==>The Official Studio XPS 1640 + ATi 4670 GPU Owner's Thread <== *Part 2*

I probably will (just waiting on my 1tb drive to ship, need it to back up)

but any particular reason why? other than the obvious, clean install is better than upgrading

 

Didnt look thru all the other posts so not sure if any1 responded to ya. But changing the paste does void warranty, is the case in Ireland anyway. Im dying to slap a decent amount of artic on my system and get rid of that terrible pad sh*t, how anything is suppose to conduct thru that rubbery crap is beyond me!!! But i guess it aint worth it, just gotta get around to undervolting my system to make due, too busy at the mo to even give it 2mins!

Funny cause ive just come off finishin playin crysis. My fan went ape-sh*t cause of the heat and so insued some massive slow down, didnt have the head for it!

Contradictory I no, dont have time to undervolt but yet I have time to play crysis... well we all need some recreation

 

Ok, I must be looking in the wrong place...can anyone point me to the "how to" for undervolting?

Is this the one people refer to?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824

 

yes it is post your before and after temps!

 

Hi All

I havent had any probs with my machine untill I started playing fear. I Play it with all settings on high at 1080p, after half hour it starts to lag (even on lowest settings) If I exit the game and go strait back to it its fine again. Its annoying having to restart every half hour or so. Ive red about heat probs etc but my machine does not feel warm. and even if it was heat i would have to wait till my machine cools down before playing again but i restart the game strait away and its fine for the half hour etc..
Does anyone have a sollution??

cheers Alex

 

if ur cpu and gpu temps are under like 80 celsius, heat shouldn't be the reason. u can try update ur display driver (like catalyst 9.10 or 9.11 beta), it could be also a game error (memory-leak, etc), try install the latest patches for it.

 

hey i just got one of these. i had a m1530 which i had to system exchange because one of the technicians stipped a strew and the motherboard couldn't be replaced. i like this new laptop a lot but is there any way to use the numpad keys without the on screen keyboard?

 

Use the FN key ..?

 

Hey guys...can anyone tell me if there is anyway of having more widescreen resolution options for the Studio XPS 1640? There are only 2 widescreen resolutions of 1280 x 720 and 1920 x 1080...I want something in between...is there any way of enforcing resolutions? Can I enforce resolutions on the laptop screen itself or do I need an external display?

 

I just recently got a xps1640 and i'm having some glitching problems when playing Left 4 dead with 1200xwhatever resolution and settings on medium.. Also on fear I have quite a bit of lag when connected to eathernet cable with 5meg service. Sometimes the Fear will run alright for about a minute then it lags.. (playing fear online and have just been playing the left 4 dead off line.

Specs are

t9600 (2.8 cpu)
6gb ram
4570
500gb 7500 rpm
1080p FHD screen..
vista 64
5 vent holes

playing game for about 5 mins temp cpu got up to about 51-52 ish

I figured with my setup I could run most games with out a trouble even in the high settings? Anyone know something that might help..

Thanks a lot

 

I play L4D and L4D2 completely maxed out 1920x1080 8x AA 16 x AF everything set to high except shaders which are set to very high and my FPS is about 50-60 using fraps (which fraps slows the game down some which means FPS is higher than that) my cpu temps get up no higher than 68'c after playing for over two hours there was an issue i had where reapplication of the thermal paste and undervolting the CPU has brought me extremely better results and one poster mentioned that if it was under 80' c its not a heat issue while most cases this is true for some reason my 4670 would perform like shyte before i did those things couldnt even play L4D on medium settings after....all i can say is I love this Lappy!! give it a go im pretty sure it will help you here are links to the previous threads that discussed this issue
here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=425523
and here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=423374

 

I am unsure what it is... a heat issue or what but I find on high settings and a lot going on will cause the FPS to drop to where it starts skipping. Even when the laptop has only been running for a few minutes so I doubt it is a heat issue and I have the latest driver from dell.... hmmm I guess I will wait to see if and when a new driver comes out.

 

try using modded drivers game.amd.com and www.driverheaven.net and your still having the same problem killaz?? after the reapplication of thermal paste and undervolt i no longer have any problems

 

well is it confirmed whether thermal paste will void the warrenty? I am skeptical on undervolting. lol

 

you can always call dell and tell them your temps are outta wack and get a new heatsink with the shyte dell therm paste which is for sure not going to void the warranty and will fix the issue but wont bring about the best achievable results....the issue with mine was that the therm paste wasnt making good contact on the top of the GPU die kinda smushed to the sides but the tech told me that they cant tell the difference/they dont care enough to notice but he said that i could do it if i wanted (so i did and glad i did) and what are you skeptical about with undervolting? man im so happy i finally got a badazz lappy from dell i used to hate dell and was so skeptical to get one because of what my sis went thru then i got my 1535 which made me want to find the nearest bridge... now im almost a fanboy lol kinda off topic but just felt like it had to be said

 

Oh I love my Obsidian lol I named it but as fas as undervolting I am afraid of getting the BSOD. I would love to overclock it but obviously we cant. I tried using RMclock but it says it cant install or load RTcore64 driver. I have the 64-bit windows 7 OS so I dunno I am trying the drivers/modded you suggested

 

The 1640 undervolts rather well. I've undervolted (using RMClock in 64-bits) quite a few steps and not a single BSOD. I can probably go even more steps. I have noticed that my 1640 is a little cooler running underclocked, and the battery seems to last a bit longer, so it's a win/win situation for me.

To use RMClock in 64-bit system, you need an updated RMClock.sys file specifically for 64-bit, then just copy that file into the RMClock folder under Program Files. It's pretty easy.

 

ok so I am undervolting and I have my 10x multiplier at 1.225v for my T9550 it was 1.300 is that good? I had an error at 1.200 so I brought it up.

 

Exactly. I would have thought you could go lower, but if 1.200v gave you errors then that is your limit.

Run something like PRIME95 on it to stress it out.

Also, if you are using RMClock, uncheck all the multipliers between 10x and the lowest numbered multiplier. Then your system will only throttle at the lowest and the highest. Be sure to lower the voltages on the lower multiplier also since most systems spend a lot of time on the lower speed.

 

ok well i am using otheros to stress it but I am only seeing a 10 degree difference is that good, I know any is good but will this help with gaming at all? I sound like such a newbie lol

 

after running otheros for about 40 min my temp is 168 degrees.... bad or good?

 

thats insanely high!!!!

what are you using to undervolt and monitor your temps??
look at HWMonitor
and RmClock

did you use the Undervolting guide?

my t9900 heats up to almost 68'c playing L4D for two hours online my stress test idles anywhere from 63-68'c @0.975 volts

 

168 degrees F is about 75.6 degrees Celsius. Are you using a cooling pad? I can recommend the Zalman NC2000. Also, you can undervolt using the guide found here - http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824

I am using the Zalman and also undervolted. My idle temps run around 28-30 degrees C. Under stress they go up around 65 C.

Hope this helps.

 

I am using the RMclock and HWMonitor, I undervolted slightly about .1V and my idle temp is 130F and about 158F under load using otheros to stress it. I have no cooler just a table where it can breathe

 

lol i thought you meant celsius noob mistake on my part lol but did you get a bsod or no the BSOD iin this case isnt a bad thing its a notifier that your limit has been exceeded so you should go up two steps i had a total of .225 volts (from 1.200 to 0.975 on 11x multiplier )decrease on my t9900 but every cpu is diff

 

130 is approx 54.5 degrees Celsius which sounds high to me for an idle temp. Mine doesn't run that high even without the cooler. I would probably try going a little lower on your undervolt. I have a T9600 and have my 10.0x set at .9625 I never got a BSOD when undervolting, only an error message from Orthos when I went down to .9250, so I just bumped it up a few notches. Stressed for about an hour and no problems. If you go down one step at a time, it will be very unlikely for you to get a BSOD. You will get an Orthos error message first. Don't be scared.

 

Ok well I will lower it some more and get back to you guys, thanks for the help by the way.

 

So I just did a clean install of Windows 7 on my 1640 and I have a few questions...


Where do I get Cyberlink PowerDVD application that came with my machine? Its not on Dell download center anywhere..

Where do I get the Webcam software that came with machine? Same scenario as above..


Anything I should download that I am unaware of?

P.S.

Joker you credit Iata for all the newest drivers yet you didn't change the links. The links all point to dell drivers, old ones. Specifically the touchpad driver, as it doesnt give you all the gesture options, 2 finger scroll, 3 finger taps etc. (13.2.1 is the only version with ALL of the unlocked gestures, newer versions including the linked 13.6 have these lock out due to patent cases) you get with the one he actually linked. You should update your links to what Iata actually posted:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5225974&postcount=1379

All those links will point to the newest available versions for all windows. The Dell Win7 driver page just uses the same old vista drivers, nothing is updated, as seen in the "fixes and enhancements" section, it just says win7 support. They are all old drivers. Please update.

 

You didn't get a disc with your system? I remember getting a bunch, and a separate disc for both PowerDVD and the camera thing.

 

Using Internet Explorer, go to https://smartsource.dell.com. You have to use IE or it won't work. Register your system and you will see a list of all the software that was installed on your computer when you purchased it. You can download it all from there.

 

This may be wildly off-topic and such, but I've got a question concerning a game.

I received my 1640 about two weeks ago, and am getting awesome gaming performance with it. Yet The Witcher seems to be the odd ugly duckling: even in low settings, I can't get the stutter out of the game. I've updated it to 1.5 (long live no more securom ^^), but the issue still remains.

My rig: P9700, 4GB DDR3, 4670, mobility modded to latest drivers.

Can't do a fresh reinstall of the OS, as I'd like to update Vista x86 to 7 x86 -64(and the update disk is still on its way). Bios is latest available vesion.

Any help?

Update: forcing Vsync with triple buffering through Catalyst has proven effective

 

hey thanks man, thats rad of you!

 

how is ati HD4650 running MW2 for u guys?

 

its hd4670. its running perfectly in 1080p, everything maxed except AA.

 

even shadows and lighting?

 

yes. and forgot to mention that vsync is also disabled. so everything is maxed except of AA and vsync. u can enable these too but when i tried i found the fps too low so i rather disabled these for smooth gameplay.

 

I just bought a XPS studio 1640 (2.53Ghz, 3gb DDR3, 250gb, ati 4670, screen oridnary-no RGBLED)....
Am a complete newbie when it comes to techie stuff...plannin to use it mainly to game....

Original owners thread recommended undervolting and updating grafix card drivers...... is it necessary to do tht? anymore changes to be made into the lappy?

and will the drivers installed return to default if I partition the system or reinstall windows 7?

 

here's what u should do:
-clean install windows 7
-undervolt cpu
-download latest desktop catalyst (9.11 or soon 9.12), install it using mobility modder
-if u'll use it for gaming: use some notebook cooler or at least lift the back of the laptop with 9-cell battery or with something else.

 

thanx a bunch!

 

Is it necessary to undervolt a CPU for 1640? Does it increase battery life or life of processor? Any side effects of undervolting?

 

Undervolting reduces power consumption used by the cpu.

Results in better battery life and less heat. Could possibly increase cpu life due to less heat.

I undervolted mine and it runs about 100-110F under normal use. If you don't undervolt it, its still fine. I just personally prefer to since the SXPS16 does feel rather hot near the palm areas.

 

Hi,
I was thinking of going for 1640 rather than 1645. Seems like there are some issues with the laptop. I am not a pro gamer but a pro developer. Has anybody used this laptop for programming? How is the overall output? Does it get warmed up on normal usage? I have seen review of new 4670 and seems to be good? Any comments?

 

I do not use it for programming, nor am I a gamer, but just general usage, so that may be more like what you do. I have found, like JL6speed said, that on mine, with undervolting, that it does not run noticeably warm at all. As a matter of fact, as an owner of the older 1640 with the 512MB 3670, that the 1640 w/4670 runs cooler. Then, with undervolting, it's even better! I realy like my 1640 now, the LCD is beautiful and noise-wise, it's quite quiet!

The only other option I would think for you, being a programmer, would be something with an 18" LCD...like a HP dv8t QUAD. You might check one of those out before you commit.

 

I can't seem to get both my headphone jacks to work simultaneously. This started happening after I reformatted to Windows 7. All my drivers are up to date to what Windows Updates says. Anyone have any ideas? When I right click the sound icon and go to playback devices, it lists the two speaker options, but it will only play through the one that is checked as "default device."

 

Dual jack worked fine on my clean install, but i installed the drivers and audio software from DELL.

Windows update doesn't have all the drivers. At a minimum go to dell's site for the rest of the drivers. For some driver types you can get newer drivers direct from the hardware manufacturer (AMD, Intel).

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=&SystemID=STUDIOXPS16

 

I was looking to grab a 1640 for my girlfriend since her Sony Vaio broke apart. I can't seem to find it on the outlet store, I could have sworn it was there just last week. Anyone know where it went??

 

Appears to be in the drop down fine for me.

http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfh/noteb...d.aspx?refid=laptop-studio-xps-16&s=dfh&cs=22

When i was shopping for one with the 4670 version would it show up one minute and sellout in a minute or two, so if you are looking for 4670 version you will have to watch it a little closer than other models.

 

It's showing up again.

Thanks, it was gone for the past few days, only the 1340 would display.

 

i wanted some help buying an sxps 16.

i was wondering if the core i7 720QM 1.6g will affect the battery life a lot ?

or shud i get a t9550 c2d 2.66g ?

also,I had an acer ferrari 4006 b4 and i don't want a laptop that overheats..again..i've read mixed reviews abt the heat in sxps 16..

also any alternatives?

thanks in advance !

 

anyone here have xps 1640 throttling problem? I have t9400, 4670, 7200rpm 500gb, 4gb ddr3 and my notebook throttling.. If they fix 1645 then they fix 1640 to?