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

Is your 970M the stock one from the system? Or added?

 

added. I purchased it from the site that was linked in the OP post.

 

No wonder, you can try to flash MSI VGA BIOS and try again.
MSI receives Nvidia support but such support may not apply to other brands.

 

I'll try this, but I'll need to find a new source of those bios since the ones in OP's post seem not to be working anymore.

I believe I did this once before and had an issue where the mobo wouldn't detect the card at all, but I may be thinking of maybe some diff. clevo bios....

Will let you know the results when I can find some bios to flash and have gone through the steps

 

You may ask woodzstack in this thread for a vbios, he is selling these cards out of Canada, and he installs the vbios you require for the card you purchase. Maybe I can get in touch with him on Ebay.

 

that sounds good. I'll try contacting him on here

 

what ? vbios?
Sorry I don't have an up to date list of MSI vbios's on hand. We do have them , yes.

Maybe check out this list: http://downloads.eurocom.com/support/drivers/VBIOS/
I mean if your going to experiment with vbios's why not try them all.

for MSI we use 84.04.22.00.0A Normally, or 84.04.22.00.EC which SHOULD be a PREMA vbios (if I remember correctly, and only when requested, with permission)

 

Speaking of vbioses of Prema.. My 970m vbios firestrike result with Nvidia driver 36x.xx. And my NB processor is only a 3610qm

 

bebopfox I'll see if I can try and fix those links if I still have the original MSI vBIOS 6gb version. I'm not sure I have it anymore, but I will check for you.

In the mean time I would recommend you try and stick with Clevo based vBIOS as they seemed to be more compatible for GT60/70 laptops that were 3rd gen Intels and older. 4th gen Intel worked with any combo of vBIOS including unlocked without need for any modded INF.

Why not try Prema Mod v2 that was just released? Maybe have better luck with these as they are supposed to work with newest Nvidia drivers while using modded INFs.

https://biosmods.wordpress.com/gtx9/

 

Just a FYI, and I will say up front this may just apply to my system. Installing Prema's new vbios caused my Dell 240w AC Adapter to shut off within minutes of playing a game. Reverting back to the Prema version I was using previously fixed the issue.

The reason I say it may just apply to my system is because ever since I upgraded this GT60 to the 980m, I have not needed to have the battery in to game properly. It's as if the NOS has been neutered. The GPU does not downclock without the battery like it did when the 780m was installed. The system as a whole performs at full power without the battery in.

 

probably you've got a haswell extreme plus 980m with Prema 2 vbios that cause a monster wattage drain for your nb. Even if you got 240 watts your nb can only suck 180watts from your adapter.

 

@Talon

Eh bud, i just noticed you got a roadie Dell Inspiron nb... Can you oc that to 200 core clock?

 

I know it won't use more than the 180w. I've never had the PSU trip before, so it definitely caught my attention when it kept shutting off.

That was without any overclock either.

 

I bet it would do 200 core easily, but I cannot flash my modification to the BIOS because Dell has a freaking lock, and only signed BIOS can be flashed. Unfortunately I don't have the ability or knowledge to get around this limitation. Regardless with my overclock I still gain a whopping 14fps in BF4 vs stock. I never noticed how much the memory overclock helps when you're dealing with a limited bit bus. The Dell is sort of my stop gap until MSI drops new Pascal laptops with a mobile form factor.

I miss my GT60, and the modulatiry of the entire system, I just can't lug that around with me for a few days on the road. I considered grabbing a GT72 the other day with the 6820K (unlocked goodness) a MXM 970m, and 75hz IPS display at 1470$ from newegg on sale. Then I had to slap myself back to reality of lugging something like that around. I've grown very fond of having a slimmer roadie laptop. I have my beast at home, I just need something mobile. For some reason I have to continually remind myself of this fact haha.

 

Maybe a GS60 would fit the bill? Sure, it's not as upgrade friendly, but it is thin, light, and powerful.

 

The MSI GS60 is has me interested, as does the Clevo P650 series because they have DGPU mode, and the display can be overclocked beyond 60hz. I hate that Intel has us locked down and we can't push our displays to their max potential. Case in point, the display I have in my Dell laptop if taken out and put into the P650 would default to 75hz and would support G-Sync as it is certified. Ask Intel why I'm limited and they would simply give you the generic garbage response of it would/could damage my hardware and that Dell is the one locking me down, not Intel.

Either way I will probably wait until next gens drop.

 

I recieved my 3940xm and plugged it in my nb. What stress test software can you suggest guys? And tutorials on how to tweak via unlock bios?

Thanks

 

Try Prime95.
For BIOS unlock, it's best to have Svet to unlock it for you.

 

Thanks Ken. My bios is already unlocked by Svet

 

Today is the big day! The 970m I ordered from Woodzstack, will be here today. Wish me luck on the heat sink hacking!

 

My 3940xm with WPrime.

 

Damn it omega your going to cost me money. I'm going to send you and Talon a bill

Sent from my LGUS990 using Tapatalk

 

Join in in the bandwagon then. hehehe

 

Ok, got this sucker in! I think the heatsink is made out of layered diamonds or something. Holy S**t that thing is hard!! The thing that made me the most nervous, was removing the x-bracket, but with a little blow dryer action (1 minute on low), it loosened up.

I want to thank Woodztack for always answering my questions, and putting up with me. If anyone wants to do this mod, he is the one you need to use for your card. The kit is professionally put together, and he flashed the MSI vbios for me. Give him mad props for a great transaction. The service, and the quality of the card is the best!

 

Is 4.1 GHZ the highest you can go? If you achieve higher speeds than this please tell me how to do so. At the moment I can’t figure out how to push mine to the advertised 4.5 GHZ. We got the same laptop so what works for you should work for me.

 

Your welcome. (my cards are MORE expensive??)

 

I stand corrected....The versions that are a little more money, are the 3gb variants. The clevo cards are going for more than Woodzstack sells them for. Post edited

 

The highest settings that the proc can go is 4.2 ghz. Higher than that the nb shut's down. I Dunno why but I am using a dell 240 watts adapter. You might ask some other people who have the same configuration that we have. I am suspecting it has something to do with the ec firmware though. If you can find out people who can mod the ec firmware to read 240 watts and up it would be much better.

Or if you have a digital UPS or a wattometer then find out if the nb is getting more than 180 watts from the adapter, if it is, then I suspect that the 240 watts adapter needs an upgrade too. hehe

I also found out that while stressing the cpu with "Wprime" under 1024m stress test (the cpu got warmer than 32m), the speed of the proc decreased by 200mhz.

Can you also find out if throttlestop software can handle this one? Thanks.

BTW 3940xm kicks a lot of punch than the 3610qm. Overall I am satisfied with my cpus 4 gigahurtz speed. LOL

 

Ok here’s the deal with me. In my case, anything higher than 4.1GHZ the notebook gets the blue screen of death and restarts. I can guarantee you that it’s not the adapter so don’t bother getting one with higher wattage than 240. I know this because I have the dell 330 watt and the same thing keeps on happening. I do have a wattage meter and when the CPU bumps up to 4.1 GHZ (while using the stock 180 watt adapter) the highest it ever went was 95 watts (I do not have a GPU in the notebook at the moment). It’s not a power problem. I’m leaning more to the EC firmware problem thing. Someone told me I might need to add more voltage to the CPU I can’t figure out how to do it. Nevertheless I’m satisfied with 4.1 GHZ on all 4 cores. My computer feels faster than desktops with stock CPUs. My next project is EXP GDC Laptop External PCI-E Graphics Card. This would allow me to use a desktop GPU on my notebook. I decided to go this route bearing in mind that there might not be any more upgrades for the notebooks we got. Below is a picture of the 330 watt adapter and the wattage meter I got just so you really know that I tested it and it’s not a power issue.

 

@Aladin

I think I've hit the right spot in oc'ing this baby


Testing the speed with "WPrime" and stress testing it @32m shows on the above pic that it's doing good.

But the most stable while doing the stress test @1024m is shown at the picture below




So the 4.5 gigahertz barrier's bottleneck (in my conclusion) is the heat it generates and a 330watts adapter I guess, or you need to increase the voltage? I don't see voltage settings in bios though... Unless you device a way to watercool the cpu and you can go head to head with enthusiast people from other forums out there... This is freaking AWESOME!!! Cheers

Btw.. EXP GDC Laptop External PCI-E Graphics Card is applicable in our nb? Can you show me the link? FYI amd mxm gpu's is also compatible in our nb bud. Hehe

 

Btw.. EXP GDC Laptop External PCI-E Graphics Card is applicable in our nb? FYI amd mxm gpu's is also compatible in our nb bud. Hehe[/QUOTE]


I’m receiving the EXP GDC Laptop External PCI-E Graphics Cardtoday so I’ll let you know if it’s compatible. I will be testing with a desktop GTX 970. Can you please tell me how you managed to get this bad boy to 4.3 or 4.4 GHZ without your notebook shutting down? I’m hungry to know. Please share. What are you doing different?

 

What program do you use to overclock? And what are your voltage settings?

 

gimme some reputations first LOL... Wait lemme take a pic of my bios.

 

Here you go!!! Reputation dished out. You deserve it. Wish I could have given you more but the website won't let me

 

Try one of these settings in your bios





Try putting the values on 1st core,2nd core and so on and fort. Top to bottom

Let me know if you can push it a little further and try wprime under 1024m stress test

 

I'm not home right now; using my phone. I'll give it a shot when I get back to the house in like 3 hours. Btw earlier today I tried to run that wprime exe file and it gave me an error. Then I tried older versions and I still got an error

 

Right click Wprime icon and click as "Administrator" That's the solution to the problem

 

Hi Gentlemen!

Been a while since I visited this thread Just realized I did not update my video drivers for probably like 9 months...
If before I needed modded drivers for update to work (to 970m). Did Nvidia by chance add a "mod support" to their last drivers? Or still need to mod (and where can I get the last version if so?)

Thanks!

 

The new Nvidia driver will work, you can download it directly from Nvidia.com.

 

Download the latest driver and if you need some assistance to modify the .inf drivers, just post the file here "nv_dispi.inf" file so I can mod it for you

@Aladin

What happened to your procie and project?

 

@Aladin Thomas

eh bud. Just tried new settings and is 1024m Wprime stable

 

Hi omega and everyone else. Although I don't need to overclock at this moment in time I would still like to learn overclocking especially the way overclocking gurus like you do it.

The pics you posted I can't view them!?! How come? It just says img and there's no pic! File hosting problem?

So I have a 4180mq cpu and gtx 870M 6GB what's the best way to SAFELY overclock my system to a higher spec?

Thanks in advance.

P.s I'm not a nerd or a noob but somewhere inbetween so I know what after burner or Intel xtu is also flashing unlocked bios/VBIOS I'm aware of too but just haven't used any of them to overclock. BTW has the ac power adapter limit of 180W been resolved? Can we use higher wattage with these systems? I read so far regarding this but can't remember if it's been solved as I know advanced overclocking may require you to draw more power from the brick than it already can output. Personally I don't want to do extreme dangerous advanced overclocking just yet I think lol rather would like to start basic then advanced as I understand changing voltage settings can kill fry your hardware. Any tutorials advice will be much appreciated anyone! Loving my ms 1763. Thanks again.

 

You don't need to be a nerd or a noob when tweaking your nb to it's maximum potential. You only need the passion to do whatever it takes no matter how many times you fail, until you make it run to your desired speed.

So to your question.

has the ac power adapter limit of 180W been resolved?
- At first this is my suspicion, but when I made the right settings thru bios then I don't care anymore if the power adapter is limited to 180w
since I am using a 240 watts.

Can we use higher wattage with these systems?
- Yes you can. In fact Aladin uses a 330 watts dell adapter.

as I understand changing voltage settings can kill fry your hardware
- I don't see any voltage settings in my unlock bios niether with afterburner. So your thoughts of killing or frying the hardware is out of the
question.. Unless you know how to modify the hardware in increasing the voltage, then you'll definitely kill your hardware.


Any tutorials advice will be much appreciated anyone! Loving my ms 1763. Thanks again.

- There is a step by step procedure on how to overclock your nb thru throttlestop. It is also here in the forum. just search for it. Throttlestop is good for those nb that is locked. But if you have an unlock bios then go to page 279, You'll see the settings on how i overclocked my 3940xm thru bios.


May the force be with you then and keep us posted after you've done your assignment

Here it is again.

 

Alzuk, you can safely overclock your GPU with MSI Afterburner. The maximum core clock for Nvidia GTX 870M is 65 MHz and 550 MHz for memory. Don't try higher values because the GPU crashes and blue screen appears. With this OC settings you can get 7700 score on 3DMark 11 without overclock the score is 7368. The 230W PSU gives you around 10% better performance than the stock 180W, but not more because of the specific MSI firmware that doesn't utilize all power, but still is better than 180W which is not enough for overclocking. You don't need to OC your CPU because is a very good one Core i7 4810MQ was one of the best Haswell processors.

 

Thank you very much Zar! Your an awesome guy. Just before i go ahead with your instructions can i just make sure with you:

1. Are these overclock settings WITH or WITHOUT the 230W PSU?

2. Are these overclock settings absolutely SAFE even for long term use without degradation of chip life?

3. Where can i exactly purchase the 230W PSU? can you provide a link please? (will it fit out of the box or do i need to buy the tip adapter also?) Also is the 230W PSU plug and play or do i need special software or bios mod to make it work?

4. After changing the settings in after burner do i set it to apply settings at startup option or do they stick once adjusted etc? And what do i do if it crashes even with your settings, is it totally safe? what i mean is if your suggested settings dont work or something goes wrong will my system revert back to stock after system crash or will i need to do anything? Thanks in advance Pal.



And Omega thanks for your instructions and help too, i will read up more on it.

 

1.These settings are with 230W PSU.
2.This depends on usage! If you are playing very intensive games these settings are relatively safe, but you have to monitor CPU and GPU temperatures with HWMonitor. If CPU is around 80-85C and GPU around 84-87 maximum those are the maximum safest temperatures. You can rely on Cooler Boost 2 tool which is an excellent way to decrease both CPU and GPU temperatures. Also, you can use a good nootebook cooler,but Cooler Boost 2 utility is the best in my opinion.
3.Here it is a link to the 230W PSU: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-OE...560859?hash=item2c68b9b09b:g:YnsAAOSwajVUQit7
You have to use this cable adaptor: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BiXPower-...e-Jack-to-5-5-x-2-5mm-Male-Plug-/261594877031
You don't need any other software, bios or mod in addition to the 230W PSU.
4. Don't apply OC settings at startup in MSI Afterburner. When you need it just apply the OC settings in the profile that you created. Afterthat when you finish for example a game you can reset settings in MSI Afterburner, before to turn off your laptop.You can create lower OC profiles to see the difference from stock settings. Don't go first with the maximum core and memory clock. Always when overclock start from minimum settings to maximum, and check with 3DMark 11 or different benchmark software to see the difference in overclocking. Keep in mind that the temperatures are very important issue in OC. If you get crash or blue screen this means that the settings are too high and the system is not stable. As a result the PC restart and go back to the default settings. No need to worry just don't go above the limit with overclocking.
There is one way to lower temperatures even more when overclock. You have to remove the battery and try the OC settings. In games the temperatures for the CPU are around 80-81C and 77C for GPU which is excellent for the maximum OC profile-65MHz core and 550MHz for memory. Performance is a little bit lower without battery, because MSI uses NOS Hybrid Power which draws power for battery when you need more performance, but this function is removed now for newest notebooks like MSI GT72,GT80 Titan and they can utilize all PSU power.

 

Does this include ivy bridge model?

Can you give me a link about this topic? So If I have a new nb like the upcoming MSI GT62 I can upgrade to a much higher wattage like 330 watts adapter? Btw. New nb doesn't have a cartridge base battery right? it's pinned under the back cover meaning you can't unplug the battery while using ac adapter?

 

Ivy Bridge models don't use NOS Hybrid Power.They have MSI Turbo Drive Engine+ which is similar.The problem with NOS is that uses battery power combined with 180W PSU, instead of using beter 230W PSU which is being used of GT72, GT80 models.They don't use battery power for extreme performance which Haswell MSI laptops did use, but this decreses the battery life very quickly for those laptops with the NOS feature. I don't think that you can upgrade MSI GT62 with 330W PSU because this model doesn't exist and there is no need for higher PSU. NOS Hybrid feature is not part of newer MSI notebooks anymore so they can rely on the default PSU. Newer notebooks have batteries which are non removable. This is the way for almost all brands. In the future there will be no chance for upgrading any laptop because every component will be soldered like in GT72,80 the CPU is soldered and the battery is part of the notebook chassis.

 

yeah, just avoid EVGA Precision.

 

Hey guys, problem with gt780dx after upgrade to gtx980m.

Temps are good, 70c gpu, lower on cpu. Cpu stress tests show everything is good on the processor cooling and stays at max stock clock speeds but as soon as I start a gpu test, cpu clocks drop to 797mhz(within 30 sec). I have duplicated this on the 180w stock power supply and a 240w Dell power supply.

All power saving is off, speed step disable,EIST disabled, power cord is plugged in

Tested with turbo fan on and off

Has anyone seen this or know what might be causing it?

i7-2670qm
Samsung 850evo 500gb ssd,
Seagate 750hdd
32gb ram,
Stock everything else

I am at a complete loss....