Precision 7510 Owner's Thread

On a previous laptop (Dell Inspiron 1720), it actually came with a two-prong AC adapter. When I moved north, in the cold dry winter, I would frequently get shocked when sitting down to use the laptop. (A couple of times, I even caused a system crash when I got shocked.) After swapping out for a three-prong grounded adapter, this issue went away.

Just my two cents. Probably not an issue most of the time.

 

First post here.

A while back I purchased a 7510 with the following specs: 15.6inch UHD IGZO, Intel Xeon E3-1535M, 32 GB DDR4, 512 GB SSD, Nvidia Quadro M2000M 4GB, NFC smart card, Fingerprint Scanner.

I didn't realize until after it showed up that it lacked the thunderbolt 3 port. Without going into too much detail, I need a thunderbolt 3 connection for a feature film editing project I'm going to be working on in a couple of months so I can attach a raid 5 array for editing footage that cannot go through a usb 3.

I got a great deal (sub $1900) on the computer and I have some spare cash lying around and was wondering if I could install an i7 motherboard, thunderbolt port chassis and left IO board with a thunderbolt 3 port and would those upgrades "work" with the rest of the computer. This would be my first attempt at doing an upgrade of this kind.

I think my options are either sell the comp and get another similar spec model with a thunderbolt 3 port or attempt these upgrades (assuming they are feasible). I'm not confident I could sell it online in time and thought maybe the upgrades would be a better route in case I can sell my used parts.

I really appreciate any help on this.

 

@Beesonbeard
Dell's website does not make it clear about the TB3 option and worse, it defaults to the option without TB3:


They really need to change the wording to indicate TB3 in that option or better yet sell them all with TB3.

If you just received your laptop I would call Dell and arrange to get refund and then re-order the laptop with the TB3.

Is the 4K display that you have compatible with the refurbished Mobo's display connector? I don't know if the display connector is on the mobo or on the M2000M. If it is on the mobo then you'd want to know if the refurbished mobo display connector is compatible with the 4K or 1080p.

But maybe you don't need to replace the mobo. Maybe the Left IO daughter board with TB3 and the base assembly case is all that is need to purchase... wouldn't that be nice! if that is true I'd probably go that route. Also, it depends on how comfortable you are with removing and replacing the guts of your laptop.

Someone who knows the internals more should chime in.

 

@ygohome

Thanks for replying so quick. Yeah, just yesterday I noticed that the E3-1535M is the only processor that does not include a chassis option for a TB3. Wish I noticed that before hand!

I don't know enough about motherboards to know if it can handle a 4k display, except that if I select the i7-6920HQ option on the dell.com customization it defaults to a M2000M, a chassis that specifies TB3 and not just "type-c" and allows for my screen selection. So I'm hoping its possible (and that the refurbished mobo is not an older pre-TB3 board) and just needed confirmation. I will call parts-people before I order to get a confirmation.

I cannot return the computer as I bought it used and the re-seller does not accept returns. I'm confident I can replace the guts and I'm hoping I could re-sell my old motherboard and IO board and chassis should I do the upgrade than try to sell the whole computer. If I could re-sell the old parts I might only spend $100ish after recouping on the costs.

 

As someone who had their TB3 equipped motherboard replaced with a non-TB3 motherboard onsite by a Dell technician (and then replaced again to go from non-TB3 back to TB3), I can confirm that everything else is still the same internally. All that was changed in my case was the motherboard and the left daughterboard containing the TB3 port. Note that I'm 99% sure the CPU is soldered onto the motherboard so if you get a new motherboard you will also be getting a new CPU, so the cost may be higher than expected. The GPU is definitely not soldered on the motherboard and is re-usable. Also note that if running Windows, the OEM Windows product key is embedded in the motherboard, so I'm not exactly sure how that would work for you; maybe you would have to buy a new license of Windows. In my case, Dell gave me a new product key card to match the new motherboard's Windows product key.

 

Indeed, the CPU is soldered to the board (a new thing for this generation). You'd have to buy a new motherboard with the CPU that you want.

For Windows, Microsoft is pretty good about granting activation (over the phone) if Windows flips out about a hardware change if you can explain what you were doing... But I imagine that most boards would come with a Windows 10 key baked in to the board, if you need it you can extract it with ProduKey.

 

Awesome answers, thank you.

@Aaron44126 I've extracted windows keys before so that's workable.

@farrenyoung Is there any way that I can test if my cpu/mobo is capable of TB3? What exactly makes a mobo "TB3 equipped"?I know I can install a new left IO board, launch into BIOS and that will let me know; but is there any way to tell without taking it apart? If not, I think I will call parts-people.com and just get a confirmation that one of their refurbished boards for sale is TB3 ready and then buy the chassis and left IO board and get to work.

 

I'm not sure how you would tell if the motherboard is capable of Thunderbolt 3, unless you took it apart or found some software that will tell you the hardware part#, HwInfo might do this.

I've tried to look through my emails to find the part#s that were dispatched for both TB3 and non-TB3 motherboards, but I only see the part numbers and not the description so I don't know which is which.

From what I can tell the TB3 daughterboard part# is CJT78.

There were definitely two different version motherboards, one which worked with the TB3 daughterboard and one that didn't. Dell parts department assumed they were swappable and sent the wrong motherboard twice. If I remember correctly, the TB3 daughterboard will still plug in to the wrong motherboard and all the ports will work except TB3; the TB3 port would still provide power, just no data.

As far as the part numbers for the motherboard (again remember that the CPU is soldered on so each CPU/mobo combo is a different part number and I'm giving part numbers for the 2.9Ggz CPU), one part number was 1NJ1T and I believe the other was M1YNP. I could be wrong, but I believe the 1NJ1T motherboard is the non-TB3 version. A quick google search or a call to Dell parts department would clear this up.

Also, you mentioned ordering the replacement motherboard from another website. I would suggest also getting a quote from the Dell parts department. I had really good luck a few weeks ago ordering the sata/m.2 transposer/bracket/cover from dell parts department. I got it all for like $28 with overnight shipping included; some people I saw online paid over $100 for the same parts.

 

I'll call dell parts and see what they say about those part numbers. I just ordered a CJT78 IO board and the HDW1J base/chassis. They should be delivered by the end of the week and this will be my weekend project.

parts-people just referred me to dell's tech support. They had no way of knowing if my mobo supports the CjT78 and TB3.

I just got off a tech support chat and currently am waiting for a reply from one of their "upper level technical support team" about my mobo/cpu compatibility. The technician guy I spoke with thought it was possible to just replace the IO board, but said one of the upper engineers would be able to answer that question for sure. I specifically told him to please have the engineers provide part numbers for the mobo/cpu that is TB3 capable. We'll see what they say, but either way I'll know by this weekend if it works with my computer.

 

My Precision 7510 arrived on Monday and I could not be happier, I switched back to PC from Mac since I fell in love with Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom after Apple discontinued Aperture and my 8 year old macbook was getting slower by the day. The build quality is much better than I was expecting, although I noticed a couple things that are bothering me and was curious to see if they were normal. The first is the right side of the battery cover does not latch like the left side does allowing for the right side to wiggle ever so slightly. The other is the flex that is displayed by the display hinge covers, this one I feel is normal since they're just plastic. I'd love to hear from other owners. Cheers!