Dell Docks WD19DCS and WD19TBS

I posted some comment and questions on this in other threads (and others responded to), but figured I would create a separate thread since I am revisiting which dock to get and was looking through all the previous posts. I am still not sure if one of these are better than the other for a 7560 and 7760 but will probably get the WD19DCS.

Dell Performance Dock | WD19DCS
https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-performance-dock-wd19dcs/apd/210-azbn/pc-accessories

Dell Thunderbolt Dock – WD19TBS
https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-thunderbolt-dock-wd19tbs/apd/210-azbi/pc-accessories

Help me choose
https://www.delltechnologies.com/as...es/dell_commercial_docking_help_me_choose.pdf

Dell Commercial Docking Compatibility
https://www.delltechnologies.com/as...-support/dell_docking_compatibility_guide.pdf

In a post on the 7x50, @Dell-Mano_G recommended the WD19DCS for the 7000 series. Also, the compatibility guide above recommends that as well. Probably because with the WD19DCS a second power source is not needed. If a WD19TBS is used for the 7760, a separate power supply is needed. I think the same on the 7560.

Some other comments:

• The WD19DCS does not have the TB 3 but puts out 210W. Includes 240W Power Adapter.
• The WD19TBS has a Thunderbolt 3 port and puts out 130W. Includes Includes 180W Power Adapter.
• The WD19DCS is listed on both the 7560 and 7760 product pages. The W19TBS is not.

Both have the following ports
1. USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 | 2. USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 with PowerShare | 3. DisplayPort 1.4 (2) | 4. HDMI 2.0b | 5. USB-C Multifunction DisplayPort | 6. Dual USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 | 7. Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 | 8. Power In

The WD19TBS adds in: 9. Thunderbolt 3

So I think the the WD19DCS is the one to get unless there is a need for TB3. I am not sure if I will need TB3 if I get a USB-C had drive, the dock has USB-C on it.

I may also wind up still plugging in the separate power supply and connect only one of the two USB-C to the 7760.

Any thoughts?

Below are images.


WD19DCS Ports


WD19TBS Ports


Some other comments from other threads.

@Aaron44126
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...lease-discussion.835782/page-52#post-11107917

@Aaron44126
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...lease-discussion.835782/page-52#post-11107931

@jack574
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...lease-discussion.835782/page-52#post-11108109

@SvenC
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...lease-discussion.835782/page-52#post-11108217

@Aaron44126
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...lease-discussion.835782/page-28#post-11102858

 

I think we need some more information / testing before we know for sure if 7760 can run with power from the WD19DCS, and without a separate AC adapter connected as well. One user reported that running on the dock alone resulted in a substantial hit to graphics performance in a benchmark situation. I haven't seen any other users doing performance testing with a dock attached.

I will also say that I docked one of these systems for the first time yesterday. We connected my coworker's 7560 to a Thunderbolt dock that we found sitting around at the office (not sure if it was WD19TB or WD19TBS), with two Dell 4K monitors attached. Everything lit up and worked straight away, no problems. We did keep the laptop connected to its own AC adapter as well (single-cable docks can only deliver 130W). I didn't get the chance to use it for an extended period of time.

 

If I use the separate power adapter, I believe I only need to connect one of the two USB-C from the WD19DCS to the 7760 (or 7560). Then the second port on the 7x60 is available to plug a TB device if needed (I think).

This document says:

https://www.delltechnologies.com/as...es/Dell_Docking_Solutions_Family_Brochure.pdf

Boost your PC’s power up to 210W on the World’s most powerful dual USB-C dock

Get the flexibility you need with magnetically separable USB-C cables. Use both connections for dual USB-C functionality that is compatible with select Precision Mobile Workstations for the fastest charging and the ultimate computing performance. You can also use one connection as a single USB-C cable for compatibility across your PC environment.


This document shows that you can get only 1 4K @ 60Hz on the WD19DCS if the system us HBR2PC. You can get two if it is HBR3 PC.

Is the 7X60 HBR3?

My two current screens are 2K at 3440x1440, I think that is QHD.

https://www.delltechnologies.com/as...es/dell_commercial_docking_help_me_choose.pdf




Then there is this document.

https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/precision-17-7760-laptop_owners-manual7_en-us.pdf

 

QHD is 2560×1440 ("quad HD" = 4× 720p). 3440×1440 is a wider version of that so it would need more bandwidth. Still less than 4K though so I think you should be good with two monitors attached through the dock.

Gotta believe that the system would support 2× 4K/60Hz through the WD19DCS dock. I was able to achieve that through the WD19DC dock on the Precision 7530.

 

Thanks. Also, when chatting with sales I asked about the WD19DC vs the WD19DCS. The rep said the DC is EOL and DCS is now the current model.

 

I tried my 7760 with a WD19DC and a WD19TB today. Here are a few comments to add and a promise to update more tomorrow.

The 7760 immediately recognized both docks without any problems and I never had one of the two USB-C cables occasionally drop out as was my experience with the 7540. I tested a Samsung 43CJ890 monitor (3840 x 1200 @ 120Hz) on both docks with the following results:

• The WD19DC was not stable with the display set to 120Hz using USB-C or DisplayPort. It would correctly output at native resolution when set to 100Hz. 4 lanes of HBR2 is sufficient for 120hz but for some reason it is not provided on the USB-C port or either of the two DP ports? The manual indicates this should be possible so I'm not sure what is going on here yet. I will troubleshoot some more tomorrow.
• The WD19TB worked flawlessly at native resolution and refresh rate.

Regarding power consumption, I neglected to test the WD19DC under the 210W condition, but I did run 3DMark TimeSpy while on the 130W output from the WD19TB to compare to the 240W stock PSU, battery power and a 100W USB-C power adapter. I promise to return with results of the 210W condition tomorrow.

For reference, my machine specifications are:

• Precision 7760, i7-11800h, 4k120hz, 128GB DDR4-3200, RTX A4000, 2TB 970 EVO
• Windows better performance mode
• Dell power in optimized
• 100% display brightness

TimeSpy Results
240W Dell PSU: 10168 (GPU: 10113; CPU: 10496)
Battery Power: 5145 (GPU: 4868; CPU: 7596)
Dell 130W PSU: 2086 (GPU: 1832; CPU 9873), draws up to 6A ([email protected])
HyperJuice 100W: 1581 (GPU: 1386; CPU 7922), draws up to 4.2A ([email protected])

It looks like the machine is setup to heavily favor CPU performance when being powered over USB-C. Also potentially of interest, most 100W USB-C chargers appear to work with the 7760, but only up to 80W. This is reminiscent of previous XPS 15 machines which would only use ~60W when attached to a PD2.0+ USB-C power supply rather than the Dell 130W USB-C PSU. In contrast, I measured the Dell 130W USB-C charger / WD19TB delivering up to 120W. Also, under no condition does the battery appear to drain to support an inadequate charger. If a PD2.0+ USB-C charger is rated up to 100W, the entire system is limited to 80W of power total, prioritizing CPU performance.

I'll try the 210W WD19DC tomorrow as well as a 180W Dell power adapter for comparison. Jury is still out on whether I want the added bandwidth of the WD19TB (but use a supplemental power adapter) or the convenience of the WD19DC's single cable (x2) solution instead.

 

thanks. With the WD19DC, did you also have the 240W PSU plugged into the 7760 along with the two USB-C? Does that change the performance?

On the connections, on the WD19DC is the USB-C port 5 in the diagram - 5. USB-C Multifunction DisplayPort or 1. USB-C 3.1 Gen 2?

and on the WD19TB is it the port 9. Thunderbolt 3

 

I did not have the 240W PSU plugged into the machine at any point when testing the docks. I can investigate this tomorrow though.

I attached the display to port 5 (back side), as it is the only one to support DisplayPort alt mode. I'm very unclear on how the USB-C lanes are divided overall between the two WD19DC cables (DisplayPort vs USB 3.1) but at minimum, the port 5 USB-C connector appears to have some problem transitioning to 4 full lanes of DP. At first I assumed it was configured with two lanes each (DP/USB 3.1) like almost every other full-featured USB-C dock, but the manual says it should be able to do 4k60 at HBR2, which would require 4 lanes rather than 2. I'm not totally sure what's going on yet but I will investigate tomorrow.. The port 1 USB-C is USB 3.1 only (no DP lanes).

Yes, port 9 is TB on the WD19TB. It recognized a Razer Core X Chroma immediately upon connection.

The 7X60 is HBR3, but it also requires your displays be HBR3 compliant as well. You can check this yourself by finding your display specifications and identifying whether they are DP 1.2 (HBR2) or DP 1.4 (HBR3).

Unfortunately, even if your displays are HBR3, you will need both USB-C cables attached with the WD19DC. Without thunderbolt, the two USB-C connectors can provide up to 8 multi-purpose lanes of traffic. If you only connect one of the two USB-C cables, you will only have 4 total lanes. For a fully functioning dock (Ethernet, USB, etc.) a minimum of 2 lanes must be used for USB 3.1. For your two monitors, a minimum of 4 lanes is required even with HBR3.

Judging by the manual's proposed monitor configurations, when both USB-C cables are connected, 4 lanes are assigned as USB 3.1 and the remaining 4 are DP. I suspect this is 2x2 for each cable, but I'm not entirely sure. I'm also not sure how they are routed to the various ports on the dock, except to say the multi-function USB-C on the back somehow shares DP lanes with the HDMI port since they cannot be used simultaneously.

 

It sounds like the WD19TBS is better and more versatile than the WD19DCS except for needing a separate power supply with the WD19TBS. However, all the documentation for the 7x60 point to the WD19DCS as the recommended and preferred unit.

 

Also, some of the literature shows "upgrading" the WD19TBS to a WD19DCS by changing out the module with the cable. I guess the advantage of the WD19DCS is it comes with the 240W Power Adapter and I assume you can get the module for the W19TBS to make the WD19DCS and WD19TBS. If you get the WB19TBS, it comes with the 180W Power Adapter so to really upgrade, you need a new Power Adapter.

https://www.delltechnologies.com/as...es/dell_commercial_docking_help_me_choose.pdf

https://www.delltechnologies.com/as.../dell-thunderbolt-dock-wd19tbs-data-sheet.pdf

https://www.delltechnologies.com/as.../dell-performance-dock-wd19dcs-data-sheet.pdf