HP Elitebook 8570W - is it still good ? Hardware modifications

[GuitarG]

I started similar thread back on notebookreview forum, but it was closed in few months. I would very like to share some knowledge with everyone. I remember there was one person that tried same thing, but I don't remember name of thread, nor I could find it.

So..

 

For starters, my laptop is HP Elitebook 8570w. Very very long time ago I had bought 8770W, it's 17'3 inch big heavy laptop, I liked playing games on it but my back didn't like carrying it. I sold it.. and until recently, I bought 15'4 version of same laptop. But 8570w doesn't even pack a punch for older games. I though to myself, maybe buy some MSI or Alienware..

 

But..

 

I found auction of very cheap Gtx 980M, though "why not", repaired it, tried it with laptop... WORKED 😮
Then I found 8560w with Dreamcolor LCD.  Gtx didn't liked that LCD, DC screen didn't liked that GPU either. But it started working together after flashing MSI vbios (no optimus) and using 389 version of nvidia driver. Pure UEFI and GPT is must.

 

I made some mods like upgrading VRM of GTX and custom heatsink. But I wasn't that much proud of it like I'm proud of more recent work.

 

I had bought Quadro P5200M very cheaply, it works charmingly with my HP, with only one thing not working - fan control.

But I'm on way to fix it in few weeks.  I think it have been incorrectly working programmer or not exactly fully compatible vbios.
Problem is very clearly seen in HW Monitor: motherboard i2c SMBUS sensor for GPU is stuck at 85 degrees. CPU thermal diode and GPU's correctly show exact temperature of cores. But I think there is a conflict - wrong registers or something. I'm still waiting for better chip programmer to come.

 

Specs:
Intel i-7 3740QM

Nvidia Quadro P5200M 16GB 120W

16GB DDR3L 1866 Mhz (4x4GB)

Samsung Evo 870 1TB

 

I made that HP work faster and better than his bigger brothers! Yay!

Meanwhile, let me show you some pictures. You can also ask me directly and freely, I will try to help you out!

And if you have some Quadro P5200 vbios, you can share : )

 

BTW, myths I though that are true..

1. Weak CPU limits GPUs power.   <--- Nope! When I checked with benchmarks, mine Quadro is as fast as those in original notebooks it cames from (ex. hp 17 zbook g5 or dell precision 7730). PCI Express have same speed, so.. myth busted!

2.NVMe SSD are waaaay faster <--- When I checked last time loading your game 6 seconds faster is not that much difference for everyday users. Maybe it is for ex. in movie editing.

3. No need to update dreamcolor edid for newest nvidia driver to work in 10 bit mode. I downloaded newest one and it works flawlessly.

 

To be continued..

[Eban]

13 hours ago, Mashcar said:

 

 

I made some mods like upgrading VRM of GTX and custom heatsink. But I wasn't that much proud of it like I'm proud of more recent work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@Mashcar I am interested in this line.

I have one of the cheapo aliexpress 980m cards and crappy vrm's has always worried me.

Can you point me in a direction of how to ID and replace the mosfets, etc . 

 

I am novice at electronics but I can do very basic micro soldering. 

Thanks 

 

[GuitarG]

3 hours ago, Eban said:

 

@Mashcar I am interested in this line.

I have one of the cheapo aliexpress 980m cards and crappy vrm's has always worried me.

Can you point me in a direction of how to ID and replace the mosfets, etc . 

 

I am novice at electronics but I can do very basic micro soldering. 

Thanks 

 

You have to use hot air station and buy some mosfets - preferably 6 if you want to be perfectionist (I'm not sure what mosfets are used on your GTX).

 

From my older thread:

"Above two big inductors there's added 220nF capacitor, two other red circles are added 3 additional mosfets 87350D - one for every phase. "

Mosfets you can buy; capacitor you can find on practically most laptop motherboards after Core 2 Duo era (220 is written on them).  Check for correct position ofc and have fun : ) For standard 120W vBios it's more than enough - it makes VRM run more efficiently, stably and cooler.

 

[Eban]

@Mashcar

Thank you for that!

I have a hotair station. I will pull the card next weekend and see what we can see 

 

 

You did a nice job on HP BTW 

[GuitarG]

Recently added second fan to cool vga heatsink. I used fan from 17' inch HP 8770w. Will show pictures later! Additional fan is controlled as original fan. There is already big improvement and I'm very happy : ).
I have received Zbook 17 G2 recently with dreamcolor screen. Mine heatsink parts are mainly from zbook 15 because they are almost fully copper. I will test out them both how they compare in torture test with same graphics card.

[S_Abel_1157]

Hello there, @Mashcar!

I think I need your help, I`ve recently bought a T1000 (quadro), and was surprised to find it didnt work. I also have an HP 8570W, and no DreamColor screen. Sadly I found out after the purchase that I`d need it. Do you think I could get this card working if i had an eDP screen? currently I have the base model LVDS.

 

Cheers!

[GuitarG]

On 3/5/2023 at 4:45 PM, S_Abel_1157 said:

Hello there, @Mashcar!

I think I need your help, I`ve recently bought a T1000 (quadro), and was surprised to find it didnt work. I also have an HP 8570W, and no DreamColor screen. Sadly I found out after the purchase that I`d need it. Do you think I could get this card working if i had an eDP screen? currently I have the base model LVDS.

 

Cheers!

You should try out on external monitor first, try connecting monitor to display port for checking it works for sure.
For changing to external monitor after logging in windows use Windows key + P and then click once arrow down then Enter.
If VGA is not correctly working then you will hear fan going 100% from start. If VGA is working then fan should make one test turn and work accordingly to temperatures or go 100% after 10-15 seconds.
I had also though about RTX Quadro, model 5000, but there is not even one on auction site in my location. Also full height cards have different mounting points.
You can at least try, if you're careful you won't damage anything : ) It will be many times faster than those original mxm cards.
After you're sure it works at all, then I can encourage you to look for other parts.


EDIT.: You can find some information here

 

[mlecule]

I too have a 8570w that's been collecting dust. I'm thinking about upgrading to the gtx 980m. My problem is that anytime windows automatically installs the driver for the k1000, it fails and screen goes blank. Tried to stop the driver install by selecting do not install drivers automatically but it always does and i'm back to square one. Is there a custom bios I need to flash for the gtx 980m to work? I'd like to get this thing up and running again. 

[mlecule]

On 3/7/2023 at 8:34 AM, Mashcar said:

You should try out on external monitor first, try connecting monitor to display port for checking it works for sure.
For changing to external monitor after logging in windows use Windows key + P and then click once arrow down then Enter.
If VGA is not correctly working then you will hear fan going 100% from start. If VGA is working then fan should make one test turn and work accordingly to temperatures or go 100% after 10-15 seconds.
I had also though about RTX Quadro, model 5000, but there is not even one on auction site in my location. Also full height cards have different mounting points.
You can at least try, if you're careful you won't damage anything : ) It will be many times faster than those original mxm cards.
After you're sure it works at all, then I can encourage you to look for other parts.


EDIT.: You can find some information here

 

I too have a 8570w that's been collecting dust. I'm thinking about upgrading to the gtx 980m. My problem is that anytime windows automatically installs the driver for the k1000, it fails and screen goes blank. Tried to stop the driver install by selecting do not install drivers automatically but it always does and i'm back to square one. Is there a custom bios I need to flash for the gtx 980m to work? I'd like to get this thing up and running again. 

[Myro]

Hello, @Mashcar
Thank you for sharing your project! I have upgraded my 8560w with much less powerfull k2200m, but your thread gave me hope.
Can you share the details on the power brick that were using with 980m? Were the temperatures with the stock heatsink too critical? And how were you able to install the second fan from 8770w? Thank you in advance!

Hi, @mlecule
Weird issue, maybe try disabling through LGPE: Click the Start button on your keyboard -> Copy gpedit.msc and paste it into the search box at the bottom left corner -> Open the Local Group Policy Editor -> Click Computer Configuration ->  Navigate to Administrative Templates> Windows Components -> Scroll down to Windows Update -> Navigate to Do not include drivers with Windows Update and double click -> You should see three options: Not Configured, Enabled, and Disabled. Select Enabled and click on Apply -> Click OK. Hope it helps!

[GuitarG]

On 4/4/2023 at 12:40 PM, mlecule said:

I too have a 8570w that's been collecting dust. I'm thinking about upgrading to the gtx 980m. My problem is that anytime windows automatically installs the driver for the k1000, it fails and screen goes blank. Tried to stop the driver install by selecting do not install drivers automatically but it always does and i'm back to square one. Is there a custom bios I need to flash for the gtx 980m to work? I'd like to get this thing up and running again. 

When I used GTX980 I had same problem, try to disable group policy for automatic update of drivers. Also you can try to use NVflash (I used "override certifications" version) and try other vbios. Mine card was G-Sync one, I used non-gsync bios from clevo or msi and it worked flawlessly. If you're not modding heatsink, try setting low power mode in drivers to not damage card.
 

 

17 hours ago, myroslav said:

Hello, @Mashcar
Thank you for sharing your bild! Mine 8560w is upgraded with much less powerfull k2200m, but your thread gave me a hope.
Can you share the details on the power brick that were using with 980m? Were the temperatures with the stock 8570w heatsink too critical? And how did you manage to install the second fan from 8770w? Thank you in advance!

Thanks ! 🙂 Power supply was rated for 230W, it was enough for 120W of power used by card + 45W CPU and other components. I used it for a while with stock cooling and tried not to stress it too much. And when I used benchmarks, CPU temp was way worse - about 100 degrees. GPU was about 85-88. Safe temperature for GPU is about 85 degrees when using it for long time.

For second fan I just used dremel tool to take out fan from HP 8770w and connected 5V and GND to nearby trace and PWM to Tacho on my main fan. Will show pictures later.
For now...
I couldn't stand damaged heatpipe from job before and had to make it all better =] Will explain later, for now... pictures!

[mlecule]

On 4/7/2023 at 2:01 AM, Mashcar said:

When I used GTX980 I had same problem, try to disable group policy for automatic update of drivers. Also you can try to use NVflash (I used "override certifications" version) and try other vbios. Mine card was G-Sync one, I used non-gsync bios from clevo or msi and it worked flawlessly. If you're not modding heatsink, try setting low power mode in drivers to not damage card.
 

 

Thanks ! 🙂 Power supply was rated for 230W, it was enough for 120W of power used by card + 45W CPU and other components. I used it for a while with stock cooling and tried not to stress it too much. And when I used benchmarks, CPU temp was way worse - about 100 degrees. GPU was about 85-88. Safe temperature for GPU is about 85 degrees when using it for long time.

For second fan I just used dremel tool to take out fan from HP 8770w and connected 5V and GND to nearby trace and PWM to Tacho on my main fan. Will show pictures later.
For now...
I couldn't stand damaged heatpipe from job before and had to make it all better =] Will explain later, for now... pictures!

Thanks for the response. I assume the stock cooler can't keep up with the 980? Is there a certain wattage I need to set it on to prevent damaging the card? 

[GuitarG]

On 4/10/2023 at 8:07 PM, mlecule said:

Thanks for the response. I assume the stock cooler can't keep up with the 980? Is there a certain wattage I need to set it on to prevent damaging the card? 

Yes, GTX980 is rated between 80-120W of power, stock cooler for gpu only 50W. Card will throttle.

 

[GuitarG]

Alright, got some free time, I can now show other steps !
I am this kind of man, that can't stop trying to make thing better and better. I had redone whole heat sink using damaged lower mountint case, damaged motherboard, damaged full height mxm card and damaged procesor as "mold" to get as close as you can get to make space between CPU/GPU silicon and copper block of heatsink. After baking in 140 degrees celsius using solder paste RL-404 (138C melting point, very important as to not get heatpipes damaged) I had to do it one more time. Because I forgot to put good pressure on heatsink touching copper pads so it didn't worked as it should.
I also used grit paper together with polishing paste to make copper shiny like mirror so it conducts heat better.
It fits like original heatsink now! Yay!

Then I though of problematic fan. Because of its blades geometry, it took more from hot keyboard than from cold air under notebook. In future I want to make it upside down like in newest notebook designs, for now I use fan from Zbook 15 - had to change cable order in fan plug. Zbook fan have much better geometry, takes more cold from down side. And queiter.
Redesigned cables from additional fan - I made mistake, 5V cable got heated from heatpipe, desoldered and fried resistor next to fan plug. I was shocked laptop didn't shut down and I had only to replace one resistor. I took safer measures next time, routed cables on case using kapton tape, took 5V from DVD slot points and connected PWM to tacho of original fan - so additional one works as it should together with original.
Last thing I had modified is those too small vent exhaust points - why upgrading with bigger heatsink, better design when it have too small holes to blow air through ? So I used mini rotary tool, put a little of epoxy between magnesium and plastic frame so it holds firmer. Holy cow, I didn't expect that much improvement.

Only thing that left to do is make whole heatsink in 3D model, order fully copper CNC-ed mounting blocks for CPU and GPU (unfortunately custom vapour chamber is unorderable) so heat mass is bigger, turn original fan so it takes more air from under notebook.. We shall see, because right now I am very happy. I could only be happier, if P5200 would be correctly recognized by thermals, but software Notebook fan control is not bad either.

I also spotted some kind of problem when I try to boot linux.. It is not possible at all. Tried from ubuntu to arch linux and none of them even booted in live cd mode. They just boot, give me menu option and that's all. I wonder if it is because of not compatible GPU - like in windows we can use NvClean so it works.

 

I recommend this kind of modding to everyone, because it is so much fun! And satisfactory because I can play newest games with no problem at all in 1080p. As usual, ask any questions, I will try help and share my knowledge. I'm thinking about making YT video from gameplays, how it behaves, etc.
One day maybe I will get my hands on RTX mxm card.. I would be super happy, haha

Cheers!
 

[Myro]

4 hours ago, Mashcar said:

Alright, got some free time, I can now show other steps !
I am this kind of man, that can't stop trying to make thing better and better. I had redone whole heat sink using damaged lower mountint case, damaged motherboard, damaged full height mxm card and damaged procesor as "mold" to get as close as you can get to make space between CPU/GPU silicon and copper block of heatsink. After baking in 140 degrees celsius using solder paste RL-404 (138C melting point, very important as to not get heatpipes damaged) I had to do it one more time. Because I forgot to put good pressure on heatsink touching copper pads so it didn't worked as it should.
I also used grit paper together with polishing paste to make copper shiny like mirror so it conducts heat better.
It fits like original heatsink now! Yay!

Then I though of problematic fan. Because of its blades geometry, it took more from hot keyboard than from cold air under notebook. In future I want to make it upside down like in newest notebook designs, for now I use fan from Zbook 15 - had to change cable order in fan plug. Zbook fan have much better geometry, takes more cold from down side. And queiter.
Redesigned cables from additional fan - I made mistake, 5V cable got heated from heatpipe, desoldered and fried resistor next to fan plug. I was shocked laptop didn't shut down and I had only to replace one resistor. I took safer measures next time, routed cables on case using kapton tape, took 5V from DVD slot points and connected PWM to tacho of original fan - so additional one works as it should together with original.
Last thing I had modified is those too small vent exhaust points - why upgrading with bigger heatsink, better design when it have too small holes to blow air through ? So I used mini rotary tool, put a little of epoxy between magnesium and plastic frame so it holds firmer. Holy cow, I didn't expect that much improvement.

Only thing that left to do is make whole heatsink in 3D model, order fully copper CNC-ed mounting blocks for CPU and GPU (unfortunately custom vapour chamber is unorderable) so heat mass is bigger, turn original fan so it takes more air from under notebook.. We shall see, because right now I am very happy. I could only be happier, if P5200 would be correctly recognized by thermals, but software Notebook fan control is not bad either.

I also spotted some kind of problem when I try to boot linux.. It is not possible at all. Tried from ubuntu to arch linux and none of them even booted in live cd mode. They just boot, give me menu option and that's all. I wonder if it is because of not compatible GPU - like in windows we can use NvClean so it works.

 

I recommend this kind of modding to everyone, because it is so much fun! And satisfactory because I can play newest games with no problem at all in 1080p. As usual, ask any questions, I will try help and share my knowledge. I'm thinking about making YT video from gameplays, how it behaves, etc.
One day maybe I will get my hands on RTX mxm card.. I would be super happy, haha

Cheers!
 

This is monumental work! Thanks for finding time to share it with the community!

As for the Ubuntu - quite weird behaviour, as I can remeber running it even on Athlon 2000+ and ATi 9250. Have you tried installing it on a partition istead of running a live CD?

And regarding RTX cards - are you looking towards them purely to get your hands on ray tracing and dlss? Cause then this 8570w will be the most packed Elitebook in the world)

Thank you again and good luck!

P.S. Waiting for a YT channel link✔️

[GuitarG]

On 6/11/2023 at 2:50 PM, myroslav said:

This is monumental work! Thanks for finding time to share it with the community!

As for the Ubuntu - quite weird behaviour, as I can remeber running it even on Athlon 2000+ and ATi 9250. Have you tried installing it on a partition istead of running a live CD?

And regarding RTX cards - are you looking towards them purely to get your hands on ray tracing and dlss? Cause then this 8570w will be the most packed Elitebook in the world)

Thank you again and good luck!

P.S. Waiting for a YT channel link✔️

For future people reading - for booting Ubuntu and every other Linux use command line and add "nomodeset" after kernel load line. It will boot normally !

I think it is because of mxm upgrade - GTX980 had same problem.

 

RTX mxm cards are out of my budget for now. And they need even more work, because they have very very different components placement and mounting holes than previous generations. But I for sure would like at least try 😄

I repaired other 8570W, with stock K1000M and now I am wondering, because stock configuration POSTs and boots much faster. Like 8 seconds vs 14 seconds. From power on button click to HP logo is also faster. I started to wonder about trying to mod BIOS, like BIOS says to KBC that there will be K1000M or K2000M, here is SMBus adress for fan control and then KBC speak with PCH. I only edited bios for clearing me region, but maybe it is time to learn cracking HP BIOS.

 

I changed motherboard for almost not used one - it have muuch less temp now ! I am amazed ! Both new board and old are working in same way performance wise in games benchmarks, but now I have much less fan noise in same environment because temperature is lower for CPU and GPU and PCH. It like 20 years old runner in his prime vs 40 years old man jogging. Now Im sure there is something like electrical components fatigue.

 

For things I would like to do now is find out why factory configuration turns on faster and look for i7 3940XM to buy. And finally record video. I though about Firestrike, Time Spy plus some games with FPS, temps in corner. Hogwart Legacy, Resident Evil 4, Control, maybe something else ?

Thanks for your feedback and cheers everyone!

[GuitarG]

On 7/13/2023 at 9:58 AM, Mashcar said:

For future people reading - for booting Ubuntu and every other Linux use command line and add "nomodeset" after kernel load line. It will boot normally !

I think it is because of mxm upgrade - GTX980 had same problem.

 

RTX mxm cards are out of my budget for now. And they need even more work, because they have very very different components placement and mounting holes than previous generations. But I for sure would like at least try 😄

I repaired other 8570W, with stock K1000M and now I am wondering, because stock configuration POSTs and boots much faster. Like 8 seconds vs 14 seconds. From power on button click to HP logo is also faster. I started to wonder about trying to mod BIOS, like BIOS says to KBC that there will be K1000M or K2000M, here is SMBus adress for fan control and then KBC speak with PCH. I only edited bios for clearing me region, but maybe it is time to learn cracking HP BIOS.

 

I changed motherboard for almost not used one - it have muuch less temp now ! I am amazed ! Both new board and old are working in same way performance wise in games benchmarks, but now I have much less fan noise in same environment because temperature is lower for CPU and GPU and PCH. It like 20 years old runner in his prime vs 40 years old man jogging. Now Im sure there is something like electrical components fatigue.

 

For things I would like to do now is find out why factory configuration turns on faster and look for i7 3940XM to buy. And finally record video. I though about Firestrike, Time Spy plus some games with FPS, temps in corner. Hogwart Legacy, Resident Evil 4, Control, maybe something else ?

Thanks for your feedback and cheers everyone!

Ok, I found out problem -> Quadro P5200 vbios lacks UEFI GOP - that's why better laptop boots slower than original configuration. Quadro K1000M shows in GPU Z that it works in UEFI mode. And by UEFI it means fastboot, Windows 8-11 compability, etc..
I will have to edit VBIOS again and use external programmer. Will do together with CPU upgrade. Why?
Because i7 3940XM is on it's way to me 😄

Can't wait to post results, cheers everyone!

[GuitarG]

 

Interesting thing happened - with more powerful CPU my temp decreased even lower and I got more battery life. 10/10 fully recommend upgrade 😄

Only thing left to mod is now make fully copper heatsink from CNC mill. And change battery cells for better ones myself. I also saw other interesing ideas from asian forums like making dual SATA3 port for Raid 0 or making WWAN port work as mSATA storage. Maybe one day.. ?

 

BTW. Youtube video will be released next month = ]

 

[Myro]

On 7/13/2023 at 11:58 AM, Mashcar said:

...For things I would like to do now is find out why factory configuration turns on faster and look for i7 3940XM to buy. And finally record video. I though about Firestrike, Time Spy plus some games with FPS, temps in corner. Hogwart Legacy, Resident Evil 4, Control, maybe something else ?

Thats going to be quite an entertaining video! As for game list - looks very solid. If needed, I'll be glad to offer my accounts with crysis/cyberpunk)
Also 3940XM clearly surpriced with the results! Congratulations on the upgrade)
 

Saw your message in other thread, which got me wondering, since both motherboards in 8570w and 15G2 are quite similar visually. May I ask how are you planning to perform a swap? Because if you really going to do it...this old beast will become even better, hehe) 

[frelu]

Hello @Mashcar great job with your Elitebook!

I want to reproduce your heatsink work for future GPU upgrades.

Could you please tell me what technique did you use to solder heatpipes? (I know low melting point solder is required) Was it heatgun, compact electric oven or just full-size kitchen electric oven?? I don't feel comfortable thinking something could explode right in my face :)

 

Edit:

Do you keep the 2nd fan without "case"?

 

[GuitarG]

On 8/31/2023 at 10:29 AM, frelu said:

Hello @Mashcar great job with your Elitebook!

I want to reproduce your heatsink work for future GPU upgrades.

Could you please tell me what technique did you use to solder heatpipes? (I know low melting point solder is required) Was it heatgun, compact electric oven or just full-size kitchen electric oven?? I don't feel comfortable thinking something could explode right in my face 🙂

 

Edit:

Do you keep the 2nd fan without "case"?

 

 

I used full size kitchen electric oven set to 140-142 degrees celsius, doublecheck temperature with external thermocouple meter. At first, desolder heatsink for parts, then I use damaged board with damaged CPU and GPU card, screw them on, check if they align correctly and lastly use metal spring clip where copper tubes meet other parts. When solder melts, spring force push more than fixed screw clips.

With 140 temp, you won't swell heatpipes. They won't explode, because they have only distilled water inside them. Good luck!

What do you mean about second fan ?

About project, I changed thermal interface material to honeywell ptm7950. Hands down, it makes laptop work as it should from start. Every other thermal paste I tried is pumped out within days or weeks, at best. This one ? Temperatures get better every day. 100% recommend.

[triturbo]

Great work @Mashcar!

 

I have a few questions - which revision is your P5200 (picture of the board would be nice) and which vBIOS you are using? Do you use the DreamColor screen? Where did you get the soldering paste (RL-404)?

 

Thank you and keep up the great work!

[GuitarG]

2 minutes ago, triturbo said:

Great work @Mashcar!

 

I have a few questions - which revision is your P5200 (picture of the board would be nice) and which vBIOS you are using? Do you use the DreamColor screen? Where did you get the soldering paste (RL-404)?

 

Thank you and keep up the great work!

 

I will upload pictures as soon as I return to home! 🙂 I have revision D board, most complete one. I used every Dell vBIOS: 86.04.8a.00.47，86.04.a2.00.31 ，86.04.8A.00.64

HP VR Backpack one also works, but with external display only. MSI, Lenovo vBIOS didn't worked at all.
Dreamcolor screen is a must, it is LVDS screen, but you have EDP to LVDS board together with that LCD. Normally 8570w takes lvds only.
I got soldering paste from Ali express

 

 

I took Zbook G2 fingerprint reader and retrofitted it into my system - now I can log in win 10/11 with one touch 😄 Reason for this is 8570's fingerprint reader driver is too old and it doesn't work in windows newer than Win7.
Ordered some 5v amp board and usb audio dac for some experimentation - since I don't use secure card reader, I can use it's usb data+ and data- along with 5V line to have better built-in audio. I wonder, if internal speakers can sound better with that. My phone have tiny stereo speakers, that are louder and better quality vs those in notebook..
I had bought second keyboard for emergency, I used rivets in other one to finally have all 3 screw holes used. Now it sits firmly finally, like finished product would!

 

Next steps are:
-make hardware undervolt for CPU (Intel added internal voltage regulators [available to modify with XTU] inside CPU in haswell gen; weirdly Core2Duo already had those. They removed it for first, second and third gen Cores..)
-buy Quadro RTX 5000 (probably from Zbook 17 G6) for that 30% better performance and DLSS technology ^_^

-design and CNC mill new heatsink for CPU and GPU made fully from copper (experiment)

 

HP changed design every 2 generations, so unfortunately Zbook 15 is totally different versus elitebook 8570W. It may seem similar, but it would require elephant's amount of work to make it work. So I decided to dump that idea.

[triturbo]

26 minutes ago, Mashcar said:

I have revision D board, most complete one.

 

That's nice, but how do you made it to run the BIOS chip, since I know these require some modding, or it came like that? I have a D revision myself and I'm contemplating on modding it and make it run in my machine.

 

29 minutes ago, Mashcar said:

I used every Dell vBIOS

 

Which one works best, or all of them?

 

30 minutes ago, Mashcar said:

Dreamcolor screen is a must, it is LVDS screen, but you have EDP to LVDS board together with that LCD. Normally 8570w takes lvds only.

 

So it works with the DreamColor, that's good to know.

 

32 minutes ago, Mashcar said:

I took Zbook G2 fingerprint reader and retrofitted it into my system - now I can log in win 10/11 with one touch 😄 Reason for this is 8570's fingerprint reader driver is too old and it doesn't work in windows newer than Win7.
Ordered some 5v amp board and usb audio dac for some experimentation - since I don't use secure card reader, I can use it's usb data+ and data- along with 5V line to have better built-in audio. I wonder, if internal speakers can sound better with that. My phone have tiny stereo speakers, that are louder and better quality vs those in notebook..

 

Some nice mods. Which DAC you have used, does it has ESS Sabre in there? I made a mod of external sound card using eGPU stuff and Creative SondBlaster AE-9 which was working, but then fried it during additional modding. I'm not sure I want to go that way again. It was awesome, but also made my laptop a desktop, so I'm looking for something more integrated. I'm using Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio notebook now, but I have other plans for the ExpressCard, so that's why I'm looking at the options.

Yes, the stock speakers are terrible. I'm planing on modding them as well.

 

44 minutes ago, Mashcar said:

Next steps are:

 

Good luck with these!

[GuitarG]

On 9/5/2023 at 1:33 PM, triturbo said:

 

That's nice, but how do you made it to run the BIOS chip, since I know these require some modding, or it came like that? I have a D revision myself and I'm contemplating on modding it and make it run in my machine.

It is actually very simple to add vBios to them! You can use cheapest CH341a programmer with 1.8v voltage addon
You can use almost any 1,8v bios chips like W25Q20E or W25Q40EW or MX25U8033E. Just program vbios from my thread on this forum with zip file, solder it on with soldering iron, voila!
All those Dell vbios works pretty much same, I didn't saw any difference.
I also send mine GPU photo. Down right corner of core is chipped of, it still works, but it may be reason for not working fan control.
I am very interested if it will work in your build!

Cheers!