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

i didnt get the 9 cell because Dell PR doesn't have that option when setting up your pc, otherwise i wouldve gotten it.

But then what.. it's kind of weird to think that unless i get a 9 cell there is no other way for the vents to handle the air (other than getting a cooler).

wonder what i could do to give it some space under the laptop

=/

 

Just put a book or something to prop it up from the back and it should have the same effect. I'd highly recommend you get a laptop cooler though. That way you can play games while laying down as well. I ordered the 9 cell battery from Dell spare parts for ~$87 shipped.

 

I'll have to look into that... How much are you guys picking these up for, and is there any way to save some cash on one?

 

Yeah like I mentioned in my other post, I suspect part of the problem with the GPU getting so hot is that they applied the thermal material and/or pad incorrectly. I'm sure if I opened up the comptuer I could easily fix it but since I'm sending it back tomorrow, there's no point.

Specs:
CPU: P8600
Ram: 4 gb
HD: 500 gb 7.2k rpm
GPU: ATI 3670


Edit: Now that the computer has had a chance to just sit idle with the 9 cell battery in it, the temps for the CPU cores is 34C and the GPU is 45C. Wow...

 

Before undervolting (and with a 6 cell battery), my stats while idle were pretty much the same. Heat was never that much of a problem for me before UV, but I did it anyway and recorded the stats to show how beneficial UV can be.

(Before undervolting - voltage 1.075)
Idle:
CPU 0: 34
CPU 1: 34
GPU: 45

Orthos:
CPU 0: 64
CPU 1: 63
GPU: 64

Gaming:
CPU 0: 69
CPU 1: 69
GPU: 77

After undervolting (0.9250v)
Orthos:
CPU 0: 53
CPU 1: 53
GPU: 55

Gaming:
CPU 0: 53
CPU 1: 54
GPU: 68

Since I've been testing this more with longer and more intensive gaming, I've seen CPU temperatures go up to around 55-60 and I've seen the GPU hit 70 at occasions. This also means that the temps could of potentially gone up higher while gaming before the undervolting (played for about a hour as opposed to 3 hours +). The power plan is set at high performance and using RClock I've stuck the CPU at 2.4ghz and I've experienced no throttling problems.

Generally, I'm pleased with the gains I've gotten in regard to the CPU, but I'm quite surprised by how much heat the GPU has lost!

 

Most of the time i play mmo for up to 5 or 6 hours.. on weekends that can go up till 18 nonstop hours a day (yes, im sick thats not the point).

so im just thinking maybe the laptop wont handle that and will become a time bomb =/

 

Here's some pics I took of the game running on my HDTV via HDMI out:

http://yfrog.com/16dsc02849j
http://yfrog.com/16dsc02881pj
http://yfrog.com/16dsc02881tj
http://yfrog.com/16dsc02882cj
http://yfrog.com/16dsc02901mj

Video of the SXPS 16 on a 46" Samsung HDTV through HDMI out:
View My Video

 

Here are my max temps after playing CSS for over an hour. It's amazing to me the difference between machine to machine.

 

Keep in mind CSS isn't as taxing as L4D even though both are sourced based. Your GPU temp is close to mine now that I have the 9 cell in it. You should give undervolting a try, my CPU temps are great now.

 

Yeah, I knew it wasn't, but I wanted to give you some kind of reference. What does RMClock cost? I futzed with it a bit when I was still running Vista, but haven't tried it since.

*Found it, installed it, won't let me run it. Giving me a cannot install or load RTCore64 driver. I'm running it as Administrator. I wonder if it's compatible with Win 7. I guess I'll figure it out tomorrow, I is tired.

 

I looked for this but....
The brightness on my 1640 with rgb LED always returns from a suspend or hibernate on full brightness (like I have it set for AC mode) when on DC .
Even when it is displaying just the opening "Dell" splash screen with the F2 for setup showing or when the hard drive password prompt shows too.
Then you hit the Fn down key once and it instantly jumps all the way down to the DC setting (which I have set to the lowest)
I tried A07 bios to no avail.
Anyone else have this?

 

BTW I had to replace my hdrive cause it would clunk (guessing self park)
about once evry 2 min.
New one works fine but that sucked.

 

Is the infrared port just for the remote?
thought it might do printing or mobile phone transfers

 

Oh yeah you can solve that problem here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=376693

 

Hey I need some suggestions, My 1640 is a month old and I was wondering which new drivers you guys would suggest updating and which ones should I stay away from? When I go to Dells site they list quite a few but I know you guys have had issues with certain ones

Thanks

 

Guys I really need some help with this.
I ordred a dell SXPS 16 with following config
P8700 2.53 Processor
4 Gb Ram
500Gb HDD
BD ROM
Ati 3670 512
It was delivered to my friend who lives in the US, he just called me and said that the laptop was defective and that when it booted up it took a very very long time to boot up as well as make a lot of weird noises, and it became very hot in like 10 mins.
He called up Dell and Dell said that we dnt sell a lot of laptops of this SXPS 16 and maybe there is a problem with your configuration that could be making it slow.....
They also said if i reconfigured the lap they would get it to me in a week with a discount.

So now everyone I know is saying the laptop isnt good cause its too slow and since its so costly i should not buy it.

I have 1 day to decide if i want to get it or not....
So the biggest question I have is how could it be even slow? Its supposed to be quite fast and that too shouldnt it boot up quite ok?
I know dell has millions of stuff in the background and all but would that cause booting to be slow.

OR is it because its the first booting up and maybe installing Vista and stuff that it takes time to boot up and load?

Suppose i order another one and if its still "slow" can he still return it back and get it reimbursed.

Man kinda sad I just have one day to make up my mind about this, help me out guys lol

Did you face any such issues when you booted it up for the FIRST time or is it always slow in the first boot cause of some installation or something?

And regarding the heat does it really get that hot in the first 10 to 20 mins?
I even bought a cooler before hand to cool it cause i read a lot saying it gets hot.....

 

Sounds like your friend probably wants to keep your laptop lol. Seriously, mine came loaded with Dell's bloatware (still has it) and it's super fast. If they'r saying the laptop is slow, it could be because the drivers weren't preloaded properly but I doubt it.

 

solved my own problem regarding deleting and reclaiming the dell recovery partition. i found vista 64 compatible program that successfully moved the os partition called " easeus partition master."

it took somewhere between 2-3 hours to move the partition. once the os partition was moved to the left of the unallocated space vista's partition manager can then simply expand over it.

 

This is the first laptop im getting and that too from Dell, so can neone tell me what happens when you turn the laptop on for the first time?
Does it just go into windows or does it start any installations etc..
My main question --> "Is loading or booting slow the FIRST time you power it on?"

 

Woow! What the... Mine reaches the 40-50 C easilly with some browsing and installing programs! I undervolted the CPU so that can't be the problem. Strange the temps van show such a difference!

 

Can anyone tell me if Bluetooth shows up in bios that this means there is indeed a module installed? As my device manager doesn't show it? I'm beginning to think mine doesn't have Bluetooth at all

 

To answer your question, yes the initial boot does take a long time. After it runs the updates and installs them it should be much faster. I thought the same thing when I got mine and booted it for the first time, but after that it's blazing fast. I can reboot my PC in less then a minute from desktop to desktop, to me, that's pretty fast. As for the heat, it seems to be very different from machine to machine. I'm going to undervolt mine tonight and see how low I can get it.

I agree, I can't understand how they can be so different from machine to machine. I'm wondering what could be doing, maybe the people that heat up a lot of the 5300 wireless card instead of the 5100 like I have? It just doesn't make sense. I have the 6 cell as well so it's not like I have the extra cooling room. I'm going to undervolt it tonight and see just what it can do.

 

search for the undervolting thread on this board. they have a driver which makes it work on 64bit comps.

 

does anyones's 1640 slim adapter get ridiculously hot? mine gets so hot that it turns off unless its propped up for access to air.

 

For the record, i have the 5300 wireless and it gets very hot.. dont know if that has something to do with it.

Anyway, I tried Joker's advice and i lifted the back part of the laptop a bit giving it some space, and i didnt experience the fps slowdown that did before... played for a while and the fps was steady. It didnt get *as* hot either so it definitely has to be a heating issue ... i definitely can't use the laptop without a cooler or on a flat surface... apparently a cooler will solve the problem.

And, so long as the computer isnt heating up, its performing quite nicely...Im not sure if im up to waiting till the next one is released. I still have a couple of days to keep trying it and figuring it out. This weekend im going to be powergaming and see how it performs.

 

If you're going for a cooler, try the NC-2000. I'm using it right now on my lap, it's great.
I didnt undervolted my sxps yet, but i always use the cooler while playing, and temps are much lower... During CoD WaW I usualy get 70 on the GPU with the cooler. Without it gets to 80C easily.

Another thing, does anyone know if RMCLOCK works in Win7? I have the 7100 RC.

 

Hi Guys
Am from India and planning to buy sxps 16,read almost all the post and worried about the design(vents being covered by screen),the heating issue...Still would like to buy,because of its features and looks...also it is well within my pocket(It wont cry ).Planning for the base model with 4GB ram(its upgradation for me).Wanting to use it for virtual machine(vmware) and router simulation,I know desktop is good for me,but I dont have the space at my home for a desktop!!So would love to by a lappy......
All being said,I wanted to know,How good is this machine for my purpose?
What is this creative xtreme sound blaster software solution?(Would definately use it for listening to Rock gerne songs on this one),will this software help me to get a better sound?
Trying to get EPP (So that I can avail 500gb hdd and the well known RGBLED screen)
Let me know you guys(owners) opinion please.
Eagerly waiting for u guys replies.....

 

yep, thats exactly the one i'm planning to get. Amazon wont ship those to Puerto Rico so i gotta get it through e-bay and with shipping its gonna be $100.00 ouch.

I know i read a few posts back (but cant find it now).. what are you guys using to carry it around? what sort of bag?

 

hmm I was planning on getting the laptop too, but I am really confused abt whether to get a sound blaster for this or use the normal sound hardware that comes with this.

 

You can always add an ExpressCard Sound Blaster later, shouldn't feel compelled to include it in your Dell configuration.

 

Is it card...?Confused,it says software solution....

Have anyone tested for virtualization like vmware,virtual box or vpc??Does it produce lot of heat while using these softwares?

Planning to order it on comming monday...it would be helpful,if I get the answers before

 

Avoid the software solution, not worth it as it really doesn't add anything. Go with what's built-in and if it doesn't satisfy add an ExpressCard for better audio.

 

Wel mine just shipped, and I have a [evidently inactive] Purolator tracking number. Although the Dell website (and dell customer service rep) told me that it was scheduled to ship the 28th of may.

What am I supposed to believe?!

 

Depending on your needs/wants.. you can also get some very nice audiophile-grade USB DACs... im planning on getting one in the $500 range and pair it up with a netbook to use as a home audio solution.

 

Thats true...great so will exclude this sound card thing now and will decide once i get the lappy(after hearing its default sound)

 

Does anyone know what drivers I'm missing?

I figure Ethernet port one is something to do with ethernet ;p, but not sure on the other two.

 

Thanks for all the inputs provided by ur posts.

So Guys,here is my configuration then
2.4ghz/4gb ram/320gb(7200rpm)HDD/512 dedicated/720p wled screen/5100 intel wifi card/slot load dvd rw(no bluray disc)

now,there are few queries,please help me clear em all

1)Will the heat issues be more with this 320gb 7200rpm hdd or is 500gb 5400rpm,or the heat is independent of the hdd?

2)I rearly use this one for movies,games or entertainment,so is the 720p wled screen good for working....the rgbled is approx $200 extra

3)I already have a 500gb hdd,now as external.I am planning to interchange this 500gb with 320gb,will this act voids the warranty?

4)Have anyone tried installing Suse,Fedora or Redhat on this machine?

 

According to me,the base devices--it might be pointing to card reader and yes,the third one is your network controller driver(Ethernet card driver)

Have you installed the card reader driver?

Else easy way is to load the driver and utility cd onto the slot,then cancel autorun,now right click on the base device and select update driver and on next screen select manual and browse to dvd drive and click next,it should search and install the driver automatically...

 

Thanks, I'm trying that right now and I'm not having that much luck with it shamefully.

 

9 cell battery update: Today I played 40 minutes of Left 4 Dead on my lap and the GPU did not throttle. The laptop did get hot and I felt the heat but it still had enough airflow by being propped up by the 9 cell battery that it didn't have the throttling issues of before.

Oh yeah I recommend that a power savings profile (in RMClock) to be active if you're just using it to watch movies/surf the web on your lap. The CPU hovers around 34-40C and the laptop stays comfortable the entire time.

 

Well, a bit of space under the laptop and it makes all the difference, just like joker said. ive been playing FFxi for about 6 hours nonstop now and it has just worked awesome. its a little warm but nothing that can really bother me. Im actually kind of blown away by it. bear in mind though that ffxi is a 5 or 6 year old game.

However, im starting to think this is a keeper. its working wonders with ffxi which is most of the gaming i do and i dont think id want to wait longer. still have 3 more days in the weekend to try it out though.

Im pretty happy with it at this moment.

 

Return it man..you're going to regret it when you see the new version. It's bound to have more improvements than simply a video card upgrade. You'll feel even worse when you see people posting benchmarks for it because you'll know you could have gotten it. I love this SXPS but not enough to warrant 1/2 the performance.

 

Hey guys,can anyone tell me,if this laptop has native SATA?Its found in BIOS.

 

yes it is AHCI and the drive interface is SATAII

 

Hi,

Does anybody know why when configuring the Dell Studio XPS 16 from Dell University (basically the 7% Member Discount for college students) the option for the 500gb 7200rpm hard drive is available instead of the 500gb 5400rpm (current) hard drive?? This delays the shipping date by 34-42 days!!! When I'm configuring the SXPS16 with out the 7% discount I only have the option of getting the 500gb 5400rpm hard drive which puts the shipping date out to June 5th versus July 21st with the discount (which is absolutely outrageous).

Thanks

 

Thats great,I can try RHEL on this one then,Has anyone installed Rehat on this one?

 

if u check dell's site, u can see, that even for normal home there's only 5400rmp hdd is available right now.. i hope too the 7200rpm will be available soon, cause i want to buy mine in a month but what i want more is the hd4670..
btw how's working that Dell University? is it only for students in us? i'm a student in europe, but will buy this Dell in the us.. so can i participate in this thing? a little price cut would be fine..

 

nope not yet but it should work as far as i know

 

Media Player, Media Center, Power DVD. Grrrrrrrrr. Anybody know of a good DVD player for the SXPS 1640?

 

Power DVD Ultra is great. The stripped down version that comes with it sucks though.