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Precision M4800 i7-4940MX 57W TDP: can cooling system handle that?
Hello everyone.
I find DELL Precision M4800 to be an optimal choice for my budget at the moment. It comes with great cooling system (according to notebookcheck.net) and has good CPU on the board. Particularly these 2 components are the the major things I was looking for.
And such a combination got my curiosity.
NO video editing or CAD work expected. Audio work only.
So, at first I thought the model with i7-4940MX would fully cover all my needs. According to PassMark Benchmark, GeekBench 5, userbenchmark and similar it really does
but the problem is that all other CPU for that model (4800MQ, 4810MQ, 4900MQ, 4910MQ) have 47W TDP and cooling system is designed to handle those CPU pretty well. And I found no info about 57W TDP. All I found was only bunch of discussions about constant overheating complaints...
Moreover, on notebookcheck.net it is clearly said:
"The i7-4940MX is rated at a TDP of 57W including graphics card, memory controller and VRMs. Therefore, the CPU is only suited for laptops 17-inches or greater"
So one can think about this CPU only when choosing M6800 ? How correct is that ?
So my question is : how good is Precision M4800 with i7-4940MX in the context of cooling system ? Does it work well ? Does laptop suffer from throttling or overheating ? Or should I choose i7-4910MQ of 47W instead ?
I asked some of my local sellers, and also some Amazon sellers, and received 50/50 answer, some say it is capable to stay cool, some say no way pick the i7-4910MQ. But I dont want that one, it seems to be weaker for today's needs.
Would you please share your opinion and experience on this ?
Much obliged
ejn63
10 Elder
10 Elder
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24.8K Posts
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January 1st, 2022 07:00
Bottom line: that system was never designed to handle that CPU. You may face a no-POST (the system firmware isn't coded for it), and even if the system will POST, it'll likely run so hot the CPU throttles to the point that the MX CPU is actually slower than the MQ CPUs the system is designed to handle.
artur1884
4 Posts
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January 1st, 2022 08:00
greetings @ejn63, thanks for your reply
the M4800 model is originally equipped with i7-4940MX CPU too.
Moreover, it is also capable to work with 1866 RAM up to 16 GB.
this info is presented on official M4800 Spec Sheet
Dell-Precision-M4800-Spec-Sheet.pdf
Unfortunately there is no info in the Web about how good cooling system can maintain the 57W CPU. That's why I was looking for this here.
But the fact is that DELL itself was releasing such a configuration, so in theory it should work properly.
fyreflow
8 Posts
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January 1st, 2022 10:00
Not to be too negative, but Dell and "in theory" have historically had a rather contentious relationship, especially on the topic of thermal design. I'd be very cautious, if I were you.
Sincerely,
Just another user browsing these forums trying to solve his throttling issues.
Edit: But if you're not planning on running the GPU in a sustained fashion, the CPU would probably do just fine on it's own. Most of my problems come from when both are under load.
artur1884
4 Posts
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January 1st, 2022 13:00
greetings @fyreflow , thanks for your reply
when it comes to M4800 the CPU and GPU fans are separated and each uses its own pipe. Heat from CPU do not transfer through GPU fan when G on idle.
fyreflow
8 Posts
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January 2nd, 2022 01:00
Spotted an eBay review which might be of some use to you - it contains some info about real-world testing of this model and CPU combination:
Product: Intel Core I7 Mobile I7-4940MX 3.1 GHz Laptop Processor SR1PP CPU
Works at (almost) Full Potential on Dell M4800
First of all, it worked on the Dell Precision M4800 (I expected it since it was officially was a CPU option in their Dell website in the past). No stability issues right there.
There was an issue with the performance of the CPU (and that is likely Dell's part) is that it doesn't perform to it's specs. This is due to CPU current throttling (found out on Intel XTU) underclocking the frequency Best performance from this setup is 3.39 GHz on all 4 cores while stress test. I wish Dell can address it with their BIOS update.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-Owned | Sold by: prowlerguy111
artur1884
4 Posts
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January 2nd, 2022 06:00
well by adding this info to other messages I discovered on the Web I guess Im going to reject the idea of buying it... seems like heating will grab the power of CPU to suppress it...
well ok at least I m ok with that because I learned a lot during last days
thanks mate