14" Dell Latitude E6440 Owner's Lounge

[PanamaJoe]

Hello Tech Inferno Fan, I have a question about E6440.Is it possible to replace stock i5-4300M processor with i7-4930MX in E6440 ?I don't think about overclocking, just need to know if it would work.Sorry if it is not the right place to ask such questions, it's my very first post here.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Hello Tech Inferno Fan, I have a question about E6440.Is it possible to replace stock i5-4300M processor with i7-4930MX in E6440 ?I don't think about overclocking, just need to know if it would work.Sorry if it is not the right place to ask such questions, it's my very first post here.

Yes, you could install and use a i7-4930MX CPU in a Dell E6440 instead of the i5-4300M. Best if added a dGPU-model chunkier heatsink to eliminate thermal throttling under full 4-core load.

Though if you have an option of acquiring any CPU then I'd suggest aiming for a i7-4700MQ or i7-4710MQ (+200Mhz unlockable multis). Those are plenty to work with the stock iGPU-model cooling system.

If wanting to tinker with the dGPU model cooling system then could consider a i7-4800MQ (+600Mhz unlockable multis). To realize it's higher performance potential would requiring unlocking TDP, similar to what was done at http://forum.techinferno.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/8176-%5Bguide%5D-dell-e6530-cpu-tdp-multi-unlocking.html .

Anything faster than these CPUs that such as a i7-4930XM may end up being a waste due to either TPD or thermal throttling limiting it's performance to match these lower i7-quad CPU levels. Though there is some chance that the i7-4930XM will default to a 57W TDP locked setting instead of 47W of the aforementioned ones.

If you decide to get a i7-4930XM then I would be interested in mapping your results for http://forum.techinferno.com/throttlestop-realtemp-discussion/6958-haswell-step-backwards-ivy-bridge-i-have-some-shocking-tdp-results.html#post95181 .

[PanamaJoe]

Thanks for your quick answer.

I am in a situation where I bought i7-4930MX and looking for a laptop which would be able to use it.

I considered Lenovo T440p and Dell E6440, I prefer Dell for the price. Maybe there is another option of no-too-heavy laptop i which I can use with i7-4930MX ?

As I understand your answer I could use 4930MX without altering hardware if I lower processor parameters (such as TDP, voltage etc ?).

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Thanks for your quick answer.

I am in a situation where I bought i7-4930MX and looking for a laptop which would be able to use it.

I considered Lenovo T440p and Dell E6440, I prefer Dell for the price. Maybe there is another option of no-too-heavy laptop i which I can use with i7-4930MX ?

As I understand your answer I could use 4930MX without altering hardware if I lower processor parameters (such as TDP, voltage etc ?).

You can use the i7-4930XM in a E6440 without any modifications. No need to manually alter any parameters.

E6440 is a nicer machine than a T440p so I understand entirely why you are looking at one.

If looking at Lenovo then I'd suggest consider the cheaper L440 which betters the T440p by offering an expresscard slot.

If you can go 15" then there are other great options like a Dell E6540/M2800, Lenovo W540 or HP ZBook 15. All with an expresscard. The W540 with a Thunderbolt1 port. The HP ZBook 15 G2 comes with a Thunderbolt2 port, perfect for very high performance eGPU use. Though these workstation class systems are not cheap.

[PanamaJoe]

Nando4, thanks for your answers !

I will share my results of i7-4930MX and E6440.

[bwenjamin]

Hi Nando4, taking your advice and just purchased myself a e6440 from an overstock warehouse -- comes with the stock i5 and dGPU Raedon. hoping to set up an eGPU with a nvidia quadro card, so first step will be to retrofit an EC card into the slot (which should be about an US$ 80 procedure, does that sound right?). only other mod i'm planning right now is a CPU upgrade to a i7 quad. anticipating some heat problems there, but will deal with that when i get to it.

when i get the eGPU running, will the dGPU be fine if left enabled for the internal screen? hoping to have a "desktop" set up with an eGPU and external monitors but leave the Raedon card enabled for better graphics on the go, if that makes any sense. also, will it be possible to set up an x2 link with these components?

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Hi Nando4, taking your advice and just purchased myself a e6440 from an overstock warehouse -- comes with the stock i5 and dGPU Raedon. hoping to set up an eGPU with a nvidia quadro card, so first step will be to retrofit an EC card into the slot (which should be about an US$ 80 procedure, does that sound right?). only other mod i'm planning right now is a CPU upgrade to a i7 quad. anticipating some heat problems there, but will deal with that when i get to it.

when i get the eGPU running, will the dGPU be fine if left enabled for the internal screen? hoping to have a "desktop" set up with an eGPU and external monitors but leave the Raedon card enabled for better graphics on the go, if that makes any sense. also, will it be possible to set up an x2 link with these components?

Not sure what the EC retrofit parts cost in the US. I'd say it should be less than US$80. The procedure itself is very easy.

As you'll be acquiring the dGPU model, you'll have the better heatsink.

@Atonus too acquired the dGPU E6440, did the eGPU upgrade and a i7-quad. Unfortunately haven't heard any reports back to the E6440 community here on his experiences, eg: i7-quad temps, how to configure the eGPU. What I do know is from private correspondance that the dGPU model E6440 must boot without the eGPU powered on. That means either hotplugging after boot or using PCI Reset Delay mechanisms on the eGPU adapter. Once side effect there is the A.07 bios will set the EC port to Gen1 speed. Downgrading to A.02 will leave it set to Gen2.

x2 2.0 is not possible on a E6440 as the port layout doesn't support it. It would be possible on a E6430 after some quite technical mods (flashing modified BIOS). These tidbits are covered in the opening post.

I have my E6440 setup with an eGPU-attached external LCD, USB keyboard and mouse. It functions pretty much like a desktop system.

[bwenjamin]

thanks Tech Inferno Fan. one other pre-purchase question for you or @Atonus:

does the RST in the e6440 allow for either of the following setups:

(1) RAID1 between storage SSDs in the ODD and mSATA slot?

(2) RAID5 between all three disks?

[Tech Inferno Fan]

thanks Tech Inferno Fan. one other pre-purchase question for you or @Atonus:

does the RST in the e6440 allow for either of the following setups:

(1) RAID1 between storage SSDs in the ODD and mSATA slot?

(2) RAID5 between all three disks?

I'm using only the primary SSHD so can't comment. Though perusal of the same gen 15.6" Dell M4800 workstation datasheet with the same storage options does give the RAID0/1/5 options as you suggest. Relevant snippet from that datasheet quoted below:

Support for three storage devices: one 2.5" drive in easy eject drive bay; one 2.5" drive in optical bay caddy; one solid state Mini-Card

..

Optional RAID 0 or 1 (requires minimum of two storage devices); Optional RAID 5 (requires three storage devices)

There's a very high chance the same applies to the E6440 after applying the RAID_unlock.

If you go ahead and configure a E6440 in such arrangement, please provide feedback to this thread so we can have 100% confirmation of this unlocked functionality.

[orioon]

Just received an E6440 with A08 preinstalled.

Here is the changelog for this new Bios by the way:

Fixes:

-Fixed UEFI BIOS vulnerability.

-Fixed Ethernet device is not shown under UEFI Shell.

-Fixed large external USB3.0 device connected could make system fail to boot in UEFI mode.

-Fixed system fails to resume from sleep when network controller is disabled.

-Set Intel Chipset feature "Daylight Savings" disabled, let "Daylight Savings" be handled by Operating System.

Enhancements:

-Reduced boot time to PXE.

-Updated Intel CPU microcode.

-Updated Intel Graphics VBIOS to 2178v15.

-Updated Intel GOP to 5.0.1037v16.

-Supported Embedded DisplayPort panel.

I am thinking about flashing back to A07, I hate Dell's policy on files that were withdrawn.

They never state a reason why they did that.

Can I somehow dump the Bios for you?

[oflo23]

I have a couple of Dell e7440 laptops that I would love to have RAID 0 enabled on. I tried following this RAID_UNLOCK but I get a unsupported platform when attempting to run fptw command. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Tech Inferno Fan]

I have a couple of Dell e7440 laptops that I would love to have RAID 0 enabled on. I tried following this RAID_UNLOCK but I get a unsupported platform when attempting to run fptw command. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Use I present you a tool to decompress Dell UEFI BIOS (JimboBobB@MDL) to extract the raw E7440 BIOS file from Dell's distribution EXE instead. Confirmed works with Dell E6440 file. A workaround to the depreciated "-writehdr" option.

[fimbulvetr]

A friendly note on how well this works.

I bought the 7MGPK from pchub. It took several weeks to get here, but it did arrive and it is a dell part. However, the length is a little long and took a little convincing to fit in the provided space. This isn't a big deal, just an fyi. Anyone should be able to overcome.

What's more interesting is the 1680x945 screen. I purchased the linked one (14 0" 1680x945 LED Screen for Dell Latitude E6430 LCD Laptop | eBay) (from a great seller, btw - they refunded me 100% for shipping to the wrong address when I ordered again).

When I had the laptop apart to disassemble, I plugged in everything before reassembly to ensure it actually worked (remember, if you have new hardware and a bios password, you need to turn off the password for it to detect new hardware. This made for an interesting endevour when I installed http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006ALDTRO, which works BTW ).

Upon booting, gnome recognized it as just a regular 1600x900 screen. I have't had a lot of time to confirm this, as my next issue was this: The LCD is actually a bit too big for the plastic guides and is going to take remove of the LCD rails and light dremeling of the outer lcd plastic to fit. Both the OEM and replacement screen claim 12x7.4 dimensions to fit, though I haven't confirmed either because I had to reassemble.

The only other issue was the the 40pin on the lcd is on the right side of the laptop (towards cdrom bay) and the cable (oem and aforementioned replacement) both end at the left side. I had to order: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M16YAZW - which I haven't tested yet but I assume it works even for 2 channel LVDS.

Does anyone have advice on the LCD being slightly too large?

<A name="lcdupgrade"></A>System mod: LCD upgrade

NOTE: The Intel iGPU Control panel mistakenly lists the LCD as being eDP as explained.

768P->900P is possible as a user upgrade. Required is swapping the HD 1ch LVDS cable for the 2ch LVDS HD+ and of course changing the 768P LCD for a 900P one. The two different LVDS cables available for a E6440 are:

7MGPK - ASSY CBL LVDS HD+ E6440

W5JMV - ASSY CBL LVDS HD E6440

My system came from the factory with a 900P AUO B140RTN02.2 panel with Dell p/n 0M4RTT. I find brightness and viewing angles quite satisfactory. A photo of my 900P LCD's model labelling is in the spoiler below.

1080P or higher resolution : not possible since the E6440 uses a LVDS rather than eDP internal LCD interface. The max resolution available in 14" LVDS is usually 1600x900, representing 37% more viewing area than 1366x768. Though ebay has 14" 1680x945 LVDS LCDs, giving an additional 10% more viewing area over 1600x900 or 51% over 1366x768.

[oflo23]

Use I present you a tool to decompress Dell UEFI BIOS (JimboBobB@MDL) to extract the raw E7440 BIOS file from Dell's distribution EXE instead. Confirmed works with Dell E6440 file. A workaround to the depreciated "-writehdr" option.

Was able to get RAID0 turned on and working on a Dell Precision e7440. BIOS A11.

I know BIOS A12 was just released but I don't think I'll be updating to that any time soon - don't see the need.

Thank you @Tech Inferno Fan for the help.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Was able to get RAID0 turned on and working on a Dell Precision e7440. BIOS A11.

I know BIOS A12 was just released but I don't think I'll be updating to that any time soon - don't see the need.

Thank you @Tech Inferno Fan for the help.

It would be handy for the owner of that popular system to have a easy-to-follow guide on how they can RAID_UNLOCK their systems. Did you wish to create such a guide and submit it as a new post in this area? It means too I could remove the E7440-related posts from this E6440 owner's thread.

[Primergy]

Has anyone actually upgraded their cooler from pn:VTNGR to pn:GXC1X ?! If so, pictures, or it did not happen

I received my cooler and realized motherboards with & without dedicated graphics are so different, the CPU is not even in the same spot!

Aligning the screws of the cooler around the processor on a board with no dedicated graphics (VTNGR cooler), a GXC1X cooler will stick out of the laptop by ~1/2in!

In order to make it fit, you will have to eliminate the flange as mentioned prev., but also cut into the plate, covering the fan, connected to the heatpipe.

You then will need to dislodge the heatpipe from the section that cools a dedicated graphics chip, dremel some more material away to bend the heatpipe in a different angle to make the whole contraption shorter.

I might try this for fun, but I doubt it will be pretty. In addition, you already loose some cooling because the fan surrounding (all metal) and the massive block from the GPU cooler is no longer connected to the heatpipe.

OR - I will just chop up the grille / trim piece and have it stick out. Ghetto but less work, hah. It's not like one would waste a whole chassis.

I can make a picture, comparing the two coolers on the underside of my nekkid laptop if there is interest.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Has anyone actually upgraded their cooler from pn:VTNGR to pn:GXC1X ?! If so, pictures, or it did not happen

I received my cooler and realized motherboards with & without dedicated graphics are so different, the CPU is not even in the same spot!

Aligning the screws of the cooler around the processor on a board with no dedicated graphics (VTNGR cooler), a GXC1X cooler will stick out of the laptop by ~1/2in!

In order to make it fit, you will have to eliminate the flange as mentioned prev., but also cut into the plate, covering the fan, connected to the heatpipe.

You then will need to dislodge the heatpipe from the section that cools a dedicated graphics chip, dremel some more material away to bend the heatpipe in a different angle to make the whole contraption shorter.

I might try this for fun, but I doubt it will be pretty. In addition, you already loose some cooling because the fan surrounding (all metal) and the massive block from the GPU cooler is no longer connected to the heatpipe.

OR - I will just chop up the grille / trim piece and have it stick out. Ghetto but less work, hah. It's not like one would waste a whole chassis.

I can make a picture, comparing the two coolers on the underside of my nekkid laptop if there is interest.

Thank you for your input here.

Yes, would you mind graphically comparing the screw mount points and heatsinks. The suggestion on the first page of upgrading the heatsink to the dGPU model was based purely on visual inspection of web images. No practical application was ever made. Yours is the first documented attempt so if the heatsink doesn't fit with the extra dGPU component dremelled off, then that suggestion will be rectified on the opening post.

[john66]

Hello, do you know if it is possible to retrofit smart card contactless reader into E6440 which was configured without it?

[john66]

Just received an E6440 with A08 preinstalled.

Here is the changelog for this new Bios by the way:

Fixes:

-Fixed UEFI BIOS vulnerability.

-Fixed Ethernet device is not shown under UEFI Shell.

-Fixed large external USB3.0 device connected could make system fail to boot in UEFI mode.

-Fixed system fails to resume from sleep when network controller is disabled.

-Set Intel Chipset feature "Daylight Savings" disabled, let "Daylight Savings" be handled by Operating System.

Enhancements:

-Reduced boot time to PXE.

-Updated Intel CPU microcode.

-Updated Intel Graphics VBIOS to 2178v15.

-Updated Intel GOP to 5.0.1037v16.

-Supported Embedded DisplayPort panel.

I am thinking about flashing back to A07, I hate Dell's policy on files that were withdrawn.

They never state a reason why they did that.

Can I somehow dump the Bios for you?

You can download A8 bios from dell website: http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER02413732M/1/E6440A08.exe

[Primergy]

Thank you for your input here.

Yes, would you mind graphically comparing the screw mount points and heatsinks. The suggestion on the first page of upgrading the heatsink to the dGPU model was based purely on visual inspection of web images. No practical application was ever made. Yours is the first documented attempt so if the heatsink doesn't fit with the extra dGPU component dremelled off, then that suggestion will be rectified on the opening post.

Sorry for the delay. Only now got to this.

You can also swap the fans. Fan size and fan housing dimensions are 100% identical. The only difference is that the fan from the GXC1X cooler has a .08A higher rating and moves slightly more air.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Sorry for the delay. Only now got to this.

You can also swap the fans. Fan size and fan housing dimensions are 100% identical. The only difference is that the fan from the GXC1X cooler has a .08A higher rating and moves slightly more air.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13788[/ATTACH]

Absolutely correct. I do see it by comparison of your above pic to the comparison pics posted at http://forum.techinferno.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/6980-14-dell-latitude-e6440-owners-lounge.html#post95575.

There we see the dGPU model has the CPU heatsink mounted slightly further to the left. This means the whole heatsink+fan is wider than the iGPU-model one, hence trial-fitting it to the iGPU-model results in it extending outside the chassis to the right.

So yes, the dGPU-model heatsink CANNOT be retrofitted easily to the iGPU-model. I've struck out comments on the opening page that suggested it.

Easiest way to do it, if at all possible, would be to unweld the heatpipe from the CPU-mounting heatsink, move it slightly right, then weld it back on. I'm guess the offset would be about 10mm.

The complexity in attempting the heatsink retrofit will surely result in a higher demand for the dGPU model for those wanting coolest CPU performance.

[m3drvr]

It turns out that Dell did indeed turn of any RAID settings and hid it from the common user. Or rather didn't make it visible. What you have to do to enable RAID on the Dell Latitude E6440 is:

- Download https://www.sendspace.com/<wbr>file/bouk3i

It's a flash toolkit by Intel with additional batch scripts mostly for Asus boards. You can use fptw to dump your current or flash a new BIOS.

- Extract it to C:\. The new path should be "C:\FTK8_0.11\Windows"

You can extract it, where you want. However, it will be easier to handle the next steps, if it is C:\.

- Start > type "cmd" > right click > Open as Administrator.

You need full rights to run fptw.exe

- Type "cd C:\FTK8_0.11\Windows" to change your current directory to the toolkit folder

- Type "fptw.exe -D backup.rom -BIOS"

This command will create a dump (-D) of the BIOS section (-BIOS) to the file backup.rom. The Management Engine section for example is read/write protected, so it won't be possible to do a full dump.

Then you can open the dump with "UEFITool" (just search for it on Google), then search for and extract the module SetupPrep, when you find it, run it trough the "Universal IFR extractor" which will generate a text document of the input. I attached my text document down below so that you can compare. [ATTACH]12981[/ATTACH]

Your link to get the flash toolkit is invalid btw.

Can you please provide a link or something for this "UEFITool" as I can't find that anywhere? I was able to make a dump of the A07 Bios but now I can't find anyway to open it successfully. I have everything else in this post ready, but this is a very key component that is definitely not easy to find! Been trying to find something for the past 4 hours to do this but no way!

Edit: So i found the UEFITool. Was able to extract the contents, but upon opening in the IFR tool it always said unknown protocol. I gave up as it wasn't that overly important to me to get the BIOS modified.

On a side note, has anyone tried using 2133Mhz RAM on these laptops with the i7 4800MQ? I was going to go with the 1866 but then saw that the 2133 is only $10 more and thought maybe i'd give it a try.

[rikwatson]

This may be idiot question of the day, but is there a way to upgrade HD to a fully solid state drive, to replace the ST500LM000 hybrid I've got? I'm using my laptop on and off in the car through the day when I get bits of free time and the SSD is pretty slow to boot up (even from hibernation/sleep). My wife's cheaper and much more basic Samsung with 256 SSD is unbelievably rapid to wake up and be ready to work.

I've read some intel on SSD's in the msata slot (bit beyond me but I'd get a pro to look at it for me) but I'm unsure if this would give me lightening boot speeds?

Any help appreciated.

Rick

[Tech Inferno Fan]

This may be idiot question of the day, but is there a way to upgrade HD to a fully solid state drive, to replace the ST500LM000 hybrid I've got? I'm using my laptop on and off in the car through the day when I get bits of free time and the SSD is pretty slow to boot up (even from hibernation/sleep). My wife's cheaper and much more basic Samsung with 256 SSD is unbelievably rapid to wake up and be ready to work.

I've read some intel on SSD's in the msata slot (bit beyond me but I'd get a pro to look at it for me) but I'm unsure if this would give me lightening boot speeds?

Any help appreciated.

Rick

Two options for you (1) use a mSATA SSD as either a caching drive or a dedicated OS/boot drive or (2) replace the 2.5" HDD with a 2.5" SSD. Doing either will improve your bootup speed however having just a single SSD will give better battery life. HP quote SSD configured machines as getting 15% longer battery life than those using a HDD.

[Nobodys]

a long time ago I send you a msg about EGPU questions. At this moment I want to buy a second Laptop because sometimes two machines are necessary to try stuff out. I found a good offer for the HP 2570P with the minimum specs… 4GB RAM 1 Dimm, i5-3210M (2,5 Ghz), 250 GB HDD.

I saw you prefer the E6440 somehow. The Dell is sold for 400-550 Bucks… would you suggest to spend more money for the new machine? I want to run my EGPU at this machine and use it as a Desktop replacement. For mobility I have my x230T fully upgraded with 16GB Ram, 1.5 TB HDD etc.

Would be nice to hear a suggestion before I go for the new machine. I didn’t get your point “EC retrofit parts are C7XN3 H2C8D <- What do you mean with that major missing feature? I plan to upgrade the 2570P with a SSD, 4GB extra RAM and maybe a new quad core I7. Around 200 bucks for upgrade I think...