Possible GPU upgrade for Precision M4600

Hi,

I'd like to get feedbacks from users that have successfully upgraded the GPU on their Dell Precision M4600 beyond the manufacturer available cards. Could you please let me know what card you used, if they are branded (HP, Dell, or others), what kind of BIOS you are running and if you ran into any issues! I am trying to find out definite answers about what can be done on this computer.

Thanks!!!

 

Please find underneath link, as until recently, I struggled with the same questions as you have right now.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/precision-m4600-owners-lounge.581542/page-99

In short: Firepro M4000 & M5100 plug and play on a Dell M4600 (From experience), provided you have Firepro M5950 heatsink.

Right now, M5100 cards are scarce, unfortunately... (But available for 250 Usd, search for code "5FXT3")

But if you want to go quick and dirty, Firepro M4000 seems to be the sweet spot.

Problem is, M4800 is very expensive in The Netherlands, that's why I did all the upgrades.
(And also for the "Just because we can", factor!)

Be sure to install Bios A16, prior to GPU swap.

 

5100-3 by RobNL73 posted Mar 23, 2015 at 6:08 PM

5100-2 by RobNL73 posted Mar 23, 2015 at 6:08 PM

5100-1 by RobNL73 posted Mar 23, 2015 at 6:07 PM

 

Great! Thanks so much for your reply. I will look around for a M5100. Not sure if that was attempted before but I will try a K2200M that should arrive soon. That card works in M4700 but not sure about M4600. Since it's kind of new and not in any dell laptops yet, I will see... I did get a M4700 for work so if he K2200M does not work in the M4600, it will have a home and I will fall back on your advice of the M5100 or M4000... depending on availability... Thanks again!

 

Most welcome, the lack of finding any info made me join this forum, as I saw people struggling with the same questions as i did.
Please be sure to share your findings!
Do you have the K2100M heatsink installed, already?
If not, it's strongly recommended to get that as well, due to different layout of Nvidia & Amd cards.
Curious, curious, curious.
However, HP & Dell are known to use different Vbios-es, hope it will be plug & play.
If so, I will have a M5100 for sale...

 

Great advice and good to know about the layout of the heat sink. My M4600 came with the Nvidia 2000M and the 4700 came with the K2000M so I will assume I am good to go but will still check. The K2200 I will get comes with different BIOS and the seller told me he will send it with the Dell VBios. He also seems to have a VBios that allow overclocking... it seems to be reasonable for less than $200... http://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-QUAD...978?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c4ffc15b2

Well, I'll see what happens when I receive it and will report the findings... Will probably update the Main 4600 thread that you posted into as well

 

You could help me out otherwise as well: Don't know your CPU, but would appreciate 3DMARK03 & 3DMARK06 results (Yeah, I know, I am an old guy)...

Thx!

 

Garmac, did some research on the internet and have come across some inconsistencies.

Don't want to upset you, but from the very limited info on the internet (Both HP & Nvidia website),
it turns out that K2200M is MXM3.1 type B.

If this is the case, it will not fit in a M4600.

But what puzzles me, the picture on Ebay is clearly Mxm type A.

Never heard of a GPU with one name, being sold as both type A and B.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro-for-mobile-workstations.html

http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/getpdf.aspx/4aa4-6106enw.pdf

Also, the clock frequencies seem to differ significantly:

Ebay shows 1150 for the core, whereas the K2100M operates on 667 (Amd M5100 @ 775).

Now, I do not say it is not possible, but these inconsistencies make me wonder...

Maybe these cards are engineering samples, being sold on Ebay as K2200M?

Please, prove me wrong, as i would like to have this card in my M4600 as well!!!

200 Usd is just too much of a gamble, for me.

 

waiting for your results. pretty interesting card

 

I will have 2 of those K2200M cards by the end of this week.
I own a HP Elite 8300 AiO that I love and thought that I'd upgrade HD7650A that came with it.
Most likely I will work on it late Friday or Sat evening and will report back.
Having Maxwell GPU in my AiO would be so great!

I will report back.
PS, I will have 1 of those cards to sell after (if I succeed) the upgrade. ($100 most likely)