M6700 CPU + GPU Upgrade

Hi!

I'm looking to upgrade my Dell Precision M6700. I have a 980M 8GB GPU on the way, and I'm looking for a decent CPU to go with it. I was wondering if anyone has experience with a combination of 980M 8GB + i7-3940XM (or similar) on the M6700 with any success? I guess what I need to know is:

- Will 980M + 3940XM work?
- What's the optimal CPU for 980M on the M6700 (if not the 3940XM)?
- Would it be worth getting a 330W power brick (does the M6700 even support this)?

I don't plan on any pointless overclocking. From what I've read I won't need any heatsink modifications, just 1.5mm and 2mm thermalpads for VRMs, etc. Doesn't look like I'll need BIOS rewriting or whatnot (I hope) - the GPU I ordered was pulled from a Dell machine.

 

Yeah, 3940XM would be great in it. In fact, that was a factory-installed option. Should work flawlessly. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Revie...00-Notebook-Nvidia-Quadro-K5000M.89984.0.html

There is not a more powerful CPU that would work. Check with Dell Spare Parts (quick phone call) to see if the 3940XM needs a different heat sink. Alienware notebooks used a 3-pipe heat sink with the 3920XM and 3940XM.

Not sure if 980M will work or not. It never worked well with the Alienware notebooks of the same generation. Maybe someone has already tried it and knows how to respond to that. If not, a 780M should work and still be a decent upgrade. But, 980M (if it will work) would be much better.

Edit: appears it will work... http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...980m-upgrade-windows-10.789235/#post-10478671

Quadro K5000 vs GTX 780M vs GTX 980M

Getting a 330W AC adapter would be a good idea. It should fit, have the same physical connection, but you would have to try one to see if the ID pin signal is accepted by the Precision motherboard. Probably so, but you need to verify that.

 

Brilliant, thanks! I checked the heatsink - I have the CRYV5 65W heatsink, even though the processor was an i5-3340

Flag to hear this, I was going to have an Extreme edition CPU coupled with the 980M. I just hope it won't need BIOS mods or such!

 

You're welcome. The BIOS won't be unlocked, but you'll be able to do as much as before. Should be the same BIOS as any other CPU in the M6700. You should be able to overclock it fine with XTU or ThrottleStop. Installing the Extreme CPU may expose an extra overclocking menu if Dell allowed support for that in the BIOS.

 

"pointless overclocking" lol

 

@Mr. Fox Any resources for unlocking the BIOS / getting hte BIOS to see the GPU properly by any chance?

@Grant B Gibson If you've absolutely nothing useful to say, please don't bother commenting at all.

 

3840qm would be best for the m6700, push it to the TDP max and try to maintain, there will never be an unlocked menu unless someone can hack the TPM module.

4930mx caused a lot of VRM overheating in the m6800 and I would assume it would be likewise in the m6700 unless some major changes were made. Otherwise I would recommend the 3840qm, similar speed but less heat to contend with.

980m is the best GPU you can upgrade to as well

 

My useful tidbit of info is that overclocking is never pointless.

 

Unless thermal throttling immediately kicks in...

 

Then you wouldnt be overclocking lol

 

I have an m6700 with i7 3940XM and 980m (8gb) everything works fine thermal compound i use arctic mx4 and custom cuted arctic thermal pads for gpu. Gpu was originally clevo card but i flashed mod vbios in it for better performance. Gaming tems are arround 70-75C on cpu and gpu. I never seen thermal issue on this machine. Now i plan to upgtade to 1070 or 1080 but it's hard enough to find 1080 in classic mxm 3.0b shape. But i'm looking for it))

 

That might work if you have the ips screen but you have more luck with the 1070 than 1080 just due to the power draw and how that relates to the EC.

 

Technically the P5000 is the best GPU that the M6700 can upgrade to.

Why not go for the P5000? It's a slightly stripped down 1080 and doesn't suffer from power/heat issues like the 1080.

 

Its based on the 1070 core for the mobile variant, and given that it is ridiculously more expensive than one, I would recommend a 1070 with a modded BIOS

 

Not sure if that would work, p5000 has 16GB VRAM.

 

that is true

 

One forum member already got it working on his M6700. I think it was @RMSMajestic

 

He altered the 1070 vBIOS to work on the p5000?

Or got the p5000 to work on the m6700?

 

I believe it is the stock (or modified) P5000

 

The power consumption of 1080 is not an issue! There is 330w power supply from dell also i'm using my precision on a docking station and i tried to connect 2 240w power bricks one directly to the laptop and second to the docking station and it worked just fine with no issues. Also i have an IPS (RGB Edp) screen so 10XX should output video signal just fine as it supports edp. Some one from china upgraded m6700 to p5000 and it worked so 10XX should work either.

 

It IS an issue.

It has nothing to do with the power draw from the wall but for what the EC will work with.

If the P5000 works on the m6700 then thats the route to take for sure.

Either way best of luck

 

This, and the fact they are cheaper and look great, is why I love the older dell workstations.

 

The EC does not care how much power your gpu will eat! The EC controller controls the basic voltages and signals laptop (pc) needs to work with! It open and closes mosfets (transistors) the bigger load of power can probably kill one of them but precision has good and cheap motherboard)) When you upgrade your GPU you are not increasing any voltage on the motherboard you have to worry about can your power supply deliver need current to the all components on time. When the power supply cant deliver the needed voltage laptop will shut down bsod or throttle so no problem with the EC controller. P.S. GTX980m 8GB is very power hungry gpu and m6700 lives with it just fine with no power or cooling issues!

The build quality is outstanding either! When you disassemble modern bga crap you can find lot of cheap plastic in it but in old workstation you fill find solid metal frame and all thick aluminium and magnesium case parts.

 

Doesnt work on the Ranger in 3d applications because of the EC, those that has tried the 1080 in my machine also had 330w AC adapters and could only get the machine to boot windows with the 1080 and would crash immediately with any 3d application.

980m can be a hungry card but at stock its basically 115w-125w, the same as my 780m (post vBIOS flash). GTX 1080 ranges anywhere from 150w on the low end and 220w on the high end. Noting the m6700 will be fine as a result because it can use the 980m is a statement formed with a false premise.

 

Putting a card with a high voltage consumption can be an issue. Because EC controller can think that there is a short in GPU and will shutdown the system to prevent fire but laptop will not start at all in such scenario)) But almost all 1080's that i saw requires extra power connected to it so this may be an issue beacause there was not enough power delivered by MXM slot like with PC's gpu's. It's basicly +5V +3.3V and ground. In precision this connector can be created from empty mpcie slot and mpcie module as all this voltages should be present there and could be wire delivered to the card. I found aetina manufacturer that makes 1080 mxm 3.0b classic shape and in there datasheet was an information about this connector where and how you should deliver power to it and that for 1080 power from mxm port is not enough.

 

Not all 1080's require external power, even when power connector is present.

But like I said before, good luck.

 

Thank you!

 

He got the P5000 to work on the M6700. He even managed to get his hands on quite a number of different vbios for the P5000. It so happens that one of the later vbios allows the P5000 to be used on the M6800 as well!