Dell Precision M4800 - Can GPU be upgraded?

@John Carlson
Please take your questions into a different thread or make a new one.

Ram speed will not help you render a 3D ANIMATION.
Ram moves data and accesses files at higher speeds than SSD's or HDD's.
What you are looking for is a more powerful graphics card.
If you want ram to help you in rendering, you need more ram, not faster. Max out your current ram now, if you need more speed go from there.
Again this thread is "Dell Precision M4800 - Can GPU be upgraded?" Not "Will DDR5 help render a 3D animation faster?"

 

New CPUs prevent Windows 8.1 from getting updates from Microsoft (well actually Windows 8.1/7 wont update if you have recent CPU). So if I want to stay for some time on Win 8.1 x64, I will not upgrade for new DDR5 & new CPU.
As regards new CPUs and Windows 10, I can't accept possibility that MS will uninstall some of my deveoper's tools because they find out that I write programs for Android and not Windows Mobile, etc. Let alone forced all Windows Updates, surveillance etc. Also I suppose they may force users to subscribe periodical charge for this Windows 10. I would rather return to Linux. So as far as I stick to Windows 8.1 I doubt I will go for DDR5. I have Windows 10 on M6800 and I'am going to downgrade.

Secondly most time CPU uses its cache not RAM. So increasing RAM speed will give small boost. It's like going from DDR3 single channel to DDR3 dual which should be 2 times faster, and actually gives maybe 2% boost in overall performance.

 

If possible, please someone tell what temperatures does your m2000m reach under load in m4800? My went up to 79*C and i limited it in vbios to 67*c which also heavily reduced fan noise (and performance dropped a bit). In idle GPU's temperature is 44*C. Some people claim it is to high and I should reinstall heat sink/cooler.
And maybe someone remembers how thick should thermal pads be? I just suppose my are too thick and GPU does not stick to cooler smoothly. Currently I have thermal pads remaining from K1100M.

 

Greeting everybody,

I just created this account to join in this discussion
because I want to buy a m4800 and considering upgrade its GPU and cpu
( Can m4800's CPU be upgraded ? )


the current config I ordered is 4900qm + k2100m + QHD
I usually use Light room+Photoshop+Illustrator+Premiere Pro+After Effect mostly for Photography and Motion/Animation short clips
Can you suggest how could I maximize the system ?


I have not yet to disassemble a laptop, so
Is there any special detail involve in upgrading GPU ?

from what I collected, the process should be:

disassemble -> install new GPU -> copy the modified file and past it somewhere?? -> edit the register ?? --> ( any more steps ?)

 

You can upgrade the CPU, but it has to be a Haswell processor (model number starting with "4"). 4900QM is near the top of the possible options, I don't think that any further upgrades would be economical.

For the GPU, you could get a Quadro M2000M (confirmed working) or a Quadro M2200 (a good bit faster -- "should" work but no one has tried it yet). For disassembly, all of the documentation is available in the manual that you can pull from support.dell.com. Really, you just need a screwdriver, patience, and some extra thermal paste.

Usually, you have to modify the driver INF file for GPUs used in these "unsupported" upgrades, adding the device ID for the GPU as it appears in your system, before the driver will install.

 

Thank you,

I plan to upgrade into i7 4940xm / 4930xm

 

I'm a bit concerned of the operating temperature using stock K2100M pads on trhe M2000M upgrade...of course you'd apply new heatsink paste, like artctic silver, but still a worry if its working harder, or not cooling as it should. Still worried about attempting an upgrade until that part gets under control.

RoOSTA

 

@RoOSTA113
Don't know if it will be helpful for you but here is my report: My m2000m reached 79*C in full load and fans were aloud. The thermal pads remains from K1100M/K2100M cards.
Yesterday I reduced voltage in m2000m gpu's BIOS for clock frequencies up to 980MHz and I set "Temp target = 67*C". After these modifications the card stabilizes in "load" at temperature=65-67*C @ GPU's clock 980MHz and the performance still is almost exactly 2 times faster than K2100M but the FANs are pretty quiet I may try to reduce GPU voltage for the higher frequencies than 980MHz when I have more time - it would give more boost to performance as the card would reach higher colck (anyway I'll keep "Temp target = 67*C" as I want the fan to be quiet when I play 3D). As I said before, after my BIOS mods the card remains 2x faster then K2100M according to demos: Unigine Valley and Unigine Heaven. I a bit regret losing this maybe 5-20% lost performance.

To do above mod I used: 1. GPU-Z to write vbios to a file 2.Maxwell Bios Tweaker to edit vbios file and 3. some modified nvflash to rewrite BIOS to the card. I was unable to reduce voltage and temperature in other way than editiing vbios.

Also I have just ordered the set of various thermal pads and a tool for measuring "gaps' " thickness (my english dictionary name this tool "feeler gauge") however in the meantime I modded vbios (see above) and now I am not sure if I need to refine GPU's cooler installation.
Sorry for imperfect English.
PS. I also use Arctic Silver paste. To be precise Arctic Silver 5.

 

Someone suggested that 965m 4GB 3.0a would be better choice, anyone try this VGA?

Sent from my SGP321 using Tapatalk

 

Who is 'someone'? LInk to source.