Dell Precision M6700 Owners Thread

Catching up...I am trying to keep track of NVIDIA driver revisions, and how it looks on my 6700, K5000, no open apps, system apparently quiet. It's an unscientific test; I run it three times, and now I start reporting the range of the three tests as there are variations. Over time I suspect the improvement in driver performance will be more obvious:

I ran 3DMark11 to test (I ran test three times each in case any caching etc.). This test is of course unique to my system, plus I run core/memory at 720/1700 using NVIDIA Inspector per Bokeh’s recommendation (and have since the 6700 first came out). So just use this to comparatively view the differences in drivers.

296.79 (original):
P5698
Graphics - 5435
Physics: 9342
Combined: 4667

305.93:
P5887
Graphics: 5663
Physics: 9428
Combined:4651

306.97:
P5928
Graphics: 5708
Physics: 9462
Combined:4681

307.45
P5901-P5938 in three tests
Graphics: 5675-5725
Physics: 9374 - 9442
Combined: 4674-4676

 

Adding a second HDD is easy....

1. Remove battery.
2. Remove two screws securing the bottom cover and then slide/lift the plate off.
3. Remove the three screws securing the empty caddy. Note a row of four screws neatly screwed into the chassis beside the caddy.
4. Lift out the caddy with the tab provided.
5. Insert new HDD into caddy, ensuring the correct orientation, and secure into the caddy with the four screws provided.
6. Replace caddy, making sure to carefully push the SATA pins into place inside the machine.
7. Refit the three screws securing the caddy.
8. Slide the bottom cover back into place and secure with the two screws.
9. Replace battery.
10. Boot up and do what you will with your new drive.

I've only had my machine since Wednesday last week (four days ago) and I've already had two different drives in that caddy. Other than taking a few minutes to fiddle with the screws there is nothing complex about the procedure whatsoever.

While the cover is off you will also see two RAM slots. Mine are all full, but if you only have a couple of factory installed sticks I imagine they will be beneath the keyboard, leaving you with easy access to the free slots underneath.

 

Yeah, adding the secondary drive really is that simple. The HDD2 caddy is present, including the required screws to mount the drive, right next to the caddy:

 

As we are on HD's was wondering if I should switch to a 256gb msata for OS and Apps and 2x750gb Raid 0 for games and stuff. I have a NAS that does my backups so I am covered there. Right now I have a 512gb SSD and 750gb HD setup.

 

Excellent! This was my initial setup configuration. Although 750GB will go away quickly in the world of HD video. If need be, I could probably get by with the 1TB twins with a bit slower access. But not really sure how much slower since no one has tested the speed of the 5400/7200 RPM RAIDed drives. I would imagine even he RAIDed 5400 would still be fast enough for HD editing?

 

I would just use a proper display calibration tool once the display has warmed up to operating temperature (which is what we're supposed to do anyway). Running the M6700 closed hasn't been that much of an issue. The laptop runs fairly cool even under load.

I agree. The first M6700 had a fairly good display but I could notice the color tinting. The second M6700 in my possession has it much worse and includes the green tint in the bottom-middle of the display. I'm guessing the third one will be somewhere in the middle. If it is a huge problem then I can just have the display replaced later. At this point I just want a computer.

Any updates on this?

Thanks. I don't know how I made that mistakes but I've edited the original post so it doesn't mislead anyone.

Yes, everything is included for the 2nd HDD. The only place where you need to buy screws is if you add anything in the mini PCI-E slots (WWAN, mSATA, etc) which is a M2x3 screw.

Yup. I added screws because I didn't want 4 holes in my laptop. The screw size is M3x3.

8GB modules used to be several hundred dollars each which caused a 32GB configuration to add thousands to the cost of a machine (even when bought aftermarket) when Sandy Bridge CPUs debuted. The $125 Corsair Vengeance modules you're talking about are the 1866Mhz ones which are the fastest on the market right now. If you went with 4x8GB 1600Mhz (32GB total) then you could pick up 4 modules for $130-$150 total. Either way, that is cheap but I've been playing with 32GB laptop memory configurations for a while now so maybe my viewpoint is off.

I have that exact configuration except I was running 3x1TB 7200RPM in RAID5 (now 2x1TB 7200RPM in RAID0 due to a faulty SATA connector in the primary HDD bay). It is a speed demon and well worth the cash.

I have both WD 5400RPM 1TB and Hitachi 7200RPM 1TB drives. Tell me which benchmark software you'd like me to run and I can do it for you. In my experience both are fine in a RAID0 config for light prosumer-type editing. Go with SSDs if you value random read/write performance or need multiple high-speed sequential transfers.

 

My M6700 will be picked up today to be returned to Dell. I called a sales rep on Friday and arranged to wait with the new order until the old laptop was picked up and my creditcard payment refunded.

CrystalDiskMark would do, so we can compare to Bokeh's benchmark results.

 

Well, just installed Windows 8 on the SSD in the 2nd bay. I'm going to run a dual OS system from now on. I'll go with Windows 8 once it's fully set, but i'll still have my good old 7 drive if I need it.

 

hi,
can a COVET owner please tell me if that gorilla glass is glossy or not?
how much reflection when used in office environment?
cause nobody with Dell seems to know anything about it...

thx a mill..
Marc

 

Does anyone here make use of the Expresscard slot? Any problems?

One reason I bought this machine over anything else was because of the inclusion of the Expresscard/54 slot. I wanted it for a Compact Flash card reader which I have been using quite successfully in a Dell XPS M1710 and a Twinhead H12Y for the last few years. With the card inserted into the M6700 it adds maybe a couple of minutes to my boot times, right at the very beginning of the boot process, long before Windows gets a look in. However, after the long delay it will boot OK. Once in Windows it causes extreme delay to some processes, such as firing up diskmgmt.msc. It also creates gaps in the Resource Monitor graphs. The crazy thing is that it does still work. i.e. I can copy raw image files onto the laptop without a problem. But clearly there is something quite wrong somewhere.

In the Event Log errors are recorded as follows : The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk2\DR3. But there is no meat to the error message and following links to online help results in "page not found".

I'm running vanilla installs of Windows 8 Pro on all three machines, but only the M6700 is blighted by this problem. Can anyone suggest any steps for diagnosis and resolution? FWIW I have two of the card readers and both suffer the same problem in the M6700 while working perfectly in my other machines.