===> The Official Studio XPS 1640 Owner's Thread<===

This is true! I will be buying a 2gb stick soon. Can't now because I just bought textbooks for University and that put a huge dent in my wallet

I've had 3 gigs ram in my M1530 so I don't think i'll be seeing this as a big issue

 

having 3Gb of ram doesn't mean it will not run in dual channel. Most modern chipsets support dual channel across mixed size modules. About performance though, it depends on the memory controller. Some memory controllers induce extra latency when running in dual channel mode which may result in reduced performance (even though bandwidth is doubled). As a general rule for core2 processors, dual channel does not add a lot of performance unless you are using an integrated videocard. In this case the onboard card will have a lot more memory bandwidth and thus performance. But just to keep it simple just get 2x2Gb dual channel since the performance argument is moot at this point for core2 systems in regards to ram.
AMD K8 and K10 architectures do benefit from multi channel memory, aswell as Intel's Nehalem architecture (core i5, i7).

 

I had forgotten about that weird mixed mode...but I think it's not all "real" dual channel that way. It can still affect performance though. Nehalem I'd really want tri-channel, although for many applications there's not a big difference between dual and tri (and I guess when it hits laptops eventually it'll at first just be dual channel).

 

I own a 320 GB harddrive, XPS1640, ordered back in mid-July, Vista x64 home premium

does anyone with a 320GB drive hear occasional "clunking" sounds coming out of it occasionally? is this normal?

 

entrance, I do occasionally. It gets annoying as hell to me. But it has only happened twice for about 3 minutes so at the moment it isn't a problem.

 

I have this laptop and I was wondering if I could record TV on it. Like record something from an actual TV, onto the laptop. Is it capable of doing this with some cords and maybe some software? Or would I need a tv tuner and other things? thanks!

 

Can I use qx9300 on my SXPS 1640? There seems to be one user in NBR with an SXPS1640 running qx9300 but DELL tech support says no can do - I'm confused.

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SXPS1640/T9600/RGBLED/4GB-DDR3/HD3670

 

Although the QX9300 would theoretically work in the 1640, there is the problem of cooling it. The current dual core heatsink would not fit the Quad core chip, and the difference in thermals between the C2D and the C2Q are not the same. The 1640 just isn't designed for it. Even the HP HDX18, which does offer both, has a different MB if you order the QX9300 because of the higher thermals.

The 1640 is already hot enough. I couldn't imagine someone fabricating the cooling necessary to make a QX9300 work.

Oh, and the BIOS would have to support it, too!

 

Hey, I got my 1640 on Saturday. Out of the box, it will not play Blu Ray's properly. It will play previews, but when you get to the main menu of the movie, you cannot play the movie, select scenes, features, etc. Normal DVD's play fine. After 2.5 hours with Dell on Saturday night, they sent me the disks for PowerDVD 8.2 and Roxio. They wanted me to re-install PowerDVD. Got the discs today and un/re installed PowerDVD, same problem. The tech came on through DellConnect and tried it too and still no luck. Long story short, he said this is a known issue the 1640 and 8.2, and will have a tech come out with a new BD drive and PowerDVD 8.1.

I haven't heard of this issue. I couldn't find it in a search of this thread. Just a lot of upgrade issues. Anyone hear of this? Needless to say, I am no longer excited about this computer. I might even pay the 15% re-stocking fee to send it back.

If it helps, my basic specs are 2.4 dual core, 4g DDR3, 512mb video card, 500g HD (7200rpm) Vista Home Premium 64 bit.

Pete

 

I haven't had a problem with blueray because I never got blueray lol. Um I think this machine is a great laptop. It gets hot when gaming but I did get a cooler. If you think about it, all computers will have problems here and there, your just one of the unlucky ones that has a problem. P.S. Go Windows 7 I enjoy it lots, but it gets time to get used too though..

 

Are you using your computers arrow keys to move through the menus, or trying to use the mouse? I have PowerDVD 7.3, and it uses the arrow keys to select stuff off of in-disc menus, not the mouse. (Though of course it's own menus work with the mouse.)

Works just fine so far.

Did you order it with a TV tuner? To record over the air ATSC, you'd need one or more ATSC tuners. As long as you got Vista Home Premium or Ultimate with it, Microsoft's DVR software will be built in to it regardless (and there are other choices out there too...like Nero has a package that comes with a tuner and remote, and actually lets you use the real Tivo service on a modern computer, though I don't know if it works as well as a real hardware Tivo or not).

 

Only the mouse, I will try with the arrow keys. The mouse works fine on Standard DVD's.

 

Oh cool, that's probably it then! You'd think the Dell person could like LAUNCH A FRIGGIN BLU RAY and figure that out themselves

Not sure if PowerDVD 7 handles DVDs differently or not, as I've just been running them through Windows Media Player. For playback it works fine though. Usues typically 3-27% of my CPU power on a 2.4GHz/3MB dual core Penryn with a mobile Geforce 9650GT, versus maybe 1/3 that for DVDs through Media Player.

 

I can test it when I get mine.

 

This is a problem with the momentus 7200.3 drives. It's unclear whether it is strictly a firmware issue (as seagate seems to wish one to believe) or something more. I went through two 7200.3's with firmware DE17--which supposedly fixed this problem--but both of the drives became increasingly problematic, ultimately up refusing to boot windows.

The Dell tech's I spoke to for the first drive failure were very incredulous about my claims, and if you call them, be prepared to have to fight time tooth and nail to convince them that you are not an idiot and that you know it isn't fan noise. After two 7200.3's failed on me, I insisted that they replace it with a different drive: the tech said they would be sending me "a Fujitsu" drive with identical specs. They ended up sending me a momentus 7200.4. A number of threads claim the same issues exist with these drives, but I haven't experienced the problem yet.

Long story short, search this and other threads for this problem. Most people opt to resolve it with hdparm. It is a huge issue, and I really wish Dell would acknowledge it and press seagate to move more quickly on it.

 

Samsung SSD... Problem Solved...

 

Son of a gun, that works. Still, the pointer should work too. Thanks for the tip. Finally I can watch Blu on the laptop.

 

If PowerDVD isn't configured properly, it'll use your CPU for decoding, other programs will use the ATI hardware and take alot of the stress away.

Try use "CoreAVC" and VLC as the player, or Media Player Classic.

I barely get CPU usage when using those

 

Just so you don't feel bad, I had the same problem with mine. You would think that the GUI's would be clickable. 99.999999999999999999999% of the rest of Windows based programs are.

 

Do you have Blu Ray? Do you use VLC for that? I tried VLC but it won't play my Blu Ray movies (unless I am doing something wrong).

 

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with this issue. Definitely makes me feel better.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5247927#post5247927

This guide can also be followed to replace the thermal paste in the SXPS 1640

 

Could someone please post a link to where I may reinstall the Power DVD that came pre-installed? I'm testing out the RC Windows 7 and neglected to add it to my backup. In anticipation of the sharing of knowledge assembled here, I thank you.

 

Pretty sure it doesn't have a TV tuner built into it. I didn't know it was an option. So it's not capable of capturing video off of a TV without a TV tuner? Thanks.

 

you have to have something that supports it-PowerDVD or Win DVD, a new enough version that supports it

 

Isn't that called recording? just do a search and see if there are softwares out there for that? I wouldn't think it would be able to record since a dvd player uses the cable to record the show not the tv. Your computer doesn't have a cable connector.

 

I'm deployed so the only way we can get TV is from a modified network. Basically through a coax cable only. or some rca output from a vcr that has the coax going in, and out of it.

i just want to record my dallas cowboys games (don't hate!) so I will actually be able to see them play. or i'll miss the whole season lol.

 

why not get a dvd player and record that way? then you can watch your show on the computer with the dvd that you made? that might be the simplest way to watch or just use the vcr to record.

 

Or just some functional ATSC or NTSC tuner, depending on what's being transmitted over that cable.

 

Why wont the fan come out of high speed mode even after the cpu is cooled down?

Example: I run orthos and rocket the core temps up to 75C, fan turns on high. I turn orthos off and temps drop down to a cool 37C but fan continues to stay on high unless if I reboot.

 

i removed the "dust-filter" inside the base bottom cover (basicly the "only" ventilation on the base bottom cover), and the airflow seems got better.

i believe the casing actually feels a bit cooler. im testing all temps with Everest right now with dust-filter and without dust-filter.....

ps.......it was easy to remove it by the way.

 

I'm pretty... positive you're referring to the plastic mesh

I'm sure your temps are going to be lower if you do remove the mesh.
The problem with removing the mesh is the extra dust that is going to get inside the laptop. It will clog the heatsink in less time than normal, and dust will travel further in the insides of the laptop.

Have you replaced the thermal paste yet? That really helps the laptop run cooler http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5247927#post5247927

 

well, i figure that out before i removed it

i do (as i always do on my laptops), i just clean it a couple times a year. (compressed air for be exact).

by the way, it not drawing in a lot of dust, the holes are really small in the bottom cover, besides, i priority cooler casing and a tiny bit more dust then a warmer casing vice versa.

 

My new 1640 came installed with bios A10, I have posted in other thread about it as well. I can't find it on Dell site though. Here is a screen shot:

The only thing I have found yet (have not spend much time with it yet) is that it has an option to dim the display after x idle time in the power options of windows 7 I don't have this on the one with A08, not sure if that is bios related:

 

I have had that happen before as well.

My M1730 had a BIOS that Dell never ended up releasing!

 

hmm,beta bios? not relly good for dell to do that since u dont get support for the bios huh?

 

Does anyone know what the PLL is for Dell SXPS 16?

 

Alright, I figured I would post here to see if anyone can help me.

My wife's SXPS16 has recently developed a problem where after the computer resumes from sleep it will BSOD within a few seconds. I have scanned for viruses as well as spyware and updated Windows but the system still does it. I am currently running Memtest86 to see if I can come up with anything, but so far nothing.

Any other ideas?

 

What are the specs? I had a similar issue with a Vertex SSD in my Dell 14z. I replaced it with an Intel SSD and sleep works fine now.

N

 

Hey folks, searched on fans, fan, and loud but to no avail. I'm thinking of picking up a Studio XPS16 with the RGB screen. When you're just browsing, doing email, playing music, or working in Photoshop is the XPS 16's fan loud or bothersome? Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

Whilst doing any low power work (surfing/music/movies) I dont even notice the fan it is so quiet.

The only time I really notice it is if I am gaming, then it kicks in

 

Excellent! Thanks very much for the feedback.

 

I'm assuming your only getting the BSOD after sleep mode only, turns out that MS released a bad update or something. There is a thread about it about a week ago. I also saw it on the dell support forum somewhere too.

 

Have you looked for it? I don't have mine yet otherwise I would.

 

This is a rather trivial thing, but I thought I might throw it out there.

My XPS 1640 has this weird issue where IE8 does not open GIF files when loaded from an optical disc like a DVD. When I rollback to IE7, it is fine again. I suppose this must be a software issue, but I was wondering if any of you guys noticed this "glitch" for IE8. When I try to open a GIF from a DVD, for instance, IE8 would open and immediately close (you only see the window in a blink and closes down right after). Anyone else have this problem? Or is it just me...

I'm thinking about refreshing this laptop back to factory settings sometime to see if it'll resolve the problem. I've only had the laptop for ~2 months.

 

entrance002:
seriously, forget that browser. yes, it's better than ie6, but still very bad. use firefox. use opera. use chrome. any of them is much better.

 

IE7 is okay, but I had nothing but trouble with IE8. Talk about a bloated, slow poorly written application. Stay with 7 or go to another browser completely.

 

Eh, I read that and removed the patch but now I seem to have a bigger issue. I cannot access the Control Panel and apparently spooler is not installed so I cannot print things.

I am just going to reformat it and put Ubuntu on it for her, I am sick of Vista screwing up so much.

But thanks for all the replies!

 

stupid clicking hard drive and pausing each time

 

Please post the verdict.

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SXPS1640/T9600/RGBLED/4GB-DDR3/3670