Precision 7740/ 7540 specs / release date

Ooh, cool you mention that as I was wondering about it as well. I presume Dell, like HP, will price the motherboards through the roof.

 

Hello there. Yes I'm available for questions. Shoot...

 

Thanks for reaching out!

Biggest question: will Dell support upgrades of the DGFF graphics cards on the Precision 7530s and 7730s, to the Quadro RTX DGFF cards as used on the 7540 and 7740? Are official ‘upgrade kits’ planned, like on the Alienware Area 51M, which also uses the DGFF (albeit with a different PCB arrangement)?

Do the Precision 7X40s also support non-JEDEC spec memory with Intel Extreme
Memory Profiles, like 3000 MHz CL16 memory?

Thanks very much!

 

I've been keeping a list

Regarding the Precision 5540:

1. I see that there is an OLED display option. (Assuming that this is Samsung's sort-of-new 15" OLED laptop panel.) Are you guys worried about image retention / "burn in" with this display? Have any steps been taken to protect against this? And is there a reason that the panel is not also available in the 7540?

For these, I am specifically addressing the 7540/7740 (not 5540).

2. It looks like the keyboard is the same as the one used in the 7530/7730, is this correct? Dedicated home and end keys (not requiring Fn press, and not overlapping F1-F12 keys, as has happened with Precision 3541 for example).
3. Not actually a question but THANK YOU for adding the regular USB port to the rear of Precision 7730/7740, it was missing from the 7710/7720, I've always found having one in the back very handy. I hope that this sticks around on future iterations. (Looking to replace my personal M6700 with a brand new one in the 7760 timeframe )
4. It looks like there is no option to configure a system with WWAN and also a 4K display panel. This has been the case for a few generations. What is the reason?
5. Does the TB18DC dock work with these systems? (I see that it is not listed as a "suggestion" when you purchase, only the new WD19 docks are.)
6. Does the WD19DC dock support two 4K displays at 60 Hz? (I haven't been able to nail down the 60 Hz bit.)
7. These systems use the same power adapters as the previous generation?
8. Any notable differences from the previous generation, aside from the obvious bump in CPU / GPU, that you would like to point out?

Next, I have a few questions specifically about the NVIDIA GPUs in the 7540/7740.

9. This looks like the same DGFF form factor for the graphics cards as was used in the prior generation, is that correct? As far as you know, are there any differences that would "theoretically" prevent a DGFF Quadro RTX card from working in a Precision 7530/7730?
[Edit] I see that @Ionising_Radiation asked basically the same thing while I was preparing this post.

10. We noticed that the Quadro P3200, which was available in both the Precision 7530 and 7730, actually performs differently between the two systems. It runs at different clock speeds between the two. In the 7530 it is 709 MHz / boost to 1240 MHz, and in the 7730 it is 1328 MHz / boost to 1543 MHz. (See post #58 and #59 here.) It seemed sort of deceptive since the cards were advertised as the same. Taking the vBIOS from the 7730 card and putting it on the 7530 card leads to a non-trivial performance improvement (seen here). Anyway, the question is, is there a similar difference between the Quadro RTX 3000 offered between the 7540/7740? What is the reason for the difference?

11. Going back to last generation again, the Quadro P5200 seemed to be power-limited at around 110W, whereas it seems that it would need to be able to run a bit higher (150W?) in order to reach its full potential. By the numbers it should perform perhaps just a teeny bit slower than a GeForce 1080 or a desktop Quadro P5000. In practice, as it is not able to maintain boost clocks, it falls considerably short and is only a bit faster than the Quadro P4200 (which appears to be able to run at full boost speed). A bit disappointing, considering how much these 5000-series cards cost. Is the RTX 5000 card in the 7740 similarly power-limited? (For the Quadro P5200 in 7730, there is some discussion of this in this thread around page 14 but it is scattered around among the other discussion.)

12. Several users are complaining that graphics switching / Optimus is not working properly with the 7530/7730. The NVIDIA GPU never seems to "shut off" even when it is not needed, leading to higher than expected power draw (and less time on battery power). @Ionising_Radiation found that running Adobe Lightroom in "Develop" mode, minimized, causes the NVIDIA GPU to sleep properly (that app must be sending sleep commands while it is running minimized, or something). Is this an issue that you are aware of or are you aware of any issues with graphics switching in the 7540/7740?

[Edit]
A couple more.
13. Do the M.2 drive ports still support both SATA and NVMe NGFF/2280 drives?
14. I didn't see an option to choose between the old-style carbon fiber (?) "lid" (back of the display enclosure) and the new aluminum one. Are all of the systems shipping with aluminum lids?

 

Great set of questions, @Aaron44126. Let's hope @Dell-Mano_G comes back soon with a response.

As for the lids, there actually are options available for the lid, but they’re nestled under the display option. It appears the IR camera, and hence no WWAN, comes default with the aluminium lid option:
.

 

OK, nice catch, I didn't notice that.

 

1. Unfortunately we don't offer GFX cards as customer kits on Precision. The installation process is very intensive and getting the thermal solution to work properly is tricky.
2. Dell offers SuperSpeed memory options for the 7x40 products. The 3200MHz memory options will launch mid-Aug.

 

1. Yes we have taken steps. There is a built in jitter that is not visible to the user that kicks in after a period of time.
2. Yes it is.
3. You are welcome and this is something I will take forward in the planning process.
4. WWAN is available on FHD 42% color gamut & FHD 100% sRGB color gamut, both touch and non-touch. Not on the 4K panel. This is due to certification process issues with specs. The UHD panels create a bit of panel "noise" that causes issues with certification.
5. Yes it does. We would prefer people moving to the WD19DC docks as these are DP docks and not Thunderbolt docks.
6. Yes it does, easily. Should be up to 4.
7. Yes the new smaller/lighter ones.
8. Panel specs have also gone up. 400nits in the UHD panels with the 15" being HDR400.
9. Yes we are still using DGFF for our GFX cards. Not likely the thermal solution would be the biggest gap.
10. Yes there will be differences when you put some cards in 15" that normally reside in 17". With that said, the RTX3000 in the 7540 is the same wattage as the one in the 7740. We have improved the thermal solution to allow for the extra power.
11. The 7740 arguably has the most GPU power profile for the GFX cards compared to other tier 1 vendors. Yes you will not see the RTX5000 running at the full advertised power of 150W on the 7740. This is due to our requirement to have the smallest/thinnest/lightest possible 17" mobile workstation we can achieve but still provide a powerful mobile workstation that people will enjoy to own. We could design the system to support 150W, or more, but then we would be bombarded with complaints about how big and heavy our 17" was. I prefer to provide the best of both worlds here.
12. Switchable GFX/NVIDIA Optimus/AMD Enduro, are all basically software driven. They are only as good as the drivers provided from the vendors with white and black list. You can go and tweak these settings and choose different software to run on different GFX cards or you can turn this feature off and run them on discrete 100%. I'll look into it but most likely this is driver related.
13. Only 1 M.2 port supports a single 2.5" SATA HDD's and an interposer is required. All the others are M.2 only.
14. You have an option between Carbon Fiber and Aluminum. This can be pick when choosing the panel you want. You will see it at the end of the panel descriptions.

Hope this helps.
Mano

 

Thank you so much for your reply. Regarding #13, I was referring to M.2 SATA drives (as opposed M.2 NVMe). In the 7530/7730, it is possible to install a M.2 SATA drive like the Samsung 860 EVO M.2 in all of the slots, even though Dell is only offering the system with NVMe drives (aside from the single 2.5" SATA drive option). Is this also possible with the newer systems?

 

I wanted to ask one question. Laptops 7530, 7730, 7540, 7740 use a connector between the motherboard and the DGFF video card. I wanted to know the part number of this connector and where can I get it? I would like to update my video card in a laptop, but I don’t know where to get it. Thank.