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

Same problem, it only works in IE. Not in Firefox or Safari. Try it.

Also, can anybody check if their laptop lid kinda wobbles if you move it from the top with one hand a little back and forth when it is like at a 100 degree angle? It's hard to explain.

 

Ok. I got this laptop about a month ago.

• Studio XPS 16
• Intel Core 2 Duo P8700(2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB/3M L2 Cache)
• 4GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz 2 Dimm forXPS 1640
• ATI Mobility RADEON 4670 - 1GB
• 320GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
• 16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p FullHD RGBLED LCD W/2.0 MP

When I ordered this, I was expecting to play TF2, max settings, max resolution no problem with those kind of specs. What I'm reduced to doing is lowering everything to the "low" setting and playing on something like 1280x720 and my framerate STILL sucks. This is a huge disappointment and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions to what I should do to increase my framerates for this incredibly easy-to-run game.

Thanks,
iKoNiK

 

^that shouldn't be happening. TF2 should play flawlessly on high on that machine.

 

Yea I know. What the hell? SOMEONE HELP ME haha.

 

Are you running Windows 7?

 

Vista 64 bit

 

What changes have you done to the laptop since receiving it? It's too difficult to ascertain what could be causing the performance problems you're having without more information. Things like software added/removed, AV software, firewall settings, catalyst control center settings, game settings etc.

 

Try reinstalling your GPU drivers.

 

Since receiving the laptop, I've reinstalled the GPU drivers many times either through dells site or with the mobility modder tool. Nothing is fixing my issue.. its really wierd.

 

maybe try a clean install?

 

Yea I might if Dell doesn't solve my issues in the next couple days through their support system.. been on the phone with them and ati since getting this damn thing..

 

Just finished up with Dell.. sending a technician out in the next week to replace plastic panels with a heat sink??? whatever hopefully it will fix this crap

 

I was going to say, sounds like you are having extreme heat issues with that poor game performance. Does you laptop feel as if it is overheating?

 

HELLLL yea it is.. getting reallllly hot and i guess yea ther replacing the mobo as well. so hopefully that'll do it

 

Whoa, what? What plastic panels? There's no heat sink? uhh...

 

Yea idk.. ill talk it over with the agent when he shows up. Im thinking what the random guy in india meant was ther replacing the bottom panel, heat sink and mobo.

 

Just software, and if you reinstall you have to call and fight with tech support to get them to send it... Item C961H. Have not decided if it is worth it, but it does seem to make audio sound a bit more rich.

I am so pissed about this. I feel like they are trying to rip us off... No way this battery is more expensive than the old price. They must make a hell of a profit.

 

E-SATA is still SATA just on the outside. If it is a 3.5 disc at 7200 RPM chances are it out preforms a 2.4 at same rate due to seek head speed, cache, etc...

 

Well, I finally had to do it. I placed my order today.

XPS 1640, Intel Core 2 Duo T9550
4GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz 2 Dimm
16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p FullHD RGBLED LCD W/2.0 MP
ATI Mobility RADEON M96XT - 1GB
500GB 7200RPM Free Fall Hard Drive
Vista with SP1 Home Premium Edition 64-bit (win 7 upgrade free)
4X Slot Load Bluray (BDRW) Rewritable Drive (BD Read and and Write)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB(Panzer) Application 1.0
Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGN Half Mini Card
3 Year Limited Warranty

After All Taxes (free shipping): $1,959.65


I chatted with a rep and they took $140.00 off after the all ready good deal ($478 off, Win7 upgrade, free shipping etc).

 

sorry, excuse me,~ can anyone post the GPU-Z on the XPS 1640 with ATi 4670? I want to see wether it is GDDR3 memory and its clock rate, really thanks a lot ~

 

There you go man.

 

For what it's worth, I had tons of issues playing Source based games on my old 1640 before I did a clean install. I don't know what was causing the problems, but I was getting random crashes to the desktop and poor game performance when it would run for more than 5 minutes. Once I did a clean install I was seeing about 70+ FPS average with spikes to over 100 in CS:Source on full everything at widescreen. I just figured you could try to reformat it while waiting for the tech to come out.

 

ordered 7/22 and had an arrival eta of 8/6 with overnight shipping, checked yesterday and the eta moved back to 8/12 updated... I called to them out, they put in a request to expedite the order and if it can't be expedited then they are going to give me a discount

dell.com as of today still says 8/12 and I have not received a new email from my dell rep who said he would email me asap

 

It will be here sooner than that.

 

Mine still says in production. Did the status for yours change yet to shipped?

 

Mine changed directly from In Production to Shipped. Shipping took some 4 days. My original estimate was August 5, I got this laptop July 30.

 

Did they get the specs right on your guy's replacement systems? Cause I've had a very bad experience with them getting 'em right.

 

no it said 8/6 ARRIVAL since I ordered 2 weeks ago july 22... yesterday (8/4) the status changed to ARRIVAL 8/12 (Updated)

8/6 is tomorrow and it still says in production... I ordered actually 7/19 with the 1366x768 screen, and 2 days later saw they phased those panels out and they are 1600x900 now (perfect since I dont want to buy the RGB screen, I already shelled out a thousand for my samsung 46" 1080p) so I called knowing their support docs say u cannot change and order after it was placed and acted as if they gave me the wrong screen, they not only let me update the order but they upgraded me from a 320 to a 500gb hd and gave me free overnight, so I called yesterday acting like it was already delayed from the original date and that I ordered it giving myself a week of leeway and expected it this week, after saying that they told me they would expedite and/or give me a discount.. he wanted my contact info and said he would get back to me ASAP, that was almost 24 hours ago with no contact, emailed him an hour ago and no response as well

 

Yep the specs are fine based on what the production sheet shows.

 

I have an interesting story.
The first 1640 I ordered 7/17 was delivered on 7/27. It had the defective screen issue (dust). So on 7/27 I called Dell and told them I wanted to return this one. The asked me if I wanted to order a replacement at that time, I said no. I just want a refund. I was debating some other brands.

The next day, I decided to order the 1640 again as I can not find any system to match it. So I ordered it online on 7/28 with the same specs as my first one. I laid out the money for it again. After a day or so, it appeared on the website "in production" with the delivery date 8/12. Fine. I checked it now and then.

Yesterday Fedex pulls up with my system. How can this be? No tracking number and still showing Dell has it in production?

Well, it turns out the Dell just ordered me a replacement the day I asked to return the defective one. THATS why it got here in a week, with no tracking number. BUT just today I got the "shipped" email from Dell about the one I orderd online. So THAT one is being delivered on Friday! Now I will have three of them here. I called Dell about it and they said just to ship the other one back as well. So I'm going to keep the best one of the three and send back the other two...

BTW my replacement machine is perfect and the one I am keeping most likely. Spotless screen and no cosmetic imperfections. Very pleased with it.

So all you guys still waiting...they are at my house....LOL!

 

Ha so that's where mine went! Well hopefully my replacement has no issues as well. Since I cleaned out the dust on this one, there hasn't been anymore but I'd feel much more at ease with a newer one that has a proper seal.

 

Yeah I also have backlight bleed down the LHS of the screen.

To be honest black levels on the screen are terrible. Even my old Gateway had better blacks. Blacks are more grey on this screen. Such a shame as the colours are stunning. Whites are also far too warm for my liking. I much prefer bluey cool whites.

 

yeah apparently 14 days and counting (with free next day)...

 

Just wondering if anyone here has played either GRiD, DiRT and/or NFS Undercover on their SXPS16 and what were your optimal settings?

 

still no answer from my rep via email that he said he would send me yesterday, and no reply to the one I sent today at 11am... called his next level boss and no answer, called general support talked to a new person who said the expedite order was accepted and she told me the new shipping date is august 12 which is the reason I made all these calls in the first place because it is suppose to arrive on the 6th

basically in limbo this is bs

 

I cannot guarantee your success, but I just got my XFI MB Panzer application installed by doing the following after fighting with tech support to get a copy of Item C961H KIT;SW;CRTV;PANZER;1.0 shipped to me.

1. Install the XFI MB software and activate it.
2. Reinstall the audio drivers
3. Remove the IDT and ATI audio devices from device manager
4. Scan for hardware changes and let them reinstall themselves
5. Reinstall the XFI MB software WITHOUT removing it first
6. Reboot
7. ???
8. Profit

Abductively I would conclude that this is what gave me the success I am now enjoying.

 

I run NFS undercover on my. 1280x720 everything set to max. Runs flawlessly.

 

Anyone replaced the thermal pads yet? I'd hate to pull the heatsinks just to find some huge gap needing the pads I just destroyed.

 

Ok guys, so I was looking at this laptop for college. I study product design here in Argentina. The best processor you can get is the 2.4 one... The programs I will be using are Rhino, SolidWorks and maybe some Sims 3 if I have the time. Obviously I will be also using Corel, Illustrator and Photoshop.

So here come the questions:

1. Whats with the RGBLED screen? Everybody loves it, but is it worth it?
2. Will the 4670 be enough to handle Rhino?
3. Will this laptop last at least for 6 years?
4. Should I wait for an update from the current model?
5. Regarding the heat issues, will I be able to work more than 5 hours straight?
6. Is it small enough to carry to collage twice a week?

Well I guess these are a lot of questions, but well, thats my head, lol. Thanks in advance!

 

1. Well I don't know what makes it so good. But it is known for it's perfect color accuracy and is gorgeous to look at. And yes it is definitely worth it.
2. According to the system requirements: http://www.rhino3d.com/4/systemrequirements.htm you will be able to run it.
3. It will last build-wise. But not technology wise, technology is changing so fast, you'll have to upgrade some things within 2 years.
4. I don't know whether there will be so... yeah.
5. I'm not sure what you mean. Battery-wise, no. As in having it on your lap, it gets pretty hot. I have a cooler so it's fine to put on my lap. Get the Zalman NC2000
6. I don't know what you mean by this, but it's 6.4 lbs/2.9 kgs with 6 cell battery. 16 inches, so it's pretty large.

 

1. The display is beautiful but I have not seen the other options in person to judge them.
2. It runs very smoothly on my machine
3. I doubt it will last 6 years but you might get lucky
4. The chance of Dell improving it soon is slim at best
5. It should run fine on a cooling pad
6. yes it is very portable and has a decent weight

 

Woot just ordered my system from Dell.

Specs:
-Cost $1,312.68 (that includes tax, shipping (none) and all charges) (Thats over $500 cheaper than what I payed for my current M1530 which is half as powerful)
-Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8700 (3MB cache/2.53GHz/1066Mhz FSB)
-ATI Mobility RADEON™ HD 4670 – 1GB
-Edge-to-Edge FHD Widescreen 15.6 inch WLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
-4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms)
-500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
-8X DVD+/- RW(DVD/CD read/write) Slot Load Drive
-Intel® 5300 WLAN Wireless-N (1x2) Half Mini Card
-High Definition Audio 2.0
-Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)
-2 yr In-home Service after remote diagnosis + Complete Care + LoJack (doubled through special Amex program)

I think I came out alright. I looked at HP, Toshiba, other Dells, MSi, Sager, Macs (lol), and the only thing that even close was the Asus G51vx-X1A which was too heavy, hot, and large for my needs, even though the GPU was face meltingly powerful. It was also more expensive, had a worse warranty, and was out of stock at newegg.

 

Keep in mind, without a cooling pad, this notebook gets pretty warm too. Its the only downside of the machine in my opinion.

 

Thank you veryu much Caramel Boy

but can anyone tell me why the default clock is different from the GPU clock?
does it mean that caramel boy has OC the GPU?.?

 

I just wanted to say that I've been very forthcoming about how HOT this laptop gets when playing neverwinter nights 2 for > 1 hour.

Well last night I watched about 1 hour of family guy (streaming off Hulu) in bed. The laptop was lying on a thin sheet between my legs with some airflow underneath and an openness near the rear exhaust port.

It got warm, but by no means uncomfortable or hot. This is vastly different than when I play Neverwinter Nights 2, at which point it becomes painfully hot under the touchpad area.

I still plan on getting a cooling pad (once my 9-cell battery sells on NBR....*cough*...), but for watching movies at least and general multimedia it definitely is alot cooler to the touch and suitable of lap usage, compared to a demanding game.

 

Not that I can do anything about it now . But the heat is not an issue from my tests at Best Buy. You want to talk about heat BAH! Try the Asus G51 they have there. The only reason I did not get that notebook was because at idle it made me sweat profusely. When I ran a program it was like a Viking stove.

 

my estimate is on august 10th, only four more days and its still in production. anyone know how long it takes to ship to the GTA?

 

Thanks for the answers! Now the only thing that holds me down is the fact that I MUST get a cooling pad and I really dont want to carry one just because there is a flaw in Dell's design...

 

Kubrick - There are other options...read up on underclocking a tad and you'll get less heat and more battery life, at least from the processor end of things.

I'd only get a cooling pad if:

1. You game a ton, thereby really stressing the system.

2. You use it on your lap alot, thereby needing to keep the bottom cool.

I won't dispute that I think Dell should've done a better job at keeping this thing cool, but I don't think it's a design flaw.

 

I ordered mine on the 25th. EDD was Aug 10th. called in customer service yesterday. apparently delivery has been delayed to Aug 13rd although my order status still shows the wrong EDD. what's funny is that I emailed dell before I called and I was told that it would be delivered before or on Sep 3rd...
don't know what's going on with dell. I'll probably call again today just to make sure my order gets shipped in time. BTW, the rep told me ground shipping usually takes 4-6 days.
I'm from alberta. Good luck.