Dell M6800 NVIDIA 4GB with poor graphics

[erikbroberg]

Hi,

I recently purchased a top of the line Dell M6800 after months of research to replace my late 2012 macbook pro 13 inch that contained the single motherboard graphics card. It was my intention to get a very fast computer so I opted for the Dell with a NVIDIA Quadro K3100M w/4GB GDDR5 card as well as 2.8 quad processor and 16 GB ram.

 

Turns out i am quite disappointed. The graphic quality is quite poorer than my inferior macbook which confuses me. I set the NVIDIA to 'on' the whole time so that I don't use the built in graphics card which I shouldn't have to do. I also have an FHD ultrasharp monitor.

 

My intent was to have a workstation upgradeable to 32 GH of ram and was looking at Boxx for their slim version but it can't go past 16GB. Neither can Macbook pro 15 inch, but thinking about just returning and going back for that as the little macbook I have is pretty amazing so I assume the 15 inch with retina would be even better. I have heard of people installing 32 GB of Ram into those machines. Any suggestions on a portable solution that go to 32 GB of Ram or a fix for my Dell machine?

 

I attached a few images of the terrible quality images.

[TomasEsperanza]

Hi,

I recently purchased a top of the line Dell M6800 after months of research to replace my late 2012 macbook pro 13 inch that contained the single motherboard graphics card. It was my intention to get a very fast computer so I opted for the Dell with a NVIDIA Quadro K3100M w/4GB GDDR5 card as well as 2.8 quad processor and 16 GB ram.

 

Turns out i am quite disappointed. The graphic quality is quite poorer than my inferior macbook which confuses me. I set the NVIDIA to 'on' the whole time so that I don't use the built in graphics card which I shouldn't have to do. I also have an FHD ultrasharp monitor.

 

My intent was to have a workstation upgradeable to 32 GH of ram and was looking at Boxx for their slim version but it can't go past 16GB. Neither can Macbook pro 15 inch, but thinking about just returning and going back for that as the little macbook I have is pretty amazing so I assume the 15 inch with retina would be even better. I have heard of people installing 32 GB of Ram into those machines. Any suggestions on a portable solution that go to 32 GB of Ram or a fix for my Dell machine?

 

I attached a few images of the terrible quality images. [ATTACH=CONFIG]52414[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52415[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]52416[/ATTACH]

 

I got a M6500 a few years ago. It has an i7 840QM @1.87GHz, and the NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M. So not workstation spec.

 

Initially I was frustrated with it. Unfortunately, the machine didn't have many significant upgrade options for the CPU and GPU, (being a laptop). So I upgraded what I could; memory and storage. I upgraded it with two 512GB SSDs, plus 32GB of RAM. Plus a 128GB Micro sata drive that was later removed.

 

When I had what I thought to be teething troubles with drivers etc. I got a Dell Technician to look at it on site, under warrenty. Turns out, that the little 128GB msata ssd I had installed, was causing problems, (although it should have worked) so we took that out and it runs very smoothly now.

 

It is a nice machine to use. Although it is not my actual workstation, it generally copes with 3ds Max, V-Ray, ForestPro and Photoshop.

 

If I was buying a Laptop for work, I would invest as much as possible in the CPU and GPU though. I imagine CPU and GPU specs for current top-end laptops are pretty good (?), but I'd still err towards the best available, considering they are not comparable to full size machines.

 

With your spec, I suspect it maybe a driver or bios issue; I mean it sounds like an ok machine on paper.

Edited December 30, 2014 by TomasEsperanza

[RyderSK]

(I know, mundane, but..you never know) Did you try "clean" install of Quadro Drivers ? Looks like Anti-aliasing/Up-Scaling issue.

 

While mobile Quadro (or Quadro at all today) will not give you any sort of excellent performance, image quality should be without compromise.

 

Regarding 16/32gb ram, I have yet to see slim laptop with 32. Upgrading iMacs to 32...I am quite doubtful, since they have only 2 dimm slots, and there are no 16gb UDIMMs on market yet (compared to server RDIMMs/LRDIMMs).

 

Do you have the FHD+ Display and correctly set resolution ?

[erikbroberg]

Thank you both of you for your replies.

@ Jurac - I have not tried installing new drivers yet and I agree it looks like anti-aliasing. I was wondering if it might be an issue of the FHD display not having enough DPI per inch due to the size of the 17in monitor. I agree on the 32gb laptop not being around. I am currently a student so my intent was to upgrade from my mac which is why I got the 4GB GU card. Not sure if this solution is much quicker than my macbook which makes me think I should get a more mobile solution like the 15 in macbook or the goboxx slim. I'm pretty sure those would be just as fast as this dell but no 32 gb option. I know the razerblade can do 32. Also, I didn't realize that Quadro cards were not the best.

 

@thomas hope - I think if I decide to keep the dell then I will swap my SATA HD out for an SSD. I think the specs are alright, but I will have to check on the driver situation and get back to you. I worked with a tech and tried to fix it, but he was unable to solve it. It's strange that my macbook has much smoother graphics even most noticeable when plugged into an external monitor. Makes me suspicious of dell. Thank you!

[inatosema]

I've used dell precision laptops. One of the best most reliable machines on the planet. I've had it for 6 years and it still works like a beast. I used a wuxga screen ultrs high Def screen. Amazing graphics. Quadro fx graphics.

 

It's a beast. No wonder Boeing uses the same machines.