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

This is somewhate unrelated but I finally installed my old hdd into my new esata enclosure and hooked it right into my new 1640 only to find out that I now have the click of death. I wrapped my hardrive in a few thick shirts and put it on my carry on (back pack) when I traveled...I guess it got damaged during my travels...I thought I took really good care of it..I know this is unrelated but perhaps maybe someone on here could help me out..

This HDD has everything Ive ever done on it. Most of all my important files I've ever worked on, photos, music, everything is on this drive. I hate to say it, as I don't want to sound pathetic, but my entire life is on this hard drive. It spins up fine and even sometimes shows up in explorer..But soon after I get that click, that click of death...I cannot afford to send this out to data recovery for 1,000s of dollars...


Does anyone know of anything that can help repair or solve this problem...I'm desperate and really depressed...

 

Ordered the Dell XPS 1640 (8/12/09)

Specs:
P8700 (2.53Ghz), 4GB DDR3 mem, 1080p WLED LCD, 1GB HD4670, 500GB 7200RPM, Vista Basic

After it was 'in production' for nearly 8 days it finally shipped yesterday so it will come almost a week earlier than the estimated ship date they had. No worries about delays then

 

Hi Tenknics,

I have some good experiences with a program called "Recover 4 all Pro". Maybe this way you could recover your data.

Another suggestion is to use "Spinrite"; this is a fantastic piece of software that can recover / repair HDDs. Check out GRC.com (Gibson Research Center).

Really hope this works out for you...

One more thing, before you start repairing the drive: Try to hook it up via another controller (USB for example); perhaps the enclosure is broken! Sincerely hope this is the case!!!

Please post back on the results!

 

i just checked my order and it has been pushed back to 04/09/09, more then a week from previous estimated delievery date

 

Thanks for your response and your concern, much appreciated.

I thought of using USB earliar and tried it as my enclosure has both..that didn't work either. And yea I came across SpinRite but couldnt get confirmation that it worked with Vista. Does it? If so I will give it a shot because it looked awesome..Just didn't wanna waste my time downloading if it was wasnt Vista SP2 compatible..Thanks again for the response. Will update as soon as anything changes.

 

Update!!!

After reading your post I revisited the idea that maybe the enclosure was the culprit. You see, I've never heard of my hard drive clicking before so when after much research for my clicking problem, I was CONVINCED by the internet that my HDD was dying and had the "click of death". But at the same time, after repeatedly trying, sometimes I could access it and get to files other times no, so I knew it had to be somewhat ok. So as a last resort I took my roomates external (which was older but happened to have eSATA ) and removed his hard drive and I popped mine in. Turned it on and it worked perfectly and have had 0 problems. I knew I took good care of my HDD in my travels, I just knew it!

Im still disappointed because I did a lot of research for external enclosures and thought I picked a good one as it had most importantly eSata, a fan to cool the hdd down, a nice design and good reviews. I guess I got a bad one? I hope to be able to return it somehow as I'm in Guam

On the bright side, at least my HDD is alive and kicking!! Thanks for making me revisit the controller/enclosure as the problem Technative! Btw esata transfers are quick as hell on my 1640!


P.S. Tech, what did you pay for your 1640 build if you dont mind me asking?

 

Wow... Glad it worked out for you... I sort of had a similar experience with an external USB-adapter where the power supply was failing... replaced the power supply and it worked like a charm. Glad this was the case for you too!

Better to back up your data though... Makes me sleep better at night...

I paid 1975 euros originally for the system with the 3670 in it, which was replaced by a new system (with the same specs) but with a 4670 in it. I did not have to pay anything extra.

The system's specs are in my sig, and I got an additional 1 year accidental damage with it. not too bad for a top-config system right?

 

i checked the hw id, i have the SEC5448 screen, thx god
i read it several places that it's a Seiko Epson model (it's a large japan company), but i also read that it's a Samsung (i doubt this). doesn't really matter anyway, it's a nice screen.

 

Yay! For some reason my monitor changed from MS\_0000 to SEC5448! Now I'm not worried

 

In the country I am in one can also get the Alphine White now, with the 16'' or 15.6'' screen. But I wonder if it's white leather as well. One will surely see the dirt/wear on that one...

 

white actually looks pretty good

 

thanks for the sentiments. Btw, did you have problems or defects with your original laptop? Or did you simply swap for the upgraded vid card?

Status updated. Except for testing a game, because I don't have any currenlty enstalled, my system is flawless and pretty badda$$....Mobility modded to cats 9.8. Installed CS4 Master Suite. Photoshop recognized the 4670 on first start and recommended that I turned on GPU-acceleration and was actually on by default already It met all the criteria for gpu-accel and this surprised me as Adobe's GPU support list didn't list the 4670, but Im assuming its not up to date.

For the first time since I've owned it, I've hooked up my Dell 2408wfp via display port. It saved all the presets I had from my DVI connection, but maybe its supposed to? Anyway, it's flawless and best of all, the displayport doesn't have any of the problems that plagued the DVI connection; powersave mode bug which is really annoying and well documented. Here's a pic of my desktop.

The only thing I have left to do is color mange my displays.... Both are wide gamut monitors which should make it easier... I hope

Lastly, I busted out my Sony SxS pro 32gig memory card from my EX1. It is a solid-state memory card implemented as an ExpressCard32 module. First native PCI-Express memory card It transfer over the 1640's PciE x1 bus. I popped off the express card slots covers and even tho it was the 34 size it plugged in perfectly to the 1640's 54 slot. I downloaded the entire contents of the card, 29 gigs, in under 8 mintues 3 hours of 1080 24p footage. Im about to try and edit this up and see how this baby really handles

Oh, how come I can't enable sticky keys on this? Like I can't type special characters by doing alt+0176 which is a degrees sign. I did a little bit of reading and some claim sticky keys only work on number pads, and not the top numbers. This laptop won't let me enable sticky keys...Anyone know whats up with that?


this laptop is cherry.

p.s. how do I undervolt this?

 

No problems. Just that I saw the 4760 being available in the US by the time I ordered it, so I asked the sales rep if this was an option. He told me that he was not sure IF and WHEN it would be available in the Netherlands. I made it clear to the guy that I wanted an absolute top notch system, and that I actually wanted the 4760. But he replied that it was not possible for him to know if it actually would become available in the Netherlands.

Four days after I got the system, the 4760 became a standard... So I called the guy back, and after investigating all options he concluded that the best (and only) option was to order a new system with the 4760 and send the current system back. All this at no additional charge! They tried to order a new mainboard for the system and let a tech replace it, but somehow he was told that that was not possible.

All in all I'm happy with the solution. I'll receive the new system on august 28 and somewhere in September tey'll pick up my current system. Must say that I'm pretty content with Dell's service. From what I read some people have a different experience, but I'm quite happy with it. I also own a D820 which received great service too (replaced a battery free of charge a month after warranty expired, replaced a screen on-site 4 times to search for the best one, and I did not have an extended warranty on the system).

By the way, your setup looks pretty sweet! What will you use to color calibrate the screens?

 

FAQ has been updated. If anyone would like to add to it with contributions, please PM me.

 

Well there seem to be numerous people having temperature-issues resulting in throttling -> may be adjusted in the FAQ
->sorry, can't find how to PM at first sight

Why does this topic always dissapears from the list of topics in the "Dell XPS and Studio XPS" subforum???

 

That issue is addressed via undervolting and purchasing a notebook cooler. Both are listed in the FAQ.

 

Undervolting & notebookcooler are just workarounds, no solution for the problem.

Seems not really up-to-date. But hey, that's just my opinion.

 

There is no throttling problem with the 4670 and that statement is accurate. The 3670 versions of the SXPS 16 tend to run hotter for some reason, at least my previous system did and others have noticed the same. If your system is throttling, it's defective and you should have Dell look at it. The people with 3.0 GHz CPUs may be having overheating issues because it's putting out more heat than the cooling can handle. In that case, nothing in the FAQ can be placed that would address it aside from advising people not to purchase that particular CPU. Since we do not have enough established cases of overheating with the 3.0 GHz cpu, it would be premature to do so.

 

Use Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator and change a key you don't use very often to a degrees sign (or you can use any key with Ctrl + Alt). Make sure you install MSKLC somewhere that conforms to 8.3 naming convention like 'C:\MSKLC' otherwise when you build your new layout it won't work.

For undervolting read the guide here.

 

Someone was saying earlier that it doesn't look good in red. I'm about to screw Calpella and just get the SXPS 16. I'm about to order it in red. Should I not?

~Ibrahim~

 

I can't get sticky keys to work on this thing. Pressing alt+whatever doesn't do anything. I think it only work on number pads unless someone using a 1640 can confirm they cant type special characters using the top number keys?

Also, whats the best temp monitor program for this thing? Tried speedfan and Hwmonitor and neither showed GPU temps or volts. Just core 2 temps.

 

Well, I know of one case...

Perhaps it would be a good thing to compare temps on my system, as I'll have both (3670 and 4670) with similar system specs side by side for about a week with exact same config. Just give me a descriptiion of things to do and I'll se if I can find the time to do it. I'll have the 4670 system by August 28, so there's no need to hurry.

 

You were one of the cases that came to mind but then I knew you had the 3670. Once you get the 4670 based system, run both systems with orthos and measure the temps with hwmonitor and compare. Then you could elect to run 3dmark loops and see how hot each system gets I suppose.

 

CPU-Z shows my t9800 running at 1.6ghz most of the time :/. I'm a power user and will be plugged in most of the time doing editing and design. Although I know it would speedstep up to 2.93ghz eventually when it needs to, it still bothers me. I don't want any throttle or lag from the process, as I want all 2.93ghz on all the time (while plugged in) I forced maximal performance with Rightmark. Haven't undervolted yet but will try tonight.

Also how come my 4670 won't show up in any monitor apps?

 

Isn't this a matter of simply disabling Speedstep in your bios?

I'll first do the stresstest which I have already done. I'll also run 3Dmark06 with Orthos. I'll post the results as soon as I have the system with the 4670 GPU. I also have the 6-cell and 9-cell battery, so we can also see what difference that makes. I'll also do the tests before and after applying AS5, so we can also see the difference that makes. Any other suggestions?

 

Games-testing ofcourse.

Games with which 4670-throttling was reported:
Mass Effect
Call Of Duty: World at War
Half-Life 2

 

I'm not really into gaming; don't have any of the games you mentioned either... Guess we'll have to do with benchmark and stresstools.

 

I've got HL2, L4D, CSS, Far Cry 2, Crysis, Frontlines fuel of war, BF2 and none of those cause throttling. I run all my games except Crysis and FC2 at 1080p with full details. If there is throttling, it would likely be with a certain configuration. I've had 4 studio xps 16 systems , the first one had a 3670 GPU with a P8600 and that DID throttle until I purchased a 9 cell battery to raise it from the back. The other 3 systems have been 4670 based with a P8700 and none of them throttle. So far I haven't seen any reports of 4670 based systems throttling in games but if I have missed them, I'd like a link to read about it.

 

There was a post in the original 1640 thread; someone said that you had to use a special key-binding program to make it work since it doesn't have a numpad.

Tried OCCT?

~Ibrahim~

 

The plan you have with combining orthos + 3dmark06 should be more than enough for a stress test.

 

OCCT is a nice GPU burner.....it might show the difference in temperatures better than 3DMark '06.

If you run the "Power Supply" test, it combines LINPACK for the CPU plus the uber-stressful GPU test. It can monitor volts, too, and outputs pretty graphs! lol....if you get the time, it's an idea.

~Ibrahim~

P.S. And I just ordered the SXPS 16!

 

Any reason to believe an Intel x9100 or qx9300 proc would work in this system or do you think it would just melt? lol

 

I think someone already tried a x9100 and said it throttled on him because the cooling wasn't sufficient.

 

I'm surprised the P9700 isn't available. That would probably be the ideal proc for this system.

 

OCCT won't test the GPU since it lacks CUDA (it's an ATi card).

 

Huh....I didn't know you had to have CUDA to use OCCT. Thanks for the heads up,

~Ibrahim~

 

Yeah I tried an X9100 with AS5 applied to the CPU and GPU. I also used a CoolerMaster laptop cooler and it ran so hot games were crippled within 5 minutes due to the unavoidable GPU downclocks.

 

Thanks, if I decide to get it I'll try to trade my x9100 for a P9700.

 

Can I delete everything off the recovery partition? will it be ok? I plan on deleting it so I can extend the main partition over once its cleared. I want to avoid a reinstall because everything is working perfect and I've tweaked a lot. Don't want to do it all over again.

 

Using FurMark would be interesting. I believe it stresses the GPU to its maximum.
Thanks for doing this!

 

Does this laptop have Gigabit LAN or just 100Mbps? My order shows 100Mbps, but the official Dell site shows 10/100/1000Mbps?

~Ibrahim~

 

I'll add Furmark to the list. Just give me some time to run through all tests. I'll make sure that all results are properly documented.

 

It's a Broadcom Netlink Gigabit networkcard, so it does 1000Mbps.

 

This is what I have so far:

3DMark06 @default (1280x1024)
6150 points
GPU 72°C

Half-Life 2 @ 1920x1080 & maxed out
GPU 84°C
CPU 78°C

next Call Of Duty 4

 

Cool beans, thank you! I think the "View Order Status" page is a bit messed up. Lists I have both the RGBLED and the WLED screen.....maybe I'm getting two laptops, lol!

~Ibrahim~

 

Well guys... Total bummer... I just checked the progress page to see if the status of my order already changed... Well... It didn't... On top of that, it now reads that my system is in production since 25-8-2009, and that delivery is expected on 8/9/2009??? I'm totally depressed now...

Just yesterday it read that the system was in production since 15-08-2009 and that delivery was expected at 28-08-2009! Somehow that was changed today...

 

Quantity Item Description

1 Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9900 (6MB cache/3.06GHz/1066Mhz FSB)
1 Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish
1 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1067MHz (2 Dimms)
1 Edge-to-Edge FullHD Widescreen 16.0 inch RGBLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
1 ATI Mobility RADEON™ HD 4670 – 1GB
1 500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
1 Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit
1 Integrated Gigabit (10/100/1000) Network Card
1 Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9, Multiple Languages
1 8X DVD+/- RW(DVD/CD read/write) Slot Load Drive
1 High Definition Audio 2.0
1 Intel® 5100 WLAN Wireless-N (1x2) Half Mini Card
1 Microsoft Works
1 McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
1 6-cell Battery
1 2Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis
1 Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)
1 Premium FHD RGBLED Display in Obsidian Black with and 2.0 MP Webcam
1 Intel® Centrino™ 2
1 Windows Vista™ Premium


$1558.. Good deal? Scheduled Delivery, 9-10-09... Always arrives before though... Pay no attention to build time...

 

Seems not bad to me.
I would however downgrade the CPU, save a couple of hundret bucks and get a slower temperature for a slightly lower CPU.

Note: You will only need such a fast CPU if you are planning on working with serious Video or Picture programmes.


Also, I would get just 1 year of dell service, but thats just me since I will probably sell my notebook then and get the newest XPS version

 

I just put in my order for the SXPX 16 a couple days ago. (yay!) I ordered it in glossy black (no leather), but now I see it's just become available in white (with leather). I'm thinking about calling to see if I can change my order to the white. I love the glossy white, but worry the leather will be hard to clean.

Have any of you with the red (or black) leather tried to clean it? Is it real leather or a pleather type material? I'd actually prefer the latter for cleaning purposes.

One more question - in the confirmation email the sent me it shows the Video card I ordered - "ATI Mobility RADEON™ HD 4670 – 1GB". But in my order status I see it as "ATI Mobility RADEON M96XT - 1GB". Are these the same card?

Thanks!

 

Not sure on the leather, but my 4670 1GB also shows up as a M96XT 1GB.

~Ibrahim~