Precision M6700 owner's thread

[Aaron44126]

Pleased to kick off an owner's thread for the Dell Precision M6700.

 

• Release date: July 24, 2012
• Intel 3rd-gen CPUs ("Ivy Bridge")
• Up to 32GB DDR3 memory
• NVIDIA Kepler Quadro GPUs (K3000M, K4000M, K5000M)

This machine is near and dear to my heart, serving as my personal daily driver for nearly a full decade.  It is highly tinkerable!  With a MXM GPU slot, you can fit in a Maxwell GPU like the Quadro M5000M or GeForce 980M with little trouble, bringing it forward a few years in terms of graphics performance.  (Pascal and Turing GPUs are also feasible, but with more work required.)  With an mSATA slot and the ability to install a 2.5" SATA drive in the optical drive bay, you can fit in up to four SATA SSDs.  The system was released at the tail end of the Windows 7 era, but received a BIOS update adding support for Windows 8 features like UEFI seamless boot and UEFI secure boot.  It still works great with Windows 10 today.

 

NBR owner's thread

System review by Bokeh

Quadro M5000M upgrade thread

Quadro P5000 upgrade thread

NGFF Wi-Fi upgrade thread

Precision M6700 driver RSS feed

[aldarxt]

I purchased this Dell Precision M6700 Intel i7-3940XM 3.0GHz 256G 16GB DVDRW Quadro K4000M W10PRO

in Feb 2018, only to get the cpu for my m18xr2, it now has a i7-3840QM, a GTX 970 or GTX 980, I switch for testing and comparrison, a ST9750420AS in secondary and ST9500423AS in the optical drive bay. Where would I fit the fourth? I am looking to install a Quadro P4000 after I get a GTX 1080 for my m17xr4. Not sure how to make the P4000 work in the M6700. I am very happy with the M6700, I like that it can be worked on upgraded and replaceable components, not giving it up as far as I can see

 

[Nowan]

Hello I hear a p4000 mobile works on m6700 with a vbio from notebook forums. I flash it with that bios using pcie 1x adapter on desktop pc with windows 10. I follow the steps for flashing and I see post where they used linux to flash. I install it and no post from after powering. Not sure what missing the bios file is a bin I did research  where they say rename the bin to rom cause they are the same. Not sure if it's the screen cause I upgraded screen lvds to edp 120hz it have no options for nivida optimus with the quadro m4000m haven't flash from hp to dell bios yet. It did have the option on the lvds screen. Is there something I need to enable or disable in bios? 

 

 

[Aaron44126]

Optimus only works with an LVDS display in this system.  If you have an eDP display, Optimus cannot be used and the option is hidden in the BIOS setup.  The eDP display will be connected to the NVIDIA GPU and the Intel GPU will be disabled.

 

Quadro P4000 can work in the Precision M6700 with a certain vBIOS applied.  @TheQuentincc, you had it working, right?

 

7 hours ago, aldarxt said:

Where would I fit the fourth?

There is a mSATA port (looks like full size mPCIe) so you can install an mSATA SSD as the fourth drive.  I believe these are available in capacities up to 2TB.

[TheQuentincc]

My M6700 was working perfectly fine with the P4000 and eDP display, I don't remember when I used Optimus. The only thing "needed" is UEFI only, otherwise you need to wait 90sec for the legacy oprom to be skip each boot.

[Nowan]

like you say i have to wait 90 sec turns out it works the whole time it was first installed😓 all i need is mod the drivers.

1 last things i want to ask. have you guys have issues having the lid not locking when u close it? cause i have that issue. wonder u guys found way to fix it? 

Thank you 😀

[Aaron44126]

1 hour ago, Nowan said:

have you guys have issues having the lid not locking when u close it? cause i have that issue. wonder u guys found way to fix it? 

There’s a paper clip sized metal bit thing inside the latch for the hooks to clip onto.  It can come loose (…and get lost…) when you are taking the palmrest off.  One of mine broke so it only latches on one side.

[Hertzian56]

Yeah this line and the old HP workstations were really great for diy upgrades. I had no problems putting in several mxm cards up to the 980m, screens, kb etc. Once you get the hang of it theyre not too bad to dis/re assemble. If I wasnt a gamer I would have got another one but the 980m spiked in price to where it was not great for the perf level vs. a budget 2060 laptop a couple years ago. Still great non gaming desktop replacements.

[TheQuentincc]

Attached are "working" vbios for Quadro P3000, P4000, and P5000 card.

The P3000 was tested on a M6800 (should works on M6700 too), the P4000 was tested on a M6700 (should works on M6800 too) and the P5000 was tested on both M6700 and M6800.

VGA Bios Collection: Dell Quadro P3000 6 GB | TechPowerUp

VGA Bios Collection: Dell Quadro P5000 16 GB | TechPowerUp

Presumably there is also a 86.04.2E.00.0C vbios for the P4000 that might make it boost higher than 1250MHz but it's not yet to be found.

 

In any case you really should enable UEFI and disable the legacy oprom (by forcing only UEFI), otherwise you might wait like 2 min before something shows up on the screen like with my M6700 and P4000.

 

Also a Quadro RTX 3000 (equivalent to 2060) from HP which is very similar to the MXM standard (need some heatsink modification) was working in a M6700 : 

Dell Precision M6700 : Nvidia Turing (RTX) card discussion thread | NotebookReview | NBRCHIVE

Presumably both RTX 4000 and RTX 5000 with vbios 90.06.26.00.0C and 90.06.26.00.0D should works too, the RTX 3000 was running the 90.06.26.00.0B vbios attached in the post below

 

edit : FLASH VBIOS USING CH341A WITH 1.8V ADAPTER, IT'S SO MUCH EASIER AND QUICKER

Dell_Quadro_P4000(mobile)_86.04.2B.00.02.bin

[Aaron44126]

16 minutes ago, TheQuentincc said:

@Aaron44126 might be able to recover the HP.RTX3000.zip file in page 6

 

Here it is.  All of the NBRCHIVE attachments are present, they were just renamed "index.html" as part of the archive process (on my list to fix up... eventually).  Using "Save as" and naming them appropriately will get you the file.

 

Anyway, thank you for digging these up.  These vBIOS images are valuable for anyone looking to upgrade Precision M6700 or M6800 with a Pascal GPU.

HP.RTX3000.zip

 

* Added @TheQuentincc's post to the "Precision key posts" page under GPU upgrades.

[Antagram]

On 6/17/2022 at 4:29 PM, TheQuentincc said:

Attached are "working" vbios for Quadro P3000, P4000, and P5000 card.

The P3000 was tested on a M6800 (should works on M6700 too), the P4000 was tested on a M6700 (should works on M6800 too) and the P5000 was tested on both M6700 and M6800.

VGA Bios Collection: Dell Quadro P3000 6 GB | TechPowerUp

VGA Bios Collection: Dell Quadro P5000 16 GB | TechPowerUp

Presumably there is also a 86.04.2E.00.0C vbios for the P4000 that might make it boost higher than 1250MHz but it's not yet to be found.

 

In any case you really should enable UEFI and disable the legacy oprom (by forcing only UEFI), otherwise you might wait like 2 min before something shows up on the screen like with my M6700 and P4000.

 

Also a Quadro RTX 3000 (equivalent to 2060) from HP which is very similar to the MXM standard (need some heatsink modification) was working in a M6700 : 

Dell Precision M6700 : Nvidia Turing (RTX) card discussion thread | NotebookReview | NBRCHIVE

Presumably both RTX 4000 and RTX 5000 with vbios 90.06.26.00.0C and 90.06.26.00.0D should works too, the RTX 3000 was running the 90.06.26.00.0B vbios attached in the post below

 

edit : FLASH VBIOS USING CH341A WITH 1.8V ADAPTER, IT'S SO MUCH EASIER AND QUICKER

Dell_Quadro_P4000(mobile)_86.04.2B.00.02.bin 512 kB · 8 downloads

Hi! I mention this comment because I'm new and don't know how to mention a profile hahahaha

Quenticc, I see below this comment that you overclocked your M6700's cpu, did you modified the bios?

[TheQuentincc]

On 11/5/2022 at 1:33 AM, Antagram said:

Hi! I mention this comment because I'm new and don't know how to mention a profile hahahaha

Quenticc, I see below this comment that you overclocked your M6700's cpu, did you modified the bios?

Same principle as this :

https://brendangreenley.com/undervolting-2020-dell-laptops-like-the-vostro-7500-and-more-tips-to-improve-thermals-battery-life-and-speed/#cpu-undervolt

but with core ratio instead of the overclocking lock, you NEED to make your own M6700 IFR file

 

[Antagram]

20 hours ago, TheQuentincc said:

Same principle as this :

https://brendangreenley.com/undervolting-2020-dell-laptops-like-the-vostro-7500-and-more-tips-to-improve-thermals-battery-life-and-speed/#cpu-undervolt

but with core ratio instead of the overclocking lock, you NEED to make your own M6700 IFR file

 

Ty very much, I'll give it a try! 😉

[chieukhanhok]

On 6/17/2022 at 9:45 PM, Aaron44126 said:

 

Here it is.  All of the NBRCHIVE attachments are present, they were just renamed "index.html" as part of the archive process (on my list to fix up... eventually).  Using "Save as" and naming them appropriately will get you the file.

 

Anyway, thank you for digging these up.  These vBIOS images are valuable for anyone looking to upgrade Precision M6700 or M6800 with a Pascal GPU.

HP.RTX3000.zip 675.17 kB · 6 downloads

 

* Added @TheQuentincc's post to the "Precision key posts" page under GPU upgrades.

What about the RTX 4000? Has anyone been able to fit an RTX 4000 into an M6700 or M6800? Is there a vBIOS version that works for the RTX 4000?

[TruenoG7]

hi guys, i recently installed, a PNY QP3000 Quadro P3000 NVIDIA N17E-Q1-A1 6GB GDDR5, with the bios 86.04.70.00.1B attached photo of GPUZ, when installing it on the m6700 LVDS (optimus) and m6800 (EDP), I have a infinite loop when starting, or trying to install windows, both in pure UEFI mode, do you have a solution? On my alienware 18 it works without problems

[Aaron44126]

3 hours ago, TruenoG7 said:

hi guys, i recently installed, a PNY QP3000 Quadro P3000 NVIDIA N17E-Q1-A1 6GB GDDR5, with the bios 86.04.70.00.1B attached photo of GPUZ, when installing it on the m6700 LVDS (optimus) and m6800 (EDP), I have a infinite loop when starting, or trying to install windows, both in pure UEFI mode, do you have a solution? On my alienware 18 it works without problems

Did you flash the engineering sample vBIOS? It is required for both M6700 and M6800. The link is in a post by @TheQuentincc just a little ways up from here.

[TheQuentincc]

@GREYSTAR please don't PM me but write here.
 

The GTX 1070 does not work on M6700 and Windows, it might be working on linux but that's it.

P3200/4200/5200 were never tested in the M6700 so we have no idea if it could work, furthermore as far as I know those Px200 require to some soldering job to modify the card (soldering eeprom).
Finally an INTERNAL (eDP) 4K 120Hz indeed require at least a Pascal GPU (there is some vbios update for desktop Maxwell to get them running DP 1.3/1.4 but probably not available for laptop), if you want to plug an EXTERNAL 4k 120Hz you are out of luck, the M6700 is limited by the PS8330B IC (soldered on the board and not replaceable) only supporting DP 1.2 (and so 4k 60Hz).

 

Indeed @TruenoG7does require to flash the vbios made available in my earlier posts, the safest way is using a CH341A with a clip and the 1.8v adapter, using nvflash might be tricky.

[GREYSTAR]

17 minutes ago, TheQuentincc said:

@GREYSTAR please don't PM me but write here.
 

The GTX 1070 does not work on M6700 and Windows, it might be working on linux but that's it.

P3200/4200/5200 were never tested in the M6700 so we have no idea if it could work, furthermore as far as I know those Px200 require to some soldering job to modify the card (soldering eeprom).
Finally an INTERNAL (eDP) 4K 120Hz indeed require at least a Pascal GPU (there is some vbios update for desktop Maxwell to get them running DP 1.3/1.4 but probably not available for laptop), if you want to plug an EXTERNAL 4k 120Hz you are out of luck, the M6700 is limited by the PS8330B IC (soldered on the board and not replaceable) only supporting DP 1.2 (and so 4k 60Hz).

 

Indeed @TruenoG7does require to flash the vbios made available in my earlier posts, the safest way is using a CH341A with a clip and the 1.8v adapter, using nvflash might be tricky.

i sorry about pm i will write here

i have the ch341a and soldering eeprom is not a difficult thing for me

the important is vbios ,i have no way to get it

the p4200/p5200 is high cost performance in my region .(about 140$ for p4200m; 242$ for p5200m)

i use display is b173zan03.3 with 3d display cable (QAR10_LVDS_CABLE_3D_2D DC02C002D00 REV:1.0)

m6700 edp is 4line but m6800 edp is only 2line so i use the m6700

 i wang change a good pascal gpu on my 6700

 

I'm very glad you could reply to my question

[Aaron44126]

25 minutes ago, GREYSTAR said:

 i wang change a good pascal gpu on my 6700

 

Quadro P5000 is the best one that you could possibly expect to work well (with the ES vBIOS) but I do not know if it is a sure bet...  I tried one myself in the M6700 and did get it working but I was plagued by periodic BSODs, so I ended up going back to Maxwell, and @jeamn experienced something similar with GeForce 1070 in Precision M6800.  However, NBR user @DynamiteZerg and I think also @RMSMajestic had P5000 working in Precision M6800 with no trouble.

 

Quadro P5200 is an unknown.  If it has the same vBIOS issues booting Windows that earlier Pascal cards had, it is unlikely that there would be a vBIOS that could be installed that would work around it.

 

Quadro RTX series (Turing generation, HP version) will work but requires a pretty substantial mod to the heatsink and even a minor mod to the chassis to fit in.

[TruenoG7]

5 hours ago, TheQuentincc said:

@GREYSTAR please don't PM me but write here.
 

The GTX 1070 does not work on M6700 and Windows, it might be working on linux but that's it.

P3200/4200/5200 were never tested in the M6700 so we have no idea if it could work, furthermore as far as I know those Px200 require to some soldering job to modify the card (soldering eeprom).
Finally an INTERNAL (eDP) 4K 120Hz indeed require at least a Pascal GPU (there is some vbios update for desktop Maxwell to get them running DP 1.3/1.4 but probably not available for laptop), if you want to plug an EXTERNAL 4k 120Hz you are out of luck, the M6700 is limited by the PS8330B IC (soldered on the board and not replaceable) only supporting DP 1.2 (and so 4k 60Hz).

 

Indeed @TruenoG7does require to flash the vbios made available in my earlier posts, the safest way is using a CH341A with a clip and the 1.8v adapter, using nvflash might be tricky.

 

16 hours ago, Aaron44126 said:

Did you flash the engineering sample vBIOS? It is required for both M6700 and M6800. The link is in a post by @TheQuentincc just a little ways up from here.

download the bios try to flash them by nvflash for w10 on my alienware 18, nvflash won't let me flash it seems the Board ID doesn't match, I have no experience flashing CH341A with the 1.8v adapter, but I'll buy it and see how I flash the bios version you have in this thread, thank you very much for answering.

[Aaron44126]

You should be able to override the board ID mismatch, try adding options "-4" and "-5".  (I think it is only blocked for Turing and up.)

Make sure you save the original vBIOS in case it doesn't work at all and you need to flash back.

[AndrewK2685]

Hey guys.

 

What are your thoughts about this one for the m6700?

https://www.x-vsion.com/product/mxm-radeon-rx-6600-xt-8gb/

Personally, I prefer AMD cards for macOS compatibility

but haven't seen anything better than a Radeon pro wx7100.

I'm a bit worried about its power requirements though.

 

Many thanks!

 

[nforce4max]

13 hours ago, AndrewK2685 said:

Hey guys.

 

What are your thoughts about this one for the m6700?

https://www.x-vsion.com/product/mxm-radeon-rx-6600-xt-8gb/

Personally, I prefer AMD cards for macOS compatibility

but haven't seen anything better than a Radeon pro wx7100.

I'm a bit worried about its power requirements though.

 

Many thanks!

 

The power requirements are pretty much at the limit but having already used an WX7100 with the M6700 being a 150w card I don't see this being an issue upfront so it should work however the real problem is the coils blocking the heatsink.

[AndrewK2685]

Thank you!

Yes, I'm expecting that the heatsink will need some modifications to make it work, I was more asking about compatibility on the electrical side.

For now, I'm waiting some stuff to do a screen upgrade. I may try it after that later on, especially if someone else try these new AMD cards :D.

Thanks a lot

[aldarxt]

Is this site legit https://www.x-vsion.com/product/mxm-radeon-rx-6600-xt-8gb/

That card seems like it will work in m6700 and the Alienware's

Its more powerful than RTX 5000 mxm