Precision M6800 questions and upgrades

[Per Astra Ad Deum]

13 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

You must have a dGPU to make use of the HDMI and DP ports on the system, since they are hard-wired to the dGPU.  However, there is a BIOS option to attach one DP port on the ePort dock to the iGPU.

Thank you for the clarification! This is bonkers ... let's assume I was passing through the dGPU to a Windows VM for Gaming, that would mean I can't use the ports without the VM being powered on?

[Aaron44126]

1 minute ago, Per Astra Ad Deum said:

Thank you for the clarification! This is bonkers ... let's assume I was passing through the dGPU to a Windows VM for Gaming, that would mean I can't use the ports without the VM being powered on?

 

Yeah, unless there is some way you can "hot swap" the dGPU between the host and guest depending on whether you need the VM on or not.

[Per Astra Ad Deum]

26 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

Yeah, unless there is some way you can "hot swap" the dGPU between the host and guest depending on whether you need the VM on or not.

Hmm. I've talked with a colleague of mine about this issue. Here's what he had to say in regard of your last post:

 

Quote

It's half correct, as the onboard DP is hardwired to the dGPU. But the onboard HDMI appears to be muxed between the dGPU and iGPU as I said, which can then be muxed between the onboard HDMI or one dock DP

This would suggest that the HDMI can be used solely by the iGPU without the need of a dGPU being present ...

[Aaron44126]

54 minutes ago, Per Astra Ad Deum said:

This would suggest that the HDMI can be used solely by the iGPU without the need of a dGPU being present ...

 

I'm skeptical about this, but maybe?  I've had a M6700 and a M4800 and both of them only allowed the HDMI to be used by the dGPU.  The only options for direct iGPU output were the VGA port, or in the case of the M4800(+M6800), a "new" option for one of the dock DP ports to be connected to the iGPU.

 

Maybe that toggle also affects the HDMI port even though in the BIOS it specifically references a dock port.  (I pretty much always used my M4800 docked so I might not have tried that.)

 

I remember caring about direct iGPU output because I had some applications that misbehaved if you had a split iGPU/dGPU display setup going on.

[nforce4max]

On 11/29/2023 at 8:22 AM, Per Astra Ad Deum said:

Thank you for the insights. So that contradicts the information from the archived thread. Maybe it is indeed a matter of vBIOS? Maybe that is the reason I can't make use of my WX 7100.

Another questions comes to mind. Is anyone of you able to drive a external monitor via HDMI or DP without having a dGPU inside your M6800? From what I've found, that is not possible, since the display signal from the iGPU is routed through the dGPU for some reason?

Not sure why that was the case with that one user but anyway for the two that I got they both work as expected ie at the full 150w during normal load. As for the rest I've never used those ports.

 

By the way just a quick question are you using the stock x bracket?

[Per Astra Ad Deum]

1 hour ago, nforce4max said:

Not sure why that was the case with that one user but anyway for the two that I got they both work as expected ie at the full 150w during normal load. As for the rest I've never used those ports.

 

By the way just a quick question are you using the stock x bracket?

By x bracket you mean the metal frame on the back side? That one that holds the screws in place? I've been using the one that came with the new GPU, but it is identical to that of the old one.

Here's the two GPU for comparison:

 

[Per Astra Ad Deum]

Regarding the necessity of the dGPU being present to make use of the HDMI and the DP port on the M6800, have a look at these two pictures:

 

 

The first one shows the available GPUs on the OS with Switchable Graphics enabled in the BIOS menu. As you can see, both GPUs are visible, iGPU (Intel) and dGPU (ATI/AMD).

 

The second images shows the same output with Switchable Graphics disabled in the BIOS menu. As you can see here, the option disables the iGPU, not the dGPU!

With this it is safe to assume that the dGPU is a necessity if you want to make use of the HDMI or DP port. What a pity. :-(

 

 

[Aaron44126]

Yes, disabling switchable graphics puts your system in dGPU-only mode, with all outputs driven by the dGPU.  This is the case for all Dell Precision mobile workstations since graphics switching was introduced (M6500 or M6600 generation?) through today.

 

There is a way to get to iGPU-only mode in the M4800/M6800.  It is ....... physically remove the dGPU.  The system will boot up and work off of the iGPU.  Dell never shipped systems with this configuration, so it is not "supported", but I wonder what that would do with this HDMI mux.  Not that it really matters for your use case.

 

(Most Precision systems will boot without a dGPU card installed and just use the iGPU.  However, Precision 7X30/7X40/7X50/7X60 systems will not boot without a dGPU, unless there is an iGPU pass-through card in place.  Starting with 7X70, it will boot with the dGPU card slot completely unoccupied again.)

[GuitarG]

Have you seen this man solving ACPI trouble for P5200 ? That is a nice one there

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/imac-2011-maxwell-and-pascal-gpu-upgrade.2300989/page-26?post=32731488#post-32731488

 

[nforce4max]

Installed a 4TB Kioxia nvme drive (KXG70PN84T09) and it worked without issue.

 

After a few hours of use I have to say the temps are noticeably better at idle than the kbg40znv1t02 (1TB) drive it replaced while at load it was a few degrees higher overall.

[nforce4max]

Well finally bothered with installing the HP version of the Quadro RTX 3000 and it well well thus far aside from having hell with modding the heatsink between the offset core (news to no one) as well the coils blocking the heatsink. Would have preferred to have an cnc machine as more precise work would have been nice but without having much for tools didn't help. I made no change at all with the fin stack and there is a little room for the heatsink to be slightly offset without causing any real issues with the rest of the machine. Should anyone bother with installing this particular card it would be prudent to have a spare heatsink as it is surprisingly fragile.

[Alex]

I bought an RX480 8G and put it in the M6800, it can be recognized, and the driver can be installed, but it can't be used, Windows prompts error 43,I also tried flashing some techpowerup VBIOS, but it still 43 error

Can anyone help me？

[Reciever]

11 hours ago, Alex said:

I bought an RX480 8G and put it in the M6800, it can be recognized, and the driver can be installed, but it can't be used, Windows prompts error 43,I also tried flashing some techpowerup VBIOS, but it still 43 error

Can anyone help me？

 

What is the general configuration of the M6800 including the sBIOS? 

 

LVDS or eDP panel? 

[Alex]

10 hours ago, Reciever said:

 

What is the general configuration of the M6800 including the sBIOS? 

 

LVDS or eDP panel? 

EDP，It works now，I found a working vbios

[GuitarG]

Does M6800 have 50 pin LCD connector on motherboard with both edp and lvds ?
Are there different versions of flex cable ? I heard someone said "edp mobo version" but you guys are more reliable I think 🙂

[Alex]

13 hours ago, GuitarG said:

M6800 主板上是否有 50 针 LCD 连接器，同时带有 edp 和 lvds？
柔性电缆有不同版本吗？我听说有人说“edp 主板版本”，但我认为你们更可靠🙂

M6800 only these two motherboards
LA-9781P
40 pin LVDS
LA-9782P
30 pin eDP

 

Unfortunately, the M6800's internal screen cannot go beyond 1080p

 

The 50 pin connector you are talking about should be from M6700.

LA-9733P

50 pin LVDS

40 pin eDP

[neroangelo]

Hi. I have a question. Between the 4940MX and the 4980HQ which one could you use on the dell m6800?

In terms of performance, the 2 are similar and according to tdp, the 4940MX consumes more, so the 4980HQ should heat up less. In addition, the integrated graphics are superior in the 4980HQ. But I read that it also gets very hot and that maybe the 4940MX is better. I also don't know if the 4980HQ, being another type of adapted GPU, would cause any compatibility problems. So I want to know what opinion you have about the choice of 1 of these 2. I forgot to say something important, but the idea is that as the main graphic I am going to use a P4000M.

[Alex]

On 2024/5/26 at PM4点24分, neroangelo said:

你好。我有个问题。4940MX 和 4980HQ 中哪一个适合在戴尔 m6800 上使用？

就性能而言，这两款相似，根据 TDP，4940MX 消耗更多，因此 4980HQ 应该发热更少。此外，集成显卡在 4980HQ 中更胜一筹。但我读到它也变得非常热，也许 4940MX 更好。我也不知道 4980HQ 作为另一种改装 GPU 是否会导致任何兼容性问题。所以我想知道您对选择这两者中的 1 有什么看法。我忘了说一件重要的事情，但我的想法是，作为主显卡，我将使用 P4000M。

I think 4940MX is better, 4980HQ can only support two memory slots(16GB),The CPU performance of the two is basically the same,unless you care about iGPU performance, P4000 should be able to enable dGPU mode

[Alex]

Successfully installed M2200 in M6800,

Works fine in dGPU mode

Using MaxwellBiosTweaker to unlock 35W TDP to 50W, base frequency 694--937, boost clock 1024--1152

[nforce4max]

On 5/26/2024 at 3:24 AM, neroangelo said:

Hi. I have a question. Between the 4940MX and the 4980HQ which one could you use on the dell m6800?

In terms of performance, the 2 are similar and according to tdp, the 4940MX consumes more, so the 4980HQ should heat up less. In addition, the integrated graphics are superior in the 4980HQ. But I read that it also gets very hot and that maybe the 4940MX is better. I also don't know if the 4980HQ, being another type of adapted GPU, would cause any compatibility problems. So I want to know what opinion you have about the choice of 1 of these 2. I forgot to say something important, but the idea is that as the main graphic I am going to use a P4000M.

Been daily using the 4940MX and though it runs hot honeywell ptm7950 really did wonders as normal thermal compound suffered from pump out that resulted in 100+ on a good day. The main downside of the 4980HQ is they're pretty rare on all the usual sites like eBay. Might get one myself someday but don't want to burn a lot of money doing so.

[Reciever]

7 hours ago, Alex said:

I think 4940MX is better, 4980HQ can only support two memory slots(16GB),The CPU performance of the two is basically the same,unless you care about iGPU performance, P4000 should be able to enable dGPU mode

That is not true iirc 

 

Ran 32GB in an m6800 with the 4980hq a couple of years ago. 4980hq shines only where L4 cache is utilized. 

 

Long since sold the system though so I can't get validation. 

[neroangelo]

8 hours ago, Reciever said:

That is not true iirc 

 

Ran 32GB in an m6800 with the 4980hq a couple of years ago. 4980hq shines only where L4 cache is utilized. 

 

Long since sold the system though so I can't get validation. 

How worked this cpu in your dell m6800? All was ok? cpu temps were right or too hot?

[Reciever]

7 minutes ago, neroangelo said:

How worked this cpu in your dell m6800? All was ok? cpu temps were right or too hot?

I mostly only tested to see if it work. It appears that this CPU only tends to work in systems with QM87 chipsets. 

 

Didnt work in any system that I had with HM87, so t440p, E5540, m4800 and m6800 were all good.

 

The one thing that I didnt like though, is when taking the CPU out it basically damaged a couple of the pins. Havent used it for any testing since then.

 

I dont recall having any temperature problems though. I might have documented it in my old thread that might be here or in the NBRchive

[neroangelo]

That's cool. I saw an I7-4980HQ PGA on Aliexpress and since it has less tdp and seeing that the 4940mx and this one are identical, I think the 4980HQ is better for me. Apart from that its integrated GPU is better although its use will be with a P4000M but having that lower tdp I think it interests me. Then I also really like the idea of the Honeywell PTM7950, and I'll probably make some modifications to the heatsinks of both the CPU and the GPU, and I can gain some extra grade.

[ruboj]

On 1/1/2024 at 5:09 AM, nforce4max said:

Well finally bothered with installing the HP version of the Quadro RTX 3000 and it well well thus far aside from having hell with modding the heatsink between the offset core (news to no one) as well the coils blocking the heatsink. Would have preferred to have an cnc machine as more precise work would have been nice but without having much for tools didn't help. I made no change at all with the fin stack and there is a little room for the heatsink to be slightly offset without causing any real issues with the rest of the machine. Should anyone bother with installing this particular card it would be prudent to have a spare heatsink as it is surprisingly fragile.

 

it is good to know that Turing cards work with the M6800, i have some questions on the process you used to achieve this:

 

- which panel does your laptop support LVDS or eDP ?

- which heatsink(AMD or Nvidia) did you modify in order for the RTX 3000 to fit ?

- do you have any pictures of the modifications that you made to the heatsink and if so can you please share them with us ?

- did you have to do anything special with the VBIOS in order to make it work with the M6800 ?

- what driver modifications did you do so that they could install on Windows ?

 

Thank you for your post as it encourages us to refresh our veteran M6800's with newer hardware.