Precision M4400 Owner's Lounge *Part 2*

One thing I found on this forum is this link on Disabling the PowerMizer.

I never had a reason to use that, since I don't experience throttling during games.

There was a stand-alone utility to control the PowerMizer options before, but I think it's for the older drivers/OSs.

 

Thank You UncleSpam.
I'm going to review the link and determine if it's a keeper reference.
very helpful +2 rep.
Let me know if there's anything I can help you with..

My interest in PowerMizer is based on having the best PC games from the 2004-8 Ara.
I'd like to test-run them with the M4400. Games too cool to just let get damaged or go useless.
Which reminds me they need a backup soon before aging sets in.

Making Imaged back up copies keeps most disks intact, I presume... Some may need other processes of preservation. Sounds optimistic, I'm sure...

It's still the right time to save a digital image asap finding a few or so that
slip the test of time. We're talking at least 60 to 80 titles here.

Seeing how the M4400 fares with a large assortment of game titles might be a slice of fun.
If that's what tickles the senses in comparisons.. Tested to verify usability and share the performance numbers, temp concerns,(if any) and functionality.

Heck., If the M4400 plays a few favored title picks... and a dozen or so additional titles.
I might just get another M4400.

Have you seen the prices for the QX9300's lately?

 

Locally in China QX9300 is RMB 820 = 130US$ in physical shop.

It's possible to find it on Chinese web sites for -20% I think.

 

Yep.... That's about the about the latest price in the U.S. at this moment.
If memory serves me correctly... These little guys were up in the $300 to $400 range, no less that a month ago...

I suspect the gaming masses are drooling the one trillion computations per second in the Nvidia GTX 980 GPU x2(SLI)
With the 6th gen i7 aka, SkyLake. In a Notebook.

The MSI Mobile Flagship, GT80 2QE TITAN SLI ( Dual GTX980m in SLI

 

Well, I cannot have a geekasm looking at these graphic card, I do not play at all on the computer. I just look for a little bit more ability to do more things in parallel (two more cores) with the QX9300.

I consider the gaming industry is the engine of the computer industry.

 

Yeah., In the long view... I have to say the same.
My game interest burned bright, 8 years ago. And now, I can revisit it or leave it. Or so I thought.
I understand you're not into gaming... The QX is on my radar too.

The MSI link is just a subtle reminder of the what's available in the $4-5000 range... he he.
For the unbelievably spoiled brat, or tempted hardcore gamer... A market for any age.

ExParrot suggested I look into a "swap-out card" that replaces the FX770m with a G-force equivalent. I can't see that being an easy task.
There are methods pulling that off in the home environment with a heat gun, etc... but even if that came to be... What GPU card fits Dell's
proprietary ability with IRQ mapping or registry address protocol for starters?
For me, a lot a "GPU for Dummies" reading...lol
The $$$ spent isn't likely worth the machine itself if I had it done professionally.

Why am I always looking for the bottleneck?... It's my nature to first see this point of interest in the the specs.
A carryover from building gaming desktops years back.
Maybe all this chat is a indicator I'm still not done with it...
Nevertheless...
It's these things that add up the illusion of upgrading any dell machine... Never worth the expense when modding.
But certainly., An education learning why not.

I figure the PCIe External option with a desktop GPU, is by far the easier path. And a stronger likelihood it would work.as desired.
That would have the benefit if exceeding the 770m and the 1700m by a wide margin.
With cooler system temps to boot.

Desktop graphic's in a laptop.

.

 

Spend at least two hours yesterday, on sunday, at the shop.

I went there thinking about price negotiation for the QX9300... But I changed my mind! The guy there has done is own study about the QX. He was afraid the M4400 was not able to manage this processor. He told me the TDP was jumping from 25W to 45W. Asked me how many stages in the power on the motherboard, one meaning QX impossible, two is ok, and I told him there is 3 on the Dell. He explained me I need a 120W power adapter, my 90W can work but not for a long time.

Well in fact I understood he spent some time on my subject.

He proposed me to go to the shop with the computer, change the CPU and test, and if it does not work, no charge, CPU go back to Shenzen at zero cost. I proposed a deposit before his order to his provider but he did not want...

So, in these conditions, I am not able to negotiate the price.

I think the operation will occurs during this week. For the moment I am going to install a W10 on an HDD and download some tools to know temps and informations about CPU.

____________

Win10 installed. Its running wthout any driver installation. Get full resolution of the video card, wifi Ok, everything seems ok, no question mark on system panel.

Gonna download tools for CPU temp...

 

Just to clarify, I was actually referring to a "soft mod" that used to make it possible to switch GeForce cards to the equivalent Quadros and vice versa -- no heat gun required . I know nVidia cards stopped allowing that at some point so I don't know if the 770m is moddable. Another approach is to use GeForce drivers from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ which provide a modified INF file that should let you install it on the 770m. This, and some careful GPU overclocking/undervolting, could give you a modest gaming performance boost. Doing anything more radical is probably not worth the risk unless you enjoy the thrill.

 

Well, I have cleaned the fan and the part in metal (do not know the word) for filtering air. It was near clean.

And now, a question: what soft to use with W10 to know the temps and the fan speed?

For the moment I have SpeedFan because I used it 15 years ago... But there is no speed fan information with it.
_________

Ok after some researches I found a bunch of informations here! NBR UV for example, the sticky undervolting guide.

By the way I cannot install a lot of things even from official Dell site or NVidia site.

The I8kfanGUI app was not direct install because W10 needs signed driver... Or you have to "shutdown -r -o", select Troubleshoot, advanced options, Startup settings then reboot and select option 7... Pfff!


__________

Many hours later... I found informations on this forum about ThrottleStop, tried it and found it excellent!
__________

The shop has received the CPU, the guy send me a picture, so I know what I am going to do tomorrow morning.