Experience with 680m on M6700, some useful info for the upgraders.

It won't work unless u have 3gb of ram or less (or 2gb/1gb). Latest vidock with thunderbolt should break the 4gb curse, but that maybe on M6800 or later.

To me, removing GPU from M6700 is easy but to install 680m is painful. If you can remove the x-bracket from the k3000m and apply to 680m that will make the work easier. I can't peel off the x-bracket from AMD M6000 because it sticks so hard and there are plenty of tiny chips around. nvidia might be easier to peel off because the x-bracket has a very clear way from the chips.

 

The trick I use for removing the x-bracket is to gently heat the back of the card under a 60W bulb for about 10 minutes. Once it's warm-ish to the touch, but not "burning hot", the x-bracket will lift right off with ease.

It's annoying having to remove the CPU heatsink in order to upgrade or mod the GPU, but other than that, it's a simple install.

 

Yeah I have 32GB as I do video editing so looking for that extra CUDA power. I have seen users with 8GB getting it to work so wondered if its worth the risk.

If I went the 680M route I would hope its just a straight swap from the K3000M to the 680M without any issues with H/S.

 

No issues at all. I went straight from K3000M to the 680M. It's 100% compatible. If you're looking for a 680M, hit me up with a PM, I have several Dell models available.

 

Some laptops >4Gb RAM can use the vidock, but generally not from Dell. I am not absolutely sure with M66/6700, but it did not work with my M4400 earlier until i use only 3Gb RAM.

 

Woot, thx for sharing :thumbsup:

 

Hi Guys, currently have two M6700's at my disposal and trying to find the best way forward. Will end up selling one of the laptops and then upgrading the other.

M6700 -1

3820QM
Firepro M6000
Has all the accessories such as webcam, backlit keyboard, 5 year warranty etc.
32gb ram


M6700 - 2
3940XM
K3000M
8gb Ram
Plain jane, no backlit keyboard, webcam etc - 3 Year warranty


Now i have tried both and neither the M6000 or the K3000m seem to cut it, i dont need to go too extreme and go for a Gtx680m but i see that upgrade monkey are having a sale on the GTX675M at the mo for around $325 which by the looks of the benchmarks it should be plenty fast enough.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M MXM 3 0 DDR5 2GB Video for Alienware MSI Upgrademonkey | eBay

So a couple of questions.

1. Is the Gtx675 suitable for upgrading one of these laptops? I note there was a question regarding the different variations of the 680m and the 675 looks similar to the one not tested.

2. Which laptop would you sell and which would you keep?, I am torn due to the better processor with the 3940xm but the other one has the extras + more warranty.

Opinions please

 

To answer your questions:

1. A GTX 675M is a rebrand of the Fermi GTX 580M. I would not pay anything over $260 for it. The 580M is roughly 1/2 the performance of the Kepler GTX 680M (which is imo, worth every penny). As for appearance, the 680M all look the same with the exception of Dell having a green PCB and Clevo etc having a blue PCB. Dells come with 2GB RAM and the others come with 4GB, there is currently no proof if there are any real benefits with having over 2GB RAM. The die on the 680M is much smaller and thus run a lot cooler than the Fermi's huge die.

2. I'd always stay with NVIDIA simply because of ease of use. AMD drivers can be a miss at times, though not always. IMO the M6700 sporting a XM CPU is a waste simply because you can't overclock it (unlocked for a reason LOL) so I'd stick with the "better" specs of the AMD laptop and buy a $22 NVIDIA heatsink from Dell.

Hope this helped.

 

Thanks for the detailed response!
Do you know of any sellers apart from Dell for the Nvidia heatsink? Dell NZ are useless when it comes to parts as we are just an offshoot of Dell Australia.

Looks like i will be going with the 680m, am just a bit weary as it is my first laptop GPU upgrade, have pulled laptops to bits hundreds of times but this thread has me nervous about spending $800ish on a graphics card. But if the 675m is that much lower on specs i wont bother with it.

I did read up on your feedback too, did you say you had cards available?

Thanks for your help.

 

I do have the 680M available and if you have trouble getting the nvidia heatsink I can always order one from Dell once I confirm it's in stock. As far as I know, Dell is the only place offering the heatsink.

So long as you have the correct heatsink, you're good to go with an upgrade