Aaron44126

I don't think that it can be assumed that the particulars between the Sunon/Delta versions that we are seeing with Precision 7770 will also apply to Precision 7670.

Yeah, I saw some articles on that, seems like in some cases it was actually able to cause damage to the display panel. Anyway, I don't think that was what happened to me here. It got stuck at the black screen with terminal text at bootup, showing an error (don't remember what), and it wouldn't advance to the login screen. I think it is totally because I tried to wedge a new kernel on and I don't know what I'm doing 🙂 I might install Ubuntu 22.10 (with kernel 5.19) instead temporarily, just to see if the Intel GPU driver seems good (with decent 3D performance + 120Hz available), but I would rather be on a LTS release for any real attempt to use it.

E cores are always listed last. First 16 are P cores and last 8 are E cores.

I remember @jeamn posting at NBR about attaching a GeForce 1070 MXM card to a Windows VM running on Linux on, what, Precision M6800? Seems like it could be doable in a laptop. I broke my Linux install by trying to install the 5.19 kernel from Ubuntu 22.10. It won't boot anymore. I'm sure that I could get it to revert to the 5.15 kernel, but... I think that I'm going to let it sit until 22.04.2 is out (February-ish). Not really interested in pushing forward with it if the Intel GPU driver isn't even present.

Linux install quick feedback. Installed Ubuntu 22.04.1 with minimal hassle. Had to do manual partition option to get around it wanting me to disable BitLocker... Even so, it automatically set up Grub with an entry to boot Windows. So, now I have triple boot, Windows 10 / Windows 11 / Ubuntu Linux. Installing Ubuntu with UEFI + Secure Boot enabled is a bit weird. You have to set up a password and then enter it again at boot time so that it can sign some binary packages. This is needed for third-party drivers like the NVIDIA driver. This is not explained very well and I had to look up what to do when I got to the blue MOK screen. Even so, I had to jump through some hoops after the install to get it to load the proprietary NVIDIA driver. I installed a few pieces of software from third-party PPA's and they seem to work fine. It boots fast. I clicked to reboot for updates and looked away for what I felt like was 10 seconds and it was already sitting at the login screen again. USB mouse attached. Cursor movement seems too slow, even with the cursor speed slider in settings set all of the way to the right. (Looks like there are some terminal-y things that I can do to try to improve this.) With graphics switching enabled (Intel GPU driving the display), it won't let me pick 120Hz, it is limited to 60Hz. Hmmm? I wonder if the stock kernel has an appropriate Intel graphics driver included. (I haven't tried with graphics switching disabled.) Windows made me re-enter the BitLocker recovery key the first time I booted it after the Linux install... That seems to have been a one-time thing. I was worried that it wouldn't like Grub being loaded before the Windows boot loader and that would make it ask for the key every time. I have a laundry list of things that will need to be addressed & investigated before I can consider running Linux as a daily driver. I am interested in taking a stab at it though, since I am continually frustrated by the direction that Microsoft is taking with Windows. I might post about it over in the Linux section here. I'm not that worried about games — that used to be a sticking point with Linux, but in the days of Wine + Steam Proton + Lutris + etc., it looks like almost everything will work fine with a bit of tweaking. It's mostly "all of the rest of the computing stuff" that I am worried about. I do have Windows software that I rely on which has no Linux equivalent, so I expect that I'll be keeping a Windows VM around and on pretty much all of the time, even if I do pull off a switch to Linux. Anyway... I plan to continue running Windows 10 LTSC for now but also pop over to Linux from time to time to try and whittle my list down. [Edit] Looks like Ubuntu 22.04 ships with kernel 5.15. For Alder Lake graphics, need (at least) 5.16. And, 5.18 for proper Alder Lake scheduling. I don’t want to finagle with an unofficial kernel build, so I guess I am waiting for 22.04.2….

I'm surprised if it let you start the install without a driver. Download & extract the Intel Rapid Storage driver from the Precision 7X70 support site. Inside (a few levels down) you will find a folder called "f6vmdflpy-x64". Copy it to a flash drive. In the Windows installer, when you get the part asking what drive you want to install on, click the "Load driver" button and point it to that folder on your flash drive. .......Then try running the install and it "should" work?

See if there are additional options in the F12 boot menu and try booting a different one, to see if that will get the Windows install to continue. (It seems like it is "remembering" the pre-RAID configuration and trying to boot that.)

If you included the drive containing your Windows install in the RAID array, you are toast. You have to reinstall. The proper thing to do here would be set up the array before you do the Windows install. You can set up RAID arrays from the BIOS. Hit "F12" at boot to get the boot device select screen. It's one of the obscure options on this menu, something generic like "System configuration" will get you to the Intel RAID setup.

No. The CPU is soldered to the motherboard. The GPUs are separate, but not physically cross-compatible between the 15" and 17" systems.

They all run at full PCIe4 speed. The slot in the middle, under the SSD door, has direct lanes to the CPU. The other slots are behind the PCH so they might have to share bandwidth in high-load situations. That is odd, you should definitely be able to change that. Make sure that you are giving it time after switching the video options in the BIOS. I have noticed that it could stay at a black screen for 20-30 seconds before finally booting up after making a change here. (Seems to be a one-time thing, subsequent reboots are fine.) ————————————————————— Tried to do a Linux install last night, looking to set up a dual(/triple) boot situation with Windows. Ubuntu really wants me to disable BitLocker before it will install. Not sure why that would be necessary (I have some empty partition space available). I didn't end up doing it, I'll fight with it more some other time... [Edit] Got Ubuntu to install, just had to do the option for manual partition layout.

Not all M.2 slots are the same. The WWAN slot is B-key. Most NVMe SSDs are M-key. (If they have a cutout for B+M key, then they cannot use four PCIe lanes.) You'll need an adapter or an unusual card to fit it in the WWAN slot. (...But, if you can get it to work "physically" then it will "probably" also be detected by the OS for use. But not by the BIOS for booting.) The illustration shows a B+M key SATA M.2 drive which will fit into a B-key slot. ...This won't work, though, because it requires the slot to be connected to a SATA controller which is not the case in this system.

You can toggle it in the BIOS. If you turn off “hybrid graphics” then all displays will be wired to the NVIDIA GPU. I didn’t have trouble with brightness control when switching to the NVIDIA GPU on the 7770. You should reinstall the NVIDIA graphics driver after doing the toggle, I think, I’ve had that fix things for me before.

This is a "lottery" situation, with (at least) two different versions of the part with the same part number. Dell won't be able to promise you a certain variant, but hopefully by this point they are only shipping out the "good" one. The "good" one has Sunon fans and the "bad" one has Delta fans. That's the differentiating factor that we have right now. (You might have to remove the heatsink and flip it over to see what type of fans you have.)

For Precision 7770, it seems like the initial batch of heatsinks has some issue keeping it from reaching its "potential", with both @win32asmguy and myself reporting the same throttling issues when first receiving the system. I'll be poking in tomorrow to try to get a new heatsink for myself. See:

If you are in the U.S., put a “vacation hold” up in FedEx and that should at least keep your laptop from being delivered while you are gone. Obviously it would be better if it arrives “on time”, but that’s not something that you can count on right now.

Typically, the given top boost speed is for a single thread and (in my experience) is tough to hit with any background activity.

Two months ago (to the day):

Never saw that coming ......... /s https://blog.google/products/stadia/message-on-stadia-streaming-strategy/ https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/29/23378713/google-stadia-shutting-down-game-streaming-january-2023 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/09/google-stadia-officially-shuts-down-january-2023-will-refund-game-purchases/

There are no DP or mDP connectors on this laptop. If you saw a photo with one on the back, that was a prior model (Precision 7X30-7X60 featured this). There is also no situation where the GPU that you pick changes the port layout on the laptop. There are three USB-C ports which can pass through a DIsplayPort signal from the GPU, with an appropriate adapter. That would be the best way to connect a high-spec display. Get a USB-C to DisplayPort (or mDP) adapter that supports DIsplayPort 1.4 (something like this), or a dock that supports the same. I am not sure of any docks that support two monitors at this high of a resolution and refresh rate.

Yeah, the power button is different from the other keys, and it definitely has more of a "hard click" to it than the other keys. It's actually not even part of the keyboard, but a separate part. (Precision 7X50/7X60 were the same way. Check out keyboard images, power button not included.)

I had trouble opening mine the first time, and I had to use a pry tool and work my way around to undo the snaps. Subsequent openings have been much easier, I can just pull it off by hand, starting from the SmartCard slot opening.

I also have a strong preference for Samsung, but I wish that they would be more aggressive with releasing high capacity drives NVMe drives (like they have been in the past for SATA drives). The highest that they offer for any consumer M.2 NVMe model right now is 2TB, so it's not really the case that your shop was just "out of stock" for 4TB Samsung drives... There just aren't any. They will have 4TB Samsung 990 Pro "next year". I selected Sabrent for my 8TB drives. (All good, so far.) I don't have any experience with Western Digital SSDs, but SN850X appears to be very well reviewed, I think it should be a fine drive to use.

Right, there is still a difference between on-die ECC (which is certainly “better than nothing”) and “real ECC”. If you want to add another 16GB module, I’d wait until the system arrives. Use a tool like CPU-Z to get the module timings (CL, etc.) and then make sure that the new module that you get matches that. Doesn’t have to be the same brand (but I’d probably get the exact same module if I could find it for purchase at a reasonable price…)

M.2 drives come in different sizes. 2280 is the longest that you would typically see. (That refers to 22×80mm.) All of the slots in Precision 7X70 can accommodate 2280 drives. You can install the shorter drives in a 2280 slot with a simple adapter like this. It's just a spacer that makes the drive longer. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B084VLMQWC Even with the Precision 7770, if you order the smallest size drive (256GB?), they ship it to you as 2242 with adapter in the system. Drives like Samsung 980 Pro with heatsink won't fit because you can't close the case down over the heatsink, it makes the drive too "tall".

Yes, as long as it physically fits, and as long as it is NVMe and not SATA (some older Precision systems supported both NVMe and SATA for M.2). For Samsung drives, 800-models are SATA and 900-models are NVMe. 2280 size drives work. Shorter drives like 2242 will need a spacer adapter. Drives that come with a heatsink attached will probably not fit. For dealing with photos, even with large volumes of files, I can't imagine that you'll see much real workflow improvement from moving to PCIe3 to PCIe4. (Using your old drives is fine, just make sure you have a backup strategy.) You can find 4TB and 8TB size drives these days, and these will also work. (I can confirm that 8TB works, even though it is not listed on Dell's spec sheet and they are not offering it.) Samsung will have 990 Pro available in 4TB next year. All of the different Dell 240W power adapter models are cross-compatible. I am using the big fat PA-9E 240W adapters (came bundled with Precision M6600-7720) and they work fine with 7770. I literally have them scattered around my house, hidden under furniture and such, in places where I tend to use my laptop, and I was glad that I did not have to replace any of them when I got the 7770. They are also pretty cheap to source. You could leave one of these at the office and put the slim one that came with the system in your travel bag. (Any power adapter that worked with your 7730 should also work with the 7770.)