Precision 7720 Owner's Thread

It had both... maybe a driver problem or defective. I wound up returning. I am considering a P4000m model.

 

I have Samsung, but sent back 2 times for warranty claim... 1st set has raining effect on right screen. 2nd set no sound at left ear. Two times defective, the chance is sooo slim. If i have this kind of "luck" on lottery...

For your case, if flashing happens on laptop too, most probably is driver or compatibility problem. Does this happen also with MR Portal? How about during first MR portal setup?

Even on P5000, the fps on VR game is tough, can't reach 70 fps with mDP to HDMI 2.0 adapter. 7720 HDMI port is 1.4.

 

For anyone interested in VR, I'm currently running the Oculus rift VR with an Aorus Gaming Box 1080 connected via Thunderbolt 3. Works great even without an external monitor connected.

 

Cool! In device manager do you still see the igpu, dgpu in addition to the egpu?

What security tb settings did you make in bios?

Are you using the aurus box as a docking station when not using vr?

 

I must've missed these questions you asked back in May.

On my 7710 the 4k is amazing.

Not sure what you meant about partitioning the 4k screen into 4 1080 screens, but I've been running at native resolution 100% (no scaling) and love having so much screen real estate. I'm mostly coding too so i always have allot programming ide editor windows open. When I'm docked i set laptop scaling to 200% because it sits further away on my desk and have extra monitors attached.

Display between 7710 7720 are compatible. Not sure entirely about upgrading from 1080p, but I think I remember seeing in this forum it has been done.

 

What security tb settings did you make in bios?
-I didn't have to make any changes in the BIOS. It was pretty much Plug and Play thankfully (egpu has come a long way)

Are you using the aurus box as a docking station when not using vr?
-I have in the past, but the extra effort of connecting it up when it's only providing 3 additional USB ports doesn't really warrant the additional configuration IMHO. I tried connecting the Oculus Rift Sensors (Head and 2 Tracking) directly to the Dock, but it seemed to degrade tracking to the point where it wasn't really effective.

One small caveat I've had is when using on an external screen, the sound doesn't always work. It may be related to how the Audio Bus is processed within the System. The best way I've been able to get it to work would be the following:

• Aorus Gaming Box HDMI Port -> Oculus Rift
  
• Aorus Gaming Box Display Port -> HDMI -> External 4k Screen
• 3 USB 3.0 Connections (Head, and Tracking Sensors) into the Laptop.

The only challenge I've experienced with this, is the Oculus Rift's Headset cable has both HDMI & USB Connection running down the same cable like a Y, so I use the Left size of the laptop for the Oculus RIFT. I also have the Aorus Gaming Thunderbolt Dock on the Left Side of the Laptop, so with the Back of the Aorus gaming box facing the thunderbolt side of the laptop, I can plug them pretty easily to their respective ports.

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Something else to consider: These laptops only appear to have 16 lanes, so if you have a dGPU installed (8 Lanes), and a single NVMe Drive (4 Lanes), it only leaves room for Thunderbolt (4 Lanes). I'm not sure how an additional NVMe Drive (4 Lanes) or upgrading to the 4k Resolution (which is additionally 4 Lanes) will affect this yet, so I will post back when I assemble all of my stuff.
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Update Apparently, I didn't understand how PCI Express Lanes work. This it not the case. The Precision 7720 w/ 6820HQ has 16 lanes dedicated directly from the CPU to the graphics card, while the chipset (Commonly referred to as the PCH), CM238 has an additional 20 dedicated.

 

Essentially I wanted to make 4 windows (Take for example, opening chrome in 4 different windows) and having them each take up a respective corner. Basically it would be the equivlanet of having 4 1080p screens since 1080p x 4 gives you the 4k resolution.

I use a 43" 4k screen, which gives me the equivalent of 4 21" 1080p Monitors. This + Divvy makes a pretty dope experience .

 

I just ordered a new Precision 7720, very loaded except for the drives. I was not impressed with the drive choices, so I just got the base 500GB HDD and I will replace it with another 2.5" SSD as well as a couple of M.2 SSDs, all purchased separately. I figure if there are any warranty issues, I can just slap the original 500GB HDD back in before getting it serviced.

Are there any caveats from you long time P7720 owners that I should know about before starting to get it set up? I intend to run Windows 10 Enterprise on it (going ahead and starting with R1803).

Side note: I considered the new 7730, but I have already invested in an E-Port Plus setup at home, and I didn't want to lose the dock capability. Since the 7720 also comes with a Thunderbolt port, I figure I can change docks later if I like, but for now I want to be able to use the traditional Dell dock.

 

For me, the thrown aside HDD I backup a copy of image, and i migrated the OS to SSD. However windows 10 update now is too frequent, until one day something screwed up after major update, you may want to load the 1st image and upgrade from there. Fresh installation with latest windows version is another option when update goes wrong.

I have 4 E-port plus set up at 4 locations. I have TB16 too, comparatively the TB3 dock is rubbish. Conventional dock rules everything. I am keeping my 7720 too and not looking at 7730 just because of the dock. Once 7730 parts are available, just look for the keyboard and replace it on 7720 (i really hope they are compatible) for the dedicated Home and End key.

 

Thanks for the info - yeah, I'll actually be removing the factory HDD completely before I even turn the system on (and rebuilding/reinstalling Windows from scratch, using Dell's own guide on the best method), so it will remain untouched. I do like the idea of cloning it though, so I'll do that as well.

I'm glad to hear the E-Port Plus is the best way to go, it helps solidify my decision to "settle" on the 7720 instead of going for the newer 7730. One part I don't get yet - what is the deal with the weird spacer for the E-Port Plus and 7710/7720 I have seen photos of? The laptop doesn't just dock directly on the E-Port Plus without that annoying spacer? That's disappointing. These things are big enough already, without sacrificing what looks to be 6" more of prime desk real estate. My M6500 docks directly on the E-Port Plus... what was Dell thinking?

I'll keep the 7730 keyboard swap in mind - I too hope they are compatible, and I'm sure I'll read about it here.

The laptop took a week to build and ship, but I finally got word that it shipped late on Sunday - exciting stuff!