MSI GX660R - Upgrades

TommyV

TommyV

TommyV

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I'm still using my trusty GX660R and it's still doing me proud. I want to give it some cheap upgrades to keep (hopefully) another years life out of it before the urge for a ne wtoy overcomes me.

What would people reccomend? Immediate thoughts are;

RAM - I've got the i5 version so can only get upto 8GB max supported. The current RAM is 6gb (1x4gb 1x2gb @ 1066mhz), does it support 1333 or even 1600? This can be sought very cheap, but not entirely sure the system will support beyond 1066mhz.
CPU - I can upgrade to an i7 720QM for around £35-40 delivered, would people say it's worth it over the i5-460M?
HDD - I installed an SSD very shortly after purchasing and am happy with it, so no problem here.

Any opinions appreciated! Tom
 
I have a modded GX660R, and its great that it can be upgraded :)

At the moment I have two SSD's instead of the stock 1TB raid
Have upgraded the 720QM to a 920XM. If you can push to the cost of a 920xm, they are unlocked, so you can use 'throttlestop' to make use all 4 cores.

Ive also dumped the stock 5870m and I'm running with a 6970m, which has made a huge difference... The 6970m will be going onto MM soon as I have a 7970m on its way :D

Mick
 
Please let me know when you're selling the 6970M, I want to 'trial run' upgrading a laptop GPU as I've not done it before, before investing in a 7970M, quite excited :-) The 7970M will come in probably 6-9 months.

How straight forward was the upgrade to the 6970M in particular, any heatsink mods, or a new PSU required? I've read up on the targus 180W which appear to be popular with modders/upgraders alike. Did you go for clevo or dell, or something different?

The CPU, I see they are 400~ on ebay, did you really pay that much? It seems like a lot!!

After research following the OP, immediate plans are;

- i7 840QM (£100~)
- 16gb Kingston 1333 CL9 (£70~)

Future plans;

- 7970M (£275-350~)

It'll last another good couple of years, and saves shelling out £1'200+ for an equivalent (bar the i7 gen) system :)

Sorry for all the questions, I'm new the laptop upgrading scene, other than upgrading RAM/HDD's.
 
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I'll be selling the 6970m and the heatsink probably next week.Its flashed with with the right bios to enable audio over hdmi port.
Iwouldnt bother with anything other than an XM cpu with the unlocked cores personally.

Mick
 
Hi.. I'm upgrading mine now too so will join you. Just got my 256gb Samsung 830 SSD

Adding another HD through the Optical Bay.

Now I'm looking at upgrading Ram and CPU.

Re Ram...

1) On other forums it is mentioned that the GX660R has 3 ram slots. Is this correct?
2) So doid you find out if it spports 1333mhz or 1600mhz?
3) Can you link to the ram you are looking to buy through overclockers?

Thanks
 
Jenny, can you provide details on adding another HDD through the optical Bay? I'd gladly remove my DVD drive and use the spare external one i have for whenever it's needed (rare!)

1. 3rd ram slot underneath the keyboard according to the internet, not looked myself yet however.
2. I've done some research, and it appears it's 1333mhz max, although I'll gladly stand corrected if this is wrong.
3. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-325-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1264 something like this. Although I won't be purchasing the particular ram I want as OcUK don't do it.
 
Here you go - http://blog.superuser.com/2011/06/30/installing-the-optical-bay-hdd/

I bought a very cheap one from the bay which is getting shipped from CHina, so waiting for that. I already have another sata HD on standby.

1) I've read that although there is a 3rd slot under keyboard, you'll get a blank screen. The mobo doesn't support this. Is this correct?
2) I think you are correct. But I also read that the gx660 i5 only supports up to 8GB - which means all I can do is change one of the 2GB to 4GB.
3) A single 8GB? are you sure this works?
 
JennyXT said:
Here you go - http://blog.superuser.com/2011/06/30/installing-the-optical-bay-hdd/

I bought a very cheap one from the bay which is getting shipped from CHina, so waiting for that. I already have another sata HD on standby.

1) I've read that although there is a 3rd slot under keyboard, you'll get a blank screen. The mobo doesn't support this. Is this correct?
2) I think you are correct. But I also read that the gx660 i5 only supports up to 8GB - which means all I can do is change one of the 2GB to 4GB.
3) A single 8GB? are you sure this works?
Click to expand...

1/ I did read the same thing, the reasons appear to be because i5 won't support tri channel.
2/ i5 is 8gb, i7 will be able to handle the 16gb (which is that solution I'll be going with)
3/ I'll be going with 2x8gb sticks, that was just an example of the speeds/mhz of the RAM i'm looking to get :-)

Can you link the bay you went for?
 
I can't remember and I don't have the info with me. I just search optical hard drive caddy and sorted by cheapest. you need the 12.7mm version

Seems like no point me upgrading ram unless I upgrade the CPU.

Do you have the stock i5-460m? do you intend to sell this? If so how much do you think you'll get? I'm thinking whether its worth me upgrading or not

Also if I buy 1 4GB sodimm 1333mhz, would it run in dual channel with the current 4GB ram? or will I need to buy 2 new 4gb sticks to make 8Gb?
 
Yep the GX660R does have 3 ram slots, two slots underneath the main cover below and one slot underneath the keyboard.

According to the msi webpage the i5 can cope with a max of 8GB in two slots.

http://www.msi.com/product/nb/GX660.html#/?div=Overview

For the R there is an unlocked bios (dunno about the non R) that will give you a lot of extra features in bios, and also XMP support for speedier RAM performance. But for this you are going to have to do some swotting up over at notebook forums in the GX660 thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/msi/524083-gx660-r-owners-lounge.html


The 'R' has two HDD bays as standard, I would assume that the non R would also have the extra bay, just not got the onchip raid. So you may have the option of keeping the optical drive, if you wanted. Unless you were going for 3 HDD's.

I have dumped the two 500GB raid HDD's and now have a 128GB Samsung 830 as Primary and 256GB Crucial V4 Secondary (storage)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-021-CR

The V4 is a good price/performance cos the laptop cant go any faster than the 3GB interface.

No competitor pricing

The great thing about an 'xm' cpu is that the cores are unlocked and with 'throttlestop' you can control ALL the cores to run how you want. Big performance increase :D

PSU: 180W is a must if you want to upgrade the GPU and CPU. my original psu powered a new 920xm but as soon as the cpu started to do some real work the psu shut itself off due to overloading.

My 180W Is this one from this seller : Competitor
Mick
 
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Wow £188 for that CPU, one can only dream! :p

Just wondering, if I were to buy RAM above 1333mhz, what would happen, simply restricted to the 1333mhz max?
 
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Start saving up for an i7-920XM mobile CPU. You won't be disappointed. :)

A fully loaded 720QM usually exceeds the turbo TDP limit so you are left running at the default 12 multiplier. All of the QM CPUs for this socket are pretty sad compared to the XM beast.

tsbench.png
 
*drools*

p.s. I hate you :P

Don't think I could justify the cost, if I were to sell mine and put in the same cash, I could get a brand new laptop with a 7970m and i7 3rd gen!
 
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Hi Mick,

After months and months of talking about it I think that I'm going to be getting a 7970M soon.

Did you have to do any power mods to get it to work, I seem to remember Meaker mentioning the need to do something?

I'll be buying a 180W PSU, but may stick with the 460M - at most I'll upgrade to a 840QM.
 
I dont recall anything about power mods as such, but it has been mentioned about making sure the card you get has the correct bios (Dell). with the correct Enduro settting (disabled) and voltage.

I bought the 7970m and a brand new 7970m 3-pipe heatsink from the members market over on Notebook Review. Plugged it all in with new thermal pads and compound and its been working a treat ever since, even with a nice little overclock too :)

Mick
 
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