Dell Precision M6700 Owners Thread

wondering why everyone seems to be getting the K5000 over the K4000?

most work i do is light CAD, sketchup, corel draw, photoshop... thinking K4000 is more than enough?

 

Working perfectly fine in 2x8GB config here too. I'll need another 16GB soon though, i'm barely making due with 16Gb right now...

Some need it, some are performance junkies or both. It really depends on your workload, but if you don't have a GPU heavy workload, then yes a less powerful GPU will do the job.

 

Some users will run software that takes hours to render projects even with GPU acceleration. Will the ~30% performance boost of the K5000M over the K4000M allow you to save enough time to pay for the upgrade cost over the life of the machine?

Will it allow you to use GPU intensive software or video effects in real time?

If you are running light CAD, then K4000M should be more than enough. If you start wanting to use 3ds Max to render walk-throughs or fly-throughs of those CAD designs, then you might take a serious look at the K5000M.

 

I don't seem to be getting anywhere near those benchmarks, here on RAID-1 with 2x 750GB 7200rpm, on primary and secondary SATA port:

Write caching: enabled; (checked)
Write-cache buffer flushing: enabled; (unchecked)
Write-back caching: disabled;

I've just done the update, rebooted a couple of times and these are my results now:

Write caching: enabled; (checked)
Write-cache buffer flushing: enabled; (unchecked)
Write-back caching: disabled;

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2012 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :    68.678 MB/s
          Sequential Write :    68.293 MB/s
         Random Read 512KB :    17.655 MB/s
        Random Write 512KB :    43.671 MB/s
    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :     0.536 MB/s [   130.8 IOPS]
   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :     0.874 MB/s [   213.3 IOPS]
   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :     2.139 MB/s [   522.2 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :     0.879 MB/s [   214.6 IOPS]

  Test : 1000 MB [C: 71.5% (499.1/697.9 GB)] (x5)
  Date : 2012/12/05 22:10:55
    OS : Windows 7 Professional SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2012 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :    80.740 MB/s
          Sequential Write :    85.535 MB/s
         Random Read 512KB :    17.258 MB/s
        Random Write 512KB :    43.762 MB/s
    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :     0.597 MB/s [   145.7 IOPS]
   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :     0.866 MB/s [   211.5 IOPS]
   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :     2.046 MB/s [   499.6 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :     0.897 MB/s [   219.1 IOPS]

  Test : 1000 MB [C: 71.5% (499.1/697.9 GB)] (x5)
  Date : 2012/12/05 22:43:05
    OS : Windows 7 Professional SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2012 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :    72.141 MB/s
          Sequential Write :    86.438 MB/s
         Random Read 512KB :    17.521 MB/s
        Random Write 512KB :    44.526 MB/s
    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :     0.556 MB/s [   135.7 IOPS]
   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :     0.878 MB/s [   214.3 IOPS]
   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :     2.139 MB/s [   522.1 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :     0.889 MB/s [   216.9 IOPS]

  Test : 1000 MB [C: 71.5% (499.1/697.9 GB)] (x5)
  Date : 2012/12/05 23:34:57
    OS : Windows 7 Professional SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

I've just received my Crucial m4 mSATA 256GB SSD, should I try tweaking my RAID-1 performance first, or should I just go ahead installing the mSATA card?

 

Seagate 750GB 7,200rpm HDD + Samsung P830 256GB mSATA with 64GB reserved for Intel Smart Response cache....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2012 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 134.450 MB/s
Sequential Write : 127.891 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 35.934 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 211.798 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 15.518 MB/s [ 3788.6 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 31.868 MB/s [ 7780.2 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 191.395 MB/s [ 46727.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 106.573 MB/s [ 26018.8 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 55.1% (38.3/69.5 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2012/12/05 22:10:00
OS : Windows 8 Professional [6.2 Build 9200] (x64)


Samsung P830 256GB mSATA only....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2012 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 275.289 MB/s
Sequential Write : 243.261 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 205.467 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 235.146 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 15.910 MB/s [ 3884.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 33.907 MB/s [ 8278.2 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 177.682 MB/s [ 43379.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 107.102 MB/s [ 26148.0 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [L: 12.5% (19.8/158.5 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2012/12/05 22:22:36
OS : Windows 8 Professional [6.2 Build 9200] (x64)

 

It is. Because its there; and because they can. The K4000 is high performance GPU. But the K5000 is ultra, and the point of diminishing return is reached rapidly. The triple price premium won't get you 3 times the performance. I'd only get it for 3D ray tracing or animation. Other than that, I'd guess less than 5% would need or use near that much. I like to think of it as a 500 hp engine.

On the other hand, many who buy these machines are also interested in gaming and this version of Quadro is the only one that reaches the 680’s territory.

 

This is me. My professional workload isn't very GPU heavy but I also would like to get good gaming performance out of this machine. I'd be happier if they offered a GeForce option but the Quadro K5000M works very well (though it was rather pricey ). The fact that it was the only NVIDIA card available at launch along with a superb credit offer from Dell led to me choosing to get this monster card.

 

Wow, what an improvement, I've installed the mSATA card and accelerated my Raid-1 volume, here are the results:

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2012 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :   238.150 MB/s
          Sequential Write :    92.394 MB/s
         Random Read 512KB :   212.396 MB/s
        Random Write 512KB :    45.365 MB/s
    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :    18.104 MB/s [  4420.0 IOPS]
   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :     0.783 MB/s [   191.1 IOPS]
   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :   175.313 MB/s [ 42801.1 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :     0.812 MB/s [   198.2 IOPS]

  Test : 1000 MB [C: 71.5% (499.3/697.9 GB)] (x5)
  Date : 2012/12/06 0:59:58
    OS : Windows 7 Professional SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

I've also re-run the Windows Experience Index assessment, but surprisingly that only went up to 5.9 for the disk performance, which is the same level as a single 7200rpm SATA disk, which it had before I switched to RAID-1 (which has a disk performance of 5.3)


This is the performance of the Crucial M4 mSATA 256GB SSD on it's own:

Code:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2012 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :   277.291 MB/s
          Sequential Write :   219.024 MB/s
         Random Read 512KB :   239.536 MB/s
        Random Write 512KB :   209.157 MB/s
    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :    18.678 MB/s [  4560.0 IOPS]
   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :    48.094 MB/s [ 11741.7 IOPS]
   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :   158.774 MB/s [ 38763.2 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :   189.777 MB/s [ 46332.2 IOPS]

  Test : 1000 MB [F: 0.1% (0.1/74.5 GB)] (x5)
  Date : 2012/12/06 3:58:28
    OS : Windows 7 Professional SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

 

Depending on how the Gorilla Glass is mounted to the screen, it might cause problems if you are looking to color calibrate. It might hold the sensor off enough to allow ambient light to throw off the results.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but how exactly did you speed it up? Used part of it as a cache? I'm not familiar with the Intel Rapid Storage benefits..