Disassembly

Disassembly of the MSI Vigor GK60 is simple enough if you know where to look for the hidden screws. There are two on the back, underneath the top-corner rubber pads, and another underneath a sticker under the Caps Lock key. Twelve more screws can be accessed by removing certain keycaps as seen above. There are thus a total of fifteen screws to remove, all of which use a Phillips head, and a precision screwdriver comes in handy here.


With the screws removed, there is enough room to separate the top and bottom pieces by enough to reveal the internal USB cable connecting the two. The external USB cable terminates in the bottom plastic case panel and goes on to internally attach to a connector it needs to be dislodged from to fully separate the two pieces. The bottom case panel is made out of ABS plastic, has a mark telling us this is specific to the GK60, and weirdly also has two steel plates screwed in as seen above. MSI says, and I quote, these "reinforce the structural integrity through the cross-section and diminish the action caused by torque". They concede that the metal frame adds a lot to said structural integrity already, which is important because the larger dimensions in one axis relative to the other two can cause subtle twisting which can be exacerbated if the plastic enclosure is not reinforced.


Solder quality is alright, with the actual solder points executed well, but excess flux showing remnants galore. This is nothing that affects functionality, though, so no points are deducted here. Powering the MSI Vigor GK60 is a Sonix SN 32F 247 BG 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0 USB microcontroller clocked at 50 Hz. There is not much information on it online, but weirdly, it does appear as a USB microcontroller for mice, in addition to keyboards. There is also a dedicated Sonix D1734JG LED driver to aid with the backlighting on the keyboard. All the components, including the switches, LEDs, and capacitors, are soldered to a multi-layered PCB.

Before we move on, be advised that disassembly may void the warranty and that TechPowerUp is not liable for any damages incurred if you decide to go ahead and do so anyway.