Dell Precision M4800 - Can GPU be upgraded?

Currently running the A26 bios from Dell; prior to flashing it as an RX 560, the WX 4150 bios wouldn't go past 85C with fans on max. I mean it's possible that I goofed up the installation of the heatsink, but it seems pretty error-proof as the screws can only go so far before they stop and I wasn't being cheap with the arctic silver. I wonder if it is a driver issue, I will probably test it in Ubuntu tonight.

Here is a screenshot of Furmark, with ec-disabled, we should've seen the fans kicked in at some point but we hit 87C with fan2 remaining at 0 rpm. According to GPU-Z I am hitting an average 75W on the card.

 

People here mentioned that you need a copper shim with WX 4150 if you had a NVIDIA GPU (and, with that, a NVIDIA Heatsink). Maybe that is your issue?

You can find AMD heatsinks really cheap on ebay. Bought one for less than $7 last week.

 

Ah that's true, but I used my K1100m heatsink which I believe was mentioned to work, it looked nearly identical to the AMD one that came in with a similar height of the copper touching the die. I suppose I could swap it out regardless.

Still though, fan control, after playing with it during lunch just now, is weird. At default, it will ramp up but sometimes it will go with the curve that is expected and then other times not respond at all, and if the fan ramps up it will never go back down. If I use a fan control software it works fine, albeit 0-50-100% speeds only.

If anyone is curious, I used the following:
DOS, Windows failed to flash: https://www.techpowerup.com/download/ati-atiflash/
DOS Radeon Flash tutorial, you use AMDFlash instead, same commands: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/amd-ati-flashing-guide.212849/

 

Tbh, I won't even bother with fan default settings. I have Aaron's software on all my Precisions and yeah, it's kinda lame to have only 3 fan speeds (which one is just "off"), but I won't recommend using below maximum fan speeds on heavy games, especially considering that you increased TDP from 30W to 80W with RX 560 vbios and you are also using a supposedly "incompatible GPU" for M4800.

But yeah, using the AMD heatsink will probably hold temperatures better since it's proper for AMD cards (you don't say, lol) because they have a higher height on die. That's why the copper shim is necessary with NVIDIA heatsink.

 

I think the main reason I want to get the default fans working is mainly due to the increasing differences in noise between levels. I don't mind with the GPU, but the CPU fan ramps constantly with small loads. I'd also hate to rely on software though for the job and would rather let the bios figure it out, it knows better than values I set on a program. I believe the fans can't go to 100% by manually setting them with DellFanCmd, you lose a few hundred RPM from the top end.

tyrell_corp did mention that the K1100m's heatsink should be an exact fit, when I had both out and examined them they were near-perfect replicas. I will replace it anyhow.

 

Correct, DellFanCmd setting the fan to "max" results in a slightly lower fan speed than the max you can get by letting the BIOS handle it.

The idea behind the tool "DellFanKeepAlive" is to keep the fans running at a constant low speed, unless the temperature gets too high, and in that case let the BIOS take over. A bit of a hybrid approach between all manual or all EC-controlled, and it does allow the "true maximum" fan speed to be used when appropriate. It prevents the fans from shutting off, and from ramping up under a small load. This has become my favorite way to run the system fans (but it does rely on the BIOS actually managing the fan speed properly, which I understand is not the case for some of these AMD GPU upgrades).

I have plans for a more easy to use all-in-one GUI-based fan management tool. I do not have time to work on it until at least June or July. I have a pretty substantial non-software project that all of my free time has to go to right now.

 

Oh, that's true. Still, I didn't have any temperatures issues with my machines, even on full load.

But still about the GPU situation, maybe it works like that because this is how it's supposed to be working on a Precision 7510/7520? I have no idea. I wouldn't trust something highly modified without any manual measures.

Well, if you have AMD heatsink laying around, I still recommend it. It's not only about temperatures, but also having good contacts with thermal pads and stuff.

 

That might be it. I use the amd heatsink on mine

 

Yeah, I have AMD heatsink here and ready to go. Bought a W5170M a couple days ago and I'll leave on hold for a future M4600, since I gave mine to my mom, lol. She is happy to run Stardew Valley without slowdowns.

Ordered a WX 4150 today. I'll narrate the adventure when it arrives, lol. I'm also planning to flash RX 560 vbios.

 

WARNING before you all go ahead and burn your cards or dell speakers with your overclocking. I thought to share MY findings with you, and offer the SOLUTION

albeit a lazy one.​

WX4150 and K2100m do get hot if you push them @100% for long periods of time, they get hot (or should i say their power converters) enough to melt speaker plastick housing above it (see image)



VRMs on K2100m were ofset and suspended on its board to mitigate this heat, but not on WX4150, those on AMD card are getting RED hot even with its new better thermal design using, and this slowly... can melt the speaker (see image), but no one cares about speaker anyway, and its shoddy design. what is Important take away here is that its the real cause of throttling.

SOLUTION​

I had old BGA chip with thin IHS (broadcom) from skybox laying around. delid it and've used cissors to cut out small square pice from it in order to create an extension for a heatsink. (I think its 0.8-0,5 mm)

since this IHS is exactly matching the heat transfer rate of the main IHS all I needed to do is to put a bit of Ceramique 2 (non conductive ceramic paste any) on top of VRMs and small heatsink itself to attach it to VRMS and heatsink separating it with normal heatpads. JOB DONE.

This certainly took care of heat and throttling, and I am getting 60c with 2.5k fan speed now.

you can also greatly controll your fan speed with HWINF fan tool, but my card does not need it.

so do it now before youmelt it. speker is about 15$ on bay​

Love the fact that some of you are knowlegable in software part of things, and able to reflash VBIOS, I may need your advice down the line to do this on my 2GB WX4150 as I intend to only play games on it. or you could just make a short list of HOW TO and post it here so others maybe also could understand how to do it.

Boris is great at info hijack/congregation, and has know how, I think he should do it.

on the other hand my 4GB variant will remain as WX for pro use as intended.

hope this helps! kudos appreciated