M6800 Precision - Tesla M6 & Firepro 6100M - Working/updated/switchable graphics

Look's like I'm necro'ing my own post .

I'm thinking about downgrading, to probably one of the Beelink GTR 5 or 7's here soon, and probably will part with one of my Precision 6800's with the M6 already installed and working jam up. I thought I'd run it by the forum, seeing as anyone interested in this card, on this platform, will probably be by here. I've now gotten settled in Westminster, London and have no real need for half the gadgets I have. If that's interesting to anyone, feel free to hmu.

Hope all's well in the M6 world!

 

Hi there! I officially confirm: nVidia Tesla M6 works in M6800 on the LVDS interface, enough driver from GTX 980M, attentiveness and direct hands.
Tesla M6 + monitor 22" VGA and DVI- interfaces, TV 55" HDMI interface, DisplayPort have no cable for testing..

Spoiler: Visual photos and proofs..tested interfaces VGA, DVI- and HDMI

Spoiler: The thickness of the thermal pads if the cooling is AMD and the video card is from nVidia

Ready modified driver configuration file for Tesla M6 from GTX 980M, just substitute your dev_id nvdmi.zip

 

Few questions for you, if you don't mind!

1: Tesla M6 in M6600 - should I try, or not bother? This M6100 I have is hurting on current games. Don't know if its my drivers or it's just long in the tooth, but it is having a hard time.
2: You say in the quote, "had luck installing... ...GTX980." To ask outright, does that mean you have installed a 980M in a M6600? If so, is the process documented? Only reason I ask so straightforwardly is because there are about a million posts (hyperbole) from 2 or 3 forum users saying "no maxwell on m6600."

My other considered option is getting a m6800 for a 980M/M6 swap, but if I can keep the m6600 I will!

 

I'm not Keep Guessing, but...

M6600 has a restrict bios and will not accept much gpus. Nvidia? Forget about it. You can have some luck with AMD cards if they are LVDs (M6100 is one of them).

Upgrading for a M6800 would be a lot better option since you'll have almost full MXM support (the only exception are Pascal cards - 1050/1060/1070/etc, but some Pascal Quadros work - P3000/P4000/P5000 - with a special vbios) and you can still replace your CPU. I have a Precision 7710 (M6800's sucessor) and it's pretty good, but I'm stuck with its original CPU (which is not bad, at least).

 

I fully agree with PhOeNiX_H. I see no reason to upgrade the M6600 of the 2nd generation of Intel processors and its maximum video cards are the FirePro M6100/Radeon HD 8950M, Radeon HD 7970M, Quadro 5010M, Quadro K5000M, GTX 675M, GTX 770M.
Perfomance rating:
1. Radeon HD 7970M (2Gb GDDR5)
2. Quadro K5000M (4Gb GDDR5)
3. GeForce GTX 770M (3Gb GDDR5)
4. FirePro M6100 (2Gb GDDR5)
5. Quadro 5010M (3Gb GDDR5 ECC)
6. GeForce GTX 675M (2Gb GDDR5)

 

8970m and the other card that has yet to be tested may well work.

Cant remember its name though, W7170m I think?

 

I have never seen in the headline that the FirePro W7170M is being launched on the M6600, all proposals for the 7th generation, and the difference in performance of the W7170M is 6.3% higher than for the Radeon HD 7970M due to the larger memory capacity, 2Gb GDDR5 vs 4Gb GDDR5 in the W7170M.
And here are the available options that start on the M6600 in the title: one, two and three.
Here is a comparison for all characteristics FirePro W7170M vs Radeon HD 7970M.

 

Dont use websites like those, they are utter garbage and only serve as a cheap tactic to get clicks, its easy enough to simply run a comparison on Notebookcheck for a better baseline comparison isntead of using a website that literally just copy/pastes

A key detail you seem to miss here is W7170m can support DX12 on some level where as the 7970m cant. This is due to it being Tonga vs Pitcairn, and for some that is more important than the rasterization performance.

Lastly, until such cards are tested no one will know for sure. What we do know is the m6600 doesnt work with anything other than what it launched with in terms with Nvidia cards but AMD cards since to all function as long as they support LVDS and until proven otherwise the precedent has been set. W7170m and/or m295x, same chip. 7970m, 8970m and m290x all same chip

 

The W7170M in gaming is 30 to 50% more performant than the HD7970M :
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Radeon-HD-7970M-vs-FirePro-W7170M_2965_6517.247598.0.html
furthermore it's GCN 3.0 vs 1.0, there is improvement on memory bandwidth

 

Well that's something I'd be interested in! 4GB ram is a good boost over my m6100, but unfortunately notebookcheck has the 7970m behind pace of most games compared to the m6100 so at 2GB as well, it seems like it's an actual downgrade. Now, this is according to the testing on notebookcheck, and results of testing actual games only, not any benchmark-only suites or other synthetic tests like 3dmark or the like.

A higher 3dmark is OK and most times it translates to better performance, but in the case of the 7970m VS the m6100, several tests put the 7970m synthetically ahead, where in gaming at low to medium, the m6100 does better. At ultra the 7970m pulls ahead on some games, but if you are on a m6100 or a 7970m in the current year and are trying to game at 1080p ultra... Well. I don't know about that. Especially when most of the 10-20% leads at ultra have the 7970m at 23 FPS and the m6100 at 18 FPS. Simply put, according to the data on notebookcheck, the m6100 is a better GPU for the resolutions I play at than the 7970m is.

So how likely is it that the W7170m would work on this system, being LVDS as well?