Graphics Card upgrade for M6800 ?

The easiest is Quadro M5000M or GeForce 980M (they perform about the same), all that is needed is an INF mod to get these up and running.

You can take it a step further with Quadro P5000, which requires an INF mod + vBIOS flash. (vBIOS flash has to be done from Linux.) If you have an LVDS display panel, you can only use Pascal and later GPUs with Optimus enabled. (These GPUs do not support LVDS.) Details on the flash procedure here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/graphics-card-upgrade-for-m6800.806352/page-17#post-10748094

Technically, a Quadro RTX 5000 GPU should work as well, without a vBIOS flash. HP makes a MXM card for this GPU but the layout is quite different so it would require a more substantial mod to the heatsink.

 

So I am currently on the prowl on ebay looking for the right deal to jump on for either a hp elitebook 8770w or a dell m6800. with the dell, how do I tell if its a LVDS display panel?

 

Unfortunately you probably won't be able to tell until after you buy it :-\
Early M6800 models have LVDS but later ones have eDP. There's no "exterior" indication of which one you have.
You could ask the seller to check the display panel model number (using a tool like HWiNFO64 or MonInfo) and then look up the panel information to see which type it is.

 

Okay so I am getting slightly confused now and need some clarification lol. Are you saying if I got one that had a LVDS panel, I wouldn't be able to use a 980m because thats maxwell? You mentioned something about lvds panels and only being able to use pascal or later gpu

 

I'll try to spell it out a bit better.

Pascal cards and newer do not support LVDS directly. If you use one of these cards, and you have an LVDS panel, you must use the system with Optimus enabled at all times. (This has the Intel GPU driving the display, and the NVIDIA GPU can render to the Intel GPU frame buffer.)

If you have a Kepler/Maxwell GPU or you have an eDP display panel, then you can use the system with Optimus disabled if you so choose. (This has the NVIDIA GPU driving the display directly.)

The toggle to enable/disable Optimus is in the BIOS setup. Optimus is enabled by default.

 

ah okay. I am following now. So basically, if I happen to get a eDP display, I could use something like a gtx 1060m?

 

No, unfortunately because of vBIOS issues, the only Pascal GPUs that work are Quadro P3000, P4000, and P5000. These GPUs must be flashed with an engineering sample vBIOS from Linux (I have a link about this process a few posts up), or else you will get a BSOD when Windows boots no matter what. We have not located any working vBIOS images for any other Pascal GPUs.

(If you are OK using Linux then you can use whatever GPU you want.)

 

okay this is all good info, I appreciate you. so like for example:: someone on ebay that took a screenshot of system information. Says 5/25/2015 for manufacture and ownership date. Prob a good chance because that something like that would have the eDP display right? Since it was one of the later ones to be made ?

 

Yes, good chance. I'm not sure what the exact cutover date is but M6800 was the "flagship" Precision from September 2013 through September 2015, so machines from the later part of that range are probably eDP.

 

One more kinda random question. Do you know if all the m6800 were created equal in their motherboard power? I thought I read somewhere they were.

I had an old asus k55a that I wasn’t able to jump from 35w to 45w cpu because it was missing some power inducters on the board. In theory I could have at the risk of burning out the mobo. But then there was a specific model k55a-ds71 that shipped with a higher 45w tdp i7 that had those extra power inducters.

Do you know if either the m6800 or elite book 8770w did anything like that? My idea right now is to try and snag one on the cheap with a lower i5 in it and then upgrade to the highest end extreme edition processor for that socket. In this case the 3940xm(hp) or 4940mx(dell)