Brought a MSI GTX 1070 for a dell m7710

Backgound

So i had my precision for a couple months since i built it, (previous laptop was a m6500) first i was using the integrated intel hd 530, but with 4k, No GO struggles to play some movies, let alone decent games i was going wait to get a dedicated gpu, a gtx 1070 or better 2 years from now when prices aren't $900+ . So then decided to buy an firepro m6100 for $100 for now, which was made for the precision m6600 and haven't been tested with the m7710 so i gave it a try and it works just with some glitches (reads m5100 in bios, only able to install hd 8950 driver). But it preforms as it should, but yet I felt like i still needed more power, during gaming, it max most modern (2016 jc3,gta5,nfs rivals,bf1,) games at 1080p with good 30+ frame rates while at 4k medium or low and barely playable the 2gb gddr5 really bottlenecks it and my 8gb ram isn't helping either. Also older games (2012 bf3,mafia 2,gta 4,csgo,mw3) max out or high at 4k. so really looking for something 4k capable at medium or better for watch dogs 2 @ 40fps, cause that game is poorly optimized but looks very good.

Gtx 1070

So searching for "mxm 3.0b gpu's" on Ebay I manage to find a msi gtx 1070 the odd shaped one for 500$ and they still have more the ten in stock so i said why not and that's the idea price i would pay for a top of the line laptop gpu not $1k, also desktop gpu's for the 1070 is around that price, hell of a deal, heck my aging rx480 go for $400 cause of the ethereum mining.So luckily my mxm slot is in the middle and by it's self with no conflicting obstacles. So I ordered it on friday and it should be here by next friday. So vote or debate what issues i might have or if i will have any, also if it doesn't work i'll just return it or resell it.

there's some pics below, have to crop some of them for upload limit

 

You will need thermal pads for cooling the fet chips on the vrm area (small square chips adjacent to the big square chokes on the opposite end to slot) at least, this is much more power hungry than a midrange card (and thermal paste cant be used to fill the gap if its 4mm)

You may have to mod your existing heatsink to fit, if it has protrusions that clash with something in a slightly different position

 

Is there enough space for a msi gtx1070?

http://www.ihowfix.com/dell-precision-7710-disassembly-ram-ssd-upgrade-guide/

 

yea from the pictures it looks like it will fit in pretty well(unlike previous dell precision's) as for space between card and heat sink, as right now i do not have any thermal pads only spare paste, I will probably buy some if i need it and might get some copper shims to. Also the protruding edge on the right side of the 1070 will fit right under the two copper pipes past the lcd connector. While the other side with 1/4 of a inch of pcb doesn't conflict with the heatsink but lacks cooling (don't know if i'll need it though) Also do anyone know if it pulls 120w as notebookcheck says, and my m6100 pulls around 75w-100w as listed. And will my lcd will be an issue, not sure if its lvds or edp, monitor specs
Monitor Name: AU Optronics B173ZAN01.0

(screen shot below). and one more thing my psu is 230w with a i7-6920hq

 

actually i just simply looked up my lcd specs and it says 40 pin edp (4 lanes) connector, wish it was ips though
( http://www.panelook.com/B173ZAN01.0_AUO_17.3_LCM_overview_25358.html)

also data sheet below

 

so i got the card today but already having issues, first was fitment little stay tabs on each corner of the mxm slot, so i just use some heavy duty wire cutters to cut the plastic tabs, but then once fitted in, there was rubber cushings in the rear that i had to remove, very easy fix. But then blackscreen on boot...... so far as of now i can't boot without the igpu activated. So windows recognize the 1070 but installing drivers is the current issue, iv'e been modifying the inf files but the driver (latest mobile 1070 driver from nvidia) I've used give a bsod [video_memory_ management internal] issues and reboots after 10secs within login in(no password).Unless i disable the card or uninstall driver, so anyone have any ideas

 

I don't have much experience with Optimus troubleshooting (only have it on some Sony SVS13 which I don't use much), but it sounds like it might be some Optimus driver problem.

When you modify inf files, you basically add an entry to map your laptop model and your GPU to a certain section with some driver configuration parameters for each of the supported Windows types.

E.g. 13D7 = 980M, 05AB = some Alienware laptop model I presume -> mapped to section 330

%NVIDIA_DEV.13D7.05AB.1028% = Section330, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D7&SUBSYS_05AB1028

Now, some of those sections have Optimus support switched on or off, so did you check which section you actually ended up using and if Optimus is enabled there?

E.g. some sections have this flag enabled:

NVSupportOptimus = 1


On the other hand, it's an MSI card and IIRC, they usually don't support Optimus on the later models, but have e.g. G-Sync support instead. So, just a thought, but I'm not sure if Optimus needs to be supported by the card vBIOS and if so, did MSI keep the relevant parts in vBIOS? These cards might have been used to upgrade some Alienware models so it might be worth checking if any of those were configured with Optimus.

 

yea thanks man yea i was wondering about section numbers was unsure if it matters cause i used section 001 but i will try 330 and others now

 

so its officially works with the switchable graphics on and preferred gpu to auto or high performance in NVIDIA settings but need a 330w psu. I will upload benchmarks and pics later, right now im at work

 

after doing so more tests, it seems that the intel and nvidia drivers do not want to work with each other, i can only have one installed at a time. And nvidia have no control of resolution and only some apps use it even though i set all apps to use the 1070 in nvidia control panel. and no display out through hdmi while intel isn't installed.

 

In my experience you need 3 lines in your section for full optimus support and that will resolve at least some of your issues

 

@cooldex

through rplacd/optimus.md

I learned of the following lines were needed to get optimus to work correctly
NVOptimusHCloneDisabled = 1
NVSupportOptimus = 1
NvSupportMSHybrid = 1

I know for certain that even with "NVSupportOptimus = 1" alone I could not get my system to choose my 1070 for games if the display in question needed to go through my iGPU first but once I added the other 2 lines to the section I used it worked like a charm

 

alright try those lines and i also was think of flashing the vbios to msi no gsync, you think that be feasible

 

I can't speak to how a gsync bios with what i assume is a nongsync screen might effect the proceedings, maybe @Prema can shed some light

 

hey i also notice that those are within different sections ima make sure i used the section that contain those lines now, i was going to use 007 as the pic below but should i use something in the triple digits containing optimus

 

I'm no expert in sections but I'd suggest using a section that was already intended for your laptop and simply adding these lines if needed and I wsh someone had suggested that to me when I was going through these same motions lol

 

yea but this a pain staking process, but this the whole reason i brought this laptop to be able to swap out to any gpu i wanted

 

Bolded for emphasis

 

So pretty much finished, 2hrs stable with intel & nvidia driver installed, multiple games and stress tests, firestrike benchmark. It can do better but considering it only using nomore then 83% load @120w max (fluctuating) but atleast all the games i tested, it is always above 30fps maxed out at 4k for now. I think it was the intel drivers screwing me, cause the last fix was the latest intel driver from their website instead of dell, i had to use section 007 in driver inf (tried about 50sections; delete driver, restart, type in new perimeters, install driver,restart, test stability, install intel drivers, restart, test stability ,crash restart) and on. So the temps aren't bad, cpu throttling at 99c (no new paste since gpu install) the 1070 gets about around 90c but looks like it'll hit 100c+ doing stress test, but later on I'll get some thermal pads and paste, that should get everything in control. So for booting wise the intel 530 gets you to windows and that environment, and the 1070 take over for any app you setup in nvidia control panel. So its done and definitely a worthy upgrade for a dell precision m7710, that will set you back to 500$ (noodles and vienna/turkey sandwitches aren't that bad). this sure put my 4770k and rx480 to shame test below

 

temperatures are not similar between cpu cores. may be that cpu needs a repaste

 

hi! did you test this laptop with that new gpu? did it work?

 

are you talking about the dell precision m7710 with the MSI gtx 1070 yea it works perfect & stable. Just you have to have the Integrated gpu on, or it won't display to internal lcd. Also i got the firepro m6100 to work before too no mods needed.

 

wow! It's awesome!
could you test it with 3dmark firestrike, 3dmark timespy, unigine valley, unigine heaven, unigine superposition?

did you create a thread about m7710+m6100?
I could also insert those useful infos in this thread
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/successful-mxm-gpu-upgraded-laptops.805136/

 

i didn't make a thread about it, since it the m6100 was from the precision m6800 and gave me no issues other then reading as a HD 8950 which actually preforms the same

 

I have been trying for 2 days to make this work. I bought a gtx 1070 for my dell precision 7710. I installed the newest driver and edited section 278 to add Optimus text where the flags are and it worked.

However Optimus only worked on certain games and the core plus memory clock speed were very low on some applications.

I tried installing other drivers and now I get a straight up blue screen when installing the same new driver as mentioned above. I cleaned installed using ddu but it doesn’t work. I either got error 43 with older drivers or system thread exception with all the newer ones.

I am now resetting my pc, if anyone can help especially @cooldex please provide me an inf file please for the 6920hq mb laptop.

I hope I haven’t killed the gpu

 

And your bios is the latest bios from dell, cause that plays a big part in system stability, also section 007 works and other sections with ms hybrid, Ansel, Optimus. And right now im currently using section 018 with driver 388.59, sometimes i think driver version might conflict with section number, but don't know for sure, and so far my system been stable without bluescreen while using the 1070. Also my the 1070 works very well with the cpu (6920hq and xeon 1505m) pull off desktop 1070 4k numbers in games but you will need the 300w psu cause the system will easily pull around 190w from the outlet without overclocking, i would recommend getting a 30$ charging dock, cause i burn't my charging port cable and charging icu. But overall system stability will be lower from dell initial stability, mainly because I have multiple unsupported devices, good luck

 

Hi, thank you for telling me this info, as the first time I got the gtx 1070 working the laptop was making a very LOUD buzzing noise, I thought it was putting pressure on the power ic. I will be buying a dell charging dock so that the same does not happen to me.

Charging dock: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Prec...560168&hash=item3f2da9e5b1:g:WGMAAOSwv9hW4t-O

That should be fine right?

The reason I bought this is because it is the slimmest laptop available in the market (35mm depth) with mxm gpu support which means it fits in my bag and I can take it to uni with no problems.

Anyway, are you saying you copied parts of section 007 into another section or are you doing this:

Unchanged:

%NVIDIA_DEV.1BA1.06DA.1028% = Section278, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1BA1&SUBSYS_06DA1028

Changed:

%NVIDIA_DEV.1BA1.06DA.1028% = Section007, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1BA1&SUBSYS_06DA1028

Please let me know, and do I have to do this with the ODD sections too as there is are even and an odd section of numbers. Or do I do it to the flagged section only, which in my case is Section278.

EDIT: You have the MSI GTX 1070 that has 1BE1, I have the EUROCOM normal mxm looking module GTX 1070 which is 1BA1

 

what reseller?

 

Check the link here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eurocom-...029336?hash=item1ed6383f58:g:XyMAAOSw9gRZ5gw-

I got it for WAY less than that though, £525 total including postage.

 

Probably that card is not working properly because it is using a compatible vbios for clevo systems.
that shop should be Eurocom so try asking their support @Eurocom Support or also @woodzstack
they could have a compatible vbios for your system

 

I don't understand how it was working the first time, I still have to try the driver @cooldex has said because I have reset the pc, this may cause the driver to work again.

As you are saying I might need a dell vbios for my card @woodzstack or @Eurocom Support do you have any gtx 1070 dell vbioses compatible with the 1BA1 GTX 1070 normal mxm card.

 

So I just did what @cooldex did and I get an error 43 message, is this a vbios issue then?

 

which system ?

 

Dell precision 7710

The hardware ID is: 06DA

 

he bought this card
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eurocom-...029336?hash=item1ed6383f58:g:XyMAAOSw9gRZ5gw-


but @DaMafiaGamer owns a dell m7710

 

Oh well thats simple : use this link : https://web.eurocom.com/ec/supportr()ec

you will need a sofi programmer and the right adapters and the 1.8v tool to flash it.

 

I genuinely think that the graphics card has become faulty, no driver inf mod is working, I have requested support for the dell driver vbios from eurocom and I will wait but I am not faithful that the card will work after a vbios mod, time will tell though.

Thanks for your help guys.

EDIT:

Oh BTW this is what comes up on nvflasher if anyone knows what it means...

 

%NVIDIA_DEV.1BA1.06DA.1028% = Section018, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1BA1&SUBSYS_06DA1028

this the line im using under [NVIDIA_Devices.NTamd64.10.0...14310]

bottom

NVIDIA_DEV.1BA1.06DA.1028 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070"

my bios version is

also make sure Intel drivers are uninstalled, first DELETE ALL PREVIOUS DRIVERS using DDU, (get latest intel driver after the nvidia driver installed), i installed it while the os in test signing mode (reboot) then installed driver

 

also do you have the latest dell motherboard bios cause that makes a big difference in not receiving the BSOD (bluesceen) (video TDR, and another one)

 

and being clevo card it should still work with the 7710 cause the msi one was even more odd shaped, and clevo cards have been used in alienware/precision laptops quite often

 

Updated the bios, didn't really do much except slow down the processor slightly due to the spectre/meltdown patch, to be honest I'm fine with that though as it overclocks to 4GHz.

Thank you for showing me what to put in the inf file, I have a feeling it may possibly work this time, if not then I know that the graphics card is faulty and I can return it to eurocom for the odd shaped MSI one.

You might not know this but I modded my clevo laptop with a 6700k to run a gtx 1070 msi odd shaped one and added a 4k screen to it. So I had experience with that card, this new standard mxm card has a different vbios that is prone to have power management issues as you can see here by typing this in google: 86.04.31.00.0C -- my gtx 1070 vbios. You can see that this card is from an msi laptop and that many users experience issues with nvidia drivers due to vbios issues.

If this is the case, is there anyway you can give me your vbios? That would be REALLY helpful. Of course that is if the driver inf mod doesn't work.

Thanks for the help @cooldex

 

I got to the rebooting stage of the laptop after installing the gtx 1070 driver now I cannot install the intel HD 530 driver as the laptop is frozen on the lock screen. This happens even after restarting the laptop.

Is the gpu dead?

Would you say it’s better to send the card back to them or to try your vbios, will that void their warranty?

EDIT: got the computer to boot after shutting it down 3-4 times on the frozen lock screen. Installed the intel hd 530 driver but the gtx 1070 says code 43 on it.

 

So I requested a return and the seller accepted, I am very pleased about @Eurocom Support communication even though the card does not work with my system.

I will be buying a Quadro P5000 mxm or another MSI gtx 1070 mxm from taobao so that @sicily428 has something to add to the mxm upgrade section, oh also I did a subwoofer mod and the 4k upgrade.

The reason for the Quadro P5000? Well I won't have to go through all this optimus bullcrap and the dedicated card can be used WITHOUT switchable graphics as my dell officially supports it. On top of that it will offer gtx 1070 performance and be amazing in rendering. I am willing to pay another £200 just so that my laptop function properly without the need of a modded inf driver on every update.

Thanks again @cooldex, I probably wouldn't have got this far without your info.

 

Your not supposed to be able to flash Pascal cards with NVFlash like you could Maxwell and previous.

 

You were able to return the card, awesome. See, just had to contact them. Cheers !

 

I have flashed the gtx 1070 msi g-sync in my clevo to non-gysnc using nvflasher. So I think it is possible to flash vbios of pascal cards using nvflasher. The reason it did not work with this card is because I deleted the driver, once I installed the driver and got code 43 I had the choice to change the vbios, it was going to let me do it if I clicked 'y' but I did not as that would probably void my warranty.

 

Yep, as I said eurocom support is pretty good!

 

well at least you'll be able to get a refund, hope the other cards works better then that one

 

I FORGOT TO UPLOAD A DECENT BENCHMARK, AND SOME REASON MY CPU ALWAYS HAS A CORE THAT OVERHEATS

 

I would recommend putting thermal grizzly metal paste on the cpu with a earbud, put a pea sized dot of liquid metal on the cpu and space it out on the cpu die. Do the same with the contact location on the cpu heatsink, temps should go down by 10-15c with good contact.

Hope this solves the issue, it is unfortunate that your other board died as it was overclockable, even the best intel xeon mobile cpu will get destroyed by a 6920hq overclocked to 4GHz which is equivalent to a stock i7-6700k.