a very demanding game (Shadow of Mordor) took everything from my system, while BF4 and others older games has FPS drops sometimes below 30s.


When I started to monitor the values from CPU and GPU usage I saw that my system was using very few resouces.

A older game that used to play with high settings on my GTX 670M without issues was lower than 30fps on my new 980M…


My CPU speed was jumping from minimum to maximum, from 1.1GHz to 3.2GHz, when the speed was increased to maximum the game was smoothie.

Now that I fixed the speed to maximum while I’m playing the problem was gone… My games run smoothie at 60fps and my GPU usage usually stay away from 100% with v-sync, without v-sync it goes further but with lots of tearing, so I keep v-sync on.


My installation of Windows 10 was almost clean, I installed Windows 8.1 (Clean), activated it and then installed the Windows 10, at the end I choose the option Erase everything…


Now I have no problem since I've locked my CPU at maximum, I had no heat problems at all, my CPU reached 95 once during benchmarks without turbo FAN, with turbo enabled it keeps under 85... By the way I’m using Arctic MX-4 for CPU and GPU, the CPU always get hotter than GPU.

Considering that I live in Brazil and our Winter has days with 30°C during the day, this temps are ok.

In this weekend I played outside during the dawn, the maximum temp was 75°C without turbo FAN, the outside temp was pretty chilly, maybe 15°C!

The GT60 cooling system is very depending from the ambient temperature.

 

Hmm. With BF4, if origin in game is enabled it can cause some serious ****. E.g., I was experiencing a 1 second lag after every 1 minute of so. Where one feels like the game stuck and then suddenly you character would start running again. When I check my CPU it would jump to 100% from 40 to 50% after every minute. I turned off the Origin in game and now everything is okay.

 

Hello everyone,

got MS 16F3 here with new MSI 970M 3GB card.

I've done 2 things so far in order to upgrade from 670M to 970M:
1) Modded heatsink -> fits 970M great
2) Updated BIOS to 51X -> went nice and smooth

However, card doesn't run yet. I'm running Win7 64bit with official Nvidia drivers that installed without modding .inf file. I cannot get the card to render anything.
What I haven't done is EC flash. And I cannot flash it because I get this message: Target board FileName is different !

My EC version: 16F3EG61 Ver.4.08
EC date: 06/04/2012

EC version that I have downloaded along with 51X bios: 16F3EMS1.T18

So I believe everything is here ready to run, just needs some tinkering. I could do something on my hand, but would rather trust someone who has experience in this.

Question is: How does one flash EC with this error message mentioned above?

 

Hi djdblaster,

You should install T17 EC for your notebook (16F3), it's good and solve throttling problem ( https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=162629.0)

For the driver, download a modded driver, for my gtx 980m, only 350.12 and 355.60 work properly.. With the others drivers, my ****ing hd 4000 works permanently xD.

Be care of the temperature... I made a watercooling with the air cooling system and my gpu doesn't go over 75°C.. Without this system It was 95-100°C... Full using btw.

Bye

Seven

 

Alright, I'll try downloading modded drivers. I'm using official Nvidia 355.60 right now and dGPU doesn't render anything.
How do I install T18? On the link you showed me, it says barebones are not supported. Mine was originally MS 16F32.

Edit: 350.12 and 355.60 don't work. Tried 344.80, doesn't work either. Should I download all drivers and try one by one? I don't think that is an issue. Could issue be EC? I'm still using old EC.

 

Create bootable usb key: http://www.bay-wolf.com/usbmemstick.htm
once done extract all files from your archive T18_16F32_dos.rar to the USB key, reboot notebook and boot from USB key
when you see A:\ or C:\, type:
ECALL.BAT [ENTER]

and wait to finish
then turn off the notebook and remove both ac power cord and battery
and wait 5 minutes.

 

Hi guys, im thinking about upgrading the gpu in my GT70 from 770m to 970m, i have 1 concern about my current ac adapter, it is a 180w 19.5v , will it be enough to run the new 970m when put in my laptop? It seems like 180w is the highest i can get for any ac adapter being sold out there with 5.5*2.5mm power jack plug.
Thank you all.

 

The difference in TDP is just 5 - 10W (75 vs 81), quite insignificant. MSI uses that adapter with 100W cards, too.

 

Successfully upgraded MS 16F3 with 670M to 970M. Flashed BIOS and EC (which had to be force flashed using '-e' command in batch file). All good now.
Next thing is to reduce temperatures. I hit 88 C while in Far Cry 4, 1080p, max details, back of the laptop raised with the book.

 

It'll be fine.

 

Thank you for the replies guys. Actually my laptop is a Fangbook Evo HX7 that i got from cyberpowerpc 2 years ago. I know that the fangbook is based on gt70 model, but im wondering if the msi bios will work for me. I try to look for MSI bios update files on their website and i found this statement "The BIOS files provided here are exclusive only for MSI-branded Notebook PCs and not compatible with any MSI Whitebook/Whitebrand barebones. MSI takes no responsibility for any damage caused by improper use or lack of technical expertise." which really scared me. So is anyone here knowledgeable with the fangbook that can help me to clear my concern?
Also what is EC and how can i find out its current version (since it seems i have to update EC version in order to get the new GPU to work properly).
Thank you all.

 

Hi KLMA!

I had the same doubt you have.
I own a GT60 and wanted to upgrade to 970M or 980M, I took a 980M and it's working perfectly!
The 180W power supply had no problem with full load.

About the BIOS and Firmware questions I rather ask Svet about it, maybe he can help you to find a new BIOS/EC version or give you the green light to flash the 51X or 71X BIOS and T18.

Good luck!

 

Hi guys, Svet helped me out with the BIOS and EC, I just ordered my GTX 970m. However, when i tried to clean my laptop, i took the current GTX 770m out and i notice that on its back side (below side), it does not have a X-bracket attached to it. So when i order my new GTX 970m, should i tell them about that so they will ship me a 970m without a X bracket as well? Can i detach the X-bracket by myself without damaging the card ? Or would the new GTX 970m with a X bracket still also fix into my laptop? Thank you guys, my laptop is based on ms 1763 model

EDIT: And will my i7-4700MQ 2.4Ghz - 3.4 Ghz bottleneck the gtx 970m? If yes then what is the cheapest cpu that go along just well with the 970m? Thank you again

 

The card won't fit in with the bracket. It has to be removed. You may be able to get them to take it off, but I wouldn't count on it.

That said, it's removable. But you need to be really careful when doing it. I knocked a couple of those tiny bar capacitors off and I had to find a shop that did the micro-soldering to get them put back on. Fortunately, I found one, but it cost me to get the card fixed. Depending on where you live, you may or may not have one easily available.

Soften the glue up with a hair dryer and be very careful and slow about it. Last thing you want to do is brick the card. It takes very little force to knock a capacitor off.

 

Hi superguy, how it's going with your 970m? Was it broken down or not?

 

It worked fine for awhile. A few weeks ago when prepping for Windows 10, I noticed optimus was acting funny. I tried gaming with it and after about 20 minutes, it blue screened and now it won't see the card anymore.

I have no idea whether it's the motherboard slot or the card that died. I can't find my old 670 to test it at the moment.

So right now, I'm just running off the integrated graphics at the moment. It works fine for that. Depending on what the issue is, I may just turn it into a server and get a Skylake laptop.

 

This is so unfortunate, obviously anyone can get a bad card, I suppose its the risk you take when you do your own upgrades. My guess is that when you knocked off those pieces of the card and had to get it repaired it only fixed it temporarily. I would take the card out and sell it on eBay AS IS. Obviously report it as being defective, but you'd be surprised how much you might get for it. Maybe even $100. That way you could pick up a different card that works.

 

That's a pretty good idea. I hadn't thought of that. Anything is better than nothing.

I'll say that having that IGP is nice as a backup at least. My laptop's at least usable. Not for any decent newer games, but I can still do work on it at least.

 

If the values of the components was not quite right or something was missed then it's really easy for those little things to malfunction.

 

hey guys its been awhile since I visited the forum.. I'm planning to upgrade to windows 10, are there any advice on how to update the nvidia drivers? Or is it the same as with windows 8.1? I need badly your thoughts and suggestions... thanks

 

In my case, I updated since day one. I was very happy but began to notice that all games had tearing and didn't know why. Then, I noticed that nvidia control panel had limited options. Then I discovered that forcing vsync through control panel and nvidia inspector wasn't working (which caused lots of tearing and also higher temps). I did a little research and tried a lot of workarounds: Clean install (twice), multiple nvidia driver installs, tried BIOS update, VGA drivers, etc. At the end, when I tried to clean install W10 for the third time I encountered an error and infinite loop on my GT60 so the only way I had was to revert to the original W8 installation. After all this, I upgraded to W8.1 and now I'm happy cause EVERYTHING is working fine again (control panel, forcing vsync, adaptative vsync, overclocking, etc).

In simple words, I wouldn't recommend updating to W10 until Nvidia fixes those W10 drivers.

 

Glad that you were able to sort this out.
There are a lot of reported issues which were expected.
It's gonna take some time before MS & component manufacturers get everything sorted out.

 

You will get a very limited nvidia control panel unless you plug in an external monitor as those settings don't do anything in a purely optimus based setup as the IGP handles screen resolution, colour etc.

 

Omega, it's been awhile eh.
If you feel adventurous then go for it, but make sure everything are updated to the latest version, including BIOS, EC, drivers, and utilities.
Finally, Windows Update.

If not, just wait awhile until the kinks are worked out by Microsoft, MSI and its vendors.

 

I think omega should do it then when he goes through all the headaches being the guinea pig. Then the rest of us can glide through it once he figures it out hah!

Sent from my LGUS990 using Tapatalk

 

Does the MSI GT780DXR is included on the whitelist?
Looking forward to update to GTX 880m or even 980m

 

What is the GT780DXR is it a MSI 1762 or something like that, anyone know ? because its easier to search that way.

 

1762 is GT70 - suppose GT780DXR is 1761/17611

 

The 4 digit number is the motherboard code and is used for the equivalent barebone models.

 

hey bro! thanks so much for this thread, i will buy the 970 without thinking twice

but i was curious

can i upgrade mi intel?

i have an i7 3610, i wanted to upgrade it to the latest one or the highest one possible

thanks love you

 

I successfully upgraded my 3630QM to a 3920XM with no problems. It's a drop in upgrade. You can't go up to a Haswell though as that uses a different socket.

 

The 3740qm and 38xx series would be a reasonable upgrade too, especially with some tweaking.

 

Windows update just popped up saying I can now install windows 10 for the first time .. its now 09/19/15 - MSI's website has no drivers for windows 10 only 7 and 8 ... did any one ... try this? (installing via windows update, without forcing windows update to somehow let you or doing a fresh install..) and if so ... did everything work? (.. for example: turbo-fan? keyboard backlight on\off, wifi\bt on\off, geforce card?)

 

How much gain do you receive in terms of overall performance?

 

You can upgrade but it's recommended to update the drivers directly from component manufacturers such as Killer, Realtek, etc.
Additionally, make sure the BIOS & EC are up-to-date for best results.

 

Never really benched it to be honest. It feels snappier though.