Dell :: Anyone Having Gpu Heating Problems On Your Precision M4400 When Gaming
Jan 20, 2009
I was all set to buy a refurbished Precision m4400 until I started to read about gpu downclocking heating issues that some people have when playing higher end gpu intensive games.
Is this still a problem with this particular notebook (where a lack of sufficient cooling design will force the gpu to downclock when trying to play gpu intensive simulation games)?
Do you recommend this notebook if I plan on using it for gaming 50% of the time? I need to buy a business notebook through my company but do not want to buy this particualr one if I can't game with it. (My other option would be an XPS 1530 with a worse 8600gty gpu option.)
Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated to help me decide whether to purchase this m4400 notebook.
Which bios is the best for gaming to avoid gpu downclocking and overheating? It seems that both the A02 and A03 are both recommended here in this forum, but which is the better one for gaming?
I am after a notebook for work, basicly just nice and fast but i play games maybe an hour a week, although its not much i still want to be able to play all the new games.
I dont want to pay the extra for the 3700m so im left with the choice of the alienware m17x or the Precision. Because its for work and trying to look perfessional i dont think the alienware fits but if the 2700 wont game it will have to do.
As the title say's,the fastest core duo against the second to slowest choice,as there seem's a fair number of people here who play game's on their M4400's,I thought this might be interesting to some.
Empire total war,I'm sure still carry's out control instruction's much better with the X9100 despite framerates being pretty much identical.....a bit hard to tell as the game AI is soo buggy....
just got my m4400 and upgraded to vista business via the dell disks. Now the backlit keyboard dosen't work. It was working under XP. It on in the BIOS and the controlpoint.
(note: I posted this in the XPS/Studio section, and I'm reposting it here since it pertains to both)
I am looking for a notebook for my girlfriend. She studies architecture, so she needs something with a powerful GPU, high resolution display, but not too heavy (she has to lug it with her every day all over campus). We don't want to spend more than ~$1500, and hopefully get it for less than that with discounts (either through the University or her mother's job) .....
I'm a bit out of the loop. Is the M4400 due for a major refresh any time soon? If so when, and what major components will be replaced (gpu, hopefully)?
Got my swap today! ( swapped cause heat/fan issues ). The first thing i noticed when i booted up eas that it came with A16 Bios. Latest on th Dell site is A15. Anyone got some info on this???
I sold my Asus G1S last week and now i am looking to replace it with another more modern 15.4" laptop with decent graphics card and good screen. Dell m4400 and lenovo t500 both fit the bill. I am leaning more towards a refurb dell from the outlet. I am lookign for answers to a few questions to help me make up my mind:
I heard good stuff about both WXGA+ LED and WUXGA RGB-LED panels on this model. What about WUXGA CCFL panel. Where can I find specs on it? Is it any good or terribly dim like the one Lenovo uses?
Is heat a big problem with m4400? My Asus was heating up to the point that it was uncomfortable to keep on my lap and was very noisy and I kind of want to avoid that again.
How good are Dell refurbs? Am i going to get something that has been trashed before or are these just open box returns? Also is it possible to get them to give extra discount over the phone? There was a 15% off coupon a few weeks ago which is over now. What are my chances of convincing them to give me a discount?
Also, If I do order new, would it be possible to convince Dell to price match the M4400 to a T500 or W500? Did anybody ever have any success with that?
Just got my Precision M4400 and a Logitech bluetooth mouse. Can't figure out how to activate bluetooth, or whether it's even installed as ordered. Blue bluetooth light above keyboard is on, but can't find bluetooth in Device Manager, or in system tray.
I recently received a new m4400 (with a T9400)and had a problem with one of the cpu cores running 6-8 degrees hotter at idle (not under load). When I told this to Dell technical support, they reordered me a new notebook.
Here's the problem... I received my new replacement notebook. Although the cpu cores are now the exact same temperature at idle, once I start running some programs (simulation games, etc.), one of the cpu cores runs 7-8 degrees consistantly hotter than the other one. If I stop playing these games, both cores return to the exact same temperature .....
I've been watching this board for a while, and decided to register finally, as I am looking to purchase a Precision for school.
My previous notebook is a Latitude D810 with WUXGA LCD, with a higher end configuration, (2.26Ghz, 2GB, X600 128MB, 320GB HD, Bluetooth) which served me well for the past four years.
I wish to get a high end model as well this time around (With the same resolution), hoping to get the same longevity
I received the Dell Precision m4400 on last friday.
I did not know about the latency problem that I read on these forums AFTER the horrible fact that I'm going to explain.
In fact, I was watching an avi file, in Windows Vista (the preinstalled OS), when sometimes the play stops (as the computer is under much load) and then resume the play .....
Just got my m4400 finally. Quad core + uxga/led. The led screen went pink or something when docked without a/c power. It also flickered a bit when I was using it on battery (only happened once).
The fan is way loud (using bios A11). I found the I8kfanGUI program to control the fan (works pretty good) but what's funny is the laptop keeps wanting to turn the fan to full speed, then the tool kicks in and turns it off again. So it spins up, back down, up, back down .....
I have spent the past 10 minutes trying to search this forum for the answer and came up empty-handed. Simple question: does the M4400 support 3 Gbits/second or is it limited to 1.5 Gbits/second? I know the entire ThinkPad line
(T400/T500/W500/W700) models are limited to 1.5 Gbits/second, which limits the usefulness of a higher-end Solid State Disk like the Intel X25-M. Thanks for the info!
When the laptop arrived I took out the 80GB HDD and installed a Western Digital 320GB 7200 RPM drive and created 2 Partitions so that we could dual-boot with Windows XP SP3 and another Windows XP SP3.
I've searched and found a lot of info on audio crackling, but I'm not quite sure if that is the issue I am having.
The best way I can describe the audio problem is that, it on occasion, once ever 30 seconds or so, music, or audio that is continuously playing will stutter and skip for a moment, like the computer is under heavy load
I'm planning on buying a refurb M4400 soon, and I'm wondering if the user community has any input for me. Are there any features I should make sure to get (backlit keyboard is good, I hear)? Are there any features I should be sure to avoid? Are there any problems commonly experienced that I should look out for once I get the system?
I haven't ordered it yet, but so far I think I'm looking at the T9400 cpu, 4GB RAM, FX770M gpu, CCFL WUXGA screen, ~250GB@7200RPM HD (could be 160GB or 320GB, depends on what's available). Up for debate still are 6 vs 9 cell battery, fingerprint reader (none, internal, FIPS), OS (if I can get 64-bit Vista Ultimate that'd be great, otherwise XP Pro w/ Vista Business license).
The intended usage here is software development (mostly Java, some C/C++) and gaming (Far Cry 2, CoD4/5, maybe Crysis?).
I don't get it. I thought it should be Fn + F4. The numlock light is on, but the embedded numerics do not work. What am I doing wrong? Some BIOS setting or what?
I currently have a Latitude E6400 that I LOVE...except for the display. I bought it from the Outlet and it was such a good deal that I couldn't pass it up. But it has the WXGA (1280x800) CCFL display and I really wanted the WXGA+ LED.
I'm in the process of finding its replacement, again from Dell Outlet. I'm seriously thikning about stepping up a size to the E6500 and getting the WUXGA (1920x1200) display. The Outlet also has a surprising number of Precision M4400s in stock, too. I've also found several of those with the WUXGA display that I want.
I don't "need" the more powerful graphics card in the M4400. But I really like (make that- LOVE) the exterior design of the Precision
Wondering if the the CPU and / or GPU on the Precision M4400 / M6600 are user upgradeable? Both in terms of is it physically possible and how does it affect warranty. If it voids the warranty, how likely is it that they can tell that it was upgraded if you swap the oringinal components back in before sending it in.
I was all set to buy an M4400 last week until I started reading about all the bios/driver/software issues people have had with them. Is the W500 a better choice for someone looking for stability out of the box?
