Dell Precision M6700 Owners Thread

Well, after exchanging for three (RGB) screens due to color tinting in the lower corners, I decided to return my M6700. It was too much money for a screen that wasn't perfect.

Thanks again to the few folks who answered some of my questions prior to the purchase.

 

That's a perfectly understandable decision. However, if it means anything to you my display isn't perfect either--but at 97%, it is pretty close: There is a small faint bluish tint in the lower right-hand corner that is detectable...but barely.

Since ever other aspect of the machine's overall fit and finish is flawless, i.e. seams, lid, ports, exterior coating, glass, keyboard, etc., I decided to accept it as is.

 

Note on GPU overclocking.

I've been using NVIDIA Inspector. I noticed that the memory clock will not "stick" if I am using the "Balanced" power plan in Windows. This is whether I use the shortcut as mentioned above, or whether I use the sliders in NVIDIA Inspector directly. It just bounces back to the default clock. To get the clock to change I have to switch to the "High Performance" power plan.

(I'm not sure if the plan itself is the culprit somehow or, more likely, just one of the options I have set in it.)

After setting the memory clock with the "High Performance" power plan active, it remains if I switch back to "Balanced". So, I had to use a batch file to make sure the correct power plan is chosen before setting the clock speeds at bootup.

Using a clock rate bump of 120 MHz and a memory bump of 300 MHz, or 20% increase for each of them (which brings to the same level as the GeForce 680M), I'm able to get a 20% performance boost for GPU-heavy tasks (as opposed to the ~6% I got with just the memory clocked up). The max temp that I have seen is 68C (up from 65C with default clocks), so I think there is room to push it further.


Also:
I have a BIOS image for the GPU that allows setting the clock higher than 135 MHz above standard, which is the max when using the stock BIOS. (Haven't tried yet.) The modified BIOS images should be available on Techinferno soon.

 

Krane, those are good points. My color tinting was a little annoying for me (primarily as a mental thing, i.e, it wasn't necessarily something I noticed every time I looked at the screen) but what also bothered me was the shade shifting when angling my screen. I just figured that since it was a high end IPS display, I would see no shifting of color/brightness/shade/tone, but that wasn't the case. For some reason, the Apple Cinema displays (which are also IPS), have no shifting at all it seems. Since I do a lot of black & white photo editing, I need to have good control of my tones, so the 27" iMac screen was better suited for my needs. Trading some AdobeRGB performance (more important with color work) for those nice stable viewing angles (benefits b&w work).

I'm hoping it works out for me! One thing I will miss is the serviceability of the M6700. It was a dream getting into that thing. Once some parts arrive, I plan to tear open the iMac and make some changes. It will be a PIA compared to the Dell, but I've done tons of reading and I'm mentally prepared for the "surgery."



EDIT: looks like they removed the comment I made about my leftover RAM. I shall post in the Marketplace forum

 

What settings is everyone using fir applications in premier color app? Ie setting which ones to Full, Default, sRGB, Adobe RGB,...etc...

I've noticed lately I've been getting some bands when watching videos at times... Really weird as computer is not under load and I'm on latest official driver for the K3000M but getting color banding some it seems... Or maybe its mote ghosting tbh as I've seen it show up o the desktop background wallpaper and will go away after awhile...

Haven't dove into NVcontrol yet to see what I might want to change as I left all that default at install and am on win7 ultimate. ...

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

I have mine set to default. Apparently the system had auto-configured for specific software i.e. Photoshop, etc. Yes, there is visible banding under certain conditions/videos:

Check out AE's Radio Waves at the bottom of the page and let me know what you think.

 

I think it has something to do with premier color app and how it is interacting with the card at least as when I change different Gamuts the issue changes...

See the pics below as to what exactly im talking about, 2 pics with the issue circled out, and one clean...

 

Premier Color Settings:

[EXE] [TITLE] [COLORSPACE]
AcroRd32.exe, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe RGB
Bridge.exe, Adobe Bridge, Full
Photoshop.exe, Adobe Photoshop, Full
iexplore.exe, Internet Explorer, sRGB
wmplayer.exe, Windows MediaPlayer, Rec. 709
EXCEL.EXE, Microsoft Excel, sRGB
POWERPNT.EXE, Microsoft PowerPoint, sRGB
WINWORD.EXE, Microsoft Word, sRGB

File Location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Portrait Displays\PremierColor\DEL\preset.ini

 

Weird.... Those pics attached don't show anything when I looked on my phone at them.... But they sure as heck had ghosting and all that. When I saved them the ghosting went away completely but they were there before in the pics.....

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

I'm contemplating a little sacrilege, and getting gtx 680mx for the m6700.

Does anyone here have experience of upgrading the card on the m6700?

Is there a market for the k3000m that's a few weeks old, assuming I'm able to do this?

After owning the laptop for a while I can see that I ain't going to sit at my main home computer much and may just get dock station for home so the Dell will be the main computer.