M6600 Owners Thread

What kind of work do you use it for? Quadro 3000M is probably a step up for some professional apps (CAD/Adobe/stuff that uses CUDA), but a step down for gaming. Dunno if you'll be able to get them to spring for a 4000M... I seem to remember it being a nearly $800 upgrade over the M8900? But no harm in trying, if they'll do it then you get a decent upgrade and all it takes is some of your time.

I really doubt they'd do it but if you could get them to install a K3000M instead, it would probably cost them about the same but give you performance more like the 4000M.

You can think about going the DIY route, doesn't look like you'll be able to get a better card for less than $500 though.

 

You could call back and explain the situation: that the performance of the new card is not up to par with the performance of the old one. If you are in the US, try getting a hold of a US rep.

 

It's a lot of work but if you're up for it, I say: FIGHT! for it.

 

I use mostly Adobe applications like Photoshop, Premiere, etc... I don't do much gaming on my laptop, but I was looking to start in the near future. I'd rather keep the 3000m than spring for a new card and go the DYI route though.

I did speak to a US rep, 2 of them in fact. They were both located in Florida. I may try again and see if I can get a different result. I was trying to explain to him that $300.00 does not mean the card performs better than the one that I had before, but he was having none of that.

 

The quadro is a pretty big upgrade for cad/pro performance and power consumption. It is indeed bit weaker at pushing pixel (gaming and some rendering software ).

At their viewpoint, it is definitely a upgrade price and performance wise.

 

Yeah, that's what I am thinking right about now. In situations like this you are supposed to get something comparable or BETTER, not less.

I guess from that perspective, you (they) have a point as well.

 

Having had all the cards in my M6600 except the 5000M, I would put them in the following order based on performance and preference.

1. 4000M (WEI 7.2)
2. 3000M (WEI 7.0)
3. M8900 (WEI 7.3)

In reality, I would consider the 3000M an upgrade to the M8900 regardless of what the WEI score is showing (WEI is a general reference and is not intended to be used as a qualified benchmark with these business systems). No, I am not a big gamer. 80% of the time, I am working in Adobe Acrobat XI, PS 6, and Office 2013. For these types of applications, the Nvidia cards excel and are very stable. What I like about the 4000M is the additional cuda cores and DDR5 memory, but since I have the IPS display installed, I miss out on the Optimus feature that is also nice to have (still good video and better battery life).

I suggest being happy with the 3000M and simply use it until you can find a 4000M (Dell or HP use the same card) on the open market for about $350-$400. Even if you don't, I would not expect you to see big performance differences unless you are encoding huge professional FHD video files or 25+ MP raw photos on the fly. Games will work fine as well with this level of hardware.

Scott-

 

And the Yoda of computers has spoken, lol. Thanks for the info Scott. I really didn't want them breaking down my entire CPU again, but I just didn't want to feel cheated either. Maybe I will just roll with the 3000m for now and see how it goes...

 

Haa... tnx. I have been away for a while testing new toys, but will try to be more active again.

Yeah, just run with it and you should be happy. Also check your BIOS. Now, you will have the option to turn ON the Optimus feature.The system will run cooler without taxing the GPU unless needed. Likewise, the fan activity will be less. That feature alone is worth the swap in my book.

Have a good one-
Scott

 

No problem. Yeah, enabling Optimus was one of the first things that I did, LOL. That m8900 used to run H-O-T, so am am definitely glad that the temps on my system will be cooler now.

Thanks again for your help!