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

[AL123]

19 minutes ago, operator said:

Looks like good progress to me....finally.

 

Understood. So you were not affected to the SSD-door enclosure shortage.

From what I heard all chassis were affected, but it will interesting to see if different chassis options take longer.we ordered these not long after launch.

The explanation I was given is Dell had a batch of chassis that they just weren’t happy with the quality of and therefore all orders were help up, our estimate went up by about a month on all orders but now most look set to beat that by 15-20 days 🙂 

 

Much as the delays have been inconvenient fair play to Dell not sending products out they aren’t happy with the standard of. They seem to be taking extra care on the QA also to make sure what goes out is right and still beating their revised dates, so I’m happy, I hope it will be the same for others. 

 

 

[operator]

On 8/31/2022 at 12:28 PM, operator said:

 

I know it sounds crazy but since I don't care anymore about shipping dates after the delays - I just cancelled my order of my 7670 and getting a new quote with changed hardware specs end of the week. Maybe I'll get it before Christmas then. 🙂

 

In the meantime I reordered the 7670 with changed specs and SODIMM.

 

ETA is now somewhere in November. 🙈😆

[AL123]

4 hours ago, operator said:

 

In the meantime I reordered the 7670 with changed specs and SODIMM.

 

ETA is now somewhere in November. 🙈😆

Oh dear well hopefully things will start to improve. I just got a 7670 with i7, 64GB ram and A4500

 

Just run cinebench r23 multi core of approx 14500-15000 

 

it has a 75W PL1 and 157W PL2 but after an initial spike to 100 degrees on some of the P cores it settles to around 2.6GHz at around 75 degrees on p cores and 1.9 GHz and 70 degrees on e cores. Seems like a bit of headroom for a higher power limit. This is in an air conditioned office around 21-22 degrees typically 

 

these are commercial systems so we won’t be using things like throttle stop but maybe something in a future BIOS update will allow a bit more headroom given it seems to be there thermally. 

[Aaron44126]

8 minutes ago, AL123 said:

Oh dear well hopefully things will start to improve. I just got a 7670 with i7, 64GB ram and A4500

 

Just run cinebench r23 multi core of approx 14500-15000 

 

it has a 75W PL1 and 157W PL2 but after an initial spike to 100 degrees on some of the P cores it settles to around 2.6GHz at around 75 degrees on p cores and 1.9 GHz and 70 degrees on e cores. Seems like a bit of headroom for a higher power limit. This is in an air conditioned office around 21-22 degrees typically 

 

these are commercial systems so we won’t be using things like throttle stop but maybe something in a future BIOS update will allow a bit more headroom given it seems to be there thermally. 

 

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 ...?

[AL123]

35 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

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 ...?

We shall see, Still waiting on my orders for 7770!

 

Also interesting I ran a couple of rendering applications and with A4500 held at around 100W whether I loaded the CPU or not. When I loaded the CPU and GPU 100% the cpu power limit dropped as low as 35W and the GPU sustained at the same 100W it ran at when I loaded the GPU alone. 
 

all of this is reported from HW info

[FabeFromBOD]

Hi all,

 

Today my order switched to In Production.

 

 

 

 

 

[operator]

5 minutes ago, FabeFromBOD said:

 

Today my order switched to In Production.

 

 

Did you also ask for a revised shipping date?

[FabeFromBOD]

2 minutes ago, operator said:

 

Did you also ask for a revised shipping date?

 

Today only shipping date changed (1 week more) , but delivery date is still the same

[Light]

Interesting they moved the two fans together on one side instead of like previous precisions.

 

Will be interesting also if someone reviews the 7670 and 7770 side by side and does a comparison of thermals, etc. I wonder if the larger chasis has an advantage (or disadvantage) for some components with slightly different air flow if everything is seated/pasted correctly.

 

On the 7670 where does the third ssd fit? In the service manual I'm only seeing two, but I must be missing it since you can order three.

 

 

[Light]

Is there any drawback to going with the SODIMM interposer in order to get ECC memory? 

[operator]

57 minutes ago, Light said:

Is there any drawback to going with the SODIMM interposer in order to get ECC memory? 

 

Only thing that I am aware of, is the limit to 64GB memory size in total.

[Aaron44126]

2 hours ago, Light said:

On the 7670 where does the third ssd fit? In the service manual I'm only seeing two, but I must be missing it since you can order three.

 

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.

[SilverAzide]

So even though my machine has been in production for nearly a week, I got the official "your order has been delayed" email from Dell today.  Again.

[Aaron44126]

8 minutes ago, SilverAzide said:

I went ahead and cancelled my order and will reorder later today.  Maybe (??) because I ordered on the first day, the price has dropped significantly (for me anyway) and I can save several hundred dollars just by cancelling and reordering.  The estimated date I'm seeing for a new order is end of October, so I'll lose a month (at least).

 

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.

[operator]

21 minutes ago, SilverAzide said:

I went ahead and cancelled my order and will reorder later today.  Maybe (??) because I ordered on the first day, the price has dropped significantly (for me anyway) and I can save several hundred dollars just by cancelling and reordering.  The estimated date I'm seeing for a new order is end of October, so I'll lose a month (at least).

 

Strange as I made the experience that price for several parts went slighly up.

So the order I made on 7th July would now cost 200 bucks more if I'd order it now with the same specs.

Did not bother me as I wanted to change specs anyway.

[SilverAzide]

Actually, after I cancelled I got a notification that the cancellation could not be processed.  So I went ahead and accepted the delay and it seems everything is back to the way it was.   I guess the order was too far along in the process?

[Aaron44126]

5 minutes ago, SilverAzide said:

Actually, after I cancelled I got a notification that the cancellation could not be processed.  So I went ahead and accepted the delay and it seems everything is back to the way it was.   I guess the order was too far along in the process?

 

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...)

[SilverAzide]

Just now, Aaron44126 said:

 

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 seeing.  I am sure that customer service would be willing to issue a credit.

 

Yes, I contacted CS about the price difference a while back.  I was told that I can't do the "price-match guarantee" thing until after I am billed.

[Aaron44126]

16 minutes ago, SilverAzide said:

Yes, I contacted CS about the price difference a while back.  I was told that I can't do the "price-match guarantee" thing until after I am billed.

 

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

[Light]

On 9/9/2022 at 7:23 AM, Aaron44126 said:

 

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.

 

Ah -- it's the difference between the thin and perf chasis option.

 

When you add a third hard drive, I now see "RTXA1000, RTXA2000 and Intel Video Card is not allowed with more than 2 Hard Drives."

 

So with the 7670 if you want either the longer 93wh battery runtime, or a third SSD, you have to pay $800 for an upgrade to the A3000 video card even if you don't need that much GPU power. (or change to the 7770)
 

[FabeFromBOD]

On 9/9/2022 at 10:27 AM, FabeFromBOD said:

 

Today only shipping date changed (1 week more) , but delivery date is still the same

 

Switched the same day to "Build ended" and "Shipped"

 

 

[SilverAzide]

After delaying my order twice and pushing the second delivery date from September 19 to September 26, Dell just sent me an email that says, in effect, that my order is UN-delayed.  Shipped today (already in Chicago) and should arrive Wednesday the 14th, which is even earlier than my first delay date.  Okie dokie... can't really complain then, can I?

 

[samatsu]

Seem the problem with all chassis has been solved, My Dell Precision 7670 will also ship next Friday!

[operator]

Does sb. know if the Dell back covers found on Ebay (shipping from China) these days are the "faulty" ones, which Dell sorted out?

Would be interesting to know what Revision is mentioned on any newly shipped 7670/7770..?

 

[Dell-Mano_G]

56 minutes ago, operator said:

Does sb. know if the Dell back covers found on Ebay (shipping from China) these days are the "faulty" ones, which Dell sorted out?

Would be interesting to know what Revision is mentioned on any newly shipped 7670/7770..?

I can tell you that those are old and defective.