Precision 7530 & Precision 7730 owner's thread

These machines are advertised as "VR ready" (with Quadro P3200 and up). It "should" work (would be nice if someone confirmed that they have tried it); you'll need to use the "direct discrete output mode" for graphics settings in the BIOS to make sure that the Intel GPU is out of the loop when you attach your Oculus.

 

Is anyone else having issues with core temperature differences? I have cores 1, 3 and 5 at like, a 15 degree or more temperature differential than the other three cores (those three are cooler)

 

Oh, same. Even at a full load (AC Odyssey, extreme decompression, software ray-tracing), I have a couple of cores at about 80 °C and another couple at 95. I think a repaste with a thicker thermal paste or the 3M graphite thermal pads would really help.

 

Yup, that's pretty much what I'm seeing too under any kind of load, synthetic or otherwise. 1, 3 and 5 are about 10 to 15 cooler than 0, 2, and 4. I have repasted using noctua NT-H1, I thought maybe that was the issue so I repasted again (same paste) and my results are about the same. I used much more paste the second go round just in case I wasn't getting enough for good contact given the lower pressure of the cooler vs a desktop. One thing I do notice also is that the thermal pads for VRMs and such don't have a very visible mark in them where the VRMs push against the pad. Related? Idk.

 

AU Optronics B173HAN01.3

EDIT:
oops! I swear I read "7730".

 

Thanks. A couple chat reps at Dell have said that it is VR ready, and have assured me it will work with an Oculus Rift, but I think they were just sales reps so it's hard to tell exactly how knowledgeable they are on the specific requirements for the rift.

 

To make matters even more confusing, one sales rep said that the video card has 4 DisplayPorts, another said it has a mini DisplayPort, and tech support says that the HDMI is connected to the video card and not the motherboard. She did confirm that I can select which video card to use in the bios, so at least there's that.

 

I can tell you that the mini-displayPort and the HDMI port are both on the video card itself and not the motherboard. (You can look at diagrams in the manual to see this.) However, it is the case that depending on how you have the BIOS options set, displays connected to these ports may be connected to either the dGPU or the Intel GPU. It appears that you can "pass through" display connections to the Intel GPU even though the ports are physically on the dGPU.

Extra DP connections can be achieved by using USB-C -> DP connectors or the TB18DC dock. These can also be driven by either GPU.

 

Thanks, I think that settles it for me then. Unless there is some driver issue preventing me from using the Rift. I almost got it working on my M4700 with a Quadro K2000M so I'm pretty hopeful it will work on the 7730 with a P4200. My other option is an Alienware 17 R5, but this machine's primary use is in an office environment, so I'd rather not deal with all the attention that an Alienware brings.

 

I have the same temperature behaviour before and after repaste. Thermal pads on CPU VRM didn´t have a connection to the heatsink. All others were fine. See also Precision 7530 & Precision 7730 owner's thread