Hands on Dell Precision 7710

Hi,
I am a happy owner of Precision 7710.
Very fast, very super machine. I switched M6600 about.
But unfortunately there is a problem.
The left USB does not work. As you can see I'm not alone with this problem. Some drivers think it will be a problem ...
Does it work with you ???

Can you help, how can I possess operational?

 

Hi, are you speaking of the USB 3.0 type A or the USB 3.1 type C on left side.

My USB 3.0 type A ports are working all around. I do not have any thunderbolt devices or cables to check the type C yet. Look at the Dell list of drivers and firmware updates for your device and Windows OS to see if you are missing something?

http://downloads.dell.com/published/Pages/index.html
*that is USA link above, I hope it works from your country.

 

What are the options for upgrading my 7710 to a backlit keyboard, and pascal graphics? Will these support a 1070 gtx or pascal quadro?

 

Backlit keyboard --- just buy one and install it (check eBay), the keyboard is reasonably easy to replace.

GPU -- It is likely that the GeForce 1060 will work but I haven't seen anyone try it in this model. However, the GeForce 1060 has been shown working in a number of other systems, including older Alienware machines that have an MXM slot, and the Precision line is generally pretty good about taking GPU upgrades (but Dell will never support it). Mobile Pascal Quadro cards are not yet available but it is likely that they will work as well. Someone will have to put up some money and be the guinea pig before we know for sure.

GeForce 1070 is slightly larger than the standard MXM card, you'd have to do some measuring to see if there is any extra room inside the laptop around the GPU card, but I wouldn't count on it working out.

If you upgrade the GPU to a "non-standard" model, you should be prepared to have to modify the driver INF file to get it to load, which means you will have to run Windows with driver signature verification disabled.

 

If someone were to upgrade to a pascal 10xx GPU, how important is it to get one from a matching vendor? For example, could a GPU taken from an MSI or Asus notebook system work in a Dell?

 

I've seen reports of the MSI 1060 card working in Alienware machines. Someone got a 1070 to work in an Alienware by modifying the chassis a little bit, I think that one came from Eurocom. (Stories in the Alienware section on this forum.)

 

just realized that HWiNFO has custom fan control ability but I've not tried it as this warning made me nervous, because I really don't know what I'm doing:

Has anyone tried using this?

 

I'd just add that Geforce 1060/1070 MXM modules may come in different forms, so it should be checked that the size and the layout fit the laptop/heatsink.

My best bet would be the Quadro cards, like e.g. P5000, which have lower clocks and thus lower TDP so the same layout as Maxwell 980M cards is reused. Plus, they'll probably be whitelisted for Dell in Nvidia drivers so you don't have to bother with modding driver inf files.

 

I use my 7710 mainly plugged in and with TB16 docks. I have switchable graphics turned off. I originally turned if off trying to solve issues with the TB15 and never turned it back on. Is there any advantage to using switchable graphics if I am plugged in all the time? Or is the only advantage to save battery?


thanks,

Mike

 

Our two 7710s exhibit wake from sleep issues when switchable graphics is disabled and then connecting to EPORT dock. The laptop display itself doesn't display anything (backlight will be on though) in that scenario when it awakes, although the external displays fine. And so I use switchable graphics primarily for that reason.

But being that you are not using eport dock as I am, I'm curious if you ever have sleep wake issues with switchable graphics disabled using the TB16. If not then go for full on dgpu usage if you like. Thats how we did it in the olden days before switchable graphics.