Dell Precision 7540 and 7740 Owner's Thread

Just got on the Dell website and priced a 7740 with i9-9980HK processor, NVIDIA RTX 3000, UHD screen, 8 GB RAM, 1 256 GB NVMe SSD, and backlit keyboard for about $3100. I thought that was a fairly good price considering the specs. That 8 core, 16 thread processor is mighty tempting.

 

Maybe you're right but I think that even if the 3rd heatpipe is not directly connected to the cpu plate it should increase the thermal inertia of the heatsink globally, not a bad point especially for 'quick load peaks'.
Anyway if I can find the other heatsink for 100$ or less, l'll give a try.

 

So if the i9 9880h is throttling wouldn't it be better to go with the i7-9750h or the 9858h instead. Are those also reducing speed in the Dell Prec7740?
Any experience by users so far? I don't which one to order...

 

It throttles but a little and only in heavy load scenarios (after repaste and tuning). To be clear it goes ~ 3.8ghz allcore in sustained 100% MT loads (like Cinebench R20) and is still a big performance step over 6core cpus even if it can't goes spec fullspeed (4.2Ghz allcore).
In ST use throttling is nearly not present and cpu can reach even over 5Ghz with tuning.

I would try a better heatsink just to reach the 100% MT spec speed, if possible (since I pay full price for the cpu, not a 'throttled' one )

 

So if i have only short load spikes you would recommend the i9? How about idle? Is the fan constantly running , or just once iin a while?
Maybe you got some temps in idle for me? Thx.

-I don't by the notebook for benchmarking only

 

Me too but to find out quickly where is the thermal limit benchs are the shortest way.
I'm currently writing from the 7740, using it in browsing and light usage of vmware (with 2 vm launched), temps are from 42 to 75°c with fans not even audible.

Reducing the max turbo speed (ie to 4.2ghz for all cores) and using aggressive speedshift profile in throttlestop brings temperature to never pass 65°c (but still with repaste and tuning).

 

That is great info man. Thanks a lot.
So now i am quite confident that i can buy the i9. Igguess i will go with the "hk" so i have more control in the bios..
I was afraid, due to some posting of other users.

 

I had the same thought about the HK, it cost not so much more and gives you a lot more room for tuning and optimization if you want/need it.

 

I guess you have the hk, right?

 

Yes, 9980HK. Just keep in mind that all the tuning work is not possible by bios, but directly under OS using throttlestop or XTU. I don't know the situation under linux since I'm on W10Pro.