M6600 Owners Thread

@ Caladon - They should install and work (like the 670m in my m6600). I also expect optimus will work with the 680m as it still works on my 670m. I doubt enduro will work with the 7970m though as the m6600 doesn't switch with the current firepro although in my eyes that is not a bad thing with the current state of enduro.

I am planning on installing a 680m when I can pick one up for a reasonable price.

 

Below are the confirmed M6600 IPS upgrade items along with their part numbers and [crazy] retail cost from Dell USA.

Scott -


Item Number / Description / Unit Price

772MN || Assembly,Cover,Back,Red/Green/Blue,GRAY,M6600 - $209.99

3T52W || Bezel,Liquid Crystal Display,CMRA+MIC,Red/Green/Blue,M6600 - $28.99

4259G || Liquid Crystal Display,17.3FHD,RGBLE,Low Voltage Differential Signaling,AG,Z,Length/Long - $509.99

1P2HK || Cover,Screw,Liquid Crystal Display,M4600/M6600 - $14.99

 

One quick question to those who swapped their GPUs. If I go from a 3000m to a 7970m do I need to change the heatsink? I know that going from 8900m to 7970m is easy and requires no mods. Are the heatsinks from amd different from those on nVidia?

 

Yep, the prices on the individual parts are pretty high. They told me that those parts would only be covered by a 90 day limited warranty instead of the laptop warranty. So instead of upgrading my M6600 to the IPS lcd I just did a system exchange and paid the difference in price. I did not get a coupon on the replacement system so it cost $1679 vs. $929 but it does have a quad core vs. dual core and a few nice extras like the webcam and bluetooth.

The screen is definitely worth the extra money. The picture quality is just as good as my friends U2410, and is much better than any laptop I have seen before and the majority of desktop LCD displays that I have seen as well. The refresh rate is pretty good on it as well, no lag that I can notice while gaming. The best part about it is the display has no grain to it all. I guess Dell/LG have finally quit putting the agressive anti-glare coating on that causes it.

 

Anyone? Really need to know before I order. Or should I just go the nVidia route?

 

Since the 7970M is MXM-3.0b compliant, physically, it should fit fine and look the same as the 8900M in regards to the install and heatsink. I would just make sure the correct rear GPU mount plate is used and the M6600 BIOS (A10) will support these newer professional cards.

Scott-

 

What I am worried about is whether or not there is two different versions of the GPU heatsink on the M6600(one for AMD and one for nVidia). I know that the 7970m is plug and play if you have a m8900 but I don't know if a quadro heatsink is the same as a m8900 heatsink.

 

We confirmed last year Dell used the same GPU heat sink for the NVidia and AMD cards. However, when I went from a 8900M to the 3000M and then the 4000M last year, I noticed the square mounting plate that sits on the rear of the GPU had a slightly different thread depth and approx. 0.5mm variance on how it sat/pressed up on the AMD GPU card. So, just be mindful of that and test how it fits before final install. Now, go buy the card and report back to us how it works! :thumbsup:

Scott-

 

Thank you all so much for the info you provided. Will report back with lots of pictures so that anyone can see exactly how it's done.

One more question. Can I get the fingerprint reader to work in windows with the native fingerprint manager? I hate the dell acces suite as it delays my startup time by about 10-15 seconds.

 

As long as the correct Broadcom biometric driver is installed, the FG sensor should work with any generic/third party software.

Scott-