Precision 7670 & 7770 pre-release discussion (Alder Lake)

[Conan11]

This would make sense. The fans are supposed to circulate the air through the chassis, thus in addition to transferring heat via heatpipes to the fans, some of it can be removed directly from where the heat sources are. That's of course me guessing based on the advertising materials.

[Aaron44126]

It appears that the same system that we saw in 7X60 is present in 7X70 with regards to the "primary" SSD; it gets installed into a little plastic carrier.  No thermal pad to draw heat out through the chassis like you have with the other drive slots.  (But with DOO fans, this one would presumably get at least a little bit of passive airflow.)

 

[pintie]

WWAN: Supports GPS, and GLONASS

is there really GPS onboard ? where is the antenna ?

[Aaron44126]

22 minutes ago, pintie said:

WWAN: Supports GPS, and GLONASS

is there really GPS onboard ? where is the antenna ?

 

Looks like there are four antennas going to the WWAN card, but I can't see where they go too in the small image up at the top.  @Dell-Mano_G mentioned that WWAN antennas are only included if you buy a system with a WWAN card.  In past systems, there has been a variation of the display enclosure depending on whether you get WWAN antennas or not.  The WWAN version has a plastic bit at the top and the antennas are housed up there.  (See below.  Not sure if that is how it is with 7X70, yet.)

 

 

You can see Wi-Fi antennas (black & white) hooked up to the soldered AX211 chip (...that's probably what that is...), just to the right of the WWAN card in the image above.  These connect to the dark "L"-shaped things that you can see on the front/sides of the chassis.

 

Precision 7760 with no WWAN antennas.

 

Precision 7760 with WWAN antennas.

[pintie]

I'm going for the 7670, with wwan. And in the specs there is GPS listet.

would be a nice feature. - we will see.

 

not sure if i will get the A5500 or the 3080 ti.

I will have to wait until i can order in germany.

[Aaron44126]

Found some more images that confirm that the WWAN antennas are indeed up in the display enclosure.  They are routed up through the right hinge (probably also with the webcam data cable).

 

Spoiler

 

 

[operator]

This is my very first post here. I was a silent reader on the whole 7670/7770 thread until now. :-)

 

Seems like you cannot order the 7670 with UHD+ display and WWAN. I tried it - it was not configurable that way. So only FHD + WWAN seems possible at least on the 7670 model.

[Aaron44126]

22 minutes ago, operator said:

This is my very first post here. I was a silent reader on the whole 7670/7770 thread until now. 🙂

 

Seems like you cannot order the 7670 with UHD+ display and WWAN. I tried it - it was not configurable that way. So only FHD + WWAN seems possible at least on the 7670 model.

 

Disappointing but not unprecedented — I believe with Precision 7X30/7X40 you could not order 4K and WWAN together.  Also, with Precision 7X40/7X50/7X60 you could not order IR webcam and WWAN together.  Seems like WWAN is bound to cause restrictions...

 

You can always go with a USB WWAN solution, use a WWAN hotspot, or just tether your phone.  (Not sure if any USB WWAN solutions also provide a GPS sensor, but the other options definitely wouldn't get you native GPS in the system.)

[wallstreetbets]

i believe the WiFi is soldered going forward bc Intel moved the WiFi "CPU" into the onboard SoC, or something along those lines.

 

Can anyone confirm this?

[samatsu]

Does it have a keyboard option? Will the up and down keys of the 99 key be bigger?

 

1. English US and Canada, Standard, backlit keyboard with 10-key numeric keypad, 99 keys English UK,

2. Standard, backlit keyboard with 10-key numeric keypad, 103 keys Japan,

3. Standard, backlit keyboard with 10-key numeric keypad, 106 keys

[Aaron44126]

9 hours ago, wallstreetbets said:

i believe the WiFi is soldered going forward bc Intel moved the WiFi "CPU" into the onboard SoC, or something along those lines.

 

Can anyone confirm this?

 

The WiFi is Intel AX211, which is CNVi — the implementation is split between a discrete WiFi chip and support built into the Alder Lake PCH.  (Basically as you say.)  Still, they could have put the WiFi card slot on and had the AX211 chip installed on a card in that slot.  (Swappable AX211 cards are a thing.)  That way it would be possible to upgrade to a card implementing a future version of WiFi (as long as the implementation is all on the card - fully PCIe and didn't rely on the PCH).

 

As it stands, upgrading a Precision 7X70 for WiFi 7 (802.11be) will not be possible (without using a USB dongle or something).  That's a first for the Precision 7000 line.

 

Well.  I do have a NGFF B-key to E-key adapter which would allow a regular NGFF/PCIe WiFi card to be installed in the WWAN slot.  B-key does not pass through USB so the Bluetooth part would not work (but that's less important).  When I receive the 7770 I will check and see if a standard NGFF WiFi card will actually fit (physically) this way.  (Hooking up the antennas might still be a challenge.)

 

6 hours ago, samatsu said:

Does it have a keyboard option? Will the up and down keys of the 99 key be bigger?

 

Pretty sure arrow keys are the same on all versions?  The keyboard is identical to the one in the Precision 7X50/7X60, in terms of layout at least.

[Aaron44126]

A couple of interesting tidbits I gathered from going through the service manual in more detail.

 

Keyboard

 

 

Unlike prior systems, there is no separate keyboard trim that can be removed to allow for easy access to the keyboard for removal.  Swapping out the keyboard now requires removing a huge pile of components, including the heatsink (thus requiring repaste), inner frame, and motherboard, so that you can basically take the keyboard out from the bottom.  (Can't even pop the palmrest off to get to the keyboard.  Removing the palmrest requires removing the keyboard first!)

 

Now, because there is no RAM under the keyboard, it's less likely that you'll have to remove it... but as the part that you are actually pounding on when using the computer, it could certainly wear out over time.  (It's also the part that you can most easily spill sticky stuff on! 😛)

 

I hope this thing is very well engineered.  I replaced the keyboard in a Precision M6700 and Precision 7530 just because they stopped registering certain keypresses properly.  At my request, Dell shipped me the Precision 7530 keyboard without a tech because it's a "user-replaceable part".  I've been contemplating replacing the keyboard in my Precision 7560 because the left alt key is a bit messed up.  Anyway, it's rather disappointing that replacing the keyboard now requires so much hassle when that has never been the case before.

 

Yuck yuck yuck.

 

WWAN antennas

 

 

Here's an interesting one on antennas.  In addition to the four WWAN antenna cables that hook directly to the WWAN NGFF card, there are three here that attach directly to the motherboard.  Not sure what this is about.  The manual refers to the black ones as "WWAN (Darwin) antenna connectors" (don't know what "Darwin" means here) but doesn't say what the green one is.

[serpro69]

I've finally gotten a hold of a sales rep today so will try to get him to give me a quote before these systems appear online on the Dell's website. Not sure how fast we'll actually get them here in Norway as compared to rest of EU and/or world, but hopefully at least on par with EU/UK (fingers crossed) 

Have been thinking for awhile between 7670 (perf) and 7770 and probably going for the latter. Not that much bigger, but an extra SSD slot is a welcome addition even if I'm not going to use it from the start.

[kors]

Just got this from a US rep today:

 

 

Quote

Hi xxxx,

 

I hope you are doing well. We have just received an update on the New Precision 77770 release info. Here we go :

 

Precision 7670 / 7770 – RTO timeline

 

The engineering and manufacturing teams continue to work through the final stages of production readiness, building and testing pilot units.

 

The tentative Ready To Order date is 6/21/2022.

 

These models are currently Ready to Quote. Any orders placed prior to 6/21/2022 will need to be cancelled and replaced at launch.

 

Please stay tuned for further updates.

 

Warm Regards

 

Anyone that was able to get their order placed on the 7th, note the part about cancelling and reordering.

 

[Aaron44126]

1 hour ago, kors said:

Anyone that was able to get their order placed on the 7th, note the part about cancelling and reordering.

 

6/21, hmm...

Not really surprised about another delay.

I placed my order on 6/6 and it was canceled "automatically" (no action on my part) on 6/10.  I do not think that Dell is taking orders at this time (they were opened by mistake somehow) but they are giving out quotes, so you can work with a rep to spec out a system and get a price.

 

Planning to get in touch with my rep tomorrow, will see if I get the same date out of him (along with a new quote).

[operator]

3 hours ago, Aaron44126 said:

Planning to get in touch with my rep tomorrow, will see if I get the same date out of him (along with a new quote).

 

Why a new quote? Is your existing one not valid anymore? Or do you hope it got cheaper in the meantime?

 

[serpro69]

Got the same message from my rep today - orders are pushed to 21st. And while they can create quotes, they can't book anything until 21st unfortunately. Don't see much point in getting them to give me a quote in this case, so will just wait until then.

[Aaron44126]

5 hours ago, operator said:

Why a new quote? Is your existing one not valid anymore? Or do you hope it got cheaper in the meantime?

 

Yeah, the quote I got before had a short expiration date (...was looking to place the order on the spot...) so I'm hoping that he can just reissue the same one.

[Aaron44126]

Got an update from my rep and it was almost copy/paste identical to the update given by @kors above, with the same 6/21 tentative order date... except he told me that he couldn't give a quote until 6/21, which contradicts what I have heard elsewhere.  I might call the U.S. small business sales line tomorrow and see what they say.

 

7 hours ago, serpro69 said:

Don't see much point in getting them to give me a quote in this case

 

Basically two reasons to get a quote early for me.  One is just that I'm raring to go and want to be at the front of the line, so easier if I just have to click "go" on launch day.  😛  The other is to hopefully lock in a price so that I can make the financial preparations (not exactly a trivial purchase, especially if going for a high-end config).

[serpro69]

1 hour ago, Aaron44126 said:

so easier if I just have to click "go" on launch day. 

 

So you don't need to tell them to actually book the machine for you and all, if you get a quote now? I've never ordered from dell before in a pre-launch stage via a sales rep. They give you a quote and you are able to pay for it right away and just wait? (Then I probably misunderstood what my rep told me about them "not being able to book the SKUs") and it does make sense to do it now. Do you need to take any "action" on the launch day? (What is behind "clicking go"?  ) Or how does this work exactly?

 

I suppose things are anyways a bit different this year since even they don't know the exact launch date...

[Douglas]

Hi,

 

First post, please have pity on me :-).  Hardware side was not my strongest suit.  What I have learned

from this group (and a similar one that use to be elsewhere, but was closed down) has been lot to digest.

 

Question on ECC vs. non-ECC:

1) Am I losing a lot of memory speed going ECC vs. non-ECC?

2) Should I really worry about using ECC? My use will primarily programming, office stuff and maybe some gaming;

     no scientific work.  Right now, I have a m6700 (like the layout better than what I see on 7770), I do not really know

     of a way to know if I had a memory bit error or not?  A number of crashes in recent times, but this could be age.

3)  How to judge how much speed improvement I get with the faster memory? Is that more needed with scientific

      than the programming and gaming?

I'm asking about the ECC vs. non-ECC because I see that I lot of people want to order the 7770 ask soon as possible,

so I assume they are not worried about ECC since I understand that to come out later.  Any idea how long before it

will come out?

 

Separate question on wifi:

On the m6700 there is a switch to turn on and off wifi (I believe it is more software than hardware on/off).  How do

you do that on the newer machines, such as 7770?  Is there an icon on the desktop where you can do it quickly?

If I had they ethernet plugged in (1Gb) or the type-c to ethernet (>1Gb), will it automatically default to the faster

of those that is plugged in?

 

Thanks for any help,

Douglas

[Aaron44126]

1 hour ago, serpro69 said:

Or how does this work exactly?

 

Normally, Dell quotes are a PDF that have a "when you're ready, click here to place your order" link at the top, so you don't have to actually interact with the rep to get your order placed once you receive the quote.

 

...I'm actually not sure how pre-order quotes work just yet, since I haven't got one.  My original 7770 quote from last week had such a link and I was able to place the order — but it wasn't a "pre-order quote", Dell had just somehow inadvertently opened up these systems for ordering.  I'm assuming that a pre-order quote will have the link and just block you from ordering until the go-live, or, worst case I'll just have to get in touch with the rep on go-live day and say "let's go".  (I'll let you know if I manage to get a quote tomorrow...)

 

I guess it might work different in different markets as well.  I'm in the U.S. market.

  

1 hour ago, Douglas said:

Right now, I have a m6700

 

...Awesome machine...  😄

 

1 hour ago, Douglas said:

Thanks for any help

 

On memory:

• ECC will be a little bit slower but it will not be noticeable on most workloads.  You'd have to be doing something quite memory intensive (scientific work?) or benchmarks to spot the difference.  (Same generally goes for modest changes in memory frequency or CL.)
• ECC modules will be available in the 7X70 systems during the "summer" (best time frame that we have).  I'd guess 6-8 weeks after launch.
• All DDR5 modules have on-die ECC which protects against errors in storage (but not errors in transmission) so they should be more robust than non-ECC DDR4 modules.  (See this video.)

Newer Precision systems do not have a hardware Wi-Fi/wireless on/off switch.  You can use "airplane mode" within Windows 10/11 which will disable wireless connections.  In Windows 10, to access "airplane mode" you can just click on notification center (speech bubble icon in the bottom/right of the taskbar) and then there should be a button for it.  In Windows 11, it looks like it is in the popout that appears when you click on the Wi-Fi/volume/power buttons on the taskbar.

 

Windows will automatically disconnect from Wi-Fi after a few minutes if there is an Ethernet connection to the same network.

[Aaron44126]

Well.  Had some free up and decided to ring up the sales office since they are supposedly still open.  No go there...  The phone tree is broken right now.

 

Auto phone thing: "Otherwise, what can I help you with?"

Me: "Small business sales"

Auto phone thing: "Ok, great!  Purchase and pricing." (...hangs up)

 

Tried a few different times, same result.

 

Went to the chat reps again (Facebook this time) and the one I got there also said that they don't have the option to quote out right now.

 

...So it seems that either some reps have the option to quote out and some don't (pretty sure the chat reps are based out of India, not the U.S.), or they have recently taken quotes away too...?

 

I'll try again tomorrow to reach an actual U.S.-based rep.

[Reciever]

I could ask my management to get contact for an inquiry tomorrow 

[operator]

11 hours ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

Yeah, the quote I got before had a short expiration date (...was looking to place the order on the spot...) so I'm hoping that he can just reissue the same one.

 

Understood. My quote is valid for 30 days. So I hope it is still valid when "ready to order" comes to reality.