Dell Precision 7540 and 7740 Owner's Thread

I've found that if you go to Windows advanced power options and set the CPU maximum frequency to 99% instead of 100%, that totally disables turbo boost and caps the CPU at 2.4/2.5 GHz. You can then just switch power profiles then to enable/disable turbo boost. This can be done with a few clicks in the control panel, or with a bash script.

Oh, also you cannot have the power slider thing that pops up when you click on the battery icon near the clock on the very right-most "best performance" setting. That will keep turbo boost on. Use second from the right.

Finally. Make sure that you have PCIe link state power management set to maximum power savings (also in Windows advanced power options). If you do not then the fan will always be kicking up, because of the PCH temperature.

 

Ya, the M6700 fans are louder, but at a much lower frequency. These 7540 fans really whine. I'm going to have to try the power suggestions everyone has listed.

I think the fans may also be coming on to control NVMe temps too. Doing a big Dropbox load up, my SN750 temps are 45-51C using the Dell supplied heat spreading plate. Appears to be a good range for longevity of ssd.

I'm growing to accept the new keyboard, and the slightly smaller screen. The speed is an amazing improvement.

 

Will your suggestions. Thanks.
Bad news is the lcd is shwoing signs of failure. I see vertical lines now in both windows and ubunto.
Maybe a bad batch. With this coronavirus thing I will not be able to have Dell repair it soon :-(

 

LCD is pretty easy to replace. Just have them dispatch the part only.

 

I shut it down yesterday and started it this morning and the lcd looks fine. I will see how the issue develops and report it to DELL.

 

Curious is anyone has instructions for removing & replacing the sliding webcam cover to clean the lens behind it?

 

I don't think the slider can unsnap from the bezel from the outside, it may break plastic tabs that hold it in place. My best guess would be to just carefully remove the display bezel so you can clean the camera lens off. The real question is why is dust on the camera lens? It should have been installed in negative pressure room at the factory and the lcd has double sided sticky tape to seal the bezel so there should not really be dust getting in there.

You could probably also get Dell to fix the issue which may work out better because the bezel is always replaced with a new one if they have to remove it.

 

Yea, ok. I won't even bother. I just found that the webcam image sucks so much that I was going to try a little lens cloth. It's probably better left alone.

 

Don't think that'll help you any, the webcam is just that bad
Brightly lit environment will help out the most.

 

Hopefully you gurus can help me out once more...I just got an M7740 with an i9-9980HK processor and NVIDIA RTX 3000. It is very, very nice, but the NVIDIA control panel is the one that only has the 3D graphics control. I'm looking for the one that includes controls for brightness, contrast, color, and so forth. I remember on my M6800s I downloaded a file that included those controls but I can't remember which one it was, and not sure if that one works for the 7740 anyway.

This item came from the Dell Outlet with a non-functioning keyboard. I have a service call scheduled for Monday. It's weird, the keyboard lights up and the little pointer thing works, but none of the keys work. I have a USB keyboard plugged in so I can start using it/setting it up. I tried everything, reboot, remove and install the keyboard from device manager, reinstalling drivers...nothing works. Oh well, they can figure it out on Monday!

This machine also has the UHD screen - it's absolutely beautiful, the color fidelity and detail is a noticeable step up from the FHD screen.