E6420 Owner's Thread

[mr_handy]

So let me get this straight: the E6420 supports 16GB in 2 DIMM configuration??

Yes. Been working great for me, with this Corsair kit (1333mhz and not super latency, but it's cheap and reliable; some others have reported better performance with 1600mhz.)

So doing some more research: can I drive 3 external monitors with the E series dock with the 4200M?

I have not succeeded in getting it to do so.

--

Has anyone else here had problems with the Intel 520 (or other Sandforce) SSDs? I'm almost ready to bite the bullet and go back to the (much slower) Intel 320 given all the freezes (before my most recent OS reinstall) and the BSODs since.

[PowerPC]

So let me get this straight: the E6420 supports 16GB in 2 DIMM configuration??

Both the Dell and Crucial websites would have me believe otherwise and it has been holding me back from even considering the E6420.

If I can get 16GB + drive 3 external 24" monitors with a dock, I will be happy camper. Been looking at the 8460w but wouldn't mind having options.

So doing some more research: can I drive 3 external monitors with the E series dock with the 4200M?

Yes the E6420 / 6520 supports 16GB. I purchased the corsair 16gb 1600MHZ kit. WEI 7.8 Memory. I think the 1600Mhz helps graphics since Quadro 4200M only has 512MB of memory and uses system memory when the dedicated is used.

The E6420 will drive 2 monitors without dock. VGA & HDMI @ 1920x1080p or I drive 2 montiors at 1600 x 1200 with no problems.

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Memory, Laptop Memory, DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800), 16GB (2 x 8G)

[im2earle]

Check this post about three external monitors on the E6420:

E6420 - Quad Monitors - 3 External and Laptop Display

[jasondill]

So let me get this straight: the E6420 supports 16GB in 2 DIMM configuration??

Both the Dell and Crucial websites would have me believe otherwise and it has been holding me back from even considering the E6420.

If I can get 16GB + drive 3 external 24" monitors with a dock, I will be happy camper. Been looking at the 8460w but wouldn't mind having options.

So doing some more research: can I drive 3 external monitors with the E series dock with the 4200M?

I was able to drive 3 External monitors and the internal laptop monitor with the dock. I used the VGA, DVI and the DisplayPort for the external monitors. I needed an active DisplayPort adapter to DVI to use the DisplayPort. Here's a link to the adapter: Amazon.com: Accell B087B-005B UltraAV DisplayPort to DVI-D Single-Link Active Adapter ATI Certified (Black): Electronics

Here's a link to the post I made about it.
E6420 - Quad Monitors - 3 External and Laptop Display

[ellswrth]

Thanks to all who posted here about upgrading these units to 16GB. I ordered a memory kit from Critical (link) because I've been happy with their products in the past - my 6420 has their 512GB M4 SSD. Memory worked perfectly.

I was on the verge of ordering a Precision 4600 to get a 16GB laptop because I wanted three VMs on my dev system ... but now I have them without giving up the smaller lighter form factor and good battery life of my 6420.

Now I have a question though. My system has the NVidia NVS4200M video adapter. I'm not convinced however that I have it set up correctly on my W7 64bit system. When I run Windows performance it shows the Intel HD adapter.

What is the proper configuration for a system with the NVidia adapter?

[booboo12]

Thanks to all who posted here about upgrading these units to 16GB. I ordered a memory kit from Critical (link) because I've been happy with their products in the past - my 6420 has their 512GB M4 SSD. Memory worked perfectly.

I was on the verge of ordering a Precision 4600 to get a 16GB laptop because I wanted three VMs on my dev system ... but now I have them without giving up the smaller lighter form factor and good battery life of my 6420.

Now I have a question though. My system has the NVidia NVS4200M video adapter. I'm not convinced however that I have it set up correctly on my W7 64bit system. When I run Windows performance it shows the Intel HD adapter.

What is the proper configuration for a system with the NVidia adapter?

Because Optimus drives the nvidia display "data" into the intel GPU, I believe this is normal. The WEI should activate the nVidia card though, I'd check but I sold my E6420.

In the nvidia control panel you can turn on a "GPU on" indicator that you can click in the notification center/system tray of the taskbar and it'll tell you what active/running programs are causing the discrete GPU to turn on.

[Scott_RC-TEK]

...My system has the NVidia NVS4200M video adapter. I'm not convinced however that I have it set up correctly on my W7 64bit system. When I run Windows performance it shows the Intel HD adapter.

What is the proper configuration for a system with the NVidia adapter?

For the WEI to give you a representative score based on the NVIDIA GPU, you need to disable Optimus in the BIOS and then launch Windows since the OS cannot test both GPU methodologies at the same time. Once in Windows, the NVIDIA GPU will be identified and the WEI utility will report based on that. With Optimus enabled, you will only get the HD3000 score as you are seeing now. Regardless, more times than not, the HD3000 embedded GPU will give you better scores in the 6.3-6.4 range while the NVIDIA GPU will give you something in the 5.9-6.2 range. This is normal so review it with a grain of salt. The 4200M is in fact overall faster than the HD3000 with the exception of the quicksync video transcoding.

Scott-

[iamian]

Shouldn't there be an option to setup a power scheme where you can select "Max Performance" when plugged in, then "Power Save" when on batteries?

[ellswrth]

For the WEI to give you a representative score based on the NVIDIA GPU, you need to disable Optimus in the BIOS and then launch Windows since the OS cannot test both GPU methodologies at the same time. Once in Windows, the NVIDIA GPU will be identified and the WEI utility will report based on that. With Optimus enabled, you will only get the HD3000 score as you are seeing now. Regardless, more times than not, the HD3000 embedded GPU will give you better scores in the 6.3-6.4 range while the NVIDIA GPU will give you something in the 5.9-6.2 range. This is normal so review it with a grain of salt. The 4200M is in fact overall faster than the HD3000 with the exception of the quicksync video transcoding.

Scott-

So if I paraphrase that, don't focus on the Windows Performance score, just know the 4200M will perform faster? I'm not doing a great deal of graphics work so it's kind of a moot point anyway.

I understand now what Optimus is/does and how it works.

What would typically require "quicksync video transcoding"?

[speculatrix]

What would typically require "quicksync video transcoding"?

more about quicksync here:

AnandTech - The Sandy Bridge Review: Intel Core i7-2600K, i5-2500K and Core i3-2100 Tested