Dell Precision M6700 Owners Thread

I definitely think that it is a defect and it is likely covered by the warranty. My main concern is with how careful a technician will be with the dis-assembly of the system and reapplication of the heatsink. I have read some rather disturbing accounts of some Dell technicians mishandling systems (e.g. forcing parts, forgetting screws, etc.). While I am somewhat apprehensive about delving into the depths of my m6700, I believe that I will be more careful and will be able to use a superior thermal compound. I plan on ordering a tube of IC Diamond thermal compound. From my research, it seems to be the best, albeit somewhat more difficult to apply due to its viscosity.

It is a shame since my machine is otherwise flawless from a workmanship perspective (no scratches or dents). I would hate for it to be banged up by a rushed tech.

I am a little worried that the "thermal performance" seems to have worsened. I hope that there hasn't been some kind of damage as result of the elevated temperatures (warping/deformation of parts).

This is one concern that I have. It seems that it is not unheard of for people to perform such procedures themselves (e.g. swapping CPUS/GPUs). I would, however, like to know how it could impact the warranty. I have 4 year accidental coverage, but I somehow doubt that includes accidentally screwing something up while repasting the heatsink...

If anyone has any pointers regarding repasting the heatsink (or the process of tearing down the machine) I would greatly appreciate them. I already have the owner's manual which describes the general procedure for removing the heatsink (interestingly it makes no mention of thermal compound).

 

My M6700 heatsink had a screw completely unscrewed and rattling around inside when the machine was delivered. Given I have 3 years next business day on site warranty and it needs around 30 screws to be removed to get to the heatsink I decided a tech could damn well come and fix it. I'd far rather have a tech screw up than me. Better that any (further) cockups are down to Dell than to me. I sat in the room and chatted with him while he worked.

 

Actually, the biggest problem with high temperatures in integrated circuits is what is known as 'silicon degradation'. In other words, a CPU wears out faster when operated at high temperatures over long periods of time. Damage to the transistors of a CPU caused by overheating is irreversible.

Modern processors, such as the Ivy Bridge CPUs, have a built-in safety feature to prevent damage by throttling down cores that run the risk of overheating. For the Core i7-3940XM, the maximum core temperature is 105 °C (= maximum junction temperature). This means that the CPU is designed to run safely at temperatures upto 105 °C for short periods of time. When any core exceeds 105 °C it is automatically throttled down to reduce the core's temperature and prevent damage caused by overheating.

I think it's safe to say that your CPU hasn't been damaged by the elevated temperatures just yet. However, if it runs at high temperatures over longer periods of time, for example due to reduced air flow or insufficient heat conductivity between CPU and heat sink, you should expect a lower lifetime for the CPU in the long run.

I would suggest you contact Dell and have a tech re-paste the CPU for you. I'm not sure, but I think your warranty is void if you do it yourself.

 

If this hasn't changed since Bill addressed it when he was still a Dell rep on this site, unless you break something, your warranty is still valid on any component from Dell.

 

Dell actually has a good policy for allowing you to open up your machine for repairs or part swapping. You don't void the warranty unless your tinkering causes the issue you are trying to have addressed. Still, this heat issue should be covered, I'd give them a call.

 

Glad to know this hasn't changed, besides, on a Precision, they have to expect the techs form various companies to be the ones to service them.

Speaking of warranty and temps, I've been abusing my M6700 lately, it's been put on CFD duty and the CPU has been running on 4 cores at 3.4GHz almost non-stop. It withstood 12 hours straight of number crunching (only for the solver to reach it's maximum # of iterations before converging ). So far while the temps on the CPU are a tad high for my tastes, high enough that i'm starting to consider repasting, they can still be considered safe and i'm glad to see it's been holding up well so far. It will run overnight again tonight.

 

Driver update:

New mobile Quadro drivers today, version 310.70.
NVIDIA DRIVERS 310.70WHQL

 

Hallo,

I am newbee here. Tge name is Marc and I live in Belgium.
I am a ( don't shoot yet ) Thinkpad-user, but as I do a lot of photography and also some video rendering, I want a fast, modern computer - and last but not least, with a good IPS screen.

So no much choise in laptopland.

I am negociating to buy a Precicion COVET M6700

But the Belgium site is rather confusin, with sometimes different prices for the same products.

So i started with a base config of approx 1700 euros and "built" i, hoping toc become a COVET laptop with IPS screen.

Is OK to chose: STANDARD COVET base ?
Will I have a COVET then ??? With gorilla-glass ?

Does anyone know why there is no Smartcard reader in the COVET ???
Pitty for a photographer ....
But on the other hand, the most of my cards are CF...
I use a Canon 1D; it can handle both

So here is my config; it is not confirmed ( payed ) yet, so I can change a few things.

Does everything seems OK to you ???

Many thanks and sorry for my crappy English...

1 Precision M6700 : Standard Covet Base (Phoenix Red)
1 Base Option : No Smartcard Reader Base for Windows 8 for Covet
1 Processor : 3rd gen Intel Core i7-3740QM Processor (2.70GHz Turbo, 6MB, Upgradable to Intel
vPro technology)
1 Display : 44cm (17.3") FHD(1920x1080) Wide View IPS RGB LED-backlit Edge to Edge LCD Panel
1 Palmrest : No Fingerprint Reader and No Smart Card Reader (Contact and Contactless)
Palmrest
1 Save on 8gig RAM 'SB only'
1 Camera : Integrated 1.0 Mega Pixel Camera with Microphone for Edge to Edge LCD
1 Memory : 32GB (4x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3
1 Hard Drive : 256GB 2.5inch Serial ATA Solid State Drive
1 Additional Hard Drive : 500GB 2.5inch Serial ATA (7.200 Rpm) Hard Drive
1 Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive Slot Load
1 Power Supply + Power Cord : 240W AC Adapter with Euro Power Cord
1 Battery : Primary 9-cell 97W/HR
1 Graphics Card : NVIDIA Quadro K3000M with 2GB GDDR5 for Windows 8
1 Wireless : EMEA Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (802.11 a/b/g/n 3X3) Half Mini Card
1 Wireless : Dell Wireless 380 Bluetooth Card
1 Keyboard : Internal Belgian AZERTY Backlit Keyboard for Windows 8
1 Operating System Recovery : Dell Backup and Recovery Manager Professional for Windows 8
1 Additional Software : Dell Applications for Windows 8
Software
1 Windows 8 Live Essentials
1 Optical Software : Cyberlink Software for Windows 8 with media
1 Resource DVD : Not Included
1 Operating System : Windows 8 Pro (64Bit) Dutch
1 MS Media : Windows 8 (64Bit) Resource DVD
1 System Management : No Out-of-Band Systems Management
Service
1 Base Warranty
1 3Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day - Minimum Warranty
1 3Yr ProSupport and Next Business Day On-Site Service
1 Keep Your Hard Drive Service - Not Selected
1 3Yr Accidental Damage with Theft Protection (OS)

 

If you choose a Covet base system then you will get a Covet (complete with gorilla glass).

Smartcards are not the same as SD cards which are what most cameras use. I believe all M6700s include the SD card reader, it is separate from the Smartcard reader.

Your config looks pretty good.

 

OK, silly me - yes I realized that it is not the same as Secure Digital Cards - I saw a SD slot in a COVET youtube commercial, so it is OK.

Another question - what is the difference between all thes wireless cards ?
EMEA – Dell Wireless 1504 (802.11 b/g/n 1x1) halfhoge minikaart [minderprijs € 12,00]


EMEA – Dell Wireless 1540 (802.11 a/b/g/n 2x2) halfhoge minikaart [inbegrepen in de prijs]


EMEA INTEL CENTRINO ADVANCED-N 6205 (802.11 A/B/G/N) HALFHOGE MINIKAART [[meerprijs] € 7,00 of € 1/maand1]


EMEA – Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (802.11 a/b/g/n, 3x3) halfhoge minikaart [[meerprijs] € 48,00 of € 2/maand1]