M6800 Owners' Thread

Thanks Bokeh, Why would you avoid the K3100M?

 

Because it is slower than the AMD FirePro M6100 (K3100M has only 768 out of 1536 shader cores activated).

Benchmarks for K3100M:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-Quadro-K3100M.98854.0.html

Benchmarks for M6100:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-FirePro-M6100.104947.0.html

The NVIDIA Quadro drivers are optimized for CAD applications, which make them the better choice in your case. If your main use would be gaming, the FirePro M6100 would be the better choice.

 

I see, but if programs require CUDA processing, then I am better to go with the K4100M over the K3100M, I ask because Dell is charging $280 more for the K4100M.
Also, on the mSATA, are you recommending the mini card over the 2.5"? Is this for space savings or is there a performance difference?
Do you think it is a mistake to go with this model because FHP panel has been so widely criticized? The only other option would be to go with the M4800 QHD, but it seems that this has its own issues as well.

 

Performance is the same, only the form factor is different (mSATA has smaller dimensions). Both 2.5" and mSATA are capped by the SATA3 interface as compared to the M.2 form factor, which connects directly to the PCI-Express lanes.

Please note that you loose one 2.5" drive bay with the M4800.

 

I see, but if programs require CUDA processing, then I am better to go with the K4100M over the K3100M, I ask because Dell is charging $280 more for the K4100M.

 

Have a look at the benchmarks for the K3100M (see my earlier post) and expand the comparison charts to see how it compares to the K4100M. Only you can decide if the $280 extra is worth it.

(SPECviewperf 11 shows a performance difference of approx. 10%)

 

Is there anything wrong with the idea of setting up 3 drives in this fashion on the M6800:
Primary Drive for OS/Program (Revit, 3Dstudio, Photoshop) - 256 GB SSD (mini card of 2.5")
Secondary Drive for Data Storage (Working files) - 256 GB SSD
Third Drive for Archive - 1 TB Hybrid Drive

Would I be better off just going with a larger SSD for OS/Programs and Data Files?

If this has been addressed in another thread, please let me know. Thank you.

 

No, this setup actually makes sense. That is, use an mSATA drive for the OS and applications. Keep your data separated from the boot drive, in case you need to reinstall Windows.

I would put the 'mass storage' drive (1 TB 2.5" HDD) in the primary bay, which is ejectable, and put the 'work' drive (256 GB 2.5" SSD) in the secondary bay, which is not removable.

Alternatively, you can use the mSATA drive as 'work' drive. It depends on your own preference. You can set the boot order in the BIOS, so the boot drive doesn't necessarily have to be in the primary bay.

All drive bays of the M6800 are SATA3, so there's no performance drawback to putting drives in a different order.

One thing to keep in mind with SSDs (both mSATA and 2.5"), is not to fill them more than about 80%. SSDs need enough free space for internal housekeeping, otherwise performance will drop dramatically. This is called 'overprovisioning'.

 

If you're going to use 2.5" SSD I guess you should install os on it, not on the msata. Performance is usually a bit better.

 

hello, a friend of mine just got his precision m6800 with firepro m6100 video card from an ebay reseller.
When he tries to use any CAD program (autocad, inventor, solidworks), gets the following error "AMD display driver has stopped responding and has recove", and the program just crashes. The same issue is described here:
https://forum.solidworks.com/thread/84565

He did a clean install of the drivers when he received the laptop as listed here:
Precision M6800 Video Driver Upgrade Inquiry - Laptop Video Forum - Laptop - Dell Community

Just want to know if the only solution is to go into the bios, disable video switching and deal with the lost of battery life.. or maybe he jus got a faulty video card, or he did something wrong whe installing the drivers.

Any help would be very welcome.
Thanks