1640 Throttling - post here

Okay so the tech came by...he replaced almost everything on my computer (chassis, motherboard, processor).
Maybe slightly better than before (the computer heats a little bit less since the tech replaced thermal paste and cleaned the heatsink) but the multiplier still drops to 3x or 6x after like 20-30mn on Prime+Furmark.

The tech said he couldn't do more, Dell contacted me by email to ask if the intervention did resolve my issue, I replied that it didn't, waiting for their answer now...

 

20 or 30 minutes? That just sounds like thermal throttling more than the Dell BIOS throttling.

My multiplier was dropping almost instantly when running Prime95 and Furmark.

 

My multiplier is dropping instantly with the 90W PSU too.
But not with 130W + A14 BIOS...did you flash the BIOS after the tech replaced your motherboard ?
(But yes I think the throttling I can see is due to heating)

 

Yep, I flashed the latest BIOS and was using the 130W adapter...and it still throttled after a few seconds.

 

Hey guys,

I found this link on another forum, and had to come and investigate this throttling issue because my Dell XPS 1640 runs like an absolute pig. Always freezing even in games even in Team Fortress 2 which isn't the most power hungry game around.

Is there a surefire way that I can investigate this problem and see if my laptop does indeed throttle? And if so what can I do about it? I purchased my Dell XPS 1640 1 year and 3 months ago and have been dealing with bad performance ever since.

Base System -Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T9550 (2.66GHz/ 1
1066 FSB/6MB Cache)
Memory -6GB (1x4GB/1x2GB) 1067MHz DDR3 SDRAM 1
Hard Drives -500GB SATA Hard Drive 1
Video Card -512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670 1

They are my crucial system stats, and I also have the following warranty with Dell Australia

Dell Services: Hardware M -3-year XPS Premier Service with 3-year CompleteCover 1

-3 Years Priority PC User 24x7 Support (Round-The- 1
Clock Technical Assistance)

-3 Years Complete Cover Accidental Damage Protection 1

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

Okay I was just reading about throttlestop on here, I've ran the program while playing TF2 and I'm pretty sure I am experiencing the throttle issue.

I have attached my throttlestop log below.

 

If it squeals like a pig then it's a Dell Throttling Pig. Your log file clearly shows endless throttling while you are trying to play.

Have you phoned Dell yet and asked them to send you an upgraded 130 watt power adapter? It's free for the asking if you can find someone at Dell that knows what's going on with these laptops. That and the latest bios will help but you might still need to run ThrottleStop to get decent performance.

If you still have throttling issues like many users have after this upgrade then it's time to phone Dell again and ask for a replacement laptop that actually delivers the advertised performance. For many users, the XPS 1640 is defective with no signs that it will ever be properly fixed. Good luck on the Dell merry-go-round. If you have any questions about what the log file is telling you, just ask.

I can't see any clock modulation going on. Both columns are at 100% but the multiplier is sagging down to as low as 3.00. That's horrible. Turn off SLFM while gaming. When you put a check mark in the Set Multiplier box of ThrottleStop and try to force your multiplier to its maximum like it should be, that might cause the bios to fight back and start using clock modulation. Forcing that to 100% and forcing the multiplier might cause your 90 watt power adapter to shut down. If that happens, you need to power cycle it by unplugging it and plugging it back in. If you have any kids in the house, keep them away from the power adapter when gaming. They might lose a layer of skin when it heats up.

 

Thanks for your reply unclewebb, I will be calling Dell today to notify them of this problem. It's pretty annoying to now understand that all that terrible performance was due to an inherent flaw in the XPS 1640.

I was thinking of selling it recently because the performance was that bad, it is basically used as an internet box now only using it to check emails or browse forums and there are a hell of a lot of laptops out there that do it for thousands less than I paid.

 

Inherent design flaw is what you have to keep hammering Dell with. They have not yet come up with a fix for this problem so stand your ground when talking to them and escalate things as high up as it takes for Dell to come up with an acceptable solution.

 

Thanks for your help mate. I called Dell this morning and updated the BIOS to A14. It still throttles, the tech guy didn't know of the problem and was insinuating that it may be the GPU or RAM, I have now e-mailed Dell Technical Support in Australia with all of my details so hopefully I can see some progress soon.

I was hoping to purchase a Dell U2410 monitor but not so sure now, hopefully Dell can fix this problem for me and I will grab a new monitor for my desktop once my laptop is back on the road.

 

I just don't buy this line anymore. There are threads here on NBR that have hit over 400 pages where the discussion has been non-stop about Dell's throttling issues for the last 6 months. There have also been huge discussions on the Dell forums about the same thing. It's not like you're the very first customer to call Dell to complain about this issue.

Any tech that claims to know nothing about throttling Dell laptops must have been in jail for the last 6 months in solitary confinement. By saying that he knows nothing means he is either a liar and has been told not to admit to anything or he is so far out of the loop that he doesn't have a clue to what's going on. Either way, I wouldn't want him working on my computer.

Edit: I just went to Google and typed in:

XPS 1640 throttling

and got 48,900 results. Next time the tech shows up tell him that he needs to get up to speed on this issue. If someone told me about a problem that I knew nothing about that's the first thing I'd do so I didn't look like a buffoon.

 

So I've had my XPS1640 for over a year now, and since I've got it I've experienced frequent problems:

2 HDD failures
1 RAM failure
1 Keyboard failure.

Anyway, after my latest HDD failure, I've reinstalled my computer with 7 and such, and I'm pretty sure I'm seeing some power throttling happening. Frame rate dropping dramatically where it shouldn't drop. Frame drops from like 40+ down to 15+ and such. If theres any way to get proof then that would be good.

So what should I do? Some of you guys talk throttlestop and such? Or do I have a good case for a replacement already?

 

It never hurts to download ThrottleStop and run a log file with it while gaming. It's pretty hard for Dell to argue with the numbers it collects directly from the CPU and might save you a round or two of hassles when talking with them. It's good when you can phone up and say I know what the problem is so you don't have to listen to too much nonsense from some of the level 1 reps.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mh1wn2njmg4

Upload it somewhere like sendspace or mediafire and post a link to it here and I'll tell you what I see if it is not obvious.

 

Yeah I agree, it's hard not to know about this problem now, I just wish I found out about it earlier or thought to check the multiplier under load because I've been dealing with terrible performance for far too long.

Thankfully there has been some developments in my case but unfortunately there hasn't been a fix for the throttling issue which I am sure doesn't come as a surprise to most of you.

Dell sent a technician around today and I explained the throttling issue to him and also showed him prime95 / furmark / throttlestop running. He initially replaced the CPU / Chipset / GPU heatsink and fan which didn't fix the throttling problem, still there after some more furmark / prime95 testing.

So after that he went on to replace the motherboard which was a long and arduous task, after all of that and turning the computer back on it was still throttling. I think the new motherboard was shipped with A12 BIOS which I later updated to A14 BIOS and alas it still throttled.

One more call back to dell and I explained it still hasn't fixed the problem, and supposedly the technician is being sent back to replace a "Thermal Interface". I questioned the phone tech what this was and he said it was something between the CPU / Heatsink, wasn't clear to me at the time but after further investigation I am pretty sure the technician is just coming back to reseat the heatsink with Thermal Paste ( haven't heard it referred to as thermal interface before ).

Will let you guys know how it goes after the "thermal interface" is replaced but I highly doubt this will fix it, if in fact it is just replacing the thermal paste as he did all of that right in-front of my eyes already. Really starting to get to the end of my tether with this problem.

 

Some people refer to the paste that is used between the CPU and the heatsink as TIM. Thermal Interface Material.

The call center and the tech are still assuming that this must be some sort of temperature related problem when the biggest part of the problem is throttling due to an inadequate power supply. It tells you a lot when they send out a new motherboard and don't even include the latest bios which was supposed to fix this issue. You would think that a high tech company like Dell would have a private database that a tech could go to and learn about the latest issues with a specific model.

Have they given you a 130 watt adapter yet? Without that and the latest bios there isn't a hope. Even with that, many users are still having problems.

Dell sold you a defective product that they can not fix. After the next visit by the tech, it's time to ask for a new computer that can perform at the advertised specs and not one that throttles back to 10% of the rated specs when you're trying to use it.

 

I've had my M1640 for about a year and a half now, warranty expired around March. I noticed this problem (didn't know what caused it) around November when I would be playing games such as BF2, Borderlands, and Mass Effect 2. I would have a steady 30fps game that slows down to a trickle 1-2fps after about 15 minutes or so.

I just dismissed the problem as the computer not being strong enough to run it and dealt with it. My stupid mind couldn't accept the idea it might have been a potential defect. If I had known better, I would have called Dell immediately.

My Specs (via Speccy):
CPU: Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8600 @2.40GHz
Ram 4GB DDR3 @532MHz
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670
Motherboard: Dell Inc. 0U785D (U2E1) Intel PM45 Chipset
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Power Supply: 90watts

I also ran the Throttlestop program, and I have attached the log file with the post. Not sure what all the numbers mean, but the "Multi" going from 9.00 to 6.00 doesnt seem right.

I called up Dell to see if they can assist me for solutions to the problem...and well...

They wanted charge me $59.99 to just to talk to them, $199 to ship it to them to fix it and send it back to me, and another $299 if they want to replace the motherboard and LCD. They assured me that the fixedPC will have a 90 day warranty after it is shipped back to me that they will fix it for no extra charge. I have yet to decide if I want to go ahead with this.

After reading many of the posts here, I have noticed that many of these systems just end up not being fixed, and must convince DELL for a replacement system.

I feel like I have a long and frustrating road ahead of me to fix this defect, so I was wondering if I could get some on what advice on what to do next. Thanks!

 

If Dell doesn't want to come up with a solution for you then I would suggest getting a PA-4E or similar 130 watt power adapter and then use ThrottleStop to help reduce the amount of throttling. It's not a perfect solution but the slow downs to 2 fps will be a lot less severe.

The XPS 1640 is defective. It was defective and throttling the day you bought it and Dell has done nothing to fix it. This is like paying extra for a V8 car and discovering that the manufacturer forgot to put 6 of the pistons in.

The log file clearly shows that Dell is using chipset clock modulation to significantly slow your CPU down well beyond what the reduced multiplier is already doing to your performance. The percentage numbers are an approximation according to Intel but they give you a good idea of how severe the throttling problems is. Clock modulation tells the CPU to do nothing when it should be working at full speed.

A 6 multiplier combined with a chipset clock modulation (CHIPM) reading of 37.5% is equivalent to an average multiplier of about 2.25 compared to the 9 multiplier that you paid for. Your CPU is performing at 25% of the level that Intel designed it to perform at.

I would send an email to the Michael Dell address that is listed in a few different threads here and let them know that you finally discovered the real problem with your laptop. Most users here have been on warranty still so I'm not sure what they will be willing to do for you.

It takes a long time for class action lawsuits to work their way through the court system. That's nothing new to Dell but it might be a while before the next class action lawsuit starts to cover the XPS 1640 and the rest of the throttling laptops that Dell has built during the last 2 years.

UPDATE 2-Dell Canada loses appeal to halt class action suit | Reuters





This T8100 uses a 200 MHz bus speed so I locked the multiplier to 9.0 for the first benchmark and then ran the second benchmark with the 6.0 multiplier and a Clock Modulation setting of 37.5%. At these throttled settings, it took 5 times longer to complete the benchmark. It took 100.605 seconds to complete the bench twice at full speed and 507.549 seconds to do it twice when throttled.

100.605 / 507.549 = 0.198 or 19.8% of the rated performance. That's even a little worse than predicted. You can do your own wPrime test by using ThrottleStop to manually lock the multiplier at 6.0 and the chipset clock modulation at 37.5%. The numbers will be different but the percentage results will be very similar.

 

Hello again,

Yeah I know, I am convinced it is a defective product and I am swiftly losing faith in dell. I requested the 130W adapter last week but called yesterday only to find out it wasn't en route, as they thought it wouldn't fix the problem. I wasn't notified about that so had to pursue it myself.

Anyway I was finally sent the 130W power adapter but it still hasn't fixed the throttling problem. I was just on the phone to Dell reporting the news only to be asked to send the laptop in to their engineers so they can rectify it.

I fail to see how my laptop will be miraculously fixed considering Dell have known about the issue for over a year and it seems nothing has/can be done about it. Not extremely interested in having more of my time wasted, God only knows how long it would sit at their office being "fixed".

The lady is getting back to me either today or tomorrow, but supposedly according to her replacements can only be issued within 90 days of the purchase date.. Obviously this is misinformation as someone on here had their laptop replaced after 6 months+. So much of my time has been wasted and productivity lost, I just want a laptop that works as advertised so I can get on with my life.

 

With the 130W adapter and by using ThrottleStop, can you at least make your computer usable without any major throttling episodes? Compared to endlessly dealing with Dell, that might be your best option.

 

I have not done any Throttle Stop testing but I'll add my fairly certain voice to all this.

I recently started playing a bit of Age of Empires Three a game released...

October 18, 2005

with min system requirements of...

Windows XP
A computer that has a 1.4 gigahertz (GHz) processor
256 megabytes (MB) of system RAM
A hard disk that has at least 2 gigabytes (GB) of available space
A 32x speed CD drive
A 64 MB video card that supports Hardware Transform and Lighting
An audio card and speakers or headphones
A Microsoft mouse or a compatible pointing device
A 56.6 kilobytes per second (KBps) or faster Internet connection for online play
DirectX 9.0c

Now there is a chance that my problem was from playing over LAN but I am inclined to doubt that. Either way the game preforms HORRIBLY even in quite small matches.

I'll do a throttle stop test in the next couple of days to verify but I am pretty sure throttling is the issue here.

 

Dell used to be able to build laptops that could run Prime95 Small FFTs + Furmark at the same time. Why are their newer models so under designed that you can't run the CPU and GPU at full load anymore?

When complaining to Dell, maybe show them this picture and ask them to explain why the XPS 1640 throttles like crazy during this test.



An old Latitude D830 at 2.10 GHz runs cool and quiet and doesn't throttle the CPU or GPU one bit during a half hour of pure torture while the XPS 1640 struggles to play a 5 year old game.

 

I thought I had some malware or virus taking up CPU usage at first during high CPU usage such as Photoshop, 3D rendering, and the occasional game. Random spikes in CPU thats stays at 100% for about 3 min then goes back to normal for about 8 min.

Glad I found this thread. Called Dells business line, ran a diagnostic and wanted to connect to my laptop. As soon as I mentioned the 90W power strip they put me on hold and told me they would be shipping a replacement 130W. I hope this works with throttlestop.

Wish I didnt have to use a third party program and Dell would do the right thing and fix this though.

 

When a CPU is being throttled to death, it is running internally at a fraction of its rated speed and can't accomplish nearly as much. That results in Task Manager reporting that it is fully loaded or close to it. Your CPU is trying to work hard but it's not accomplishing too much. I think a ThrottleStop log file is going to answer a lot of your questions and clear up what's going on with your laptop.

ThrottleStop plus a 130 watt adapter might improve things but your best bet is to keep fighting with Dell until they give you something that can perform as advertised. The XPS 1640 is defective and can not.

 

When I minimize a game and open task manager it reports that task manager is using 30-40% of the CPU.

I verified the throttling with CPU-Z and the normal multiplier is 10 x 266Mhz with the T9550 2.66Ghz. When this throttling occurs the multiplier goes down to 8 x 266MHz which is 2.1GHz. I have not verified temps but to the touch the laptop is warm but not scalding.

I got my 130W adapter overnighted from Dell. And will try throttle stop along with A14 BIOS.

I dont what arguing with Dell will do for anyone. What do you expect them to do over this problem?

 

Hello, 1640 owner here. Latest bios.

Throttling is occuring in 3d games (counter strike source) this way:

still in some point of the game, frames per second with rgb led monitor at 100% lum: 140,120,90,140,120,90 and so on, at 1 second intervals.

turn lum to 0% = 140fps, stable.

Clearly a power issue, should i call dell and ask for a 130w adapter? would it solve the problem? Thanks,

Marco

 

It will help but not cure.

 

I have occasionally had this issue even when doing things I consider fairly relaxed (watching videos on Hulu.)

In your experience what kind of struggle would i be looking at if I pushed for this to be replaced with a studio 17?

 

The front line Dell workers are programmed to brush you off and dismiss your problems as specific to you and your laptop. They are likely discouraged from admitting that the XPS 1640 is defective so it's up to you to stand firm and ask for whatever you can get out of them. You will have to waste a lot of time to get anything but keep trying.

There's no guarantee that the Studio 17 will be free from throttling issues. Throttling is a problem for many, many, many Dell laptops built during the last 2 years. No matter what you buy, if it has a dedicated Nvidia or ATI GPU, you will need to immediately start testing, the moment you get it.

The XPS 1645 had some major throttling issues last December when Dell initially shipped this model with a completely inadequate 90 watt adapter. That's been upgraded to a 130 watt adapter, the bios has been updated and the ATI GPU has been updated but there are still people having throttling issues with this new and improved model. When you can't even play a game for 10 minutes without severe throttling, that's a problem.

I don't know what part of this Dell doesn't understand. You wouldn't think that they could get away with building one throttling laptop after another but they seem to be getting away with it. Most users just assume that it's not powerful enough. The CPU and GPU are plenty powerful enough if Dell would include an adequate power adapter and a proper cooling solution.

 

Unclewebb, just downloaded your Throttlestop program.
But ... (and this is going to be a REALLY STUPID question, I know) ... I can't find the instructions on how to use it? Can you please help?

I'm interested to know whether my unit is affected with this problem or not.

 

When ThrottleStop is running, try pushing the F1 key on the keyboard. That's the standard help button in Windows. You can also look in the downloaded folder for a file called ThrottleStopDocs.html. It needs updating but hopefully there is enough info in there to answer some of your questions.

 

I think Dell is just trying to protect their butts by throttling the CPU so it does get too hot. More people would complain about a hot laptop than a intermitent CPU spike which only affects those gaming on this laptop.

Now the issue with the screen covering the exhaust ports is another story which I dont know what the engineers were thinking.

 

When a user spends extra money for a dedicated GPU, he should be able to run that and the CPU at the same time without the CPU throttling to a tiny fraction of its rated speed. The sales page never mentioned this "feature".

 

Made my first call to Dell today took me about and hour and a half to talk to any one useful.

They pretty much brushed me off and told me to update the bios and a video card driver and after the long wait I wasn't feeling up to a fight.

Will call them back tomorrow.

Also dell chat has apparently been dis-abled for all studio xps models what is that about?

 

Did a couple test to see if I could could observe some throttling, though not exactly sure what to look for at this point.

Test 1 seemed pretty consistent not sure if I was getting throttling here


By apoutwest at 2010-06-27

2nd Test I think it may have happened ran it for a while (probably 10 minutes) and saw a frame rate drop of 50%. Also the temperature started rapidly falling so I think the processor was giving up some load.


By apoutwest at 2010-06-27

 

Contacted dell again today.

They are sending me a 130 watt psu

And a technician to replace the plastic on the bottom of my laptop

This doesn't sound like it'll do any good but I've started the process of getting a replacement of a different model or a refund.

 

That's step 1 of this game. It's a known problem but still Dell makes every user go through the same BS to try and get a laptop that performs up to its rated speed. They will waste your time and wear you down but hang in there. A more professional company with a defective product would admit it and set up a hotline number so users wouldn't have to suffer through this lengthy procedure.

Do you see in your second set of pictures where the Chip% column starts reporting 75%? That's a measurement of chipset clock modulation. The chipset is telling the CPU to slow down and take a break. A reading of 75% is an approximation but basically it is saying that the CPU is working internally at about 75% of its Intel designed speed. The other 25% of the time, the CPU is idle when it should be working. That's not good and that's why the frame rates drop like a rock.

Dell might upgrade you if you keep complaining. A hyper threaded Dual Core XPS 1647 should have less throttling issues. The newer XPS 1645 laptops are getting better and some of them are able to run at full speed when fully loaded.

Nothing is guaranteed though so even with an upgrade, you'll still have to do some testing to make sure that you get a good one. Let us know if you make it to that stage

 

Hi,
I recently received this SXPS 1640 as a replacement for my M1330 which also had many issues. I noticed that while playing games on it that I used to be able to play on my M1330 with almost no issues, this 1640 which has the following specs:

p8700
ATI 3670
4 GB RAM
320 GB HDD
90W Power supply
and the FHD screen

So it is slightly nicer than my m1330 (see sig for specs). Anyways, as I said I noticed that after about 15 minutes of playing games such as rome: total war or the sims 3, the computer would begin to stutter and go so slow that I would just stop playing. So I looked on here and found this thread and downloaded throttlestop, real temp, furmark, and prime 95 to try and figure out what the problem is. It looks like I have some kind of chipset clock modulation going on.

I would really appreciate it if someone could look at the attached file and tell me whats up as I'm not entirely that sure and not the most computer savvy person in the world. I know the log is kinda long, but it kept changing depending on the programs I was running. Once the computer got to like 85 or 86 degrees C it began to throttle I believe. I'm pretty sure whenever that middleish CO% column was at 100 was when I was running Prime95 and when it wasn't I was either just running Furmark or nothing at all. Let me know if I haven't provided enough info to diagnose the problem and I'll give ya whatever else I can ...thanks!!!

 

Here's a one minute section of your log file.

Code:

  DATE     TIME    MULTI   C0%   CKMOD  CHIPM  DTS
06/28/10 12:37:30   6.00  100.0  100.0  100.0   27
06/28/10 12:37:31   6.00  100.0  100.0  100.0   27
06/28/10 12:37:32   6.00  100.0  100.0  100.0   27
06/28/10 12:37:33   6.00  100.0  100.0  100.0   27
06/28/10 12:37:34   6.00  100.0  100.0  100.0   27
06/28/10 12:37:35   6.00  100.0  100.0  100.0   27
06/28/10 12:37:36   6.00  100.0  100.0  100.0   27
06/28/10 12:37:37   6.00  100.0  100.0  100.0   27
06/28/10 12:37:38   6.00  100.0  100.0   87.5   27
06/28/10 12:37:39   6.00   85.4  100.0   87.5   29
06/28/10 12:37:40   6.00   82.6  100.0   87.5   30
06/28/10 12:37:41   6.00   82.5  100.0   87.5   30
06/28/10 12:37:42   6.00   82.5  100.0   75.0   30
06/28/10 12:37:43   6.00   74.1  100.0   75.0   31
06/28/10 12:37:44   6.00   70.5  100.0   75.0   31
06/28/10 12:37:45   6.00   70.5  100.0   75.0   31
06/28/10 12:37:46   6.00   70.5  100.0   62.5   31
06/28/10 12:37:47   6.00   62.7  100.0   62.5   32
06/28/10 12:37:48   6.00   58.4  100.0   62.5   32
06/28/10 12:37:49   6.00   58.4  100.0   62.5   32
06/28/10 12:37:50   6.00   58.4  100.0   50.0   32
06/28/10 12:37:51   6.00   50.7  100.0   50.0   33
06/28/10 12:37:52   6.00   46.4  100.0   50.0   33
06/28/10 12:37:53   6.00   46.3  100.0   50.0   33
06/28/10 12:37:54   6.00   46.3  100.0   37.5   34
06/28/10 12:37:55   6.00   39.4  100.0   37.5   34
06/28/10 12:37:56   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   35
06/28/10 12:37:57   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   35
06/28/10 12:37:58   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   35
06/28/10 12:37:59   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   35
06/28/10 12:38:00   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   35
06/28/10 12:38:01   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   35
06/28/10 12:38:02   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:03   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:04   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:05   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:06   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:07   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:08   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:09   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:10   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:11   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:12   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:13   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:14   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   36
06/28/10 12:38:15   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:16   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:17   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:18   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:19   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:20   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:21   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:22   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:23   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:24   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:25   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:26   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:27   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:28   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:29   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37
06/28/10 12:38:30   6.00   34.3  100.0   37.5   37

The first line shows that the CPU is fully loaded because the C0% is at 100.0%. A P8700 has a default multiplier of 9.5 and when a single core is loaded and the second core is in the C3/C6 sleep state, it can go as high as 10.0.

When both cores are fully loaded, it is designed so both cores should be using the 9.5 multiplier but here it has been throttled back and is only using the 6.0 multiplier. It's already running at only 63% of its Intel designed performance level but it's about to get a whole lot worse. The DTS column shows that the CPU is still 27C degrees away from the Intel set thermal throttling point so this throttling looks to be power consumption related and is not heat related.

Within 30 seconds, chipset clock modulation has been set at the 37.5% level. This is brutal and really kills performance. When combined with the 6.0 multiplier, the CPU is now performing at less than 25% of its rated speed. The reduced C0% confirms that this CPU is no longer able to work at full speed due to clock modulation. That's the nice thing about the log file. It makes it very difficult for Dell or anyone else to argue about what's going on. They can try to argue but they don't have a leg to stand on.

Your XPS 1640 throttles and becomes unusable like all the other XPS 1640 laptops that have the exact same problem. Time to contact Dell and ask for a laptop that doesn't have these known issues.

 

yes on my 1640 they had me jump through the same hoops.

Trip 1 = replaced bottom plastics and provided the 130 watt adapter.
Trip 2 = replace motherboard and heatsink (video was garbage after this trip)
Trip 3 = replace motherboard (again) and lcd to fix trip 2 (gave me wrong mobo this time had 4670 graphics replacement mobo had 3670)

after the 3rd support call Dell agreed to replace my 1640 with a 1645 which works great for me. I agree Its not possible to game on a 1640 its a design defect that cannot be corrected. They will make you jump through hoops but stick to your guns and dont let them off the hook. Eventually they will replace it with something that can be used for gaming.

Joseph

 

First of all, thank you so much for you're help unclewebb, you truly are awesome!

Second, I want to ask what I need to tell Dell exactly? Should I just send them a copy of that file or do you think that my attempt to explain what happens will suffice. If its just a power consumption problem, perhaps I should just tell them that I want a 130W power supply? I need to call them and ask for a shipping label to send my my m1330 anyway so I suppose I can kill 2 birds with one stone

Third, I have to wonder if they will give me even more trouble since this is a replacement for an m1330? But these are games that I could play on the m1330 with no problem (except for the GPU dying occasionally) so I would think that I should be able to play them on my equal or better replacement.

 

i would keep it as simple as possible. The average Dell tech is reading a script not actually diagnosing your problem. they type in key words that you say until they get a hit and then walk you though the fix the computer suggests. Basically i went with my laptop plays games fine for a few minutes then slows down so much as to make it unplayable. they never fixed that.

 

haha, k thanks man I'll try that and see how it goes. Its a shame I can't use the chat any more it makes things much simpler since I don't have to waste cell phone minutes I swear at least half of my monthly cell phone minutes go toward calls to Dell...oh well

 

stephen6119: You pretty much have to go through the same motions as everyone else goes through. Get as many parts replaced as they want to replace and when all of that fails, then you have to push for a different model.

It's not your fault that Dell sells laptops that throttle so stand up and keep pushing them until you get a laptop that works as advertised. Tell the Dell rep that there wouldn't be a 100 page thread on this topic at NBR if there wasn't a system design problem here or a 400 page thread on the original XPS 1645 or hundreds/thousands of other posts on a wide variety of Dell laptops all with the exact same problems. Multiplier and clock modulation throttling.

What Dell has been doing to many of their laptops for the last two years is no longer a secret even though I'm sure Dell would like to keep it a secret as long as possible to avoid a massive class action lawsuit. Tell the rep you talk to that "you know".

 

yeah Dell support officially sucks. Why did I buy an XPS with a 4 year completecare warranty again? I've been on hold for over 20 min and I still haven't spoken to a real person....I guess its time I upped my monthly minutes eh? at least until I get a Dell laptop that works...gotta love the XPS Experience...

Edit: yeah OK I gave up on that...after 25 minutes of not talking to someone I think I'll try back later I suppose. I don't know how they expect me to send back the m1330 if I can't even get a shipping label out of them since they neglected to send me one...

 

I wonder if I have any chance of just getting a refund? This is my first Dell and I really am not enjoying the experience.

I don't really want a studio xps anymore, the primary reason I got one of these was for the rgbled and now it looks like I wont even have one of those if they give me an 1645-1647 upgrade.

I would probably be happy with a studio 17 but given how similar the studio xps are to the studio 17 I would almost be surprised if they didn't have the same problem.

 

Sorry to post a dumb question.

Want to know what actually happens when a laptop throttles ?
Is it like not responding to programs, very slow, high CPU usage, etc .... ?
And how it relates to power supply or attached adapter ?

 

Uncleweb can give you a better answer but basically throttling is when the system begins to lower processor performance either through clock modulation or by reducing clock speed multipliers.

In the case of the studio xps models the computer does this for one of two reasons as far as I can tell.

1.) Because the 90 watt power adapter dell sends out does not provide enough power for one of these under load. So in order to avoid exceeding the limits of the adapter the computer turns down the power.

2.) Because the computer is getting to hot, the harder a processor is working the more heat it produces and eventually it hits a danger point and slows down in order to prevent damage. This computer overheats rather easily thanks to a rather foolishly place exhaust vent. It also seems to throttle before you are actually reaching a danger point...

 

Thank you very much. Indeed useful info for me.

 

URPradhan: I found the best way for users to understand how throttling affects performance was to run a couple of wPrime benchmarks.

On the previous page stephen6119 showed how his laptop would drop the multiplier down to 6.0 and then the bios would set chipset clock modulation to 37.5%. I used ThrottleStop to run two wPrime benchmarks at full speed and then I ran the same benchmark twice at this throttled speed on my T8100.



Can you see the difference in CPU performance? When throttled it is taking 6 times longer to do the same 32M calculation compared to when the CPU is running at full speed. Looking at this another way, if you paid for a CPU that was supposed to run at 2400 MHz, when it is being throttled like this, it is running at the same performance as a 400 MHz CPU. The cheapest netbook on the planet runs about 4 times faster than that. You might have a 10 year old Pentium II or Pentium III laptop in your closet that could out perform an XPS 1640 when this kind of throttling is being used.

A very sad situation for any user that paid good money for an XPS 1640 and was expecting it to be able to perform at its advertised specification. I'm surprised Intel doesn't sue Dell for making their CPUs look so bad.

 

wow, thanks for putting it into perspective unclewebb. If only Dell would take me off hold I could actually try to take care of the problem. For some reason lately Dell is experiencing high call volumes or something so I have to wait forever. I suppose it must be all the other people with broken XPS 16s.