Aaron44126

I did repaste the GPU core when I was doing the CPU (...sort of required any time you take the unified heatsink off). I actually never checked 3DMark to see if performance actually improved; I'll do that soon. When I get around to repadding, I'll look at swapping out the GPU pads as well, but that would be more for the vRAM and VRMs and not for the core. Maybe it will make a difference... ...Just a decent selection of AMD-based workstation-class laptops...

The GPU is not close to thermal throttling before hitting the power limit, so there's not a pressing need to make it cool better. Undervolting it could eek out some more performance.

@win32asmguy has managed 20K in one loop / 18.5K sustained but it took some work, both physical (repasting & new thermal pads for VRMs) and software/firmware (IA AC/DC loadline, power limits, voltage levels). https://notebooktalk.net/topic/632-dell-precision-7670-dell-precision-7770-owners-thread/?do=findComment&comment=13192 You can see progress by looking at his posts on page 5 of this thread. Sort of a shame as he mentioned that the score was achieved without undervolting, so basically it's a ≈33% performance improvement over stock (for extended multi-threaded load) and it's all things that Dell could implement for all systems coming out of the factory (using higher quality thermal materials between heatsink & CPU/mobo components, and setting some firmware variables)... I have not had time to dig in any deeper myself. Given the "issues" with these systems, I'm thinking about re-framing the "review" that I plan to produce as more of a "how to get better performance" guide but finding time to work on it is another story...

Windows 11 LTSC could be coming sooner than expected? ...Or, maybe not. https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-spotted-quietly-working-on-a-new-windows-11-ltsc-sku/ Also, not sure what the business of "IoT Enterprise LTSC Subscription" is. Subscription, huh? I notice that the screen shot shows widgets present, which is something that I would think Microsoft might exclude from a LTSC build. However, the screen shot may well have been achieved by doing a regular Windows 11 (Insider) install and then forcing the SKU over to LTSC afterwards, which would have left the widgets and other packages that come with a normal base install intact... [Edit] Eh. The build number is beyond what is expected for Windows 11, version 22H2 (build 22621 or 22622). I am not thinking that a release is imminent. The source just noticed a new edition SKU code in the Windows SDK. The news here is not "new LTSC edition coming soon!!", but rather "new LTSC subscription SKU added", and we'll see that whenever the new LTSC version actually drops.

There seems to be some supply chain leakage. These bottom covers have been available on Taobao/eBay since late February (at least), well before the systems launched. I want to know, what makes a bottom cover "defective"? I guess it could be malformed or not have the right dimensions, but otherwise it's basically a fixed piece that doesn't have to do much, there are no electronics in it.

I believe 7710 motherboards are compatible. Find some photos and check the screw hole positions and make sure that they are the same, and you should be good. (I know a couple of users upgraded Precision 7510 to 7520 by swapping out the motherboard. I don't remember hearing about the 77X0 systems but I'd think it would be the same.) Most stuff should be compatible but under Windows you'd need a NVIDIA INF mod to get a Pascal GPU to work. Regarding the issue... With just the top bullet, I'd suggest trying a different PSU if you haven't already. But with that other stuff, and given that you've already replaced the battery... Yes, I'm worried about your motherboard.

Err, lol. Here you go. This allows a number of Samsung (& Lexmark?) laser printers from that era to work on 64-bit Windows 8/10/11. Samsung ML-1210.zip (I am still using the Samsung ML-1210 laser printer. I've had it for 13 years.) [Edit] For random Googlers who run across this thread: you must register an account at the forum here before you will be able to download this file.

I am doubting this, but the only way to know for sure is to try, I guess.

What configuration do you have? 3 NVMe slots requires performance chassis (RTX A3000 GPU or better). Kind of strange that the GPU would determine how many SSD slots you get, but that's how it is.

All Precision 7000-series systems start with three years of basic on-site service as the minimum warranty. "No warranty upgrade" just gets you that. The main difference between basic on-site service and ProSupport is just who you get when you first call in. Basic on-site service might land you in a foreign call center with a rep that takes calls for many types of systems, but ProSupport will always connect you with a local rep in your country that is specifically focused on business system support. ProSupport Plus basically combines ProSupport with accidental damage protection. (There are some other benefits like a designated account manager, but that wouldn't matter so much unless you're managing a fleet of systems.) I (unfortunately) pretty much always end up needing to make some kind of warranty claim on my systems, so I am glad to have ProSupport. (For the Precision 7770, I called in to have the display panel replaced after two days. It "worked" but had some pixel issues covered under Dell's premium panel guarantee.)

Yes. FIPS meets certain security criteria and could be required in sensitive environments (government work maybe?). ...It is also a good bit slower to do a scan, and just doesn't integrate as seamlessly into the chassis, so I have started opting for non-FIPS. (If I were worried about people with specialized skills lifting prints and trying to fool my fingerprint reader, I wouldn't use fingerprint login to begin with.)

Yes, all of the 240W power adapters from the past ≈11 years (three different versions) are cross-compatible. (I am writing this from a Precision 7770 with an old PA-7E 240W PSU attached, that was previously used with my Precision M6700.)

I've been trying to figure out why I get some inconsistent framerates and audio stuttering from time to time with Final Fantasy XV (now about 25 hours in). I noticed some pretty significant DPC latency, coming from the NVIDIA driver nvlddmkm.sys. The latency incurred is at least 5ms — I stopped running LatencyMon after I saw a huge spikes, I didn't wait to see if any higher ones popped up. I got it to drop down to <1ms but only by forcing the NVIDIA GPU power state to P0 using NVIDIA Inspector. So, the latency is likely caused by NVIDIA GPU power state changes (something that I have fought with before). Note — Setting "Prefer maximum performance" in the game's profile in NVIDIA Control Panel was not enough to stop the issue. Something to keep in mind if running real-time audio or other time-sensitive applications while the NVIDIA GPU is active. I now have tooling built into Dell Fan Management which, when combined with Process Lasso, can switch the thermal profile (i.e. from "Quiet" to "Ultra Performance") when certain applications are launched. Now I need to do something similar for the NVIDIA power state... [Edit] Got it.

Right, just keep record of it (in case the price changes again...). I wasn't charged until the day that my system was delivered.

Maybe, if it is basically done and already being moved around then it is probably too late to cancel. (You can still do a return once you receive it.) You should still get together some documentation on the lower price that you are now seeing. I am sure that customer service would be willing to issue a credit. (You can also bring up the delay and how long you have had to wait...)

I did some searching and came back with "mixed results". Ubuntu documentation seems to indicate that it is not supported. You should switch to AHCI mode and use "standard Linux" software RAID (MD RAID). https://help.ubuntu.com/rst/index.html Intel actually has some documentation that seems to indicate that MD RAID can "see" metadata that Intel RST puts on drives and thus recognize and use Intel RST arrays. (I would presume, that if you can get this to work, you would be able to "read" Intel RAID arrays under Linux on a system that doesn't even support Intel RST.) Getting the RAID volumes to become "visiable" in Linux might be as simple as running the mdadm "create config file" and "assemble" commands (page 9/10). https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-papers/rst-linux-paper.pdf (Booting off of a RAID array will require some extra work but that is also described in this document...) Odd. I've definitely done it on newer Precision systems. These systems (at least Precision 7X60 and 7X70) won't take the "generic" Intel RST driver from Intel's site and they require the one provided by Dell. Older systems (i.e. Precision 7530) would take the generic Intel RST driver. If your RST controller shows up in Device Manager as "Intel RST VMD Controller 9A0B" or "Intel RST VMD Controller 467F", you can try loading the Dell driver. https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=mk0y4&oscode=wt64a&productcode=precision-17-7770-laptop (Run the .exe and choose to "extract" it, then go find the f6vmdflpy-x64 folder.)

You should contact CS and see if you can un-cancel. (Probably not, but I've heard of it being done.) If they are offering you new systems at a discount compared to what you paid, and you haven't even received your system yet, you can also have them credit you back the difference. No need to cancel and reorder and lose your place in line.

One beneath the SSD door, two side-by-side in the "bottom left" of the system. The service manual pictures might have the battery covering one of the two side-by-side NVMe slots. If you get the "thin chassis" then the battery takes up the space of one of them.

Well that is something. Both @win32asmguy and I were hitting thermal throttling in the stock configuration on Precision 7770 (100 degrees at ≈85W) and needed a repaste to open up the thermal headroom. Does 7670 actually have a better (or more well-fitting) thermal solution ...?

Mine sat "In production" for almost a week and then moved to "Build complete". There is no checkmark for "Build complete" but the large font status text at the top of the order status page changed. After "Build complete" it took about 10 days before it was marked "Shipped". The "Build complete" step is where the system is being moved from the factory (China) to the destination country, including (presumably) transport within China, a delay for customs, a few different cargo plane flights, and so forth. It doesn't get marked "Shipped" until it is handed off to the local carrier.

If you look at my heatsink photo, it seems like the "stock pad missing" from your image is actually stuck on the bottom side of the heatsink when I removed it. Anyway, I certainly do not mind you using my photo for measurements... Looking forward to the details because I would definitely like to reproduce this. [Edit] Realized later that the photo just above actually has the thermal pad thicknesses embedded on it. I will plan to use this as a guide when doing my own pad replacement. [Edit 2] Actually looking at the pictures, looks like the stock pad that is missing in yours is also missing in mine...

To do a regular Windows install with Intel Rapid Storage, you need to have the Intel RST drivers unpacked on a flash drive and use the "Load driver" button at the drive select screen in the Windows installer to load them. Then, you should be able to select a drive (or RAID array) and install like normal. I'm not sure how Lenovo handles this, but for Dell you can unpack the driver and look for the folder with INF and SYS files (in a folder called "f6vmdflpy-x64" in my case here). Copy the contents of that folder to a flash drive and point the Windows installer to it when it says it can't find any drives. I also tried booting Linux on the Precision 7770 and was surprised that it did not recognize the Intel RST RAID array "out of the box". I opened up GParted and it just showed the three individual drives, not the array. I have not done any further investigation. Intel is usually good about contributing drivers to Linux so I wonder if it is just because this is a brand new system, stuff isn't caught up in distros yet? With regards to BitLocker... For a "regular drive", you will always be able to access your BitLocker data if you have the BitLocker recovery key, even if you move the drive to another machine or if the TPM keys get wiped. If you try to boot the drive and it can't negotiate the key with the TPM, you will just get a prompt to enter the recovery key before Windows will boot. Store the recovery key somewhere safe. You might get prompted to enter the key if certain changes are made (BIOS update or certain BIOS setting changes for example). If Windows starts prompting for the key at every boot, "suspend" and "resume" BitLocker from the control panel and that should stop. For an Intel RST array, you will need all of the array drives attached to a (compatible) Intel RST controller in order to access the data as well. My understanding is that you can "move" an Intel RST array to a different system (that also supports RST) just by moving all of the drives over and it will automatically be recognized... but I have not tried this myself.

I've never had mine crash from high temps (it should throttle down to bring the temperature under control) but I have noticed that after many months, the fans will definitely be running higher under a moderate load, and a cleaning will bring it back under control. I recommend cleaning 2-3 times per year (especially if you run loads that tend to invoke the fans... less important if they are off most of the time).

Thanks for joining/posting and welcome! 😄 I am coming from Precision M6700 (Ivy Bridge / ten years old) and waited for Alder Lake for similar reasons. I've been wanting to upgrade for a while but basically didn't want to hop on Intel's recycled 10nm+++++ architecture if a "new" architecture was only 1-2 years away. I understand the predicament. I'm thinking waiting just one generation for Raptor Lake won't do much. Since this is a new chassis (for Precision 7000), Dell is likely to reuse it next year, so basically I am expecting something very similar to Alder Lake but maybe available in a 8P+16E configuration, and NVIDIA Lovelace GPUs, and maybe one or two small surprises from Dell but otherwise basically the same as the systems that have just launched. Lovelace will have a node shrink so it will perform better than Ampere, even if the performance boost on the mobile side will not be as great as on the desktop side (because NVIDIA can't continue to crank up the power limit like they are doing on desktops. We'll probably see an AD103 or AD104 GPU constrained to ≈130-150W, lifted from a desktop card that wants to run it at 300W+. All that said, I don't think that you're necessarily "screwed". it stands to reason that even if you purchase a Precision 7670 or 7680 with these "issues", it will perform much better than your Haswell-based ZBook, and if you so choose, you will be able to improve it further with tweaks like we are figuring out here (repaste / undervolt / adjust power limits / etc.). So I guess it is back to what I have posted elsewhere. Some expectations adjustment is needed for the modern MWS market. Despite the power/thermal limitations, the system is still faster than its predecessors. We have entered an era where desktop CPUs and GPUs are going in that won't be able to reach their full potential due to thermal/space limits. I wish things were a bit different, for sure, but it's still workable. (There's also the sad state of lack of competition for proper MWS systems, especially at the 17" level. The available options are Dell, and... MSI, I guess.) ...Don't know what to make about the fan lifespan comment. I have multiple Precision systems that run the fans 24/7 (at low speed) for years and I've never had a fan fail on me. Yeah, this is new for Precision (7000) with this generation. I have a Precision 7560 (2021 system) and I have taken the screen out just to check the display connector, it just took a few minutes. I guess my issue with this change is not just the fact that it's mildly more troublesome to replace the screen. It's that it's significantly more troublesome to even experiment. I'd be interested in checking a mini-LED panel to see if it would work, but even confirming the display connector position or trying to hook the eDP cable up to a mini-LED panel outside of the chassis would require undoing the adhesive to get the stock panel out. ...I get that Dell has no reason to care about this, really, since >99.9% of Precision owners will never care about taking their display panel out. But I'd like a laptop like this to be able to be fully disassembled and reassembled just by taking out screws and unsnapping things (other than having to repaste the heatsink if you take it out which obviously can't be avoided)... No "one-way" disassembly, please. Oh yes, I do miss the ePort for docking. The Thunderbolt docks have never really done it for me. But that's something that is never coming back. I would also like more status LEDs like you say, seeing the hard drive activity indicator is something that I miss in particular. (Can't say that I really miss a 2.5" SATA drive bay, though. While it's a bit sad to not be able to reuse old drives, I can definitely see how those are an unnecessary use of space at this point and sort of had to go.)

It is Intel Rapid Storage, implemented at the driver level, not hardware.