Precision M6700 owner's thread

[JadeRover]

4 hours ago, loopster said:

Would you be so kind as to share this 100w version of the p3000m bios here?
I'm tempted to give it a try on ZBook 17 G1. Would it work 🙂?

 

Yes, here you go, I tested this one as working on precision 7720. Flashed with CH341a & 1.8v adapter.

 

I could get it to hit 100w @ 1650mhz in furmark.

 

In other benchmarks and games, it would hit 75-80w @ 1820mhz

 

The card is still limited by that max clock, with no way to overclock via software, vbios OC is possible but you have to be one of the wizards at macrumors. For example my GTX 1060m that I modded to 110w can be sotware OC, 2100mhz on core is possible + you can OC the vram.

 

Also keep in mind the only change I made is bumped the TDP to 100w, using the method I described you can also enable more options that mobile pascal TDP tweaker gives, such as throttle temperature + power slider in msi afterburner.

 

When I get my m6700 back in a few weeks I will try my p3000 in it and attempt to make the "Ultimate p3000 vBIOS" that I'll post on techpowerup (if sucessfull).

P3000_ES_m6700_100W.bin

[unstable]

@JadeRover thanks for the help!  GPU did post before, its just it doesn't work in the OS, drivers can't detect them. I tried your method with removing header, using early engineering vbios as base, but windows still refused to boot and linux drivers complained about vbios.

    I modified the vbios I found in macrumors forum using mobile pascal tdp tweaker to set max TDP to 150W with power slider set to adjustable. I don't experience thermal throttle, core and memory frequencies were at max and stable but performance got significantly worse.

 

    I tried limiting TDP to 100W via nvidia-smi software utility without reflashing the gpu and it got better, but seems like setting max TDP to more then 100W causes performance to get worse. vbios before my modification had 115W max TDP and performed better compared to if I set max TDP to 115W through nvidia-smi when card is flashed with my modified vbios.

 

    Am I missing something? maybe something else needed to be changed in the vbios? I will upload my vbios as well as link the one I used as base if anyone is willing to take a look. 

    vbios I used as base: https://forums.macrumors.com/attachments/p5000_r1-bin-zip.2084769/

p5000_R1_oc1.bin

[JadeRover]

15 hours ago, unstable said:

@JadeRover thanks for the help!  GPU did post before, its just it doesn't work in the OS, drivers can't detect them. I tried your method with removing header, using early engineering vbios as base, but windows still refused to boot and linux drivers complained about vbios.

    I modified the vbios I found in macrumors forum using mobile pascal tdp tweaker to set max TDP to 150W with power slider set to adjustable. I don't experience thermal throttle, core and memory frequencies were at max and stable but performance got significantly worse.

 

    I tried limiting TDP to 100W via nvidia-smi software utility without reflashing the gpu and it got better, but seems like setting max TDP to more then 100W causes performance to get worse. vbios before my modification had 115W max TDP and performed better compared to if I set max TDP to 115W through nvidia-smi when card is flashed with my modified vbios.

 

    Am I missing something? maybe something else needed to be changed in the vbios? I will upload my vbios as well as link the one I used as base if anyone is willing to take a look. 

    vbios I used as base: https://forums.macrumors.com/attachments/p5000_r1-bin-zip.2084769/

p5000_R1_oc1.bin 512 kB · 0 downloads

 

Ok, so I'm guessing you have an LVDS m6700 as that imac vbios disables eDP on DP_D, meaning impossible to get the internal screen to light up unless you are using a eDP backlight mod cable.

 

You are in LVDS switch graphics right ?

 

Looking at the imac vbios : https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imac-2011-maxwell-and-pascal-gpu-upgrade.2300989/post-31573011, it's supposed to have +250mhz core and +1000mhz vram.

 

Did you test the stock ES vbios (no modding) ? As for the p3000 the ES vbios has higher clocks than the imac vbios : 1820mhz vs 1657mhz. 

 

Your modded 150w imac bios performs worse than the 115w imac vbios correct ?

 

What is the limit reason in GPU-Z when testing a benchmark ? You can do one run of 3D mark time spy with 150w + record in GPU-Z and do another run with the 115w + record in gpu z as well to compare what is limiting your performance in GPU-Z "PerfCap" as well as to see when the clocks are dropping and to what values.

[unstable]

Yes, sorry for not sharing enough details.

I have LVDS display with optimus enabled. GPU is working through optimus. seems like imac vbios only disables HDMI since after further testing displayport on laptop seem to function just fine.

I am currently running linux. Windows 10 can not boot with imac vbios, just like the other vbios except the ES. I did manage to boot windows 7 but nvidia driver setup keeps complaining about windows 7 being not supported even though I specifically downloaded old version that suppose to. Maybe my windows 7 is too old and I have to update it.

So for now, until I get windows 7 updated, I can only test on linux.
 

    I tested GPU with the plain ES vbios. It worked fine and performance seemed reasonable.

    After I tried imac vbios and performance got noticable better, and card was stable. The only notable issue is HDMI not working and inability to boot to windows 10.

    After I tried enabling adjustable power bar and set max TDP from 115w to 150w on imac vbios. After this If I set from software TDP limit to more then 100W performance starts to degrade. I tested this with couple games and unigine superposition benchmark.

    Unfortunatly linux doesn't have GPU-Z, so what I am planning to do is get windows 7 to work and monitor the card there with GPU-Z.

 

EDIT: Ok, apparently the only reason Windows 7 booted at all was because vbios got corrupted. ES vbios is still the only one that lets you boot into windows. On windows 7 when any other vbios is installed windows complains about BIOS not being ACPI compliant. Right now I am trying to make modified vbios on my own using ES vbios as base.

[JadeRover]

There is also this interesting link on how some of the hex editing can work for pascal vbios, I had a look but couldn't really get much out of it. It doesn't explain the header section.

 

 

[unstable]

3 hours ago, JadeRover said:

There is also this interesting link on how some of the hex editing can work for pascal vbios, I had a look but couldn't really get much out of it. It doesn't explain the header section.

 

 

    Thanks for the link. I was trying to parse it on my own.

    For now I went back to the ES vbios and edit it with the Mobile Pascal TDP Tweaker. I flash it with external programmer.

    However, no matter how small the modification, nvidia drivers seem to reject GPU with error code 43 in device manager. I tried disabling driver signature enforcment but nothing changed. GPU-Z reports bunch of fields as Unknown, Memory size is 0, clocks are also 0. I'll include the screenshots.

    I suspect this is some nvidia vbios signature validation issue, but Mobile Pascal TDP Tweaker says both ES vbios and modified vbios have the same checksum.

[JadeRover]

12 hours ago, unstable said:

However, no matter how small the modification, nvidia drivers seem to reject GPU with error code 43 in device manager. I tried disabling driver signature enforcment but nothing changed. GPU-Z reports bunch of fields as Unknown, Memory size is 0, clocks are also 0. I'll include the screenshots.

    I suspect this is some nvidia vbios signature validation issue, but Mobile Pascal TDP Tweaker says both ES vbios and modified vbios have the same checksum.

 

Yes I had the same problem with both my p3000 and 1060M (tested on 7720), TDP tweaker killed checksum, the fix was after modding with mobile TDP tweaker, saving, I manually removed header section in hex editor (I think I showed it earlier) tho this might not work on m6700 as it needs header section from ES vbios to not give ACPI error I think.

[JadeRover]

12 hours ago, unstable said:

I suspect this is some nvidia vbios signature validation issue, but Mobile Pascal TDP Tweaker says both ES vbios and modified vbios have the same checksum.

Maybe there is a copy of the checksum in header section ? As mobile TDP tweaker only edits bytes in the "please" string. Because removing header section lets the drivers install and the card functions with no errors on precision 7720.

 

What's interesting is the parser I linked has entries for "Clock table" and "power tables" however I wasn't able to dicepher it more then that, according to the guys in imac forum, they did manually edit clock and voltage tables with a hex editor, so there must be a comprehensible to read the data and edit it.

 

Unfortunately guys from imac are AWOL so we'll have to find these data entries on our own.

[unstable]

6 hours ago, JadeRover said:

 

Yes I had the same problem with both my p3000 and 1060M (tested on 7720), TDP tweaker killed checksum, the fix was after modding with mobile TDP tweaker, saving, I manually removed header section in hex editor (I think I showed it earlier) tho this might not work on m6700 as it needs header section from ES vbios to not give ACPI error I think.

    Flashing ES vbios without header works fine and it boots into windows with no issues. However, modified versions of ES vbios without header have same error with code 43 and same reports in GPU-Z as with header. So that means header is not an issue here. I'll try to research it further, maybe something will pop up.

[JadeRover]

I had this problem too !  code 43 is a good sign, did you reinstall drivers ? I had to reinstall drivers for my p3000 and gtx1060m to get them to work after flashing them with a "headless" vbios

[unstable]

1 hour ago, JadeRover said:

I had this problem too !  code 43 is a good sign, did you reinstall drivers ? I had to reinstall drivers for my p3000 and gtx1060m to get them to work after flashing them with a "headless" vbios

I tried reinstalling drivers just now but code 43 won't dissapear. Also tried installing older drivers and clean install with DDU. Doesn't solve it.

[JadeRover]

Actually I think I had error 31, not 43, my bad, if you get error 31 it's a win. 

 

What kind of change did you do in tdp tweaker? 

 

Doing tdp mod + unlocked slider then removing header worked for me, p3000 es. 

 

Not sure what you cna try, maybe iMac without header? 

[JadeRover]

You can also edit the power limit with hex edit : export one modified power limit version (just change the two power limits on the main windows), then compare with data analysis tool to find the bits that changed compared to OG_ES version. Note that the bits are reversed : you'll see something like B1 C4 01 -> you need to read it as 01 C4 B1 for the power limit value. 

 

Modify OG es version of vbios with hex edit, then use the checksum fix tool in tdp tweaker by inputing the OG_ES version checksum.

 

Hope this is clear. Might work better changing one setting at a time in hex edit.

[SuperMG]

Okay.

 

I got the eDP 120Hz 3D screen and the 3D eDP cable.

 

RTX 4080 not work, doesn't boot. Backlight is on.

 

P5200 with the M6800 vbios patch, doesn't work on M6700.

 

RTX 3000 Turing works on eDP.

 

So anything that's Ampere to Ada don't work... Despite being pure-eDP, direct connection between the GPU and screen. What's wrong? The RTX 4080 and P5200 work fine in LVDS with Optimus on and also in HDMI out with LVDS display.

 

For example, the Dell Precision 7710/7720 works with the RTX 4080, RTX 4070, RTX 3000 Turing. It displays perfectly fine on the main eDP screen.

 

What's the difference between the 7710/7720 and M6700? 

 

- 7710/7720 only has one eDP connector and 0 LVDS connector. 0 LVDS lanes on the mobo.

 

- M6700 has both connectors. LVDS lanes are present on the mobo. This motherboard also works with eDP to LVDS with the dreamcolor Dell display...

 

I bought a M6800 eDP. It's similar to the 7710/7720: one eDP connector and 0 LVDS connector. Hopefully the P5200 will work too.

 

7710/7720 use AUO109D eDP 1.2 screen

 

M6800 uses AUO119D eDP 1.2 screen (thinner screen)

 

Both are from B173HAN01.0 and B173HTN01.1 , mid-2015 and mid-2014 displays.

 

Clevo p570wm3's screen is from 2011 and it's eDP 1.1 and it works with RTX Ada btw...

 

I'll test.

[Annihilator]

On 1/28/2026 at 9:51 PM, SuperMG said:

 

 

For example, the Dell Precision 7710/7720 works with the RTX 4080, RTX 4070, RTX 3000 Turing. It displays perfectly fine on the main eDP screen.

 

 

 

hope so, got a grade A one for only 250 bucks, sadly is a 7820MQ n not the e3-1575M inside but will be ok, more for upgrades 😄 a 7720 thread doesnt exist here i guess, bcs not much to find when using search.... so lets finish first the M6800 project 🙃

[Xpb4me]

Howdy, I’ve had an m6700 for about 5 years now and the only upgrade I’ve done is an m3000m. I would like to get the most reasonable upgrades I can and don’t want to mess with the p5000 or anything that’s just gonna be a massive headache, would the 980m be the best upgrade? Or is there one better without much hassle. I also have the i7 3740 and was wondering if the 3840 is worth the upgrade and if getting the 55 watt cpu cooler would help the 45w processors. Lastly what exact screen (model number) should I get for the edp upgrade? I have a complete nos lid top with the rgb screen connector and driver board, so I just need to know what screen to get and if the original is good enough or if there is a slightly newer better panel that would work. Any help would be very appreciated because I love this laptop and want to get as many years out of it as possible! Thank you.

[Aaron44126]

1 hour ago, Xpb4me said:

Howdy, I’ve had an m6700 for about 5 years now

• GPU ... GeForce 980M or Quadro M5000M are the best options for "hassle-free" upgrades in this system. (They perform about the same.)
• CPU ... only you can decide if it is "worth" the upgrade, but going from 3740 to 3840 is going to be pretty negligible in terms of performance boost, I wouldn't spend a lot on it. If you can get the better cooler for cheap, that's a good upgrade to do, these CPUs will max at 100 °C and thermal throttle under load so anything you can do to help with the thermals will increase performance a little bit.
• Display ... From what I recall, the original RGB IPS LCD display panel has been pretty much impossible to source for years now. You could get the 120 Hz display (Samsung I think?). It was marketed as the "3D" panel, but the 3D functionality won't work with a Maxwell GPU installed. It will still work as a nice 120 Hz 1080p panel. Note that it is glossy, not matte. It doesn't need a replacement lid or the interposer board, it just needs the "3D" eDP cable. (You will probably have to do a BIOS reset to get it to work after replacing a LVDS display.)

[Xpb4me]

Thank you for the reply, Would the LP173WF3-SLB1 F 50pin be what I’m looking for? Or do you have any other screen suggestions more specifically model numbers.

56 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

• GPU ... GeForce 980M or Quadro M5000M are the best options for "hassle-free" upgrades in this system. (They perform about the same.)
• CPU ... only you can decide if it is "worth" the upgrade, but going from 3740 to 3840 is going to be pretty negligible in terms of performance boost, I wouldn't spend a lot on it. If you can get the better cooler for cheap, that's a good upgrade to do, these CPUs will max at 100 °C and thermal throttle under load so anything you can do to help with the thermals will increase performance a little bit.
• Display ... From what I recall, the original RGB IPS LCD display panel has been pretty much impossible to source for years now. You could get the 120 Hz display (Samsung I think?). It was marketed as the "3D" panel, but the 3D functionality won't work with a Maxwell GPU installed. It will still work as a nice 120 Hz 1080p panel. Note that it is glossy, not matte. It doesn't need a replacement lid or the interposer board, it just needs the "3D" eDP cable. (You will probably have to do a BIOS reset to get it to work after replacing a LVDS display.)

 

[JadeRover]

That screen is compatible if you have :

- RGB-MB (goes from motherboard to interposer board) cable for the premier color LCD

- eDP to LVDS premier colo interposer board

- RGB-LCD (goes from interposer to LCD) cable

nevermind you have all that, hadn't seen your prior message

 

To be honest it is less of a hassle to get the 3D cable that is actually a standard 40 pin eDP cable + buying a 40 pin lcd, can be 1080p 120hz, 1440p 165hz or even 4k 60hz/120hz. Not to mention that these screens will be better than the premier color 1080p 60hz LCD

[Aaron44126]

4 minutes ago, JadeRover said:

That screen is compatible if you have :

- RGB-MB (goes from motherboard to interposer board) cable for the premier color LCD

- eDP to LVDS premier colo interposer board

- RGB-LCD (goes from interposer to LCD) cable

nevermind you have all that, hadn't seen your prior message

 

To be honest it is less of a hassle to get the 3D cable that is actually a standard 40 pin eDP cable + buying a 40 pin lcd, can be 1080p 120hz, 1440p 165hz or even 4k 60hz/120hz. Not to mention that these screens will be better than the premier color 1080p 60hz LCD

 

You can put a "standard" eDP display in (like a 16:9 4K panel) but these will take a bit of work to get to "fit", the M6700 was released before the "standard" form factor for these panels had materialized (which Dell started using in Precision 7710). It's possible to fit one in, though. I'm not sure what it takes exactly, but I know that @TheQuentincc had a 4K panel working in the M6700 at one point.

 

The 120 Hz glossy "3D" panel that originally shipped in this system can be fit in without such worries. Sorry, I don't have the model number.

[Nowan]

3d screen for m6700 is so far i know, if dell have another brand of 3d screen cause i see 2 of the model i will mention on ebay is LTN173HT02-D02 that have on my m6700.