Dell Precision 7540 and 7740 Owner's Thread

Is there any reason to suspect that these modules won't work properly?

 

Got the M7540 earlier than expected. Xeon 2286M.
I swapped the 1TB nvme module with windows 10 pro from the M7510 to the M7540.
I swapped the 4TB 2.5 ssd drive from the M7510 to the M7540.
I put in 2x32GB samsung 2666 ram modules under the keybaord. Still waiting for the other 2x32GB to put on the bottom slots.
Booted the beast and after a hardware adaptation voodoo It was running fine.
I did a Dell command update and updated all the drivers plus BIOS.
I fired 8 vms 5 of which are using Windows 2016 server os and they just started with no hickup or delay or hign CPU usage like they did on the M7510 with the i7 CPU.
BUT I'm noticing a whine when the fan is running a bit above normal/average rpm. I didn't have this whine on the m7510.
So I'll wait for the hardware to settle in and see if I call dell to replace the fans.

 

I had audio issues with my new 7740 as well, and I resolved them by nuking the Wave MaxxAudio "enhancement". I couldn't find a way to uninstall it, but disabled it from starting in the Services manager. YMMV, but turning off that service temporarily would be a harmless test.

 

There are two reasons why I have some doubts.
1. ECC 3200 is not listed in the specs, so the support is not granted. I don't have enough knowledge to make any educated assumptions if those will work or not.
2. I think someone in this tread mentioned before having problems with non-ECC 3200 memory

 

Hello, all. I've got a few new-owner questions regarding my 7740. I read a substantial amount of the previous content on this thread, but it's been a busy couple of weeks at work so please forgive me if any of these are things that are already answered and I've simply forgotten that I already knew something.

I apologize in advance for the length of this post. Since machine specs are relevant to my questions, I am combining it all into one so I don't end up consuming bandwidth by having to repeat the specs.

General specs on my machine:

• CPU: Intel i9-9880H 8 core 2.3/4.8 GHz
• RAM: 64 GB (4x16) DDR4 3200 MHz
• SSD: Currently two Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe (AHCI mode, non-RAID, NTFS formatted), will be migrating a Samsung 970 EVO (non-"Plus", if I recall) into a third NVMe socket
• GPU: Quadro RTX 4000 -- I have disabled the Intel integrated graphics from BIOS so I'm using the dGPU continuously, and I installed the "Studio" (more stable) driver obtained directly from NVIDIA.
• Display: Dell UltraSharp UHD (4K)
• OS: Windows Pro 64-bit (from HID Evolution clean installation) with ESET NOD32 antivirus

The CPU and GPU were repasted by HID Evolution with Grizzly Conductonaut, and they added Fujipoly thermal pads to SSDs.

I use a combination of HWinfo and Intel XTU to control and monitor performance and temps. The Dell Power Manager is set to "ultra performance" currently.

Stability concern and questions:

• Initially, I was having a lot of stability problems when the machine was under heavy load, and I was seeing CPU temperatures in the mid-90s (C). "Stability problem" means a spontaneous reboot; so far I have not observed any "hangs" or BSODs. The Windows event log was utterly unhelpful, simply indicating the "critical" error of the kernel not having been shut down before the current boot cycle.
• I have greatly reduced the incidence of these through the following changes:
  • Disabled the problematic Wave MaxxAudio service, which I believe (but cannot prove) was contributing to the stability issues, based on the fact that the system reboots were almost always preceded by audio stuttering, which has almost entirely disappeared after disabling this component.
  • Switched from "balanced" to "ultra performance" option in the Dell Power Manager.
  • Used HWinfo to set a slightly more aggressive fan profile -- are there really only three speeds (0, 1700, 3700 rpm) for the fan in this model?
  • Undervolting my CPU core by 100 mV has made a significant reduction in package temperature, and so far I haven't observed this causing problems.
• Question: Are others successfully undervolting this CPU in this machine, and if so, by how much? I absolutely understand that it's got to be tuned for each machine individually; I'm just looking for some ballpark numbers to let me know where to start and where to "draw the line" at going further even if my machine seems to be stable at that level.
• Question: I'm aware that the "H" version of a CPU isn't as over/under clockable as the "HK" version (if an "HK" had been available, I would have ordered it). Do I have any clock control at all in this situation? Could I, for example, drop the clock down a bit when a lot of cores are in use?
• Question: Is the CPU socketed in this machine, so I could later swap for a 9880 HK? Would that gain me anything, or would the BIOS still lock me out?
• Question: Based on discussions on this thread, I've been looking at my PCH temps. The max I recorded yesterday, after a very long day under heavy load, was 74 C. I don't have a number for "idle" because HWinfo only shows me a max and has zeroes for current and minimum. Should I be concerned about 74 C under load, and how can I obtain the current value?
• Question: Although my reboots have gone from "one every 15 to 30 minutes" to "about one per day", that's still unacceptable to me in a workstation-grade system that theoretically is designed to work under heavy load. What else should I be looking at? (To be crystal clear, I don't blame the machine but think it's something I've got mis-tuned or perhaps an unstable device driver, and I'm confident I'll get this resolved soon.)
• The few remaining reboots I am having may (?) be correlated to high SSD activity, but I am not certain. I know my SSD temps have been good -- generally below 50 C -- when the reboots have happened, but the CPU and GPU temps have also been reasonable (no more than 80 C) once I started undervolting the CPU. I've been using Fallout 76, played at 4K res on near-ultra quality settings, as a stress test because that's been the most reliable way to trigger a crash. I notice some audio hitches that may be overall system "pauses" when loading into a new map area. Question: Anything I should be looking at in BIOS? I haven't had time to run Bonnie++ or Crystal benchmarks yet.
• I also am open to the possibility of a network driver being the culprit. Yesterday I had a long workday and about two hours of gaming in the evening, all with only one crash total. That crash happened when CPU load was moderate, GPU load was low, and wired LAN and disk activity were fairly high. Question: Has anyone observed stability problems with the Intel NIC drivers?

Dell software questions:

• I've got Dell Precision Optimizer, Dell Power Manager, and Dell Digital Delivery installed. Do I need any additional Dell components? I want to have what I need in order to take advantage of my Dell support contract (which, btw, was active without any hassle just as HID Evolution said it would be), but I don't want to install bloatware to slow or destabilize my system without doing anything I actually want or need.
• Are there any specific device drivers that I should always get from Dell and never from the device manufacturer, or vice-versa?

SSD questions:

• From prior posts on this thread, I gather some of the Precision models have one NVMe socket that's very near the PCH (btw, what does that stand for?) and should be avoided for high-usage SSDs. Does that apply to the 7740, and if so, which socket?
• When I'm inside the unit installing my third SSD tonight or tomorrow, if the "problematic" socket is in use, can I just move my system disk elsewhere without a problem, or will Windows/UEFI fail to recognize it after the move? I do not currently have BitLocker enabled on this machine but will add it later once things are stable.

Display panel question:

• I own an X-Rite colorimeter and plan to calibrate my display panel. This is my first IGZO panel -- anything special I should know about calibrating it?

Operating system questions (Windows, Linux, and WSL):

• So far my experimentation with sleep mode under Windows on the 7740 has been 100% successful. It was problematic on my previous machine. Is sleep mode fairly trustworthy on the 7740 for other folks?
• I'm thinking of using my fourth NVMe socket to house a dedicated Linux boot SSD. What do I need to know about adding that without Windows deciding my system has been compromised and locking me out of BitLocker later? I'm probably looking at Ubuntu or Xubuntu -- not the most exciting distro, but the 3D content tools I use professionally all support Ubuntu specifically, whereas they "may" work on other distros according to the tool developers. Ubuntu therefore would be low-hassle for me with respect to software support.
• Forgive my Windows ignorance, but is there any reason not to turn off TPM and Trusted Boot to avoid problems with dual-booting Linux later?
• As an alternative to a dedicated Linux boot, I'm considering trying WSL 2 under Windows. I have been extensively running WSL 1 for three years and love it, but would like to have the nearer-native experience promised by WSL 2. Have any of the several Linux mavens on this thread tried out WSL 2 yet, and if so, do you have any comments or recommendations for WSL 2 on the Precision 7740?

Thanks to anyone willing and able to take a crack at some of these, and again I apologize for the length of the post. I thought about it and decided one long post was better than sucking all the oxygen from the thread by posting a dozen or more times back-to-back.

I am going to take the liberty of one additional post, for my "first impressions" of the system, because that's a truly different discussion than these specific questions.

 

I can answer some of them.

Generally:
* Make sure that in Windows power options, advanced settings, you have PCI Express link state power management set to maximum power savings. This is required to keep the PCH temperature under control in this system. If you have it set to a different option, change it and it might help out with your stability issues.
* I recommend that you stick with using drivers obtained from Dell, at least until you are sure that the system is stable. (This includes the NVIDIA driver.) If you decide to venture past that once your system is solid, take baby steps so that you will always know what to look at if a new issue pops up.

* Disabling Waves MaxxAudio is a good call, I haven't heard from anyone who actually likes that and it seems to cause problems.
* HWInfo and other third-party fan tools can only select between three fan speeds. If you allow the system to manage the fans on its own, it will use a wider range of more granular fan speeds. It can also go up higher than the maximum speed that you can set in HWInfo. There is some information about this in the thread linked in my signature regarding manual fan control.
* The CPU is not socketed, it is soldered on the board; this is the case for all Intel mobile CPUs since 7th gen. (Modern laptops that have socketed Intel CPUs are using desktop CPUs.)
* You do not need any Dell software installed in order to be able to call on Dell support. Out of what you have listed, I only have Dell Power Manager installed.
* You can move your system drive to another slot if you like. If you are using UEFI boot, the BIOS should just figure it out after enumerating the drives.
* You should not have any trouble adding Linux on a separate drive without disturbing a BitLocker setup. I recommend disabling all drives in BIOS setup, except the one you are installing the OS on when you are doing the OS install, to make sure that the boot loader is written where you think it will be. You can enable the drives afterwards. Press F12 at boot to pick which drive you want to boot from.
* If you want to use BitLocker, you need the TPM enabled. UEFI secure boot shouldn't be an issue with modern Linux distributions either. I've booted Ubuntu and Linux Mint with it turned on, no problem.
* WSL 2 is only available with Windows 10 version 2004 and up, which is not generally available yet.
* Do keep your BitLocker key saved somewhere secure. If you are ever asked for it, enter it to boot, and then suspend and resume BitLocker to make sure that it has the current configuration saved as good.

I use Linux a fair amount but I don't have a dual-boot setup. I just use WSL, or when I need something more in-depth, I boot a VM in VMware Workstation. Both options take away any worry about Linux not working optimally with some piece of hardware in your system.

PCH is the "platform controller hub". It manages a lot of I/O traffic to and from the CPU.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_Controller_Hub

 

Precision 7740 "first impressions" after receiving the system last Friday and using it for work for the first part of this week:

• Build quality overall is amazing; the whole machine feels solid, durable, and professional, as a "mobile workstation" class system should. It's a very dense build, visually slim but heavier than it looks. The lid hinge deserves special mention, as it's very smooth-operating and retains the desired screen tilt perfectly.
• The UltraSharp 4K panel is gorgeous. The colors on mine are a bit "hot" right now, but I'll fix that with calibration. It's easy to dial back color that's too vibrant, not so easy to fix a screen with low brightness or poor coverage. Speaking of brightness, I don't know how many nits I'm actually getting, versus the spec, but I can say that in a room with normal lighting I backed off the brightness to about 65% because maxed out is almost visually painful. Definitely no problems with the screen being too dim! I'm not hugely sensitive to flicker myself, but I'm not noticing any visible flicker.
• Once I got rid of an annoying audio enhancement anti-feature from software, the sound quality is pretty good for a laptop, though not equal to my Macbook Pro which I think sets the bar for laptop audio. Sound quality through headphones is excellent.
• The onboard webcam is..."meh"...not horrible, but not outstanding. It's good enough for my needs, because generally when I am in a teleconference I am sharing my screen and not showing video, but I wouldn't recommend it for a serious YouTube streamer.
• In general, I detest all touchpads but can somewhat tolerate the ones from Apple. On the 7740, the touchpad is better than what I've encountered on most non-Apple laptops; the surface is just rough enough for good tactile feedback, and motion is pretty smooth. If you have to use a touchpad, this one isn't too bad.
• The pointing device in the keyboard is a huge bonus in my view! I got spoiled by the Trackpoint on the IBM ThinkPad years ago, and I'm thrilled to have one available on my new system. I still use a mouse most of the time because that just works better in my 3D apps, but the keyboard pointing device is the next best thing. Dell thoughtfully provides an extra set of buttons just below the spacebar for convenience when using the pointer.
• To Dell's credit, neither the touchpad nor the keyboard pointing device, nor their respective button sets, are in my way when not in use. On other systems I've typically had to disable the touchpad in BIOS or settings to keep from accidentally hitting it with the side of my thumb, but not on the 7740.
• The keyboard -- a vital part of my work life, given I'm a software developer and a fast touch-typist -- is a mixed bag for me on the 7740:
  • The keys are full-sized and pretty standard in layout. PgUp and PgDn are next to the arrows, which is unusual (to me) but seems logical, and I'm getting used to it pretty quickly.
  • There are dedicated keys for Home and End -- extremely important for programmers editing code.
  • There is a dedicated numeric keypad, important for Blender and some other 3D apps.
  • Keys have reasonable tactile feel, and the travel is in my opinion "okay", but there's nothing outstanding here. I'd call the feel "okay but not stellar".
  • The spacebar is responsive along its entire length, which is not always a "given".
  • The arrow keys are small but located in an easy-to-reach position. I'm still getting used to this but don't find it to be a problem beyond my own need to familiarize with it.
  • My one major complaint with this keyboard is the plastic bezel around the keys. The laptop's main inner surface -- that is, the wrist rest area and its continuation as the bezel around the keyboard insert -- is comfortable and well-made. However, the thin plastic insert that fills the gaps between the keys is a serious deficiency. It bows upward slightly in a few places -- for mine, notably around the "B" and "N" keys, effectively reducing the height of these already-low-profile keys to nearly zero. I'm fortunate that these are keys I hit with an index finger, because if this were around the pinkie keys it would impede typing. It's not a deal-breaker, even for a touch-typist like me, but it's annoying and not something I'd expect to see on a high-end workstation. Dell needs to put a slightly stiffer piece of plastic here. (I plan to contact their customer support to offer that as feedback, btw.)
• Even in "ultra performance" mode (set in Dell Power Manager), this machine is quiet compared to others of its class. Under load, the fan noise on mine is moderate and not at all objectionable; when under light load, the machine is almost dead-silent.
• CPU temps in the default settings were too high, in my opinion, but the machine seems to respond well to undervolting (mine was repasted by HID Evolution, which no doubt makes a difference here). I'm currently at -0.100V core and have observed CPU temps down by 5 to 10 C and better-than-default stability.
• I still see CPU temps hitting 90 C under load when many cores are involved. I think the clock-reduction curve for multicore loads is not enough and would like to be able to underclock a little more when 5 to 8 cores are working.

I haven't run any formal benchmarks yet, but my work-related tools are demanding and are performing quite well so far, even without extensive tuning by me. In the off hours (and, honestly, as an intentional stress-test on the new machine), I'm able to play Fallout 76 at native 4K resolution and nearly-maxed quality settings, with smooth frame rates overall. In both my 3D apps and in games, colors are crisp and generally well-balanced (modulo the fact that I haven't yet had time to calibrate the panel).

Since battery life is almost a non-issue for me (I need mobility but not cordless mobility for my work), I haven't measured battery life nor attempted to optimize for it.

In summary, I'm very happy with the machine so far, and my only complaints are either minor issues I can live with or are things I'm expecting to be able to fix with some guidance from this forum. HID Evolution, who supplied my machine, delivered on their promise to get me fully set up with Dell's extended onsite support. I simply logged in with my existing Dell web account, associated the service tag of my new machine, and found its warranty status was exactly correct.

 

Thanks for a great reply! +reputation

PCI Express -- I checked this per your comment and found it was already on the setting you recommend. That's a really good "safety tip" nonetheless.

On the NVIDIA driver, do you feel strongly enough on that point that you think I should uninstall what I have and replace it, or let this one slide?

Ah, excellent. I'll go fetch that utility and if it does what I need I'll gladly donate to support its development.

[...snip.... answers to my questions not needing further comment from me]

Thanks for the responses about the dual-boot and Windows/BIOS interaction. Most of my sysadmin activity is Linux in a vSphere environment, so neither Windows nor deep BIOS interactions are typically on my radar.

Thanks. I had tried searching for the acronym but got too many irrelevant hits, and thinking the "P" might stand for "Power" or "Processor" (and trying those) only got me down more dead-end roads.

 

I don't especially think that you will have trouble using an NVIDIA driver from NVIDIA, but my recommendation remains to use Dell's suggested drivers until you're sure that the system is solid, just to be on the safe side.

The fan utility I mentioned (DellFanCmd) will not offer more granular fan control than HwInfo. I was referring to letting the system manage the fan on its own without a third-party utility at all. That's the only way to get more than three speeds. I presently run with the system set to "50%/medium" speed (basically silent) and no turbo boost to keep the CPU temperature down. I kick it to system-managed speed and turbo boost enabled when gaming or doing CPU-heavy work. You can read more about it in the DellFanCmd thread, I have my setup detailed pretty well.

 

Quick update on my 7540's liquid metal repaste status - it's been around 6 weeks and whilst initially temps and resultant performance increase were both amazing, I am already seeing uneven temps between cores (nearly 20c difference after tsbench run) and thus general reduction in performance. I suspect LM may have shifted / seeped to one side as my laptop is often travelling in a laptop bag. Bit of a shame that it did not last that long, had it been 6 months instead of 6 weeks I would gladly keep up repasting, but since 7540 heatsinks are not as accessible as other machines I think i will stick with a traditional paste instead.