Aaron44126

If the NVIDIA driver installer is requesting that you install a standard driver instead of DCH, that's because you already have a standard driver installed and it wants to upgrade to the same type. Remove the NVIDIA driver that is already installed (using DDU if you have to) and then install the DCH driver.

NVIDIA will answer that for you. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/

The 16" Pro Max Plus has options for 1920×1200 and 3840×2400. The 18" Pro Max Plus just has one option and it is in between, 2560×1600. (You can see these right on the order page where you select your configuration.)

Turing works fine. Finding one that uses the normal MXM form factor is quite a trick, though. I know that people have done heatsink mods to accommodate the Quadro Turing MXM cards from HP.

vBIOS images are here. Again, only for P3000, P4000, and P5000.

Dell has made standalone CAMM modules available from the "memory upgrades" section on their web site before (..........not cheap at all............). As for the pressure plate, you'd probably be looking at eBay or PartsPeople or sites like that to find one. You can get 48GB SODIMM modules now, so you could potentially achieve 96GB RAM without even having to get a CAMM module, assuming that there isn't a compatibility problem. (I wouldn't count on anything there until people have a chance to experiment with it.)

It's the same motherboard. They attach a SODIMM interposer to the CAMM slot if you pick a SODIMM configuration. To switch from SODIMM to CAMM, you'd have to buy a CAMM module, and also a pressure plate thing to attach it (they use a different thickness plate for CAMM vs. SODIMM interposer).

Plus is a replacement for Precision 7000 and Premium is a replacement for Precision 5000. The "Premium" model is thus slightly lower spec, but also slimmer/lighter. Which one is "better" depends on which you prioritize, I guess. If top specs is the highest priority and you don't care about the size and weight, Pro Max Plus is it. I don't think that there will be an 18" version of Pro Max Premium, at least not with this generation.

I am seeing a 64GB option for both 16 Max and 18 Max ($630). I am sure you could replace modules yourself for cheaper, if you just get a configuration with the SODIMM interposer. Also take Dell's prices with a grain of salt. You can (almost) always get a better deal if you buy through a sales rep. (I wish it wasn't that way, but...) When I bought a high-end Precision 7770 (3 years ago) I think I got nearly $2,000 knocked off.

I feel like the market has driven Dell to a design like this, it is sort of a natural outcome. They have to work with what Intel & NVIDIA have cooked up. The target market wants smaller systems but without compromised specs. (Double-stacking NVMe drives gets you some space back in the footprint.) This probably isn't a super high-selling system anyway, so they are under pressure to reduce costs with materials and so forth. I personally think that Dell should slim down their laptop portfolio. They don't need like 40 different laptop models on the market at any given time. Then they could pay more attention to refining each design. It would probably save them money too, with less "different" models they could scale up production of the ones they have left (cost per unit generally decreases as you make more of a thing, there are nice economics words for this that I don't know). Instead of making so many different models, they could leverage the overlap and reuse designs & parts between different market segments. This includes between the consumer and business lines. (They used to use the same chassis and other parts for XPS and Precision 5000 lines, but they don't even do that anymore?) How many different 15" laptop chassis designs to you need to be selling at once? Could you get by with just a "slim" version and a "regular" version, and just change the parts inside to target different market segments? But I don't know. Maybe they need that many different models to serve all of the different use cases that they perceive. Pro Max Premium is out too. (Precision 5000 replacement?) https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/dell-pro-max-16-premium-laptop/spd/dell-pro-max-ma16250-laptop/xcto_ma16250_usx

NVMe drives are also double-stacked in the Lenovo P16 workstation (which I have seen in person), so I was not surprised when I saw this. 😕 I think HP does it too. Framework double-stacks a 2230 and 2280 drive in the Framework Laptop 16.

@MyPC8MyBrain Four slots are there, I edited the post above with some pictures. The owner's manual is the best place to look for now at the internals. I share your general disappointment with the way that things are going with this product line (and really with today's high-end workstation laptop experience in general). I do appreciated this sliding door latch that they brought back for the bottom panel, making it easier to get to the drives. (They used to have something like this with Precision 7710/7720.) [Edit] The support materials indicate model numbers for these systems as MB16250 & MB18250. However, there doesn't appear to be anything on the system which indicates what model it is other than "Pro Max". This will be really fun when another few iterations are out, and people are looking for community help but no one can tell which one they have at a glance 😕 [Edit 2] DGFF connectors have been changed again. But, maybe that is enough pins for 16 lanes?

@MyPC8MyBrain Note that the Precision 7000 series replacement is Pro Max Plus, not Pro Max. Pro Max Plus just launched today. Pro Max 18 Plus does have four drive slots. I am not sure what is going on with the web site configuration not saying anything about the second slot. Pro Max (non-Plus) is more like a replacement for the Precision 3000 line. [Edit] Rummaging through the manual. NVMe slots are 7, 9, 10, and 20. (I guess they are double-stacking two of them?) (To note... I also have a good deal of dissatisfaction with the direction this product line is going and I have no intention to buy one of these. Though is not just Dell that I find fault with. Intel, NVIDIA, and Microsoft all also play a role in my disappointment with today's high-end workstation laptop experience.) [Edit 2] Not quite clear to me how this double-stacking SSD setup works, it looks like there is a frame clip that the upper drive can screw into.

Appears to have popped up in the US: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/dell-pro-max-16-plus-laptop/spd/dell-pro-max-mb16250-laptop/xcto_mb16250_usx https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/dell-pro-max-18-plus-laptop/spd/dell-pro-max-mb18250-laptop/xcto_mb18250_usx I will take a look at the configs... [Edit] No 256 GB RAM option? (Yet?) I also don't see that Qualcomm AI coprocessor that they were hyping up. Two different options for which USB-C power supply to get. 16" has two display options, 18" just has one. All of the extra choices there are around the camera & antennas, not the display. It still kills me that you can't get full 4K in the 18" system. Not much else to say. Pretty standard options that we saw with the Precision 7000 series systems.

Your guide is assuming that you do have secure boot. The normal process these days it to set up a signing key for your third-party drivers so that the system won't reject them at boot time. This isn't needed if you don't have secure boot. You might run into trouble with such an old system, if you haven't replaced the GPU. NVIDIA Fermi GPUs require NVIDIA driver version 390 or older; the same is true on both Windows and Linux. There is a repository for Ubuntu to get this driver loaded on newer versions of the distro; I am not sure if there is something similar for Fedora.

Pascal GPUs won't boot on the M6700 unless they have a specific "engineering sample" vBIOS. We only have appropriate vBIOS for Quadro P3000, P4000, and P5000. (None for GeForce cards.) The behavior otherwise is that the laptop will just hang at the Dell logo boot screen and will not proceed to OS boot. (It's even worse than in the M6800 — in that system you'll just get an ACPI BSOD if you try to boot Windows, but booting Linux is possible.) Because you can't even boot to Linux to flash the vBIOS in the M6700, you'd have to flash the vBIOS in another system or use a hardware flasher to get one of the Quadro Pascal GPUs to work in the M6700.

This reminds me of an old Dell Latitude that I had which would require multiple attempts to boot up to the point of running Windows. I would fire it up, it would show the Dell boot screen and then just power off. It took multiple tries to get it to boot Windows, but it was fine once it finally did that. It was noticeably worse when it was cold in the room (more attempts required), so I chalked this up to some kind of weird hardware issue. In any case, I'd say that this similarly sounds more like hardware than software. I wonder if you just booted to BIOS setup (F2 key at startup) and let it sit there for a few minutes, and then rebooted, if it would boot into the OS normally.

My take. Intel Graphics Control Panel — Should have been automatically installed with the driver, nothing else is needed. Maxx Audio — You might need that tool installed if you want to be able to change any of the audio settings. I have found it needed to disable some of the audio processing "features" that the audio driver has (makes things sound weird in teleconference meetings, to my ears). But if you are happy with the audio as is then you don't need to worry about this. Touchpad — Yeah, you probably want to install that package, the touchpad is too old to have controls for it presented in Windows settings so you have to use its dedicated app. I like to have the setting that automatically outright disables the touchpad if a separate mouse is connected clicked on. You can also change the scroll direction, set what certain gestures do, etc. If you have the Bluetooth driver happy in Device Manager, you don't need to install anything else related to Bluetooth. You can use the Windows UI to manage Bluetooth devices. You don't need Intel RST if you're not going to use the RAID functions. (I don't think you even need it if you are going to use the RAID functions. You can define arrays in a pre-boot BIOS screen.) Dell Command | Update and Dell Digital Delivery, I do not think that you need. Dell Command | Power Manager is useful, just for being able to set the system's "thermal mode" (Balanced / Cool / Quiet / Performance) which can impact the behavior of fans, and some modes will also put a cap on the CPU/GPU speed. This system doesn't have a setting for that exposed in BIOS setup, the only way to set it is to use the app.

OK, I had forgotten that in order for your dGPU information to show on that BIOS information page, you need to have graphics switching turned off so that it is the "default" GPU driving the display. ...That would be a little "dangerous" to do on your P5000 if it is "not working" (...the BIOS might actually take the option to disable graphics switching away if it does not detect a compatible dGPU anyway). If you do end up in a situation where graphics switching is disabled and you can't "see" anything due to a non-functional dGPU, you can reset the BIOS settings by unplugging the coin cell battery for a few moments. The default config has graphics switching enabled. Anyway. Tangentially related but I spotted this note this morning. NVIDIA is dropping support for both Maxwell and Pascal at the same time. (A surprise to me since they normally just drop one generation at a time, but... on the flip side, Maxwell has already been supported for an abnormally long time.) The 580 driver series will be the last to support either. So even if you get the P5000 to work, you'll end up in a similar situation with regard to driver support before too long. https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/unix-graphics-feature-deprecation-schedule/60588/13 (Sorry, I don't have any additional ideas on how to kick the GPU into working.)

Hmm. When I got my P5000, the vBIOS was 86.04.3A.00.25. The engineering sample vBIOS is 86.04.2E.00.0D. The M6800 was able to see the P5000 card with both of these installed. I'm attaching both of these here... but if nvflash can't see the GPU, the only way to flash them will be with a hardware flasher. Not that I really think this is a vBIOS issue, it is really weird for the GPU to not be showing up at all. I'm wondering if it is just a bad card. P5000-86.04.2E.00.0D.zip P5000-86.04.3A.00.25.zip

Hmm, unfortunately no... After user DynamiteZerg got P5000 working in a Precision M6800, I bought a P5000 myself for my Precision M6700. I wanted to use it with Windows which meant that it needed a vBIOS flash with the "engineering sample" vBIOS. The Precision M6700 would not boot into Linux in order for me to do that, so I bought a used Precision M6800, put the card in there, performed the flash under Linux with no problem, and then moved the card to my M6700 and sold the M6800. From what I recall, the card was recognized by nvflash with no issue. That's the only thing that I tried to use it with under Linux. I guess the first thing that I'd ask is if nvflash can see the card. If so, you could flash a different vBIOS on it and maybe that will have some better success. Actually, the card should have a sticker on it somewhere which includes the vBIOS version. Can you see that? What does it say? If you go to BIOS setup, there is a screen with system information. It should report what GPU is installed. It will say something like "unknown GPU", but it shouldn't say that there is no discrete GPU at all. I don't think the "engineering sample" vBIOS is required to use the GPU under Linux. It's just required to get around an ACPI BSOD that occurs if you try to boot Windows. User @jeamn was able to use a GeForce 1070 under Linux which had the same ACPI BSOD issue with Windows on the Precision M6800.

I don't own this game. ProtonDB has a lot of end user compatibility reports, with suggestions for tweaks or configuration changes to get a game running better. It looks like some minor tinker steps are needed to get this game working, but it can be done. https://www.protondb.com/app/314650

You can already enable a toggle in Steam settings on Linux, which is off by default, to enable Proton support for any game. It will allow you to download the Windows version of a game and run it in the Proton wrapper (which uses Wine, DXVK, and custom patches). Every single game that I have tried works fine. I consider gaming on Linux to be a solved problem. I'm a single-player gamer though. The gotcha would be multiplayer games with kernel-level anticheat built in. Those will never run on Linux unless the game dev/publisher adds explicit support for it. There's not a lot of movement on that front, and I would say that it is unlikely to change much between now and the end of the year. Valve can't fix that one, but they can continue to add pressure to game devs to support Linux by making SteamOS available and easy to install on more devices. That is something that they are working on. We're already seeing situations where if you opt for SteamOS instead of Windows on a "handheld gaming PC", it is both cheaper and better performing. That will lead more people to consider and select SteamOS when buying these things, which will create a larger Linux userbase and give more incentive for game devs to support it.

You can use the NVIDIA driver team PPA and possibly get "old" NVIDIA drivers installed on your "new" Ubuntu distro. They have NVIDIA 390 and 470 drivers available for Ubuntu 24.04 to support "old" GPUs. https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa (This repo is maintained by the folks that actually package the NVIDIA drivers in the Ubuntu production repositories. They package older versions for newer versions of Ubuntu, and they also release NVIDIA driver updates to this repo usually within a few days after NVIDIA kicks them out.) For a GPU upgrade... Really, you can look at the Maxwell cards, GeForce 980M and Quadro M5000M. They have nearly identical performance and both work as a more-or-less drop-in replacement on this system. Maxwell is the oldest currently supported generation from NVIDIA though, so chances are you will run into the same problem again soon when they drop support. Next up would be Quadro P5000, one generation newer. It works as a drop-in replacement under Linux only. For Windows, you have to flash a different vBIOS on it to get it to be bootable. Both of these require a minor mod to (most) GPU heatsinks in the M6800. They have the VRMs at the "top" of the board in a slightly different position. There is a bit "jutting out" of the heatsink that bumps into these such that you cannot install it flush. You have to use a Dremel or something to cut that bit off. If you are largely relying on the cards for hardware video encoding, you can look at "cheaper" versions of these cards (GeForce 970M, Quadro M3000M, Quadro P3000, etc.). 3D performance will be less but video encoding performance is the same among all cards in the same generation. There are later generation cards from NVIDIA (i.e. Quadro RTX 5000, which is Turing) that can be made to work, but the MXM board format is changed so they require more substantial physical modifications. (If you are running Windows, you need to do an INF mod for any "unsupported" NVIDIA GPU to get the driver to load, but this shouldn't be an issue under Linux.)

There's a BIOS setting which controls the "DP MUX PS8331" in the middle of the picture there and flips it between dGPU output and iGPU output. It is next to the toggle for graphics switching, and it is called something like "Enable discrete dock display output". You should be able to use "most" of the display outputs if the dGPU is removed. But if you want two external displays connected, one of them will have to be VGA.