Precision 7540 & Precision 7740 owner's thread

[Tester]

Can someone explain these two pointy things on a plamrest of a precision 7540? It's the first time i'm seeing this

[loopster]

Long screw damage?

[Kitje]

15 hours ago, Tester said:

Can someone explain these two pointy things on a plamrest of a precision 7540? It's the first time i'm seeing this

Looks like someone really screwed up. Is this something you bought recently? Mine doesn't exhibit that.

[Chalybion]

On 9/20/2025 at 7:22 PM, loopster said:

Long screw damage?

Yep, looks like someone put in 5 mm screws instead of the two 3 mm screws that secure the palmrest there

[meowpressreturn]

I have a similar bump on my Precision 3551. It was added by the Dell tech back when they were doing the second, or was it third? motherboard replacement. 

[Tester]

Seller said it was there since buying it, the thing is; it looks symmetrical? Is it a confirmed poorly repaired/refurbished laptop? Specs are on max and it's a nice laptop but that put me off buying it immediately.

[Tester]

These are some additional pictures of it

[Tester]

15 hours ago, meowpressreturn said:

I have a similar bump on my Precision 3551. It was added by the Dell tech back when they were doing the second, or was it third? motherboard replacement. 

Is it just one bump or two just like that?

[Kitje]

13 hours ago, Tester said:

These are some additional pictures of it

At least the palmrest can be replaced. When I got my 7540 it was missing most screws and it only had one heatspreader for the main SSD. Usually they come with all heatspreaders. Whoever worked on it cheaped out, a LOT. Even the SSD was not original and was in bad shape enough to be discarded.

[meowpressreturn]

On 9/23/2025 at 7:01 AM, Tester said:

Is it just one bump or two just like that?

One bump, much less prominent and in a different location on the palmrest. The similarity is the cause, i.e. over-tightening a screw so much that it pushes up the plastic on the palmrest.

[davyee]

Oh no, comment on my post! I literally set the highest recorded overclocking score for the i9-9980HK.

in the dell 7540💀

 

 

[PHVM_BR]

3 hours ago, davyee said:

Oh no, comment on my post! I literally set the highest recorded overclocking score for the i9-9980HK.

in the dell 7540💀

 

 

Try another benchmark, nobody cares about userbenchmark.

 

It's crap!

[davyee]

3 hours ago, PHVM_BR said:

Try another benchmark, nobody cares about userbenchmark.

 

It's crap!

I don’t need another benchmark — the results speak for themselves. 4.6 GHz all-core, no thermal throttling. That’s more than enough proof

[PHVM_BR]

11 hours ago, davyee said:

I don’t need another benchmark — the results speak for themselves. 4.6 GHz all-core, no thermal throttling. That’s more than enough proof

4.6GHz in one benchmark may be different from 4.6GHz in another.

 

It depends on the intensity of the load.

 

For example, sustaining 4.6GHz may require 100W in one benchmark and 150W in another.

 

The more watts, the more heat.

 

Try Cinebench R23 or 2024. The load is heavier.

 

As for UserBenchmark, no one cares, so you won't have a basis for comparison.

[Nrml Man]

Hello guys.I have Precision 7530 with i7 8750h,now i'm using Gelid HeatPhase ultra (analog of ptm 7950, 8.5Wt also) on cpu and gpu.Gpu's temp is fine always,but how can i lower it on cpu? (without using LM).Is PTM and analogs are top now,or graphene pads are better? (TG Cryosheet or Carbonaut)

[PHVM_BR]

On 10/11/2025 at 6:02 PM, Nrml Man said:

Hello guys.I have Precision 7530 with i7 8750h,now i'm using Gelid HeatPhase ultra (analog of ptm 7950, 8.5Wt also) on cpu and gpu.Gpu's temp is fine always,but how can i lower it on cpu? (without using LM).Is PTM and analogs are top now,or graphene pads are better? (TG Cryosheet or Carbonaut)

I tested almost everything available on the 7540's i9, including Gelid HeatPhase.

 

In my tests, its performance falls short of the PTM 7950 or TG PhaseSheet, which are identical.

 

The Gelid phase-change pad appears to be of lower quality, at least when I tested it.

 

In any case, with an undervolt, your 7530 with Gelid HeatPhase should be able to deliver the full performance of the i7-8750H without difficulty.

 

Before the i9-9980HK, my Precision originally came with an i7-9750H (very similar to the 8750H), and with a fully stable undervolt, it consumed a maximum of 60-61W to deliver its peak performance in Cinebench R23 (4.0GHz on all cores), and the temperature hovered around 80°C with the fans at ~75%.

 

On my i9, Kryosheet can provide more thermal headroom than the PTM 7950, but this requires good heatsink contact.

 

Otherwise, the phase change pad will be better...

 

Always keep the air intake away from the tabletop with a laptop stand.

 

It makes a big difference on these Precision laptops.

[Nrml Man]

Thank you for answer.So 

12 hours ago, PHVM_BR said:

фазозмінний майданчик буде кращим...

Thank you for answer.Maybe i'll install a ptm7950 later or i want to try a cryosheet or carbonaut also.With Gelid ptm cpu's temperature goes to 79-85 degrees in peak and normalizes to 65-75 in games.With graphene pads will be better or it will have only longer life resource? Did you see any issues with installation (slide for example)?

[PHVM_BR]

 

4 hours ago, Nrml Man said:

...or i want to try a cryosheet or carbonaut also.

Don't waste your time with Carbonaut because Kryosheet is much better.

 

4 hours ago, Nrml Man said:

With Gelid ptm cpu's temperature goes to 79-85 degrees in peak and normalizes to 65-75 in games.

Your temperatures are fine, I wouldn't change anything if your CPU reaches max performance at 85°C at full load.

 

4 hours ago, Nrml Man said:

With graphene pads will be better...

On my Precision, Kryosheet provides up to ~15% more thermal headroom than the PTM 7950, but, as I mentioned earlier, it requires good contact between the heatsink and the CPU.

 

I've tested Kryosheet on another laptop and didn't get good results due to uneven heatsink contact.

 

You'll need to test it to find out.

 

4 hours ago, Nrml Man said:

Did you see any issues with installation (slide for example)?

I like to drip a micro drop of thermal paste in 2 diagonals close to the CPU die so that the graphene sheet remains fixed.

 

I forgot to mention, but I only use Kryosheet on the CPU.

 

On the GPU, the phase change pad works great and is more than sufficient.

 

Your CPU must be undervolted to achieve its full performance on this machine.

 

On my old i7-9750H in Cinebench R23 to sustain 4.0GHz on all cores (maximum clock at full load):

 

. without undervolt: ~100W at ~95°C and fans at 100%

 

 

. with undervolt: ~60W at ~78°C and fans at ~75%

 

[Nrml Man]

1 hour ago, PHVM_BR said:

Kryosheet provides up to ~15%

Oh thanks.So if my temperatures feel like good,i think a contact between the heatsink and the CPU is good.So i'll try Kryosheet,not a Carbonaut on CPU (only) from your advice.

[PHVM_BR]

4 hours ago, Nrml Man said:

Oh thanks.So if my temperatures feel like good,i think a contact between the heatsink and the CPU is good.So i'll try Kryosheet,not a Carbonaut on CPU (only) from your advice.

Not necessarily.

 

Phase change pads better fill heat sink contact gaps.

[Nrml Man]

10 hours ago, PHVM_BR said:

better fill heat sink contact gaps

I understand.Working temperature pleases me now,but why not to change my TIM to other if it can reduce some temperature more (if can).I bought an other heat sink for Quadro p3200 (i'm using t2000 now) on Aliexpress also,so i'll simply try the Kryosheet,always can return to proven Ptm7950.

[Nrml Man]

Guys,what processor perfomance boost mode are you using?I'm watching my notebook works smoothly on last mode (Efficient Aggressive At Guaranteed) in games,i mean it shows the best temperatures without peak jumps.So when i used "Efficient enabled" the temperature can jump to 80-88 degrees and normalizes to working 70-76.A simple "enabled" works worse.Aggressive and efficient aggressive modes works not stable with higher temperatures and jumps.Can anyone explain me a work of each mode?

And one more question - what size (thickness) of thermal pads 7530 uses on cpu's vrm and gpu vram?I had some heating problem on my past 7540 due to wrong thickness.So i switched to a Laird's Tputty 910 (9.1W/m*k).Its a good choice or traditional pads are better (Odyssey,Gelid GP,Upsiren and similar) ?

[Chalybion]

Unfortunately I can't find my notes, but on my 7540 I used an assortment of 0.5mm, 1mm, and 1.5mm thermal pads.  Any quality pad should be OK in these laptops.

 

I'm on "Aggressive" processor boost mode, and use an undervolt to limit max temperature at full boost.  If your laptop reaches a max temperature of >90°C at sustained boost clocks, then different thermal paste/undervolting can definitely help your temps.  But the 80-90 °C range is normal at sustained boost clocks on these laptops

[Nrml Man]

Oh,so good.On my previous 7530 with 8850h cpu's a peak temperature was higher than on my today's and had a little throttle.So i made an undervolt.Now i'm using cpu at full speed (or about) without undervolt and any limit of max.frequency or tdp.My p3200's heatsink maybe delivered coming soon,i want to try a Cryosheet on cpu.So i hope to play Stalker 2)) at least on minimal settings)) 

Have another questions - do you know need i change 180w power adapter to 240w?And second question about Xeons,are they colder than i7 ?

[Chalybion]

6-core CPU max power is 60-75W, and for the 15" precision, max GPU power is 80W.  So a 180W adapter is plenty.

240W adapter is only needed for 17" models (w/ 110W GPU), or if overclocking an HK-variant CPU.

 

The Xeons are supposed to be a binned version of the equivalent i7, with additional support for ECC RAM and vPro.  So the Xeon theoretically has better silicon quality - so theoretically less voltage is converted to heat at the same clock speeds.  You may not see an appreciable temperature difference.

 

FWIW, I've undervolted two Xeons in these laptops; one was 100% stable at -115 mV (both core and cache), the other stable at -120 mV.  I'm not sure how that compares to the i7s.