Kaby Lake Precision pre-release discussion (5520 / 7520 / 7720)

I've been watching Precision releases for a while, so I'll toss in my expectations with regards to the above.

* We will not be getting the Precision 7730 until next year. February earliest, April/May more likely. Even if Intel releases the CPUs at the end of this year, Precision always lags a few months behind, but I am expecting Intel to slip on the schedule (as usual) — I'd love to be wrong. I do expect that 6-core CPUs will be available in the 7730.

* They won't use the same set of GPUs again. If NVIDIA Volta is not available (and it probably won't be until summer '18), NVIDIA will offer refreshed Pascal GPUs (i.e. Quadro P3100, P4100, P5100) that have a modest speed bump. They won't be any cheaper than the current set.

 

A 7720 reviewer said both cooling fans are stuck on the copper heat pipe? not secured by screws like M6x00?? Can anyone confirm this, the fans need to be clean every 3-4 months (in my case), if need to dismantle until heatsink and heatpipe together that would be an extremely retarded design. The designer assumed everybody using the laptop in a cleanroom?

 

It is of concern that Dell's manual, normally an excellent guide of how the notebook is put together, doesn't mention fan removal / replacement (or heatsink, or mainboard).

John

 

Those CPU cache specs are MB, not GB, right?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

@iieeann
You can check the 7710 maintenance manual as it seems to be much more in depth than 7720 manual. Might be accurate enough for use on 7720 for most repairs or disassembly.

It documents the heatsink as being assembled to the fan and likely is sold as an assembly (fan heatsink together). I don't know though if fan is actually removable from the heatsink/pipes. I'd have to examine it to see how it is put together.

here are some photos for 7710 heatsink part which is probably similar (but not same) in design as 7720.
https://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=22698

according to 7710 manual need to remove keyboard and palmrest to access for removal of heatsink assembly.

 

You can access (but not remove) the fans by just removing the system's bottom panel. I just take the bottom off and spray some compressed air to clean the dust off of the fans when they need it. Do you need a more thorough cleaning than that?

 

ah that is true. If that is all that was needed it is very easy to do. I do the same and spray compressed air inward at the exhaust ports with the back cover removed to clear out the dust bunnies. I do that once a month or so.

 

Yeah, but if the bearings wear out, it's rather silly if they can't be detached from the heatsink. Well, I don't like the 77X0 design so, I never would have bought it anyway, but still.. I don't like the direction it's moving towards.

 

Yes, my place has high humidity, the dust will finally form a sticky layer at the end of each fan fin and require physical cleaning. Air blowing will clear only 60% of the dust but those sticky one will require wet cotton bud to clean. This is done 2-3 times a year. With M6700 I can keep spare fans and replace them in less than 2 minutes and continue using the laptop, cleaning can be done anytime later. My way of cleaning has also broken the fin once but i just replace the fan that's all.

What ijozic said is really a concern. If 1 of the fans fails or damaged, the need to replace the whole assembly is really ridiculous. The price would be 20x more expensive than just replace a single fan (after warranty period). I dont think anyone will buy spare assembly to keep this doesn't make sense. Opening 77x0 until the fan assembly is very much tedious than previous generation; taking out the fan assembly to clean may also damage the thermal pad for GPU RAM etc. While cleaning the dust might stick on the thermal pad and affect heat transfer efficiency. After cleaning the fan, CPU and GPU need to be cleaned properly also and reapply new thermal paste... OMG this is way too troublesome.

 

I'm already streaming 4k Netflix on my 7720, with Edge. I don't understand what the big deal is to switch to Edge to watch Netflix. Newer processors aren't going to change this. You can also use the Netflix app from the Windows 10 store, which supports 4k.