New M6500 Discussion Thread

Ok got a problem wiith one of my M6500. It has a usb3 card but I don't get the option in the bios to enable usb3. I also have a problem that it thinks it is overheated when booting so I have to press the power button a second time to get it to boot fully. Anyone have any ideas on what to do here? Also BTW the keyboard backlight is also sometimes not working.
Mike

 

USB3 card? You mean the USB3 ports on the side? It is enabled by default, there's no way to turn it on or off in the BIOS. Do take note that the earlier versions of the M6500 had no USB3 ports. The quickest way to find out if your M6500 had USB3 ports is to check the plastic tab in the USB port itself. If the plastic tab is blue, it is pretty much USB3. If it is black, then it is USB2.

Your M6500 thinks it is overheated? Does it tell you which component is overheating? Any warning messages that helps to pinpoint what is causing the issue? A quick guess - maybe your CPU is having poor to little contact with the heatsink?

Keyboard back light sometimes not working... I think it could be due to the keyboard connection not sitting flush, or not in connection to the pins, to the connector near the touch pad.

 

Kewl. how'd it turn out?

I've never experienced any of these problems. When you say it has a USB 3 card, I'm assuming you are referring to the the USB ports with a blue tab on the side of the M6500? One common thing with the problems you mentioned is the motherboard and power. Perhaps the motherboard and power connections are bad. Do the USB ports with blue tabs on the side work at all?

There actually is the option to enable USB 3.0 in the bios. USB 3.0 isn't enabled on the ports by default. The ports themselves are enabled but run at USB 2.0 speeds unless the checkbox to enable USB 3.0 is checked in the system bios.

 

Just received the revised AC 7260 card today. Will try it out tonight. Which drivers did you use by the way?

Oops... I stand corrected!

 

Happens to the best

I used the latest Intel BT and Wireless 64-bit drivers for Windows 8.1 on the Intel website at the time:

- BT_17.1.1406.01_e164
- Wireless_17.1.0_De164
- Wireless_17.1.0_Win64

 

The USB 3.0 option is sometimes there sometimes not. I don't know why it sometimes shows up as an option and sometimes not. I have ran the dell diagnostic and everthing passed. And yes the usb 3.0 ports do work just as a usb 2.0 port. Just seems wierd that it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't This unit is an older laptop so maybe its on its way out to scrap.

 

Hey mate, I'll pass on the card. Need to save the money for something else. I think ooati might be interested.

 

Anyone have either the Quadro 5000M or the FirePro M7820 installed with a Windows 8.1 OS? I would like to know if the drivers for these cards have support for the WDDM 1.3 driver model and Miracast. Thanks.

 

I got my M6500 from ex-job.The problem is that I don't have the money to do a full upgrade.That's why I want to upgrade the graphic card to the highest level possible.If this this upgrade is not cheap then there are 2 solutions: 1) to sell the laptop or 2) to stick with the current M7740 till I get the necessary funds.
Till now I found that there are 2 cards compatible with M6500 and they are DX11
1) VYGKK FirePro M7820
2) D73P8 Nvidia Quadro 5000M.
I heard that GC63V HD5870 also fits in M6500 but I am not sure.
So I found some suppliers of these cards and I am not sure which one M7820 or Quadro 5000M.I am very disappointment of M7740 driver support, they are not updating their drivers beginning 2012.
Do you have any advice? Which one is good for future gaming?
Thank You.

 

Well, seems like your options are limited and your choice should therefore be easier to make. Comparing the FirePro M7820 to the Quadro 5000M:

- From a performance standpoint, the 5000M is really only marginally better than the M7820. See the Game Debate comparison and the Dell comparison.

- From a price point, based on prices on the Bay, the 5000M is substantially more expensive then the M7820. The price for the M7820 is about $100, while that of the M5000 ranges from $500-$900. However, these sellers would typically accept anywhere from $400+. For the M7820 see here. For the M5000, see here, here and here.

- From a future gaming support standpoint, I don't think anyone can categorically say which would be better. Both cards were manufactured in 2010 and already fall short in supporting some current games talk less of future ones. The difference in newer graphics cards, besides more dedicated memory, raw clock speed and GPU display performance, is driver support for optimized performance when running latest games. Both have the same year of manufacture so driver support would pretty much be the same going forward but it really depends on the manufacturer. GPU display performance and technology will continue to improve to support the increasing demands of future games. One feature on Game Debate is the ability to check game system requirements against the video cards to see if, and how well, they can run it and at what resolutions. Take these theoretical comparisons for what they are. Notebook review has some comparison data for computer games on laptop graphic cards. Dell has a comparison of its current range of supported graphics cards here.

I for one am not a gamer, I got the M6500 primarily for running multiple VMs to support security labs and secondarily for photography post-editing. The initial intention was to upgrade to the highest graphics card available. However, I am not willing to spend more than I did on the M6500 for a graphics card, hence the decision to go with the M7820 instead of the M5000, especially since there is a marginal difference in performance. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the nice-to-have feature is Miracast support as I'd like to do away with cables when connecting to my TV. Besides, the M7820 is better than the FX3800 anyway, and at the price point for the M7820 it is worth finding out if it does support WDDM 1.3 drivers and Miracast. So there's something to gain for me regardless.

Bottom line, from a pure price and performance standpoint, the M7820 would be the better upgrade option. Whether it is cheap enough for you or supports the games you intend to play is something you would have to decide and figure out. Hope this helps.