Dell Precision 5510 Owner's Lounge

I'm a bit unclear on what you are attempting in your first paragraph... If you are using some sort of HDMI to DP cable, that will have the same limitations as a straight HDMI cable, the limitation is at the system-side with the HDMI port. If you want a DisplayPort signal coming out of the system you have to get it from the USB-C port. You probably don't have any USB-C DisplayPort adapters sitting around since it's a pretty new thing, but at least they are pretty cheap. I can confirm that this one is good, I used it for a long time with a 4K/60Hz monitor.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B01K51GM46

Thunderbolt and USB-C aren't the same. That is an unfortunately confusing situation. It is the case that all Thunderbolt 3 ports are also USB-C ports (they use the same connector) but the reverse is not the case, you can have USB-C-only ports that don't include Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt has much higher bandwidth and basically allows for PCIe devices to be attached externally. It also allows for a high-bandwidth display connection (fast enough for 8x 1080p 60Hz connections or 2x 4K 60Hz, over one cable). Both of these together are used by Dell for the TB16 dock.

Of the three docks that you mentioned, the Thunderbolt dock is the most capable. I've used the WD15 and it is limited to 30 Hz for a single 4K monitor, so I'm not sure if it would offer enough bandwidth to use the 1440p at the full 60 Hz (similar to HDMI which you tried already). TB16 should definitely work (but is the most expensive). D3100 is a fully USB solution, I don't know what its maximum resolution is but it has an all-software display output (the display doesn't end up attached to your GPU).

 

thanks for your help

i have a general question regarding monitor refresh rates. refresh rates are typically 60.75.120.144.165 hzs. my question, does the higher the refresh rate mean increase in clarity and sharpness of text displayed on screen or does the number of hz have no bearing on that? so for example is text on a 144hz screen going to be a lot more clearer and sharper than on a 60hz screen?

 

It does not impact sharpness at all. That is the screen resolution. On Windows 10, under Settings -> System -> Display, there is a scaling ratio ("Change the size of text..."), you can adjust that to balance between sharpness and available screen space. (Not all applications behave well for settings other than 100%, though, and you need to log out of Windows and log in again before some apps will notice the change.)

The refresh rate is the number of times per second that a new image is presented on the screen — the frame rate. If you deal with mostly static (non-changing) content then the difference between a high and low refresh rate won't be that noticeable.

 

thanks for clearing that up.

 

i mainly use my laptop for web browsing, and my cpu temperature can be anywhere between 30C and 70C. (meaning it might be in the 30's for a while and then in the 40's for a while and then in the 50's for a while and then in the 60's for a while why would my temp fluctuate so much when i am only doing the 1 task of web browsing; is it normal ?

 

I think the behaviour is normal but there are two things to examine:

(i) Run HWiNFO, select Sensors and enable Dell EC when asked. You can then see a lot of details but initially focus on the Dell EC data with temperature and the fan speed. The trigger temperatures to turn the fan on at the lowest speed and then turn it off are relatively widely separated. It turns on at over 60C but doesn't turn off until the temperature drops to about 40C.
(ii) Run Task Manager and watch the CPU usage (the Performance tab shows a graph). You will see that simple browsing can have variable CPU usage - some web pages require a lot more effort to render than others - which then causes the CPU temperature to fluctuate sometimes enough to cause the fan to wake up, sometimes not.

John

 

ok thanks . ihave disabled turbo in throttlestop and my temps are hovering in thr 30s and 40s.

 

You can also disable Turbo mode by selecting a Maximum CPU State of 99% in a power plan > Advance Settings. I have that set for battery operation as Turbo mode uses more extra power than extra work done. I prepared this graph when I first got my 5510 as it shows that the power consumption increase faster than the processor speed (the voltage has to be increased to ensure stability and power consumption is proportional to V squared).


John

 

Upgraded the BIOS from 1.6.2 to the latest 1.9, and hibernation would actually shut the system down. Updated the Intel Management Engine driver, and hibernation seemed to function properly again.

 

Yesterday I noticed I could no longer adjust screen brightness by FN+F11 or FN+F12.
Other functions keys works, like keyboard backlit.
I tried rebooting.
I’m on win10, all drivers updated.

Anyone noticed the same?
Any clue what’s going on?


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