Dell Precision M6700 Owners Thread

So right now I'm using a AMD FirPro M6000 but I've noticed that I more and more use my desktop for rendering and autocad. Meanwhile I use the laptop to play games on mostly.

Now I was wondering if anyone had any GPU's laying around that are compatible and willing to sell(And or trade for my current card)

 

Windows 8 is a pretty straight-forward install on the M6700. Before installing, you can enable UEFI and secure boot in the BIOS. (Download and update to BIOS A06 first if it doesn't come on the machine.)

The only thing not working yet is the fingerprint reader (if you have one). For the rest, drivers can be retrieved from Windows Update or from the Dell support site. Make sure to grab the not-quite-as-obvious freefall sensor driver from Dell (shows up as an "Unknown device" in device manager).

 

Thanks for reply-I checked nvidia and they do have Linux drivers for K4000M and Dell 6600 is apparently Linux certified--so its probably good to go.

 

@Aaron44126
Thanks for the reply.
I guess, the free fall sensor is not needed, because I have only a SSD.
What about the touch pad? Are the windows 8 gestures working?
(On my M4500 I made the following experience: Windows 8 gestures not working, finger print reader not working, sound working, but after some time no sound, had to install the Dell driver for Windows 7, two or three times a week the display driver failed and has been restarted by Windows. It was the driver coming with Windows 8. Unfortunately Dell does not provide any Windows 8 drivers for the M4500.)

 

I have this post, maybe you are interested.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ce-680m-m6700-some-useful-info-upgraders.html

 

There is a Windows 8 touchpad driver posted on the Dell site and if you install it, gestures work in Windows 8. (I suspect this driver could also be installed on older machines with an Alps touchpad to get gestures.)

Swipe from the right to get the charms bar (same as Winkey+C).
Swipe from the left to switch apps (same as Winkey+tab).
Swipe from the top to get the app bar (in "metro" apps only, same as right-click).

 

There hasn't been a lot of talk of CPU temps. I finally got around to doing some testing with prime95 and on the most intensive test my temps seem to level off around 100C. The idle temps seems to be between 46C and 52C. These temps seem a little high to me - especially since the max temp of the 3940XM is 105C. Interestingly, Core #0 seems to level off around 90C but Cores 1-3 seem to level off in the 98C-101C range (possibly indicative of a bad heat sink pasting job). The CPU temps when sitting in the diagnostics screen seem to slowly rise to 68C until the fans kick in, then the fans stop when the CPU hits 50C.

Geee... And things were looking so promising....

My GPU (K5000M) temps are remarkably low - it would not even break 70C on Furmark.

 

Bad thermal paste (too much or too little), bad heatsink contact, or (unlikely) bad heatsink design but I've seen the same difference in core temps. Mine will max out at 105C on cores 1-3. Core 0 is slightly cooler. I will attempt to repaste the heatsink this weekend.

I can get mine into the 80C range on Furmark if the surface obstructs airflow.

 

Then mission accomplished for Nvidia. That, and stability, is what they claim you're paying all that extra cash for.

Incidentally, whats easier (and least costly) to upgrade on this box. CPU or GPU? I will start to learn graphic animation in the spring, but likely won't need the full frequencies for a while. What do you think?

 

I'm going to say the CPU is easier to upgrade, just a little less to worry about. But there are a few considerations.

- If you upgrade to a 39?0XM CPU from a non-"extreme" CPU, you'll need a new CPU heatsink. The XM ones have an extra heat pipe.
- If you upgrade from an AMD card to an NVIDIA card (or vice versa) you'll need a new GPU heatsink. They are slightly different.
- If you don't get a quad-core CPU you won't be able to use all four memory slots.