M17xR4 P4000 Upgrade GPU not swapping from integrated graphics for 3d

[Just1tree]

Glad to see there is a new forum for laptop owners, I used to rely on NBR quite a bit in the past before it got shut down. I recently saw that mxm gpu prices had dropped and while i don't use my M17xR4 as a primary I wanted to keep it going and the 780m I was using no longer could keep up. I was able to get a quadro p4000 and based off posts this should be a significant upgrade. I have it installed, bios set to sg, and I was able to install with a modified quadro driver. Thing is that when I launch a game or benchmark it is using the intel graphics, 3dmark couldn't even run. I'm using a 1080p 60hz screen from my old m17xr3 which only has one connector so not sure if that's part of my issue. The nvidia driver settings for 3d also doesn't show preferred gpu for applications, do I need to reinstall drivers using the geforce vs quadro / rtx? Any help that could be provided would be greatly appreciated. 

 

[Just1tree]

Well since I've not gotten any replies yet, perhaps I need to provide some additional information. The bios is flashed to A15+ unlocked, The BIOS on the Quadro card is 86.04.50.40.FE. I tried the non quadro driver 572.83 but that didn't make any difference. Processor is a 2760qm for now, I have a 3840qm on the way. Hoping to get this working before I have to return it and try for a 1070 or another card. Essentially optimus isn't working, wish I could have the system set to PEG. 

[ssj92]

Use older driver such as 419.xx until you receive 38xx cpu and see if it works.

 

 

for some reason only older drivers work with Optimus on Intel hd 3000 iGPU 

[kela-slk]

best first pugrade CPU to most supported than 2 -nd gen. maybe problems in intalled cpu. On my m17X r4 i use P3200 without issues. 60hz lvds lcd. SG Mode bios boot. cpu is 3740qm overclocked to 4Ghz

[Just1tree]

Thank you @ssj92 I removed the 572 driver and installed 419 and it correctly swapped to the p4000 for benchmarking and games. Graphics score in firestrike went from 5615 to 12310 which is a significant improvement. CPU should be arriving today so I will rerun with that. @kela-slk could you explain how you overclocked your 3740qm in the bios? I was under the impression that you had to have an XM chip to overclock in the M17xr4. 

 

In the bios there is a setting for PowerXpress Setting - should that be set to Full dGPU PowerOff Dynamic Scheme?

 

Also has anyone found updated fans that are compatible than the originals, seems like there might have been some advancements made since the laptop was released. The RAM is also DDR3 1333 - would it make much of a difference to upgrade that as well? Thanks again for your assistance and feedback. 

[kela-slk]

On 3/31/2025 at 4:14 PM, Just1tree said:

Thank you @ssj92 I removed the 572 driver and installed 419 and it correctly swapped to the p4000 for benchmarking and games. Graphics score in firestrike went from 5615 to 12310 which is a significant improvement. CPU should be arriving today so I will rerun with that. @kela-slk could you explain how you overclocked your 3740qm in the bios? I was under the impression that you had to have an XM chip to overclock in the M17xr4. 

 

In the bios there is a setting for PowerXpress Setting - should that be set to Full dGPU PowerOff Dynamic Scheme?

 

Also has anyone found updated fans that are compatible than the originals, seems like there might have been some advancements made since the laptop was released. The RAM is also DDR3 1333 - would it make much of a difference to upgrade that as well? Thanks again for your assistance and feedback. 

all 37xx 38xx  has a partially unlocked core clock multiplier, allowing up to 4 turbo bins to be applied across its existing turbo behavior.

If all turbo bins are utilized, these would be the new maximum core clock frequencies:
• 1 core: 4.1 GHz
• 2 cores: 4.0 GHz
• 3+ cores: 3.9 GHz

Memory i use DDR3L  Gskill 2133Mhz )))

 

[Naberius]

On 3/31/2025 at 9:14 AM, Just1tree said:

Thank you @ssj92 I removed the 572 driver and installed 419 and it correctly swapped to the p4000 for benchmarking and games. Graphics score in firestrike went from 5615 to 12310 which is a significant improvement. CPU should be arriving today so I will rerun with that. @kela-slk could you explain how you overclocked your 3740qm in the bios? I was under the impression that you had to have an XM chip to overclock in the M17xr4. 

 

In the bios there is a setting for PowerXpress Setting - should that be set to Full dGPU PowerOff Dynamic Scheme?

 

Also has anyone found updated fans that are compatible than the originals, seems like there might have been some advancements made since the laptop was released. The RAM is also DDR3 1333 - would it make much of a difference to upgrade that as well? Thanks again for your assistance and feedback. 

 

Fan: IIRC the m14x primary fan pushes more air and can be swapped into the CPU fan slot. Caveat is that you need to cut off some tabs and fix it in place with your choice of improvised solution... If you find you need it (after testing), I can dig up some notes.

 

Ram: not substantially, usually. I recall someone running apples to apples tests against Witcher 3 and getting a 5 frame delta between 1333 and 2133. I use 1600 in mine because I couldn't get 2133 to run at full speed at the time.

[sliderfra]

Hi,

M14x pushes 5x more airflow than 17 CPU fan, so it's definitely a huge improvement over it.

Old AW are a bit temperamental with RAM above 1600Mhz. Some 1866/2133Mhz RAM work, some others don't. Even from one R4 motherboard to another, there's a difference. Better stick with 1600Mhz and put 32GB.