Dell Precision 7670 & Dell Precision 7770 owner's thread

[Easa]

12 hours ago, Light said:

Does anyone here have the 7670 with the 83 wh battery? How is the battery runtime?

 

Or are there any reviews anywhere of the 7670 battery runtime?

 

Wondering how the 7670 with the 83 wh battery compares to the 7x60 series with the 95 wh battery.

 

Two of my clients have purchased 7670 in the slim chassis with i7 and A2000 GPU, combined with 83Wh battery, but both are still awaiting delivery. I will have the opportunity to measure. 

[samatsu]

Review :
New Lenovo Legion 7i with i9 12900HX 16 core 24 thread cpu and 3080ti graphics card.both the CPU and the GPU of the Legion 7i Gen 7 has liquid metal.
He setting in the bios - CPU Unlock, then getting anywhere near a sustained 150W power draw on the CPU. then get 21k Cinebench score. 
The Dell Precision 7x70 should be able to...

 

Video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKbq-bTgrGI

[TwistedAndy]

4 hours ago, samatsu said:

Review :
New Lenovo Legion 7i with i9 12900HX 16 core 24 thread cpu and 3080ti graphics card.both the CPU and the GPU of the Legion 7i Gen 7 has liquid metal.
He setting in the bios - CPU Unlock, then getting anywhere near a sustained 150W power draw on the CPU. then get 21k Cinebench score. 
The Dell Precision 7x70 should be able to...

 

Those results were received during the first run with Turbo Boost enabled. 150W is a huge number. I think, the noise level will be above 50 dBA and incompatible with productive work. Mobile Alder Lake 6+8 and 8+8 CPUs are most effective on the 45-75W range or nearly 14500 - 18000 CB R23 MT with slight undervolting. In terms of noise it will be something between 38 and 45 dBA accordingly.

 

Yes, you can go beyond 80W and get slightly more performance, but the fan noise...

[Light]

On 9/8/2022 at 4:46 AM, Easa said:

 

Two of my clients have purchased 7670 in the slim chassis with i7 and A2000 GPU, combined with 83Wh battery, but both are still awaiting delivery. I will have the opportunity to measure. 

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[Aaron44126]

I've been trying to figure out why I get some inconsistent framerates and audio stuttering from time to time with Final Fantasy XV (now about 25 hours in).  I noticed some pretty significant DPC latency, coming from the NVIDIA driver nvlddmkm.sys.  The latency incurred is at least 5ms — I stopped running LatencyMon after I saw a huge spikes, I didn't wait to see if any higher ones popped up.

 

I got it to drop down to <1ms but only by forcing the NVIDIA GPU power state to P0 using NVIDIA Inspector.  So, the latency is likely caused by NVIDIA GPU power state changes (something that I have fought with before).  Note — Setting "Prefer maximum performance" in the game's profile in NVIDIA Control Panel was not enough to stop the issue.

 

Something to keep in mind if running real-time audio or other time-sensitive applications while the NVIDIA GPU is active.

 

I now have tooling built into Dell Fan Management which, when combined with Process Lasso, can switch the thermal profile (i.e. from "Quiet" to "Ultra Performance") when certain applications are launched.  Now I need to do something similar for the NVIDIA power state...  [Edit] Got it.

[rgames]

PSA: the 7670 with 83 Wh battery does *not* have three NVMe slots available as stated in the spec sheet.  One slot is blocked by the battery.

 

Dell says I can put in the 93 Wh battery (at cost with no credit for the 83 Wh battery) and open up that NVMe slot.  However, I could not purchase the 93 Wh battery with my configuration.  I just checked and you still cannot.  That combination of facts completely baffles me and is the reason I'm sending it back unless someone at Dell sends me the 93 Wh battery.

 

rgames

 

[Aaron44126]

3 hours ago, rgames said:

Dell says I can put in the 93 Wh battery (at cost with no credit for the 83 Wh battery) and open up that NVMe slot.  However, I could not purchase the 93 Wh battery with my configuration.  I just checked and you still cannot.

 

What configuration do you have?  3 NVMe slots requires performance chassis (RTX A3000 GPU or better).  Kind of strange that the GPU would determine how many SSD slots you get, but that's how it is.

[rgames]

1 hour ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

What configuration do you have?  3 NVMe slots requires performance chassis (RTX A3000 GPU or better).  Kind of strange that the GPU would determine how many SSD slots you get, but that's how it is.

i9 12950HX w/ A2000 GPU.   I couldn't figure out how to pick the performance chassis so I called sales to ask that exact question.  The guy said that's what I was getting and sent me the quote.  Then I clicked on the link in the quote and placed the order.

 

Regardless, they say the 93 Wh battery will fit in my laptop but three different people refused to exchange it for the one that blocks the NVMe port that the spec sheet says is available.  They say I have to buy it.

 

One guy said "We did give you a laptop with three NVMe ports."  Which is, of course, technically correct but probably the most asinine comment I've heard from someone who sold me a $4,000+ piece of equipment.

 

Thumbs down, Dell.  I can't think of a time I've felt more screwed buying a computer.

 

rgames

[Aaron44126]

7 hours ago, rgames said:

Regardless, they say the 93 Wh battery will fit in my laptop

I am doubting this, but the only way to know for sure is to try, I guess.

[Dell-Mano_G]

10 hours ago, rgames said:

i9 12950HX w/ A2000 GPU.   I couldn't figure out how to pick the performance chassis so I called sales to ask that exact question.  The guy said that's what I was getting and sent me the quote.  Then I clicked on the link in the quote and placed the order.

 

Regardless, they say the 93 Wh battery will fit in my laptop but three different people refused to exchange it for the one that blocks the NVMe port that the spec sheet says is available.  They say I have to buy it.

 

One guy said "We did give you a laptop with three NVMe ports."  Which is, of course, technically correct but probably the most asinine comment I've heard from someone who sold me a $4,000+ piece of equipment.

 

Thumbs down, Dell.  I can't think of a time I've felt more screwed buying a computer.

 

rgames

The 93WHr battery will NOT fit in the thin chassis.  The thin chassis has the 83Whr battery which is thinner than the 93WHr battery and it is also wider than the 93WHr battery.  Because it is wider, it covers 1 of the 3 M.2 SSD slots giving allowing only 2 M.2 SSD slots to be usable.  

The chassis on the 7670 is determined by what GFX card you order.  If you order with Intel UMA, NVIDIA RTX A1000 or A2000, you will get the thin chassis with the 83WHr battery and only 2 M.2 SSD slots.  

Ordering with the NVIDIA RTX A3000, A4000, or A5000, will get you the performance chassis with 93WHr battery and option for up to 3 M.2 SSD slots.  

[rgames]

10 minutes ago, Dell-Mano_G said:

The 93WHr battery will NOT fit in the thin chassis.  The thin chassis has the 83Whr battery which is thinner than the 93WHr battery and it is also wider than the 93WHr battery.  Because it is wider, it covers 1 of the 3 M.2 SSD slots giving allowing only 2 M.2 SSD slots to be usable.  

The chassis on the 7670 is determined by what GFX card you order.  If you order with Intel UMA, NVIDIA RTX A1000 or A2000, you will get the thin chassis with the 83WHr battery and only 2 M.2 SSD slots.  

Ordering with the NVIDIA RTX A3000, A4000, or A5000, will get you the performance chassis with 93WHr battery and option for up to 3 M.2 SSD slots.  

Yeah I've come to the conclusion that nobody at Dell actually knows anything about these laptops.

 

Alas.

[alittleteapot]

5 hours ago, rgames said:

Yeah I've come to the conclusion that nobody at Dell actually knows anything about these laptops.

 

Well... except for @Dell-Mano_G, who I believe runs the Dell Precision product line.

 

By the way, @Dell-Mano_G, I have both a fairly maxed 7730 and 7760, and they're basically portable, low-power servers.  Thanks for these awesome products.

[rgames]

2 hours ago, alittleteapot said:

 

Well... except for @Dell-Mano_G, who I believe runs the Dell Precision product line.

 

By the way, @Dell-Mano_G, I have both a fairly maxed 7730 and 7760, and they're basically portable, low-power servers.  Thanks for these awesome products.

Then perhaps he can correct the spec sheet and send out an email to his team explaining that there is no third NVMe slot on the 7670 with 83 Wh battery so nobody else gets bounced around to different "Pro" support people looking for it.

[Light]

15 hours ago, Dell-Mano_G said:

The 93WHr battery will NOT fit in the thin chassis.  The thin chassis has the 83Whr battery which is thinner than the 93WHr battery and it is also wider than the 93WHr battery.  Because it is wider, it covers 1 of the 3 M.2 SSD slots giving allowing only 2 M.2 SSD slots to be usable.  

The chassis on the 7670 is determined by what GFX card you order.  If you order with Intel UMA, NVIDIA RTX A1000 or A2000, you will get the thin chassis with the 83WHr battery and only 2 M.2 SSD slots.  

Ordering with the NVIDIA RTX A3000, A4000, or A5000, will get you the performance chassis with 93WHr battery and option for up to 3 M.2 SSD slots.  

I like the looks of the new 7x70 series.

 

Curious -- what is the reason for not allowing the perf back cover with the A1000 or A2000?

 

(The reason I ask is that when I saw the 7670 I thought it would be an amazing machine for me, but storage and battery are more priorities for me than GPU. The A1000 is more than enough GPU for me. I would like to have 3 pcie4 nvme slots and the longer runtime battery.  Maybe the 7770 is a better fit for me, but I was curious why the 7670 couldn't be.)

 

 

[SvenC]

I guess they want to compete in the thin and light market and cut the permutations of combinations. I have the same concern with the 5xxx series (or XPS 15 and 17), where I would like to combine the iGPU with an i7 or i9 - but iGPU can only be ordered with i5. The CPU price difference is shown as 10 to 50 €, but you need to add 680€ for the A2000.

[Light]

I wondered if there was something about the thicker performance back that would require a different heatsink/thermal pad/etc. for the A1000/A2000? I was very curious what piece isn't already in place to offer that combination.

 

[operator]

I think as @SvenC said. Probably they want to reduce possible permutations.

Like in the past, some dependencies and limits in hardware configuration didn't make sense but to reduce possible combinations.

For example for the 7670 it is not possible to get performance chassis with fingerprint reader but with no SSD door and without SC reader and without NFC.

 

Same like they did not make it possible to get the OLED display together with WWAN. Which might have technical reasons for the antennas, but sad you cannot have a configuration with "all in".

[operator]

On 9/13/2022 at 6:24 AM, rgames said:

Regardless, they say the 93 Wh battery will fit in my laptop but three different people refused to exchange it for the one that blocks the NVMe port that the spec sheet says is available.  They say I have to buy it.

 

 

I understand your frustration, but on my perspective the online configurator does quite a nice job in letting you know what is possible and what not:

 

For Intel, A1000 & A2000 the 93Wh battery does not fit and only 2 NVMe slots can be used due to Thin Chassis

 

 

 

  

On 9/13/2022 at 1:43 AM, rgames said:

PSA: the 7670 with 83 Wh battery does *not* have three NVMe slots available as stated in the spec sheet.  One slot is blocked by the battery.

 

Where does the spec sheet say you can have 83Wh with 3 NVMe slots?

The spec sheet says "up tp 12 TB of storage with 3 Gen4 M.2 slots". And also that it has "(3) M.2 slots PCIe Gen 4 SSD (12TB)/RAID 5 support". Thats not wrong, it always depends on your config. Same like OLED is only available with 4k display and not with FHD. Same as WWAN is only available with FHD display and not with 4k. Same with OLED not having 500nits and so on.

 

I think the spec sheet only shows the possible top configuration and the available parts, but does not say anything obout the availability of them with different combinations. For most of them, you can use the online configurator to find out.

[Light]

When driving an external dell monitor but not doing anything GPU intensive (0%-5% Nvidia GPU in windows task manager) how would heat and power use compare between the A1000 and A3000?

[TwistedAndy]

16 hours ago, Light said:

When driving an external dell monitor but not doing anything GPU intensive (0%-5% Nvidia GPU in windows task manager) how would heat and power use compare between the A1000 and A3000?

 

A3000/3060 can use nearly 10-15W idle. I don't think A1000 is very different here. From my perspective, there's no reason always work on external GPU. The integrated one from Intel works great.

[SilverAzide]

Really dumb question... Is there a trick to opening the SSD door on the 7770?  I've pried as much as I've dared and I can't get it open.

[operator]

14 minutes ago, SilverAzide said:

Really dumb question... Is there a trick to opening the SSD door on the 7770?  I've pried as much as I've dared and I can't get it open.

 

I think it should be unlocked by default, but maybe sb. in the factory locked it.

Then you have to open the chassis and move the notch to unlock it:

 

[1610ftw]

On 9/8/2022 at 9:53 PM, TwistedAndy said:

 

Those results were received during the first run with Turbo Boost enabled. 150W is a huge number. I think, the noise level will be above 50 dBA and incompatible with productive work. Mobile Alder Lake 6+8 and 8+8 CPUs are most effective on the 45-75W range or nearly 14500 - 18000 CB R23 MT with slight undervolting. In terms of noise it will be something between 38 and 45 dBA accordingly.

 

Yes, you can go beyond 80W and get slightly more performance, but the fan noise...

 

The Legion achieved over 20K with a 30 minute test duration which is quite brutal and on par with other solutions that pride themselves in having a silly amount of (not very effective) fans and heat pipes (MSI GT77):

 

 

No reason why the Dell 7770 should not be able to achieve at least 18K even though this is already on the lower side but from what I remember we haven't even seen 16K so far due to silly power limits on the CPU. Not quite sure what is the issue here as the predecessor could sustain a higher power limit with less demanding CPUs and they are not known to have had any significant issues.

[samatsu]

This is a question! Is it possible to unlock the cpu via the settings in the bios?

[Aaron44126]

1 hour ago, 1610ftw said:

No reason why the Dell 7770 should not be able to achieve at least 18K even though this is already on the lower side but from what I remember we haven't even seen 16K so far due to silly power limits on the CPU.

 

@win32asmguy has managed 20K in one loop / 18.5K sustained but it took some work, both physical (repasting & new thermal pads for VRMs) and software/firmware (IA AC/DC loadline, power limits, voltage levels).

https://notebooktalk.net/topic/632-dell-precision-7670-dell-precision-7770-owners-thread/?do=findComment&comment=13192

 

You can see progress by looking at his posts on page 5 of this thread.

 

Sort of a shame as he mentioned that the score was achieved without undervolting, so basically it's a ≈33% performance improvement over stock (for extended multi-threaded load) and it's all things that Dell could implement for all systems coming out of the factory (using higher quality thermal materials between heatsink & CPU/mobo components, and setting some firmware variables)...

 

I have not had time to dig in any deeper myself.  Given the "issues" with these systems, I'm thinking about re-framing the "review" that I plan to produce as more of a "how to get better performance" guide but finding time to work on it is another story...