Dell Precision m6600 video card faulty

I bought this notebook in 2012, but don't have warranty of any sort. I'm located in Haiti. The video card (ATI m8900) has developed a fault and the display is not clear. I had to disable the driver in Windows to get a working display, but there are still some lines on the screen. Later today, I'm going to remove the ATI graphics card in the hope that the Intel card will work. I'm not sure what resolution I will achieve with the built-in card.. I will post results here soon.

In a couple of weeks I will order a replacement graphics card. I've seen listings on Ebay, but they are all above $200; whereas 2nd hand m6600 computers are available for just $600. If I order the card from Dell, will they have it? Should I choose Ebay instead? If this card is no longer available is there any other newer & better card that I can order instead (not that I'm not changing the GPU heatsink assembly) ?

 

You can instal firepro m6100 - it is officialy supported by you machine. Works twice faster compared to m8900 and runs 10ish celsius cooler. You will have to move thermal compund around. Heatsink in m6600 is good for both nvidia and amd cards.

Yes m6600 can be bought rather cheap but take note gpus in them will be at least 3 years old if not more. So i would recomend getting m6100 as it is relatively new card. You can always call dell and ask for a price quote for it, if you want i can give you part number for it later.

Other reported working cards are nvidia 680m, quadro k4000m, k4100m so i guess 3000 and 5000 variants would work.

Your machine will run fine without amd card, just instal intel igp drivers. If i remember correctly hdmi and dp will not work if you only run intel card with no dedicated graphics, but notebook panel and vga will work normaly and be able to provide fhd resolution.

 

Thank you for this most informative reply. You certainly know what you're talking about

 

I have a m6600 running on intel graphics...

HDMI doesn't work. I have no way of testing the DP.

 

Amazing! I removed the ATI graphics card and my display is working properly now with the integrated Intel adapter. @DarkyDark: Thanks !

 

If you are getting a new GPU, definitely go m6100 instead of m8900, they are pretty much the same price.
May also go nivida for optimus if battery life is concerned.

 

I have a M6600 that has a bad video card.. Still under warranty but I'm not the original owner and the SOB's won't transfer the warranty..

So what is the process of getting it to work with the on board GPU?

Thanks

 

Just pull the GPU out.

 

Have a guide? Thanks

 

ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-prod...bile/precision-m6600_owner's manual_en-us.pdf

follow the service manual.