L17822-001/WX4150 in ZBook 15 G2

My situation is this, my current Zbook's card is a little weak for video editing and I wish to upgrade. I looked around on eBay, did some research, and did find some GPUs that could fit. A Quadro M2000M and a M1200M, and this WX4150. But I don't know if it will work just fine in the Zbook G2.

Has anyone tried the WX4150 in theirs?


Edit for Update:
The L17822-001/WX4150 does NOT have native fan control for thermal management. The display internally works, and does output through DP and VGA just fine. Enduro works as well. Just not fan control. Changing the fan and heatsink to the AMD M5100 specific one will not solve the issue.

 

Maxwell cards should work fine after some driver fiddling, The m2000m has the highest performance out of those 3 I believe

 

However I want to avoid having to fiddle with drivers, and I have seen some WX4150s on eBay for cheap, and some have been branded for use in HPs. But, I'm hoping to know if anyone else has installed this particular card.

I read that the M2000M causes some issues with the internal display, and I actually would prefer to avoid that. Even if it is a very nice card, albeit expensive and has some hassle, I don't mind sacrificing performance for reliability.

 

Well, I don't know. I can't find anyone trying a newer AMD card in an older ZBook (everyone goes for nVidia if they do upgrade) - the G2 came with FirePro, so maybe it would work?

 

Could work when I get the chance, but I also discovered I'd have to change heatsinks. The 3 cards in the maintenance guide, the corresponding heatsinks for Nvidia are identical to each other while the AMD one (just the one) is fit for AMD cards. I'd need that (and they're expensive, yikes) to fit it properly. I'll keep an eye on eBay for a reasonably priced and local listing for one, then. The others are either from China or the US which makes costs a little too much.

 

I'm fairly sure the heatsink will fit - HP always does this "different p/n" stuff. Looking at the MXM firepro m5100 and quadro k610m, I don't see any noticeable difference. Same exact GPU/VRAM/VRM/holes location.

Biggest difference could be the height of the GPU, but even in the worst case scenario, more thermal paste or thinner vRAM/VRM pads can solve that.

 

I ordered the card. I appreciate the info, I'll see if it does actually mean I don't have to replace the heatsink. Otherwise I'll think about getting the FirePro M5100 heatsink as well. I honestly don't think anyone's tried this either so that's gonna be a plus and an experiment if it goes to plan.

 

Well, good luck! And maybe update this thread, it would be useful information

 

Hi,
Just to let you know wx4150 works in both zbook 15 g1/g2 BUT fan control does not... So as soon as the wx4150 kicks in, fan goes into full spin.
I haven't found a way to troubleshoot this yet.
Maybe with latest BIOS but mine is password locked so I need to unsolder and reflash the bios chip...
Anyway, it's useable as it is and graphics switching (ENDURO) works perfectly. Only caveat is the fan.
So if you want plug & play go for quadro m2000m or m2200m, as fan control will be native on these 2 cards, and performance will be on par with wx4150 (or even better for m2200m)

 

Full speed? Oh boy. Thanks for the heads-up.

Shame those GPUs are way too pricey to afford compared to the WX4150, which was why I went with it. Being in the UK makes it even more pricey as I can only get it from the USA. I don't think my Zbook has the latest BIOS (because microcode updates.)

I wonder if the BIOS update will fix it. We can only wait and see.

 

Thanks for the info @johnbb!

Is that the case with hybrid graphics enabled or disabled, or both?

Have you tried to control the fan with NoteBookFanControl or something?

And/or maybe disabling Bidirectional PROCHOT in Throttlestop (probably wouldn't work, but still worth a try)?

@Vaardu look at eBay.de, some good stuff pops up from time to time for cheaper than anywhere else (though you'll probably have to talk with the seller about shipping, many don't seem to like shipping outside Germany lol)

 

About the BIOS update though, would I have to update my BIOS prior the GPU swap... ? It's nice to know that Enduro works as it should but I don't see why the fan would be on full blast. Bit silly, because these units were also configured with AMD graphics too. The M5100 in the 15 and the M6100 in the 17 (I think?)

I've kept searches saved on eBay.de and UK. Problem is many listings that rise up are too big to fit or too expensive to afford.

 

Looking online, seems that the L17822-001 doesn't come with an x-bracket. My question is now are all x-brackets for modern GPUs universal? Because I'm not sure if they're of different thicknesses. I don't really wanna pull the one off my K610M.

 

Hey guys.
I have good news for you all:
wx4150 works nicely on zbook 15/17 g1 or g2. Only caveat is the lack of auto fan control. Temps are good, around 75 in full burn
But with notebookfancontrol you can force it and it works alright!!
Wx4150 (part nr L17822-001) does not come with xbracket and you absolutely need one. Dell xbrackets are too long and will not work without cutting. Hp or msi work ok

 

Do HP and MSI use 2mm? I've seen some sold on eBay and there's 2mm or 4mm.

 

On HP they're on the thin side. I've just bought some sheet metal that's 3mm and that stuff is way thicker than the GPU X bracket on HPs

 

Oh, I was meaning the thread as I found someone selling some for GTXs. 2mm and 4mm threads. They're thin in the pictures by the looks of it. And I had a look of MXMs with them on eBay, and some have 2mm and some 4mm. But before I buy one I just wanna confirm if this will do just fine.

 

I found a faulty Quadro 4000m I have, the bracket itself is 2mm thick (twice as thick as a VRAM chip), the threads are also 2mm, they don't protrude from the PCB on the front side.

I'm guessing the ones with 4mm threads are longer and protrude from the front side of the PCB.Probably for cards with bigger chips.

I think even 4mm could work.

But 2mm are standard, even if 4mm threads fit, the heatsink would not be as tight.

The one you linked looks fine imo

 

The bracket arrived, it fits yet it didn't come with the adhesive to mount the thing. Just the bracket and 4 screws which I don't know what they're really for... Hm...

 

You need 2mm thread. 4mm are way too long.
Tu ou can use copper shim if you need

 

So an update on this. I fear I don't want to risk damaging the graphics using the incorrect heatsink, as the gaps for the VRM on the NVidia uses one and the AMD one uses two. Those are the differences I've noticed between the heatsinks when you configure your HP Zbook before ordering. I may have to purchase a used heatsink for this and just buy a pack of thermal pads with three thicknesses each.

 

I have it installed and it's exhibiting that fan behavior you mentioned. although it's not fully reassembled but I installed Notebookfan Control and it doesn't appear to allow me to turn off the fan at 0%. It just brings it to 100% when it's at 0. So, the Zbook appears to have the fan go 100% when in the BIOS which isn't good. I thought it'd not do that at all, only when it wants to use the card. Hmmm...

 

I've read that theres a Dell version of this card. But I figure if I flashed a different VBIOS, that it might not make a difference. This really sucks if I can't find another way to get the fan control working properly with the GPU in this laptop.

What I haven't investigated are the fans. I have two now, but I doubt they're any different, it's just that they both have a small chip (IC2) under the rotor of the fan. I don't know what they're really for exactly. A fan controller?

 

Try the 8760w profile in NotebookFanControl. That's the only one that works for me. And if it doesn't report the CPU temperature, NBFC is not working. Happens rarely after a reboot and I can't figure out why. But it works fine most of the time.

You can't flash the VBIOS on a Zbook, as you don't get direct access to it. It could be done with a Raspberry Pi or some programmer with an SOIC... except I don't know which one is the flash chip! I'm actually dumbfounded, older cards and desktop cards have a normal 8 pin BIOS chip, my Quadro 4000m and k3100m apparently don't, or it's in a completely different package.

My current plan is to put the K3100m (which I want overclocked) in my old 8760w, flash it and test it there, then swap it back to the Zbook. But that's a bit of a pain, and I don't even need the extra performance, so I'll do it when I've got nothing else to do

I believe that is indeed the speed controller on the fan, but it has nothing to do with this problem - the system board is sending the signal to set the fan to 100%.

 

NBFC can read the CPU temps fine using the Zbook config, there's also a G2. Speccy can read the GPU temps, and HWMonitor and HWInfo too.

This is infuriating. If anything I thought a graphics card with an HP bios it'd be OK with fan control too. Apparently not. I almost had a theory that the wattage of the cards you get could be why, as the EC can't understand it. But that myth was debunked after reading up the K2100M with a 55w TDP. WX4150 has 50, K1100M and M5100/W5170M has 45, and the K610M has 30w.

I might test the original fan before changing the card back to the K610m and finding something else to install (there goes my big spends) because I really wanted to piece together a nice little laptop for 4K video editing. Which it managed, with 3GB video RAM left over in DaVinci Resolve editing 4096x2160 clips. But with the BIOS fan going 100% no matter if the GPU is being used or not is disappointing. I even tried speaking to a technician at HP and we've ruled out the things I've attempted and concluded it's a compatibility issue, even if it can be picked up fine with just a fan controller not knowing what to do.

It'd be nice if HP patched this because for one its an HP card, and two its also used in their ZBook G4 laptops.

 

In conclusion for this as of 12th September 2020: The graphics card almost works in the HP ZBook 15 G2. There's video out on DP and VGA as expected but no fan control at all. And I have not found a solution that involves just a VBIOS flash externally yet. For someone who wants to use a laptop with a similar video card, while the Zbook is nice, upgrading it is more difficult than the M4800 because of compatibility problems with most AMD cards and Nvidia cards.

This GPU would work in the M4800 with the right video BIOS I think. So I might or might not hang onto it. While for the M4800 its basically a roulette whichever you get has switchable graphics or not.

I might experiment with an M2000M or M1200M (flakey with M2000M I dont know about M1200M). Otherwise I might also consider selling this laptop in favour of an M4800 with similar specifications and condition its in now.

 

That chip takes the Vcc given to the fan and generates the signals needed to run the fan motor, taking in account the RPM signal sent to the fan and outputs the current RPM so the EC/BIOS can know that the fan is spinning.

 

Ahhh, good to know!

 

WX4150m works nicely on zbook 15 G1 & G2 (assume also on 17 G1 & G2), and fan control, although not perfectly, works as well.
My trick with notebookfancontrol1.6.3 is:
- choose HP Zbook profile
- set the slider to 0% that way:
* fan is spinning at very low speed, which is perfect for daily use / web browsing
* as soon as CPU / GPU reaches full fan threshold (around 75°C), fan goes to full (~80%). As long as load is applied on
CPU/GPU, fan stays that way
* as soon as there's no more heavy load and T°<60° (or so, IIRC), fan goes back to very low speed.
I think it's THE best operating mode for the zbook with notebookfancontrol. When at full fan, it's loud but as there's high load on CPU/GPU, it's pretty much normal. When browsing or running Office apps, CPU/GPU stay quite cool so fan is spinning in low power mode.


EDIT: I tried this on Hybrid Graphics ON only. I can't tell if the laptop behaves the same with the IGP disabled...

 

It's strange how it worked for you like that but not for me. Same version, same configuration but I did not get control like that. Kept the GPU just incase HP patches in the control, but I'm now going to install an M2000M when it arrives. The other thing I noticed was in the BIOS, the AMD wasn't being picked up, it only displayed the IGP VBIOS but not the AMD Radeon one.

 

I did not even bother if the GPU was recognized in the BIOS. It's usually not the case, or it can be UNKNOWN (Clevo, MSI,...)
Did you try to set the slider to 0%?
I played a lot with notebookfancontrol1.6.3 and this is the only working trick... I tried it on 2 different 15 G2 and on a 15 G1 and all 3 are working perfectly with the wx4150m (and behaving the same way)...
But quadro M2000M should be as good as the radeon, if not better. And it will offer native fan control.
But honestly, for 90$, the wx4150m is a bargain!

 

That's the first thing I tried; the fan would ramp to 62.5 and stay there, regardless.

 

Did you update the BIOS to the latest revision?
It's really weird as my 15 G1 has a locked BIOS (not at latest rev) and it still works nicely with the wx4150m.
The only one that did not work at all was a 15 G2 with early BIOS and it only showed black screen with that card...

 

Newest BIOS, updated within the BIOS over the network.

 

I'm thinking that could be different vbios... I'll upload mine here as soon as I have time to do so.

 

There isn't a way to dump the VBIOS in the Zbook I have, and I haven't tested it in the MSI GT640 yet to even see if I can do it that way. I plan to but I worry I might fry the card somehow, even though people have put in 7970Ms and whatnot in it. But if it's HP branded then surely it has an HP VBIOS, as it does have an HP logo on the card.

 

I might work on your old GT640, but only through HDMI as the screen is LVDS and there's no OPTIMUS on that model, IIRC (had a GT740 a few years ago).

 

So I noticed on my old Nvidia K610M GPU from memory that there's a Winbond chip. The WX4150 doesn't appear to have one. Yet still booted fine and used some VBIOS somehow, usable and all. I have zero clue how this works because I read that the VBIOS is on the motherboard, so how is it getting a VBIOS?

Winbond chip isn't there, and none of the chips on the WX4150 I tried looking up had any form of storage on them.

 

Hey, I had the same problem

My older MXM cards (I have a few broken ones and a spare, GTX 680m, Radeon 6970m I think and a Quadro FX 3800m) have the usual SOIC8 chips for the BIOS... but my broken Quadro 4000m and the K3100m do not have them!

I was looking to flash them with a Raspberry Pi and was quite disappointed.

However, they clearly have an onboard BIOS because I re-flashed that 4000m before in my 8760w.

My plan now is to try flashing the K3100m I've got in my ZBook by installing it in the 8760w. I can get 30-40% higher clocks out of it, so I can squeeze a bit more performance before upgrading.

 

OK I double checked, and while it doesn't use Winbond it uses something else. It uses a IS25LQ040, which is an SPI from Issi (?). I think this is what AMD uses while NVidia uses Winbond for most of their MXM GPUs. It's so easy to miss, so it isn't actually VBIOS-less on the card itself after all. This might be the same for the 2GB version of this GPU.

 

There are so many IC manufacturers: MXIC, Winbond, SST, ATMEL, SAIFUN, PMC, NEXFLASH, GIGADEVICE, EON, KH... Usually it's divided into groups, ie:
GD 25 D040
GD = Manufacturer (Gigadevice)
25 = type of chip (25 = SPI Flash, 24 = EEPROM)
D040 = 4MB chip

 

Where is it located? D:

On Google, it looks like it's a SOIC8 package... I must be blind

Edit: Ah OK so they come in WSON packages, too. Well, RIP external flashing...

 

It's this location. Picture's thumbnailed due to large size. This one appears to be SOIC8.