[SOLVED] Maxing out the old m6600

[workstationorbust]

Hello, I recently acquired a older dell m6600 for a decent price and was going to upgrade this thing to its limits. I plan on sticking with this model unless I can come across a 6700/6800 for a good price. Now I've heard of people getting hd 6xxx/7xxx/8xxx and r9 2xx graphics chips to work with these things but also heard tales of gtx 6xx/8xx/9xx cards working in them swell. I wanted to hear from someone more experienced with these things than I am, laptops are fairly new to me as I normally focus on vintage hardware. Any chance of any of them working in this machine? or has anyone done similar?

 

[Eximo]

The caveat I keep seeing is that they need to be Dell parts for the vBIOS to work. So you are going to have to know the source of the MXM cards you look at, or come up with a way to flash the cards using integrated graphics, and if you can find an appropriate vBIOS file.

I've not personally swapped any laptop GPUs, but I have always been interested. Over the years I have come across many people making the attempt.

Used to look at Clevo chassis a lot, Sager offered upgrade kits for certain models (since it was impossible to get MXM cards retail when they were launched), but they could get in trays.

 

[workstationorbust]

The caveat I keep seeing is that they need to be Dell parts for the vBIOS to work. So you are going to have to know the source of the MXM cards you look at, or come up with a way to flash the cards using integrated graphics, and if you can find an appropriate vBIOS file.

I've not personally swapped any laptop GPUs, but I have always been interested. Over the years I have come across many people making the attempt.

Used to look at Clevo chassis a lot, Sager offered upgrade kits for certain models (since it was impossible to get MXM cards retail when they were launched), but they could get in trays.

I have already taken that into consideration while scouting for a suitable graphics card. I found a dell Alienware 980 and 970 and planned on using the 980 but was a little skeptical on if it would work or not, since the forums that I find people claiming them to work never provide proof. I am however intrigued by the idea of putting a gtx 870 since I haven't found to much of a reason that it should not work, I did manage to find someone to show proof of a 870m in the m6600 but never provided the steps he took though he did say it was tedious task.

 

[spentshells]

To me this seems like a waste of time, but if you insist would recommend getting only whatever card was available as an option for this line of laptops.

 

[workstationorbust]

To me this seems like a waste of time, but if you insist would recommend getting only whatever card was available as an option for this line of laptops.

i wouldnt say a waste of time since the 2nd gen i7cpus are still plenty capable to do what i want. I just need to find a gpu suitable to pair and i thought this would be a fun project to mess with.

 

[spentshells]

i wouldnt say a waste of time since the 2nd gen i7cpus are still plenty capable to do what i want. I just need to find a gpu suitable to pair and i thought this would be a fun project to mess with.

oh they are fine for gaming for sure! all my machines but one currently run ivy bridge. Dell and their weird motherboards and custom bios versions might create a headache.... will create a headache
all the older mobile gpu's are darn expensive for weak performance....
maybe a 770m would be a good fit, the price is acceptable, but not good. 3gb of ram is okay. really anything more than this and you start getting into the price range where it's just worth it to buy a low end laptop

 

[workstationorbust]

oh they are fine for gaming for sure! all my machines but one currently run ivy bridge. Dell and their weird motherboards and custom bios versions might create a headache.... will create a headache
all the older mobile gpu's are darn expensive for weak performance....
maybe a 770m would be a good fit, the price is acceptable, but not good. 3gb of ram is okay. really anything more than this and you start getting into the price range where it's just worth it to buy a low end laptop

i have to agree with you there. although other than my main pc i dont normally mess with hardware newer than 2006/7 and never laptops so this is all a bit new to me. Ive heard stories of dell motherboards whitelisting gpus in the bios to not work even with full compatibility otherwise? i might just grab a old gtx 680m since its a good 50$ cheaper than the 770m. Like i said this laptop probably wont be used to much, honestly i just saw a good deal and couldn't resist, really just love older workstations.

 

[spentshells]

i have to agree with you there. although other than my main pc i dont normally mess with hardware newer than 2006/7 and never laptops so this is all a bit new to me. Ive heard stories of dell motherboards whitelisting gpus in the bios to not work even with full compatibility otherwise? i might just grab a old gtx 680m since its a good 50$ cheaper than the 770m. Like i said this laptop probably wont be used to much, honestly i just saw a good deal and couldn't resist, really just love older workstations.

the 680m is actually faster than the 770m the 770m from what I've seen is the cheaper of the two and less powerfull if only by a little. However the 3Gb of ram vs 2Gb of ram is a big difference in modern-ish games

 

[workstationorbust]

the 680m is actually faster than the 770m the 770m from what I've seen is the cheaper of the two and less powerfull if only by a little. However the 3Gb of ram vs 2Gb of ram is a big difference in modern-ish games

since vram is the most pressing issue when looking at these lower end gpus, Ive noticed the r9 m290x is the same price as the 680m and gives 5-10% performance boost as well as doubling the vram to 4gb. everything i can see points o it being plug and play, i could imagine the 680m giving a little bit of trouble since i would be changing from AMD to Nvidia. Also one more question is what exactly is the gtx 680mx? i cant seem to find to much on it and no one has attempted to put it in a m6600, although im sure there is a reason for that.

 

[spentshells]

since vram is the most pressing issue when looking at these lower end gpus, Ive noticed the r9 m290x is the same price as the 680m and gives 5-10% performance boost as well as doubling the vram to 4gb. everything i can see points o it being plug and play, i could imagine the 680m giving a little bit of trouble since i would be changing from AMD to Nvidia. Also one more question is what exactly is the gtx 680mx? i cant seem to find to much on it and no one has attempted to put it in a m6600, although im sure there is a reason for that.

So far MX has been a weaker naming in the nomenclature. Proceed at your own risk.... I suggest looking for the 770m at a cheaper price, that 1GB of vram will make a huge difference, despite the ;less powerful gpu hardware.

here is what I found easily. https://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-680MX.83519.0.html

less shaders but far MORE memory bandwidth, that leads me right back to the 770m if found at a better price.
Im the odd man out with aliexpress, check them out, I've had nothing but success!

EDIT far better ram speed on the mx and I feel i would overcome the 680 shadder advantages the m has, but your mileage will vary noting the odd man out scenario using a dell laptop. They really make a mess that forces you into a very standardized environment