Graphics Card upgrade for M6800 ?

My m6800 has the option to disable the optimum and run only the k5100m

 

Ah, sorry, I presumed they ditched Optimus on the 7720 as I didn't find any references, but I guess it's because it's too new.

Was the P5000 card tried on the M6700 a Dell one?

 

Found it on a china online store. Still a rare item, price double of 1070 but gradually dropping now. ES version could be cheaper if can get one, mine is retail. Just assembled up the M6800 from many small parts coming from everywhere, still lack of some funny parts and strip from M6700 wherever fit for temporary to make it run at the moment. System showed display with P5000 with and without Optimus, which is a good start. Next step is to install OS.

And yeah, M6800 supports DDR3L RAM up to 2133 Mhz.

 

Luck not at my side... unable to install Win7/8/10. All bsod ACPI_BIOS_ERROR during start of installation, not even able to see windows logo. EHCI. Remove P5000 and everything back to normal. Really wonder how the M6700 user managed to install P5000, the only difference is his version is ES.

Optimus enable and disable won't make any difference.

Diagnosis passed all for both Optimus enable and disable. Why not able to install OS...

 

A wild shot, but have you tried disabling UEFI or installing Windows 7?

The guy who upgraded his M6700 has an eDP screen on his M6700 as far as I can tell (it says 10-bit RGB at one place in the post here) and Windows 7 x64.

Too bad your M6700 isn't the eDP one, I'd suppose the RGB-LED screen and related parts are not that cheap. It'd probably be cheaper to get a used M6700 with the RGB screen.

Do you have an eDP port on your M6800 mainboard? Perhaps you can upgrade its screen? Still a hassle for sure getting all the parts needed..

 

Yes tried on Win 7/8/10, all said ACPI_BIOS_ERROR during installation. Be precise, not even able to enter installation process, BSOD before able to see windows setup logo. With and without UEFI; Optimus and without Optimus; Bios version from A13 to A19. All in more than 20 installation attempts.

The M6800 is eDP. Removed the P5000 and everything just runs smoothly. Even have tried windows installation without P5000 and install back the card after successfully installed windows, no luck. I am sending it back to seller to test at his side, together with the damaged M5000M for repair (if possible).

 

Oh, sorry. I thought it was with Optimus as well.

Do you know the card OEM? Perhaps it's not Dell and it would help if it's flashed with a Dell vBIOS. Provided that the card is working in the first place, that is..

 

I have a random question. Does the P5000M work with legacy only mode (UEFI completely disabled)?

I'm wondering if the Quadro series retain legacy mode booting whereas the 1070 requires UEFI mode enabled on laptops like the Alienware M18xR2.

 

You can still order these machines with Windows 7 (if you have a 6th gen CPU)... I think that they would still have to support legacy mode for that. It's not going to stick around very much longer, though. Anyway, @iieeann reports that he is able to get a display in legacy mode, and doesn't run into trouble until the OS boots. If the vBIOS didn't support legacy mode, you wouldn't be able to see anything at all.

 

I ask because apparently the newer GPUs starting from Maxwell require UEFI in Alienware laptops. I have an older M18x without UEFI so I was curious to see if maybe it would work.

Makes me wonder if the Quadro series would work.