Dell Precision 7670 & Dell Precision 7770 owner's thread

[Aaron44126]

 

On 11/9/2022 at 3:36 PM, Aaron44126 said:

I'm now thinking hard about buying the paid version of Macrium Reflect and doing daily incremental backups.

On 11/10/2022 at 8:50 AM, 1610ftw said:

Get it, it is worth it.

 

Macrium Reflect free edition is going away.  They will offer security updates through early 2024 but no other features & fixes.  On the plus side, Macrium Reflect Home is 50% off right now (both single licenses and four-pack licenses) so I'm going to go ahead and purchase that right now.

[pintie]

i did. the custom variables stayed the same.

no Problems so far

[1610ftw]

1 hour ago, Aaron44126 said:

 

 

Macrium Reflect free edition is going away.  They will offer security updates through early 2024 but no other features & fixes.  On the plus side, Macrium Reflect Home is 50% off right now (both single licenses and four-pack licenses) so I'm going to go ahead and purchase that right now.

 

I think that I must have about a dozen of those licences by now - always buy them in packs of 4 🙂

[Mark_Eu]

Hi All!

Absolute newbie here from Central Europe, and the first purchese of 7770 today. First one in Centreal Europe Region...
At a glance: Im need a top 3D notebook, because im work in entertainment industry on fly... 
So i look out what if capable and portable for my needs... after many rounds im landed in Dell Precision Workstaions. When i first try to order one... i have some issues... avaibility, order, etc... half year later when i fond a real solution in Hungary, i ordered something (at this moment im really sceptycal what they offer) and this time is the 7770.

And i get it today 🙂
For the record:
"Out of the box" : get it out, start to install factory default win 10 pro... Its very hot! F*cking hot in the front... Im cheking the back vent, and... im burned my skin to there.. im not happy... 
After win 10 install, first i go to the dell net support, and see my bios is 1.3.2, and "urgent" to upgrade to 1.7.1.
OK, lets go...
My purchase is: Dell 7770, I9-12950HX, 64Gb (SoDIMM 2x32Gb dual ch) RAM, A4500 videocard.

After that refresh (25 min), win start again, looks like thermals in a normal range.. Waaaay cooler the chassis in the front, before that.

Next step. Check for updates... oooo, f*ck, i need a beer. some "urgent" updates, khmm... 4.2 GB to download. Ok lets do.
Or not. Im checking, some hardware ones first, some restarts, do again, one before last 810Mb Intel UHD, and after restart Nvidia 830Mb... i think in my past always scores from the little to bigger line...

Ok. After that - because i read all of this thread - i m downloaded only the CineBench R23. First time in my life, im benching 🙂

10 min test scores are:
CPU (Multi core): 15602
CPU (Single Core): 1890

Im taking pictures with my phone, but its a steril install, i dont know yet how to transfer here.
Is it normal to no CPU/dGPU activity during the test - wia win task manager?

Is it good? I cant open the frame, the professionals who changes my memory sticks, cant remember which fans in, or what they see, and cant remember any thermal pads, stickers or so...
Im only the user, i can plan, vizualize, organize and build steel structures, stages, for a wedding to a complex 30k+ festival, but i cant have that fine moods to open a laptop. Im have a fear about brake something....

So i have a next few days a really free "virgin" win 10 pro. If in this thread anybody want to test something, to help our users community contact me! At  this moment i have maybe 10 days window to not to install anything, dont start tu use that laptop for what i need for. Pls be gentle.

thx
m  

[Aaron44126]

8 minutes ago, Mark_Eu said:

10 min test scores are:

CPU (Multi core): 15602
CPU (Single Core): 1890

...

Is it good?

 

That's a bit better than I got on mine out of the box.  I'd still recommend the IA AC/DC loadline fix, it is the easiest substantial performance boost for these systems and it will help for "idle" thermals as well.  The directions are in the very first post in this thread, see number "3".  (No hardware modification necessary.)  It would likely push you up into the 18000 range.

[Mark_Eu]

After i read this thred AAron is one of the magichs here. 
Sorry for me, but really im a fresh newbie, today was the first time im step in a BIOS...

About CB23:
is it normal, when run a test no CPU, or dGPU, or mem activity? I m really surprised about...
thx

[MyPC8MyBrain]

@Mark_Eu
in bios set power plan to cool (until you need the extra power keep your bios on cool power plan) this will reduce your surface temperature significantly unless you need to run a heavy GPU process, CPU will almost perform to its max when on cool power plan, but GPU will be capped unless you go to high performance or normal power plan (which will increase surface heat),

as @Aaron44126 mentioned "IA AC/DC loadline fix" is a must for the 7x70 product line,
between these two changes alone you should get back to high 30c low 40c idle temperature,

 

to prepare a Grub USB boot device follow instructions here,
when completed you can boot using your new USB to apply the setup_var UEFI bios commands you see mentioned here,

 

 

[MyPC8MyBrain]

round 3 here we go,
(7770 12950HX, 3080Ti, 4k)

[MyPC8MyBrain]

here is my initial report,
the good, the bad, and the ugly for the new 7770...

before the unit arrived i preprogrammed myself mentally to not like it, i am aware how it sounds,

i was giving myself plenty headroom to be comfortable with my upcoming disappointment,
as i pull it out the box was my first disappointment... i did not not like it as anticipated,
it wasn't the lunch tray i was expecting, it is well built, not too big for a 17",
and for some odd reason i actually like it better then my current 15.6" M3800 or the recent 7670,

as you can see the whole thing was a fail, i first failed in not liking it.

 

time to turn it on and see what we are working with, within few seconds i could already tell the thermal headroom the 7770 has is instantly spent, i was idling at 90-100c, to some extent i was expecting this just not this bad,

on my first boot my screen was having some odd flickering i initially ignored, later they became more pronounced,
especially in shell environment or when trying to reboot to safe mode i would get a black screen, with white blotches flashing white but no visuals, in full desktop environment i get mostly normal visuals with white flickering,
that's with an odd long lag when trying to open almost any application takes over 5 minutes,
even a new empty text i create to open it takes over 5 minutes, 

 

 

[Aaron44126]

3 hours ago, MyPC8MyBrain said:

on my first boot my screen was having some odd flickering i initially ignored, later they became more pronounced,
especially in shell environment or when trying to reboot to safe mode i would get a black screen, with white blotches flashing white but no visuals, in full desktop environment i get mostly normal visuals with white flickering,
that's with an odd long lag when trying to open almost any application takes over 5 minutes,
even a new empty text i create to open it takes over 5 minutes

I haven’t had flickering, except when trying to run with graphics switching disabled.

 

I have had the really slow behavior once. I finally got Task Manager to open and found the CPU capped at 0.39 GHz. It was solved just by unplugging and replugging the PSU.

 

If I got a system that behaved like that out of the box, it’d go right back…

[MyPC8MyBrain]

16 minutes ago, Aaron44126 said:

If I got a system that behaved like that out of the box, it’d go right back…

a new build is underway, that indeed bit too odd for me too,

the heat i can manage but the flickering and really long lags that's bit out there to debug,

if I had to guess it seems like a memory issue or something in these lines, not risking it this early,

i got permission to keep the current system until the new build is ready so i can play around with it bit,

maybe the lag is just a bad OS image related, i will reinstall and repaste just to see what i can do with it,

i haven't cracked it open yet, i was listening for the whine you mentioned but the system never turned off its fans,
it runs too hot atm even at idle, a classic repaste must case,

[Aaron44126]

40 minutes ago, MyPC8MyBrain said:

i was listening for the whine you mentioned but the system never turned off its fans

 

Yeah, so here I am just referring to the sound when the fans first power on.  My Precision 7560 is silent, you can't hear them spin up.  My Precision 7770 fans start with an obvious whirring noise.  You can hear it when you power on the system from a cold start using the power button (in addition to when they cycle on and off during normal operation).

 

————————

 

I just updated to BIOS 1.7.1, no issues so far.

[MyPC8MyBrain]

anyone here with 7770 running latest bios and utilizing ThrottleStop?
it appears that my bios is either further locked or my board is bad,
i am able to apply all UEFI tweaks as before only this time no undervolt is being applied,
as in i set the numbers etc. hit apply but nothing happens, TS running values remain at -0 after applying,
in Hardware Info tool i am also missing all voltages stats, they are just not listed for whatever reason,
 

anyone can confirm that bios 1.7.1 is still working the same as bios 1.6.3 with ThrottleStop settings?
 

[Aaron44126]

8 minutes ago, MyPC8MyBrain said:

anyone here with 7770 running latest bios and utilizing ThrottleStop?

 

I am not using ThrottleStop, but have you checked to make sure that the virtualization features are disabled in BIOS setup?

[MyPC8MyBrain]

i believe i have left virtualization with default settings in bios, 
i don't recall disabling virtualization on the 7670 for TS to work properly,
double checking...

 

@Aaron44126
Edit: you were on the money there, that was it!
with VT off in bios TS is working as expected now YaY  \  o  /

[Reciever]

Just had my hands on 24x 7670 models with the 12950HX and not too happy about their consistency. I had 16x in sBIOS and was racking my brain after a long day trying to figure out why my tools weren't working. Turns out if I leave them in the sBIOS for 20-30minutes they all completely locked up on me lol

 

To be fair, after reboot, most were completely fine, there were 1-2 that took about 5 minutes to get to the one time boot menu but I have that issue with all Dell equipment (mostly a Dell shop at this time) so it beyond that outlier is pretty much expected behavior.

 

The other detail I noticed is that the lids dont handle dust and abrasion very well. I thought one of my techs slid a laptop on a table by how scuffed up it was. Wiped it down and it was back to its normal appearance. I know I know, well uhhh you wiped it clean so it looks clean, its been a long week lol

[Bullit]

On 12/1/2022 at 12:32 AM, Aaron44126 said:

I have had the really slow behavior once. I finally got Task Manager to open and found the CPU capped at 0.39 GHz. It was solved just by unplugging and replugging the PSU.

 

I don't think a capped CPU at that level will put his system at 90-100C unless all vents were blocked.

[MyPC8MyBrain]

i am still tinkering with my new 7770, allot of mixed feelings so far,

one very interesting tidbit i found out I think every 7X77 owner should be aware of,

in theory and on paper iGpu is suppose to run a more efficient shift for mundane chores,

for most parts it has been this way in previous systems i owned, i run day to day activities over the integrated gpu, when i need more gpu processing power i run the applications assigned to the dGpu, this has always been the assumption at least for me,

 

i also know now why i was getting better performance with bios "Hybrid Mode" off in both the 7670 and now with the 7770, that's because running both iGpu and dGpu at the same time adds 10c degrees to the overall idle temps!

having a iGpu on the 7X77 seem to achieve the opposite of the desired effect, 
it uses more power and needlessly increase system heat by 10 degrees Celsius,
it is much more efficient to run directly off the dGpu ("Hybrid Mode" toggle OFF),

 

my current 7770 idles at 38-39c 😉
CB23 run video https://a.uguu.se/tcBwWBH.mp4 
(on Cool Power Plan in bios, on power saver in windows,
if i switch to ultimate performance in windows the score will be over 24k, but i idle 10c hotter)

more to come...
 

 

[Aaron44126]

There is something messed up with Optimus on my system. The dGPU remains powered on even though nothing is using it. That can raise temps. (I don’t know if it even uses the lowest power state in this case.) This probably is affecting other users as well; it’s been a pretty common complaint since Precision 7X30.

 

To fix it, I basically…

• Log into Windows and wait about a minute.
• Go to Device Manager, disable the dGPU and enable it again.
• All good now. (Must be done at every reboot. I have it scripted.)

Note that the NVIDIA tray status icon shows gray/off even though the dGPU is on. You can check to see if the dGPU is “really” off by running a separate tool to check its power use or temperature.

[1610ftw]

On 11/28/2022 at 2:27 PM, Aaron44126 said:

 

 

Macrium Reflect free edition is going away.  They will offer security updates through early 2024 but no other features & fixes.  On the plus side, Macrium Reflect Home is 50% off right now (both single licenses and four-pack licenses) so I'm going to go ahead and purchase that right now.

 

Speaking of Macrium, yesterday my 1TB WD 850 system SSD disappeared and my 7760 would not boot any more.

Turns out that it was the SSD after all after I first had a suspicion it was the PCIE 4.0 slot.

 

Unfortunately for me I tried another SSD in there and wanted to do it the quick and dirty way as the SSD was a bit too large for the Dell supplied SSD bracket and then I saw this morning that there was the small switch that only gets pressed down when using the bracket - helps to have enough light when doing that kind of work 😄

 

In any case the backup went really well as I had internal backups up to 1 hours before the crash and my preconfigured recovery pen drive and a spare SSD, too. Could have happened while I was away and it would not have been much of an issue. 

 

So very pleased with Macrium - that was quick and effortless or at least it would have been if I had not missed that tiny black switch....

[PHVM_BR]

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Nvidia-RTX-A5500-debut-Dell-Precision-7670-Performance-workstation-review.671474.0.html

[MyPC8MyBrain]

today i filled the additional empty m.2 bays with 3 Samsung Pro i purchased,

got 10 degree increase penalty in cpu package during idle,

anyone has an idea why this is?

 

Edit:

it appears that populating the M.2 (ssd5) located behind the door comes with heat increase tax,

[Kataphract]

I have somewhat odd question, any recommendations for laptop sleeve for 16" Performance-Chassis 7670? There are very few 17" sleeves in total and the 16" are mainly meant for Macbook Pro and few I bought (Thule) did not fit, there was just a few mm in corner that made them impossible to close.

I would like something reasonably good looking and protective, don't mind spending up to 100 bucks. I just don't want 20 dollar neoprene crap. 
Even Dell has only bags/backpacks for large sizes.

[Aaron44126]

Went and ran 3DMark Time Spy against the integrated Intel GPU.  The result that I got was a brilliant... 855.

 

 

What I was interested in here mostly is how well the iGPU compares to the best dGPU from ten years ago.  My Precision 7770 replaced a 10-year-old Precision M6700, which originally shipped with a Quadro K5000M GPU.  The K5000M (at stock clocks) was able to get 6.37 FPS on graphics test 1 and 5.60 FPS on graphics test 2.

 

So, the Alder Lake HX iGPU is sitting at just about exactly 75% performance compared to the 10-year-old Quadro K5000M.  Presumably, an Alder Lake H iGPU (with 3× the execution units compared to HX) would be able to beat it.

[MyPC8MyBrain]

for whatever reason dell insists on shipping performance chassis with Intel UHD iGpu instead of the new beefier Intel Iris iGpu they ship with none performance chassis, you are likely running the same iGpu in your M6700 from previous generation, the new Iris should be able to get a more respectable result, i wanted to build my 7770 with Iris iGpu but dell straight up refused to let me have Iris chip instead of the antiquated UHD in the performance chassis,

i also requested to have my system build to have the 330w SFF power supply,
dell refused to sell me the 330w with my system config but informed i could by it on my own separately,