Dell Precision M4800 - Can GPU be upgraded?

HP video cards have some weird arrangement where some of the video BIOS is part of the mainboard BIOS. This means you'd / you'll need to flash a Dell M2000M BIOS onto that video card.

Assuming all is well, "even" with your previous video card, you SHOULD be seeing it, along with the "Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600" in the "Display adapters" section, in Device Manager (so NOT directly in the Control Panel).

[Win]+R -> devmgmt.msc

 

The system does have Intel integrated graphics. The Intel graphics won't be presented unless you have graphics switching enabled in the BIOS — if it is disabled, the discrete GPU is used exclusively. Enabling graphics switching will probably be required before you can boot Windows and flash the vBIOS on the GPU.

 

So I just learned something fun. If you have a 4k/QHD screen (which I do) switchable graphics is removed from the BIOS and there is no way to enable it. http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19530676

Which means I'm SOL unless I can get someone else to flash my M2000M

Sounds like this is a very unpopular move by Dell...

 

Well, if we had known you had the QHD display, that would've explained it.

 

Yep, thanks for your help though. At least I confirmed that the option does exist without the QHD display.

 

I actually sort of forgot about that peculiarity of the M4800 (I remember it now that it is mentioned). With newer systems (7510/7520) you can use switchable graphics with any type of display. The M4700/M6700 generation also had limits on which displays that you could use with graphics switching. This was due to limitations of the Intel GPU itself, IIRC.

Err, if you're really serious I guess you could purchase a 1080p panel and install it (temporarily) in order to use the Intel GPU to flash your M2000M . They aren't very expensive, and you don't necessarily need a good one... Not sure if you would also need a different display cable or something.

 

Hello! Any one actually did upgrade from K1100M to K2100M ?
Is it worth it? Any issues with the drivers?
Thanks

 

It's highly doubtful that any such "mischief" would be necessary, since both those were among the three standard options of GPU the M4800 came with (these two and the FirePro M5100).

 

Well, you post gave me an idea to just disconnect the LCD panel from the motherboard and run off the VGA output. This worked but the BIOS settings didn't change at all. How exactly is the BIOS aware there is a QHD display attached?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Display_Identification_Data