Precision 7680 & Precision 7780 Owner's Thread

[Aaron44126]

14 hours ago, christobevii3 said:

If you had recommendations to dell what would you say?  Add a usb c port for 240w power delivery and a thunderbolt 100w so we could get 320-340w chassis?  I'm not really sure what options are feasible right now but we are a partner and I can give feedback.

Dell has made 330W power adapters for Alienware systems and you can plug one into these systems and it will work… but not provide any performance uplift. (At least, that was the case with Precision 7770.) 

 

You can provide feedback but I don’t think Dell wants to push the power envelope higher on these systems. It would require larger size for a bigger cooling system as well — and they have been trying to *shrink* the chassis with each successive generation. In any case, Dell is aware of feedback happening on this site, but they are also aware that the power users that typically visit here don’t represent the majority of Dell’s business customers.

 

(We are due for a chassis refresh next year, and with 18” 16:10 systems starting to become normal to see, I’m hoping we will at least see that…)

[christobevii3]

Yeah, I think a 280/320w system for the rtx 4000 and 5000 would make sense with a redesigned dock.  I did test today direct on power and on dock and didn't see a difference in performance. 

 

The 7680 and 7780 are too similar.  We used to carry the 15" and 17" but the 16" and 17" are too similar.  I'd have to check but we buy a few hundred of these each year and has been a problem on the last two versions.  

 

Our higher end users are using these for Ansys, Autocad, and Creo.  They're basically fancy desktops that rarely move off their desk unless they work from home.  Chasing portability/battery life is not the highest want when you are trying to turn around a live business decision in 12-24 hours based on a simulation.

 

 

[vooze]

I personally don't want a much bigger size with 330w like those Alienware/Asus/MSI laptops..

 

I understand some people want them, but most of my users take their work laptop home every day and 3 kg vs 5kg is a substantial difference.

 

[iieeann]

On 5/20/2023 at 2:50 AM, heikkuri said:

@iieeann did you manage to update the BIOS? If not use command line. It also creates log file.

 

I use another ssd i created 2 weeks ago with Win10.  From there i can update the bios without problem.  I do not know why i cannot do that in Win11 21H2. 

After updated bios, i switch back to the ssd with Win11 21h2.  When i click the 1.22 bios file, i can now see the content (earlier it was empty), and bottom button is now "Update" and not "Accept".

 

 

[1610ftw]

On 5/20/2023 at 1:05 PM, vooze said:

I personally don't want a much bigger size with 330w like those Alienware/Asus/MSI laptops..

 

I understand some people want them, but most of my users take their work laptop home every day and 3 kg vs 5kg is a substantial difference.

 

 

Alienware 3.9 kg, GT77HX 3.5 kg, the rest around 3 kg:

 

 

I am pretty sure that a higher performance 18" model with up to 3.5 kg would be quite attractive and those who cannot/will not lift 3.5kg can always go for the 16" version.

[iieeann]

For this full metal case laptop, it is difficult to hold with 1 hand while putting in or taking out the laptop from the bag.  Earlier much heavier and bigger 7720 can be easily handled with 1 hand but not with this metal case.  It is just too slippery.  Anyway full metal case does look & feel premium.

 

7780 heat can penetrate through keyboard area and felt hot.  No need to run benchmark, just enter bios for some times and the heat can be felt.

 

330W brick is good, but current heat dissipation design cannot handle it. 

[vooze]

6 hours ago, iieeann said:

7780 heat can penetrate through keyboard area and felt hot.  No need to run benchmark, just enter bios for some times and the heat can be felt.

 

I guess that's because in BIOIS there are no power profiles etc. - It might be running at full clock with Nvidia GPU etc.. This is the case for most laptops I belive?

I know my wife's little MacBook does the same when installing updates.

Anyway, for my 7680, when in Windows, when running on balanced/Optimized setting it will be pretty cool and low noise when not running benchmarks. If I set it to ultimate performance profile (in Windows and Dell Optimizer/BIOS) it will get hot and loud very quickly even when idling.

[mrhatt]

Has anyone tested to see if the supplied AC adapter will work/power the system from the right side USB-C port?  I am looking at either a 5680 or a 7680 with an i9 and a RTX 4000.  My rep is saying I need the WD19DCS to power either of those systems as they need more than the 130W available from the WD22TB.  Given that the WD19DCS is a two plug setup and will occupy the two TB4 ports on the left side, this effectively prevents the use of TB on the system.  If I can use my existing WD22TB dock in one of the left side TB4 ports and then use the supplied AC adapter in the right side USB-C port, that should fully power the system and allow me to use my existing TB dock and external PCIe chassis.

 

I have asked my rep about this use case and it has been a few days now with 'we're working on it'.  I figured the 'owners' thread would be a good place to ask as you have the systems in hand.

[Aaron44126]

2 hours ago, mrhatt said:

Has anyone tested to see if the supplied AC adapter will work/power the system from the right side USB-C port?  I am looking at either a 5680 or a 7680 with an i9 and a RTX 4000.  My rep is saying I need the WD19DCS to power either of those systems as they need more than the 130W available from the WD22TB.  Given that the WD19DCS is a two plug setup and will occupy the two TB4 ports on the left side, this effectively prevents the use of TB on the system.  If I can use my existing WD22TB dock in one of the left side TB4 ports and then use the supplied AC adapter in the right side USB-C port, that should fully power the system and allow me to use my existing TB dock and external PCIe chassis.

 

I have asked my rep about this use case and it has been a few days now with 'we're working on it'.  I figured the 'owners' thread would be a good place to ask as you have the systems in hand.

 

The provided AC adapter for the Precision 7680 is not USB-C, it is the standard Dell "barrel"-style power connector and it plugs into the left side.

 

If you don't mind connecting two cables, you are free to connect the stock AC adapter to the system and use a dock at the same time.  When you do so, you do not need to rely on power from the dock.  You can connect a single-cable dock like WD22TB, or just one of the connectors for the WD19DCS, and the system will still run fine.  You only need to connect both of the WD19DCS connectors if you want "single-cable docking" (no standalone AC adapter connected).

 

.....Do note that connecting only one of the WD19DCS connectors might also cause issues if you plan on using a high-bandwidth display setup (i.e. multiple 4K displays).  A Thunderbolt dock like the WD22TB should be able to handle this over a single cable, though.

[Snoflo]

On 5/14/2023 at 2:04 AM, vooze said:

 

Pretty sure Intel also killed S3 sleep in all newer CPUs, but yes, S3 is gone in 7680 etc.

 

On 5/14/2023 at 7:23 AM, Aaron44126 said:

 

Confirmed, no S3 sleep in Precision 7560 or Precision 7770 here.  Attempts to force it back on have not been successful.  (You can edit BIOS variables and Windows will show it as an option, but it still won't work right.)

Sorry for the delay in getting back. Thank you so much for your responses! Oh boy. So, do you shut off your laptops while transporting in your bags, then? Or hibernate them? 

 

A question about Optimus, if I may: when using your workstation with an external display the dGPU is active, however, upon unplugging it remains active with multiple apps running on the dGPU. This depletes the battery very fast. I normally have to deactivate the dGPU and reactivate it in device manager. Is there any other way around this inconvenience?

 

Needless to say, the M1/2 Apple laptops don't have these inconveniences. Sigh.

[Aaron44126]

2 hours ago, Snoflo said:

Sorry for the delay in getting back. Thank you so much for your responses! Oh boy. So, do you shut off your laptops while transporting in your bags, then? Or hibernate them? 

 

A question about Optimus, if I may: when using your workstation with an external display the dGPU is active, however, upon unplugging it remains active with multiple apps running on the dGPU. This depletes the battery very fast. I normally have to deactivate the dGPU and reactivate it in device manager. Is there any other way around this inconvenience?

 

I use hibernate when I need to transport the laptop.  Regarding the dGPU, you can disable/enable it from the command line with DevManView so a quick batch script will do.  If you disable discrete display output in BIOS setup then external displays will attach to the Intel GPU and this will be an issue less often.

 

For my system:

DevManView.exe /disable "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU"
DevManView.exe /enable "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU"
 

[vooze]

12 hours ago, Snoflo said:

do you shut off your laptops while transporting in your bags, then? Or hibernate them? 

 

I often shut it down, but some times I will just let it s0 sleep.

 

0-sleep is buggy, but it works in my case if:
I run with balanced power mode (no max performance, then it seems to not go to sleep)
s0 is set to network disconnected. There is a group policy setting for this.

 

C:\Users\jak>powercfg -a
The following sleep states are available on this system:
    Standby (S0 Low Power Idle) Network Disconnected
    Hibernate

 

 

[Snoflo]

Thank you so much for that script @Aaron44126! That makes it easier to manage.

 

Thanks for the pointers @vooze. S0 sleep seems to work okay on my HP, but not so the Dell. I have it network disconnected as well, but the laptop still sometimes feels warm after sleep and the battery is drained. Sigh. Thank you again for your help.

[woffe]

Hi, 

i have the 7680 a few days now. I am very happy with it. (13850hx, rtx 3500, 32GB Ram)

Here in germany the camm ram is so expensive. To buy a 64GB module will cost more than 1/3 of the notebook (around 1500 Euro) 

Is it possible to buy the CAMM to SoDIMM interface adapter and then use normal SoDimm?

Or do you think that CAMM will be cheaper in the next months?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

[yslalan]

33 minutes ago, woffe said:

Is it possible to buy the CAMM to SoDIMM interface adapter and then use normal SoDimm?

You can do that, but you also need to replace the original camm interposer. The interposer used along with the pure CAMM board is thicker than that used along with the SODIMM daughter board. You may ask the Dell Advisor to order the daughter board and interposer.

[woffe]

Ok, thanks a lot. On the Dell homepage I did only find the CAMM modules, no Adapter to order. I will call them next week. 

[vooze]

Does anyone have 64GB of CAMM memory? I just switched from 32 to 64GB and speep went from 5600 to 5200 MHz. Dell is trying to figure it out and will return with a reply.

 

Just wondering if those that have 64GB are seeing the same speed?

[win32asmguy]

6 hours ago, vooze said:

Does anyone have 64GB of CAMM memory? I just switched from 32 to 64GB and speep went from 5600 to 5200 MHz. Dell is trying to figure it out and will return with a reply.

 

Just wondering if those that have 64GB are seeing the same speed?

 

64gb will operate at 5200mt/s per Intel spec as it is dual rank. But if it supported XMP timings it could achieve 5600mt/s at higher voltages with adequate cooling.

[vooze]

21 hours ago, win32asmguy said:

64gb will operate at 5200mt/s per Intel spec as it is dual rank. But if it supported XMP timings it could achieve 5600mt/s at higher voltages with adequate cooling.

Thank you. I figured it would be something like this, just wanted to make sure my RAM was operating like it is supposed to, maybe DELL had no idea.

[woffe]

Hi, 

I talked to Dell to switch the Camm Module for the SoDimm adapter. The spare parts are not available in the near future. 

Is it a problem to choose the 4800Mhz 64GB Camm Module? This is much cheaper than the 5600Mhz Camm version. 

 

Kind regards. 

[iieeann]

Kingston has 5600Mhz ECC sodimm,  I wonder if that will work with 7780?

[developer]

planning to buy 7680 for my engineers, anyone will do a full review about this new serie? I'm checking this forum but really missed full and detailed review from your point of yours guys 🙂

[yslalan]

On 6/5/2023 at 10:44 PM, woffe said:

Is it a problem to choose the 4800Mhz 64GB Camm Module? This is much cheaper than the 5600Mhz Camm version. 

Yes, the ram will operate at 4800MT/s

[iieeann]

Just upgraded the old WD19TB Dock with WD22TB4 upgrade kit.  Now there are 2 TB ports on dock which i need them all. I have 1 generic USB hub connected to USB3 port from the Dock.  keyboard mouse soundcard etc are connected to this generic hub.  Multi monitors setup without laptop screen, so the dock & laptop is far away & need usb hub for peripherals.

 

Now i received the "too many USB hubs" warning message from windows.  Some items under USB Controller have "!" marks.

 

Searching on the web I found someone having the same issue with 19>22TB4 upgraded dock. 

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-9710-WD22TB4-quot-Too-many-USB-hubs-quot/m-p/8403898

 

I believe this is Dock issue & not laptop problem.  Dock Firmware is latest.  USB spec is up to 7 tiers, I don't understand how it is calculated in this situation.

[Quaro5]

Did Dell stop producing these with an IPS screen option? It doesn’t show as available to choose anymore. It was possible a few Precisions ago