Precision 7530 & Precision 7730 owner's thread

Hi i've Just installed crucial RAM ddr4 2666 8GB x2 modules.
Did some test and seems ok. I've also lunched some test render and everything is ok.

 

No problem at all, thanks for doing that! Also, thanks for the imgur tip, I'll make sure I do that from now on.

Yes, I've got a PowerColor Devil Box eGPU with a 1080 Ti and a 500GB SSD in it. I also have a problem with impulse buying, so I've pre-ordered an RTX 2080 Ti to be used with an Akitio Node Pro

It works really well though! I can pretty much play everything on max. There's about a 15-20% hit on performance due to thunderbolt 3 being 4x PCIe instead of 16x.

My first 7530 was unpainted copper like this, but it had a motherboard issue. The replacement is painted black, but I think it might be an older hardware revision than my first one. A couple of the screws that hold down the keyboard are soldered rivets that sure under the keyboard instead of screws as described in the service manual.

 

My replacement dock has yet to ship, even though it's been nearly a week since they agreed to do so. I am hoping this is a good sign that they have discovered some hardware flaws and are getting it resolved before shipment (wishful thinking). I will report back once received.

 

I've been running with C states disabled in the BIOS for a few days, with the keyboard and mouse attached to the TB18DC dock, and I haven't encountered any stuttering. (Normally I am able to notice it within minutes.) So, that seems to be an effective workaround. Thanks, @SvenC.

So this stuttering issue has something to do with CPU power management? If anyone has an open case with Dell on this issue, please pass that along and see if you can get your rep to forward it up to the engineers, maybe it will help them figure out what's going on. (I get the feeling that Dell isn't taking this seriously as an architectural defect yet, since all they are doing is replacing people's docks and motherboards...)

I'm looking for any downsides to running with C states disabled. My laptop was docked all day yesterday and I didn't notice anything off. Today I'll be using it off the dock for a while so I'll check if battery life seems to be affected.

 

I just emailed this thread to my Dell supporter to make the C state theory more obvious as it worked for at least three machines now.

He announced that another BIOS update is in the making. Lets see that that brings up...

 

Hey, gents...

Could anyone with a Precision 7530, the Quadro P3200 GPU and the 1080p display, check your idle power draw using HWInfo64 when switchable graphics is enabled, and the direct output mode is disabled?

Mine approaches 30 W (i.e. 30000 mW), and I suspect something is wrong with the power management. I've got Dell Power Manager installed. I unplugged the notebook an hour ago, and already 25% of the battery has drained.

Furthermore, I think there's something wrong with my Intel GPU drivers. I don't get the 'Intel UHD Graphics Control Panel' menu option in the context menu of the desktop, after having installed the Dell Intel UHD graphics drivers. What gives?

 

I don't have a system like that, but my 7730 idles at ~30W with it's P4200 active. With the P4200 inactive, it's at ~15W.

Edit: After disabling c-states, it has become ~45W with the P4200 inactive. C-states definitely seem to affect power consumption at idling.

 

Have you checked to see if your P3200 is powering down properly? Open the NVIDIA control panel and select Desktop -> Display GPU Activity Icon... from the menu at the top. An icon will appear in the system tray by the clock. If it is colored then the GPU is powered on and if it is grey then the GPU is powered off. If it is powered on, you can click on it to get a window that shows which apps are using the GPU. I've seen cases where background apps are keeping the GPU powered on for no good reason.

 

Yup, the Quadro is powering down normally.

Can you see the Intel iGPU control panel option? I can't, and GPU-Z also can't detect clocks or anything from the Intel UHD GPU. It's like it's there, rendering the screen, but it's not telling the OS anything about itself.

 

My 7730 draws between 12 and 16W on idle depending on the screen brightness - no dGPU, just Intel.

Did you install both Intel and Nvidia drivers from Dell? Optimus can be picky which drivers work together - at least that was my impression on my old m6800