HP ZBook 17 G3 Owners Lounge

I am looking at exactly same upgrade, but have some doubts / questions, maybe you could help me a bit.

1. Were you able to revert later to "discrete only" Bios setting? That's crucial for me due to problem with Thunderbolt Dock.

2. Was the change to .inf necessary, if yes, could you explain a bit exactly why?

3. Are there any problem with overheating of P4000?

4. Was the performance difference between and M3000M and P4000 worth the upgrade? I tried to find some benchmarks of P4000 mobile MXM, but it looks like site do not differentiate between desktop and mobile versions of P4000.

Would really appreciate some more insight.

 

1. Were you able to revert later to "discrete only" Bios setting? That's crucial for me due to problem with Thunderbolt Dock.

- I haven't tried as i don't have a Dock. but I do know there is an issue with using and external HDMI output and performance. For some odd reason, I tried to use a 165hz dell monitor, it wouldn't work. I switched a 60hz 1080p monitor it works. I don't know why but it could be something with either the refresh rate, or G-sync compatibilty. i'm hypothesizing here.

another thing i noticed when I have the external monitor connected, i have to leave the lid on because it takes an extreme performance hit. I'm assuming there has to be some interplay between Descrete and Integrated GPU. I haven't had time to sort it out but, I leave my lid on for full performance when I connect to an external monitor.


2. Was the change to .inf necessary, if yes, could you explain a bit exactly why?

-When HP developed the laptop, it has a hardware list on what is supposed to be the laptop and what's not. hence modifying is necessary


3. Are there any problem with overheating of P4000?

-Not that i know so far. I have played a few games where it was 100% for an hour and it hovers around 60c which is nice. make sure you get extra assortment of pads of 1, 1.5, 2mm thermal pads and of course paste.

4. Was the performance difference between and M3000M and P4000 worth the upgrade? I tried to find some benchmarks of P4000 mobile MXM, but it looks like site do not differentiate between desktop and mobile versions of P4000.

-yes, this is primarily my engineering laptop, secondary games. I prior titles, I couldn't get 60FPS with the m3000m, now i can with the P4000. I haven't done any solidwork type work yet, but the games alone is a good indicator.

i can post particular test results if you wish, just tell me the test and program to compare your m3000m

 

Thanks for the quick reply

1. In my case ( on M3000M) changing Bios settings from Hybrid to Discrete Only, solved most of the problems with external displays, even with the lid closed. The performance on external displays is almost the same as on internal one.

That's why I am curious if it possible to use P4000 with Discrete Only setting instead of Hybrid one. Have you maybe tried that?

2. So in that case drivers will have to be manually edited before each update, am I right? Have you maybe experienced any problems with auto-updates?

4. No need for testing, I you say that difference was clearly noticeable, that encouraging enough for me.

 

- Discrete didn't work. I had to VNC my way in to look at the screen and restart it. Then the LCD backlight stopped working when I was in BIOS untl i put it back into hybrid. I had to shine my phone light. I got a bit worried. I'm not sure what causes it not to work.

2.)yes, I just saved the line for future reference. I actually go by HP update as it's easier to modify because it doesn't have the other OEM's on there.