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

The official upgrade program is not offered in the UK at the moment I believe.

 

Decided to add more airflow . It's not perfect and only half of the size of this cover has ventilation but I will report if my temps are affected by this alteration. I dremeled out the section of plastic right above the fan, removed all debris, and scrapped an old dell panel which needed slight alterations to fit flush. I taped the panel in place and flipped over the back panel to add glue. I first used Loctite super glue ultra liquid control around the inner shape of panel to connect. I waited 20 min and applied a more heavy duty glue: Loctite all purpose GO2 glue, which takes 12 hours to cure.

 

Honestly MSI promotes this GPU upgrade like it's free. It's not even trade back where you could give 880M to MSI and get 980M for 200$.

NOPE. You can keep your old GPU to yourself and buy 980M for 800$ or so. You have just been "pimped".

 

Decided to add more airflow . It's not perfect and only half of the size of this cover has ventilation but I will report if my temps are affected by this alteration. I dremeled out the section of plastic right above the fan, removed all debris, and scrapped an old dell panel which needed slight alterations to fit flush. I taped the panel in place and flipped over the back panel to add glue. I first used Loctite super glue ultra liquid control around the inner shape of panel to connect. I waited 20 min and applied a more heavy duty glue: Loctite all purpose GO2 glue, which takes 12 hours to cure.[/QUOTE]
UPDATE: I checked GPU-Z and Speccy and was suprised to see that my GPU temps displayed a varying 7-12 degrees drop but more consistent on the lower end. My idle temps hung between 50-52 degrees Celsius before adding this panel. Anyone considering doing this should take note that the panel that I added is made from aluminum which is the likely culprit to the temp drop. http://speccy.piriform.com/results/YdwinDgrXxIHtYU0AqyiWEk

 

Scratch that, the power was unplugged. Is there a mod improve cooling while retaining power?

 

Ok seems like that didnt last very long, had two crashes yesterday. The culprit seems to be the switching, if I were already on the 970m GPU, the light being Orange, then I have no crashes, but if I am on the Intel GPU "White Light", and then I run a game, it tries to switch to the 970m and then the driver crashes.

Definitely a driver and windows 10 issue here.

 

Would someone take a peek at this score and tell me if I am throttling? http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/8820232 Turbo fan was on

 

I am going to ask again:
Does any one know how to fix faulty Optimus operation?

My GeForce 980M is detected but everything runs on the Intel HD4000 regardless of settings in nv panel or power settings, at both windows 8.1 and windows 10.

I am getting 480 points in standard FireStrick at 1980*1080 instead of ~8k (talking combined score here) and no 3d game is playable on anything but min res and min settings (games that worked before, like the latest farcry\tomb raider\witcher\shadow of mordor\bf4\cs:go[!])

Alternatively if your system works fine please write your os and driver version (both Intel driver version and nvidia driver version)

Example for format:

Windows 10 Pro
NV: 355.98 with NV experience
vbios: 84.4.22.0A
no INF modification / msi vbios / clevo card

Intel: 10.18.10.4276
intel vbios 2126.0
HD 4000

Status: everything runs on HD4000, geforce 980m is detected but never used, regardless of settings.

FireStrick score: 480

 

Did you try right click to see whether the option Run with High performance processor is available? Check if in Nvidia Control Panel- Manage 3D Settings-Global Settings-Preferred graphics processor is set to Auto-Select. You can try High performance Nvidia processors to see whether there is a difference. If nothing happens may be the BIOS or the VBIOS are not compatible with your MSI GT70. Did you change the Clevo VBIOS with the MSI VBIOS? Did the GTX 980M work with Clevo VBIOS?

 

Hi Zar,

The following quote from the first page is actually mine:

This was my system a few weeks ago, 4 different versions of vBios were tested, the one that came with my card, another Clevo someone here uploaded, the Perma 1.1 oc and the MSI.
all three Clevo vbios required inf mod to drivers, the MSI didn't.
Additionally
, despite "worse" performance (only actually noticeable in syntetic benchmarks such as FutureMark) the MSI vBios version produced the lowest temps, which ultimately was the reason I choose to stick with it.

Everything was fine and working great, until it just stopped.


Right now my NVIDIA Control Panel settings are:
"Manage 3D settings -> Global Settings -> Preferred graphic processor: High-performance NVIDIA processor"

"Manage 3D settings -> Program settings -> every program \ game that shows up \ that I added \ that allows settings alternation -> 2. Select the preferred graphic processor for this program: -> "High-performance NVIDIA processor"

"Adjust image settings with preview -> let the 3D application decide \ use the advanced 3D image settings" both of which produced the same results.


The right click "Run with High performance processor" is unavailable but I don't think that it matters? surely if its set to run with the High performance processor in the nv control panel that should be sufficient, no?

I'll re-try the 4 vBios version that I have and check if anyone of them changes my situation, please let me know if you have any other idea

 

Hi samXLR,

Is the option Auto available in Manage 3D settings-Global Settings-Preferred graphics processor: Auto? I think that your problem is that the BIOS of your MSI GT70 is not compatible with Nvidia GTX 980M.Did Nvidia GTX 980M work with the first Clevo BIOS?
You can try to see if there is a an option in the BIOS to set up the GPU-Intel or Nvidia.

 

it cant be lack of compatibility, it worked before, for months.

Yes there's an option to set it on "auto" that's what it was when I first opened the control panel after seeing the issue for the first time, setting it on auto doesn't fix it.

My bios settings haven't changed, but I'll go see if there's anything that I can do, I wouldn't think that this is the place to look for solution since the geforce 980m is showing up in device manager and the driver's installation is detecting it.

my plan of action for the following few hours is .. try the 4 diffrent vbios that I have, then try play with the bios's settings, then format and install windows 7 .. ill let you know if anything works out.

 

Hi, Im trying to upgrade MSI GX660 (16F1) with 970M. Id like to know what other heatsinks are "compatible". Obviously theres the 970M heatsink (but I cant find it anywhere) and theres the 780M heatsink with little modification. Is there any other that would work?

I found 780M heatsink on ebay but it looks like the heatpipe coming to CPU is bent so it wouldnt align. What do you think? Could be angle judging from the cardboard lines?

Spoiler

 

Nefter, its a soft metal anyone can easily bend it by hand.

as for my on-going saga of detected yet not working gpu... no solution, done everything short of a format, once my schedule frees up... that would be next

 

Hi Sam,

This might be idiotic but worth a try, I did notice that when you attach an external Monitor via the HDMI connection at the back, it is always on the external GPU. Can you try to plug in a monitor and try if it works for you?

Also what is the light on your power when you game? White or Orange?

 

Hey guys,

can you please confirm that this will work in my MS-1761: link

I want to be super sure because the seller on ebay said to me: "Do not suggest this card. And if you insist ,we can send the card for you. While do not accept return under any condition "

thanks a million

 

Had no screen to try it with and since resolved the issue, more on that in a moment, about your question: all the lights that my computer have are blue, the speakers\control bar\touchpad\front leds (bt\wifi\battery\sleep\hd) .. they all shine in blue, even the power button, maybe its different on your laptop?

What solved my problem was a solution that @Talon suggested (same guy as #1 post in this 247 pages long thread) which is:
1. flash latest Prema Mod vBios
2. get the latest drivers and INF mod them to work with the above. (drivers must be from http://laptopvideo2go.com otherwise this wont work[!])
3. before installing run DDU and remove anything nvidia
4. dont forget to disable driver signature requirement & then install the modded drivers.
5. reflash pc bios (I was on .71X so I reflashed to .71X again)

and it worked, just like that.

before that I tried everything, did fresh installs of windows 7\8\8.1\10, did ghost restore of 8.1 and 8.0 enterprise, tried oldest driver and newest driver per OS, DDU before each install, you name it .. I tried it, nothing worked (all of the above was tried with the MSI vBios and normal drivers).

Oh and as a word of advice ..
dont install windows 10
dont update drivers
heck, dont even run windows update
esp if your system isn't even listed by MSI as supported by windows 10 and / or if you upgraded your GPU

 

apart from my above question, the BIOS and vBIOS upgrades are a bit hazy to me.

In the original post the there is a talk about IvyBridge based system but mine is SandyBridge. Can you please advise me on what sort of BIOS and vBIOS would I need for my MS-1761 to be able to put the 970M in it?
My current:
BIOS: E1761IG6 ver.3.06
EC: 1761EG61 ver.4.04

I would appreciate for any help you guys can give me.

 

Glad it's sorted

Yea on mine GT-70 2OC the light turns to orange when the 970m is used and white if Intel HD4600 is used

Yea agreed, Windows 10 is buggy as hell, at the moment I can only find stability of the drivers if the 970m is set as primary always. Once it goes back to Intel and I try to switch when gaming, it crashes the driver.

 

Okay, after having it working on 8.1 with drivers 353.12, and after seeing that it doesn't work with any newer drivers on 8.1
I did a ghost back up and went for windows 10 and tried 358.50 which didnt work and then 356.04 which totally works!

I now have windows 10 and everything is working.

Note: offical drivers wont work due to clevo vbios, msi vbios wont work as the issue produced is inactive optimus: only the hd4000 gets to be used aka terrible fps.
solution INF mod & clevo vbios
but for me only the modded drivers from the site in the original first page's first post worked, and even then, not every driver worked: 358.50 didnt work but 356.04 did.

Tip: always keep a handy backup of the driver installer of the last driver that actually did work.
oh and if in doubt.. run DDU and remove drivers in safemode + disable antivirus before installing new drivers.

 

Hello where can I get more info about BIOS and vBIOS upgrades? It is still a bit confusing to me.

In the original post the there is a talk about IvyBridge based system but mine is SandyBridge. Can you please advise me on what sort of BIOS and vBIOS would I need for my MS-1761 to be able to put the 970M in it?
My current:
BIOS: E1761IG6 ver.3.06
EC: 1761EG61 ver.4.04

I would appreciate for any help you guys can give me.

 

Hello Balint Sipos,

If you want more info about how to update BIOS and VBIOS for MSI laptops you can check the MSI web site for your laptop in the BIOS section. Your laptop is a little bit old so I doubt it that you can install GTX 970M on it without a big hassle. If you want to upgrade to this card you definitely have to update your laptop BIOS to the latest that is on the MSI web site for your model.
BIOS update is a necessity for every GPU because without it your new card will not be recognized as a new hardware device installed.
VBIOS update is update of the BIOS on the card itself. If you upgrade for example a Haswell MSI laptop-GT70 2PC Dominator Pro with Clevo cards (which are blue) GTX 970M or GTX 980M, they have Clevo VBIOS which means that if you want to update Nvidia drivers directly from Nvidia you'll not succeed, if you don't update the BIOS first, so you have to install custom modified drivers. If you install MSI cards (green) GTX 970M or GTX 980M they have VBIOS that is fully compatible with latest drivers from Nvidia even though it is again recommended to update the BIOS of the laptop to ensure maximum compatibility with the new GPU card.
What is the exact model of your laptop? If it is a Sandy Bridge with GTX 460M which is the first generation Fermi architecture GPU, you will not succeed to upgrade to GTX 970M in my opinion. Even after BIOS update I doubt it that GTX 970M can work properly.
Nvidia GTX 980M and 970M work on Haswell and IvyBridge platforms without major problems, but Haswell platform is the easiest in terms of GPU upgrades because the BIOS of Haswell MSI laptops is more compatible with those cards.

 

Hey Zar thank you for helping me with this.
Your explanation on the BIOSs looks good to me, and I got multiple confirmations that my MS-1761 laptop does indeed good for this upgrade.
It is a SandyBridge i7-2630QM CPU and 570M GPU.

People confirmed it for example here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/msi-1761-compatible-gpus.776916/page-2
or here: http://forum.techinferno.com/msi/10710-gt780dx-upgrade-gtx-9xxm.html
(but please tell me if you think otherwise)

For the system BIOS this is the MSI page I found: http://www.msi.com/support/nb/GT70-2PC-Dominator.html#down-bios&Win7 64
But the problem is I don't have the IMS version, I have an IG6 version (E1761IG6 ver.3.06), and I'm not sure if these ones are good to use.
Also for vBIOS, I've looked around but so far I've only seen some custom made vBIOSs and there are several of them. Not sure which one to use. If you know more about this please shed some light

 

Your BIOS is different so I'm not sure whether will work or not, but the threads you copy are enough for successful upgrade even for Sandy Bridge platform. Is your MSI a barebone? If it is that is why your BIOS is IG6 version, so original MSI BIOS is not compatible with your laptop. You don't need to update VBIOS if you choose MSI green card because is good enough, and it doesn't need modified driver or custom made VBIOS. I completely agree with this thread:
http://forum.techinferno.com/msi/10710-gt780dx-upgrade-gtx-9xxm.html
If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask.

 

Hmm interesting. Yes I have a barebone from XoticPC (their designation is FORCE 1761).
So I'm guessing I would need to get the latest BIOS from them. What would I need to say?
"Please send me the latest BIOS version that the E1761IG6 ver.3.06 is upgradable to?". Do we know if that would work with the 970M?
(Sorry I am really a newbie in BIOS upgrades)

Currently I am looking at the the one the OP mentions, the Clevo version of the 970M as it is just less than £300. I could get a green MSI (from France) for around £400 but that's obviously a big bump in price.

If I go with the Clevo one I would need a VBIOS. I tried the opening post again but the links are not available anymore (asked Talon but he doesn't have it anymore). Is there place I could still get it?

 

Hello all.

New to the forums, and I posted elsewhere and they directed me to this thread for help.

Very recently I had my GTX680m die on me, and I am looking to replace or upgrade it. Most recently, It was recommended I upgrade to a 970m.

I have an MSI GT70 0NE purchased in 2012. Windows 7 install with the gtx680m 4gb.
While doing homework, the laptop suddenly shut off. If i pressed the power button, it would flash white for a split second, but remain off, nothing turning on. I took it apart and started removing pieces and attempting to boot. After removing the vga card, it successfully turned on, and booted off the internal HD4000 chip. This leads me to believe the vga card has died, or the interface between the card and the motherboard somehow went bad. I'm leaning toward the more common problem.

I am now in the market for a new video card, likely to be an Nvidia GTX 970m. I have been searching everywhere for a green MSI VBios card, but I haven't found a single one, as well as MSI doesn't have them in their parts store. I have found a few blue Alienware/clevo cards on ebay that are affordable, but I am aware these are not plug in compatible. If I have them flashed with MSI VBios, and I flash my motherboard bios to the most recent from MSI, would this solve incompatibility issues?

If anyone has any information, or confirmation of any of these questions I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

MSI GT70 0NE 276US
GTX 680m 4gb
Bios: E1762IMS.30M
EC: 1762EMS1 Ver 4.10
IGFX Vbios: 2126
ME FW Version 8.0.0.1351
Windows 7 install with a RAID setup

 

The blue ones are fine. At worst, you have to use the modified INF file and disable driver signing checking. My GT60 ran fine with a Clevo 970m.

Some of the best prices for the 970m can be found at RJtech.com. Theirs are Clevo cards.

 

I intend on getting the latest bios unlocked by Svet as well. My biggest concern is simply just getting the card to work properly.
If the vbios are flashed to msi, as well as bios flashed and updated, would it be necessary to use the modded INF drivers on the card? Or would I be able to use nvida drivers from their site?

 

There were reports of issues if you flashed those to the MSI version. MSI has both 3GB and 6GB versions out there with different vBIOSes, so you'd need to be careful. A lot of people either stayed with the Clevo bios or used a modded bios.

Using a modified INF isn't that big of a deal. I just downloaded the drivers from MSI, extracted it, copied the modified INF over to replace the stock one. Then reboot with driver signing turned off and install. Worked fine.

Newer Nvidia releases didn't require me to use it.

I have to replace my card as I damaged it while installing it, and the repair didn't hold up. I plan on getting another one from RJtech once I scrape up the cash.

 

Alright I'm leaning towards getting a blue card for now. Additionally, I still have my msi 680m heat sink. Will this be useable with a modification? Or do I need to get a new heatsink? The card architecture is almost identical

 

Yeah, you'll need to modify it as some of the parts are shifted a little bit on the 970m vs the 675/680m. You'll need a dremel tool to grind some of the metal off. It only takes a couple minutes. There's a pic early on in the thread of where you need to do it. Main thing is you get it go it's flat against the card. It'll be obvious where to grind it.

The chip area isn't a perfect fit as the 6xx series is more rectangular while the 970m is more square. It works fine though.

 

I have no issues picking up a dremel tool. I can look back through the thread to find out how to shave it down. My concerm was mainly if the 600 series were possible at all to mod. Thank you, I appreciate the help. It looks like I'll be picking up the blue 970

 

No worries. It can be a little scary. If yours comes with an x-bracket on it, be very careful taking it off that you don't knock any of the little bar capacitors off. I did. I got it fixed, but the repair only lasted a few months, unfortunately.

Mine came with a 675m, so we're probably using the same or very similar heatsinhks.

 

The last gt60 machines did come with the 970m and the heatsinks from them will fit in your model.

 

I'll try this again maybe someone can comment on it now

update: I received the BIOS from XoticPC. It is this version: E1761IG6.30H. Any idea if this accommodates the 970M or not? or can I actually use a different one?

 

Well, I finally found my old 675m card and ran some tests. Good and bad news.

Good news: my motherboard is fine and I have discrete graphics again - even if it's a 600 series.

Bad news: my fears were confirmed. The 970m repair didn't hold.

The story:

At first, I was hopeful. When I put the 675m in first, it wasn't detected. At all. So my first thought was the motherboard was problematic. However, I poked around in the bios and found some PEG specific settings and modified those. In particular, disabling the fast card search. I booted and it was detected!

I installed the Nvidia drivers and ran Firestrike. It ran, although the score was horrible - around 2400 for graphics. Seeing that it was now detecting the old card, I put the 970m back in and hoped. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed. The fan started spinning at 100% and it wasn't detected at all. Put the 675m back in and everything works as it should. Optimus is also back to working as it should.

So it looks like the video card is dead. Darn - gotta buy another one.

I'm going to take the advice here and put it on eBay cheap and sell it as is. If someone's an electronics guru and can fix it, they'll have a bargain for a card. I'll also put the "old" 3630QM proc (I say "old" as MSI replaced it on a warranty repair earlier this year). Maybe if I can get a couple hundred for both, it'll make getting a new 970m easier.

So at least I know, and can proceed accordingly.

Super

 

Sorry to hear the card is busted it's amazing how things have come on from the 675m.

 

Yeah I'll have to be more careful.

It's amazing the difference seeing how much the 675m struggled with Firestrike - and how much hotter it seems to get than the 970m.

Sad thing everything else is great on the laptop nearly 3 years later. It's just the vid card that's obsolete.

 

An excuse for the 980m then but seriously it seems worth getting another 970m if you can.

 

Heh, between the two cards, I could have bought a 980m. Though that would have sucked to bork. :/

I'm probably going to pick up a 970m in the next few weeks and give it another try. I decided I'm going to wait on getting a Skylake system until the Pascal stuff starts shipping as I don't know if MXM is going to be around still. I'd have to drop $2500 on an "upgradeable" laptop only to find that Pascal uses a different slot.

 

No need with your current hardware IMO to jump just yet. Pascal will be the next big thing for owners of your class of system.

 

eh guys noob question.. what is this nVidia GTX 970M 6GB Video Card with G-Sync ? What's the difference with the plain vanilla 970m?

http://rjtech.com/shop/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=30396

 

Yeah, that's what I've been thinking the more I've thought about it. Hat's off to MSI for building a laptop that lasts. They'll get another sale out of me ... eventually.

Yeah, Pascal's kinda the big thing that's been holding me up at this point (aside from other priorities for my money at the moment). I don't feel like I'm missing out on a whole lot. By the time Pascal's out, I figure the interface will be solved, PCI-E SSDs will be cheaper, I'll get the Pascal boost, and I'll get a really significant boost in performance overall.

Hopefully there will be more info out about eGPUs by then, too.

 

I noticed that too. I think it may be something for the GT72 or GT72S with G-sync as I'm not aware of any GT60/70s supporting it. Some of our vendor friends here have said that support is a combination of the panel, bios, and driver.

I think the only real chance of having it work on a GT60/70 is with a Haswell chip. Our panels are probably too old and don't support it.

When I replace my 970m, I'm not spending the extra money on it.

 

You need to use the G-Sync card with G-sync systems and the non-G-sync card with non G-sync systems. Different vbios.

 

Will there be any performance difference with a G-sync and a non G-sync NVidia GTX 9XXM card?

 

Not necessarily. G-Sync's main selling point is to match the panel's refresh rate with the frame rate output by the card. Ideally, on a 75 Hz panel you'll get 75 fps. It's supposed to remove tearing so you have a smooth picture while you game.

 

@Super
You manage to OC your CPU? how high and does the extreme mobile much better than your old cpu? I'm thinking wether to get me a mobile extreme or not.

 

I haven't messed with OC'ing it actually. Ever since the drama with the vid card, it's been on the back burner.

I should be getting another card in the next few weeks, so I'll start mucking around with it more.

It runs faster out of the box at least.

 

Just curious - anyone know how the 980m holds up in a GT60? With a 3920XM, am I pushing my luck on heat?