Any updates on the XPS 16 heating/ throttling issue?

I downloaded hwmonitor and under batter battery and wear, its saying I have a -11% wear level. Since I just got the laptop today, should it be that way?

 

Calibrate the battery. The hwmonitor levels for the battery will change sometimes they go up sometimes they go down..at one point i was down to 6200 from 7500 khw.....now im back up to 6900.

To calibrate your battery and make it last longer (both for immediate use and for keeping battery wear down):

1.)drain it all the way down...and i mean ALL THE WAY down. Change whatever power settings you have to so that the comp stays on even below 1%.

2.) once the computer shuts off by itself, keep hitting the power button (the laptop shouldnt turn on at all at this point) to drain whatever is left in the battery. Once the power button stops lighting up the battery is completely empty.

3.) Take the battery out and do not use it for at least 10 hours (best thing to do is let it sit overnight).

4.)put the battery back in and charge it to 100% +2 hours beyong the 100 percent mark.



Do that and you've got a fully operational efficient battery. If I really really try hard enough, I can get my battery to last about 5 hours and thats with powerpoint open and word while taking notes in class.

 

I see. I'll do that tomorrow night i spose, since I'm installing things tonight.

 

I heard that this is really bad for the battery.

 

Negative. I did a lot of research on this and even a minor academic research paper on it in my electromagnetism class in college.

 

Played games on mine for about 4 hours, mostly WoW and Oblivion. Those played fine. I played Battlefield Bad Company 2 for about 10 minutes. Played fine for most of it, after a bit it started throttling >< Will more then likely be returning this system. Where can I download Furmark (is that the test everyone uses ?) to see how it performs overall.

 

FurMark: Graphics Card Stability and Stress Test, OpenGL Benchmark and GPU Temperature | oZone3D.Net

 

Yep. Performs poorly during it. Going to call Dell now to return it. Its a shame really, because I really like the system overall, but it just doesnt do what I need it to do.

 

Is there a way to shut power off to the screen without closing the lid? I tried gaming on an external monitor the other day with the main screen closed to see if the unit would throttle and it did not (I'm assuming due to the extra wattage available to the cpu?). I would like to run that test again but this time with the screen open so the exhaust vent is blocked and see if I have any issues and what my temps get up to.

Any reason why one game would run at full screen on my external LCD and another wouldn't? I have gpu scaling enabled so ALL content no matter what the resolution should run at full screen. My external LCD is also 1080p but I was running BC2 and Crysis at 1280x720. BC2 went full screen and so did Crysis but Crysis had a large black border around the edges. Any ideas?

 

What do you mean "poorly?" You're not supposed to get, for example, more than 20fps when it's set to a high resolution.

The throttling in game is a good reason to return it.

 

Yeah. I would go from 30-40+ fps and then drop to the game being completely unplayable after 10-15 minutes when I played BF: BC2. Really disappointed about it.

 

So it turns out no matter what I do throttling STILL occurs. Whether I play on the laptop screen, an external screen, with the laptop screen on or off and with the laptop screen blocking the exhaust vent or not, the result is always the same. I tried playing Bad Company 2 multiplayer and the first ten minutes or so was great with silky smooth frame-rates usually around 60FPS(720p/medium), and then next thing you know I'm under 10FPS. Sometimes the FPS will drop slowly over the course of a min to where its less than 20FPS and sometimes it drops instantly below 10FPS. Needless to say the problem is worse than I thought, I am going to be returning or exchanging this unit asap...unacceptable.

FYI I have attached shots of my temps below(load while playing the game). Lower temp is with the screen in closed position not blocking the vent, higher temp is with the screen in upright position partially blocking the vent. In both case the screen is off as I am using external ("projector only" setting on unit). This is also with the unit sitting flat with the 6-cell battery.

WITH SCREEN IN CLOSED POSITION NOT BLOCKING VENT


WITH SCREEN IN OPEN POSITION PARTIALLY BLOCKING VENT


So it is purely the power and not a temperature issue right? Are the temps in both cases within acceptable levels? No need to run any other benchmarking if this thing can't even handle 1 game for 10mins (wasn't multitasking either, this was the ONLY thing running).

 

@Wetcardboard

It seems to me that the throttling you're experiencing is thermal, rather than the original throttling issue that was caused by an underpowered adapter. (even though your temps with the screen closed suggest otherwise)

Couple of things which you could try, and that worked for me:

1.EDIT: Don't, A10 puts back the limiter on GPU temps. Awesome Dell, keep shooting at your own customers try updating to the latest BIOS (A10 came out yesterday on Dell's site) (that upgrades the video BIOS, although I'm not sure if that is applicable to the 5730 GPU that u seem to have). The old video BIOS used to start throttling as soon as GPU reaches 84-85 deg C (around your temps). And well, it always hits 84 deg on BFBC2.

2. Prop up the back of the laptop using a book or something. Ventilation isn't very good with the 6 cell battery.

3. If the above doesn't work, try to use RivaTuner to lock your GPU clocks so that it doesn't underclock even if it goes above the set temp. limit. If you are not familiar with the process, Google "Rivatuner+Atsiv". If you're still lost, PM me.

I've seen that when I use my laptop in an airconditioned room (24 deg C), it works perfectly. In anything hotter, however, it will throttle.

See if either steps work for you, rep me if they do

PS- I hope this is not a issue with the 5730s!! I'm actually getting a replacement 1645 with the 5730 instead of the 4670 to fix my overheating issues - but as far as performance went, post BIOS A09 I have never experienced any throttling in even the most taxing of games at the highest settings. Small example

1. DiRT2 (1920x1080, 2xAA, all settings on high, in A/C room, max GPU temps 88 deg C, no throttling (starts throttling at 93 deg in non A/C room, but thats thermal))
2. GRID (ditto on settings, max temps 90 deg C)
2. BF:BC2 (1920x1080, med settings, AA off, max temps 85 C, even in non A/C room)
4. GTA 4 (1920x1080, all high settings, definition on, max temps 86 C)

This is with BIOS A09, no Throttlestop or Rivatuner. Smooth as butter I log my temps with HWMonitor.

 

I installed A10 (thinking new is better) yesterday after reformatting/reinstalling W7. Any tips on where to download A09 and how to revert back to it?

 

I think it's power. With BIOS A09 my 4670 has hit 97C and not throttled before, but CPU Throttling pops up seemingly "randomly."

This may sound crazy, but there is an idea floating around that the power adapter box heats up to a certain level and then isn't able to do a good job converting AC to DC, causing not enough power to be provided to the laptop.

 

It might be an idea to get people that are not having throttling issues to post detailed specs about their power adapter including where it was made. There has to be a reason why some of these throttle and some of these don't and it might be related to where the power adapter is manufactured. It wouldn't be the first time that a factory in China used a substandard component or two.

On some other Dell adapters I've tested, they seem to have a limiter based on AC watts drawn from the wall. An efficient adapter would be able to convert more of that input power to DC output. An inefficient adapter would convert less of the input power to DC and would be turning the extra energy into heat. All of these adapters get hot but the ones that are getting red hot might be very inefficient and can't deliver enough DC watts to fully power these laptops which leads to throttling. Just a theory.

 

unclewebb, do you think my temps are the source of any of my issues? I thought 84 C is a bit high for ANY cpu whether it be a mobility one or not, but even upwards of 90 C for a mobility gpu is acceptable isn't it? I'll call Dell today and see what they say, maybe I can get a 9-cell battery and/or new AC adapter to test your theory.

 

The Intel specified throttling point for your CPU based on core temperature is 100C. As gpig has noticed, with bios A09, the throttling is usually power related and has nothing to do with CPU or GPU core temperature.

 

Can we confirm that Dell re-instated the thermal limit on the gpu with the A10 BIOS that was released yesterday? Don't know why the would but I head a couple forum members talking about it yesterday. Do my temps seem normal for a unit with the 6-cell battery?

 

Keep trolling. The device I used measures the draw and not the total output of the ac adapter. Hence why when idel I use from 23-30ish watts. Get it? Hopefully this time youll understand.

Again YOUR 5730 is having issue not the 5730 for others. Remember just because people here have issues does not speak for the XPS 16 user base as a whole, so please dont over generalize. Mine runs furmark at min 20s FPS wise while prime is running not matter how long I run it.

The difference in the 4670 and 5730 isnt huge, yet rendering furmark in 1600x900 vs 1920x1080 is huge. Hence why it would be more of an issue.

Showing Throttle stop in a video while furmark and prime95 are running for that long is proof enough. If my XPS was throttling if would definitely still be at that time and it wasnt.

Again please stop trolling. Say my XPS is still throttling because I have proven that it is not.

 

Hey bro, I am not the only one; but happy you sinlged me out to look like an even bigger bafoon.

YOU go somewhere else, I'd like to see a video running prime95 small tft's and furmark @ 1920x1080 running 20+ fps.... I just don't believe it.

If you want to, prove it.

EDIT: For the record, your video couldn't prove except what your power meter reads... you really think that was enough proof? blurry footage of your desktop? And I am not the only one w/5730 problems, and like Error said, post a TS log over a long period of time stressing the system.. You know what, I will go home tonight and make a video just for you!!!

COMING SOON: Proof that the 5730 throttles... just for liquid!!! : )

 

No it is not. The system can partially throttle and recover. Here is proof (this is my system results recorded from this past hour). This test was done with all unnecessary features off (screen, wireless, sound, keyboard backlight) and I was running prime (default torture test) and FurMark (extreme burning mode) on my i720/ 4670 combo.

Check out those 12x multipliers about a third a way into the log.

Showing that your laptop ISN'T CURRENTLY THROTTLING and that it WILL NEVER THROTTLE are two entirely different things. Pretty simple logic.

A simple 30 minute ThrottleStop log running Fur+Prime would really be a lot more convincing than whining about "my laptop is physically incapable of throttling, honest."

Again, check out my log. This is proof that the laptop can temporarily recover from throttling (i.e. the part to show in a video).

 

Thanks gpig, seems I need all the people from the truth side of things I can get before this one will stop...............

 

Its pretty hard to believe liquid because I haven't seen ONE other user on these boards yet that have a 5730 and HAVEN'T had throttling issues...

 

RIGHT?! oh this is just fun now........ : )

On the lighter side of the issue... Dell called me back this morning to respond to my email about my replacement with the 5730 and how it still throttled... I gotta whip up a detailed email with logs/screeies and whatnot for her to send to the tech team.. when I get an answer about it I will let you all know asap.

 

Here is my log after 28+ mins of furmark and prime95. This is my final tame trying to prove to you guys. I have jumped through ever hoop you have set at me and proved that Im right. At this point if you dont take what youve asked for this time, well then Im done. Ill try and post a wattage video, but even with everything you stated Im still maxing at 115 with some spikes well bellow 120watts.

 

Straight Dumb.. look at the log. IT THROTTLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! @ 13:29 it begins if you do not know how to identify it......

 

No, not this time, that is where he stopped running Prime.

If he was indeed running Prime95 in torture test mode and actually running FurMark, then good for him.

 

Ah, didn't know that. Well, he STILL must have the GOLDEN XPS!!!!!!

I am very skeptical that the same setup performs different.....

 

Can you post the test settings so other people can compare their results to yours? Particularly, which "torture test" did you use in Prime95, and did you enable extreme burn in FurMark?

 

@boeingguy1

Check this link out

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/450888-up-downgrading-your-1645-bios.html

If you don't find the A09 file in there, downgrade to A08 and then up to A09

 

True, these would make a big difference.......

 

Furnark was stability with burn in and temps at 1920x1080 res. Prine 95 was the first selection small just like the thread for throttling states. Both tests were started within seconds of each other and furmark averaged ~20-23fps.

 

HOW? Running ONLY Furmark I get an avg of 8 with a max of 11....... Any other 5730 owners want to post what they get running furmark ONLY??

 

Not really.

As someone who has played around with both very often..if you're going to throttle with xtreme burn in on then you will also throttle with it off. burn in will simply make the gpu work harder and increase its temp..at such high levels of activity the minor details like xtreme burn in dont really make a difference.

I hope that mkaes sense, I just got out of a pretty intense renal physiology lecture so my brain is a little wired haha..

 

haha, well being I don't have much exp. with furmark I have no doubt you are right and I am wrong on the point. Thanks for clarifying : )

 

Well havn't read everything yet...but i recieved my replacement 1645 a few days ago I can make it throttle, BUT I can also play Left 4 Dead (1) which would throttle the old system's CPU in 5-10 min on default settings. With default setting I can see no throttling in the logs, so I maxed everyting graphic option out (Anti-Aliasing mode: 8x MSAA, filtering Anisotropic 16x, shader very high, etc...) these options would choke the old system.

So now on the new system I can play L4D(1) and WOW without throttling...it appear...

It is a 1645 w/i7 720 / 5730 GPU / 130AC adapter / SSD - A09 BIOS
9cell batt on hard surface, screen tilted past 90deg, no cooler
85C ambient temp
throttlestop monitor mode only

130w AC adapter
- made in china, model: FA130PE1-00 REV: A00

Attached are 2 logs:

1) ThrottleStopLog-40min-maxed graphic last 10 mins.txt
- This shows only the last 10 mins of game play, the full 40 min file was to big to attach. This is with every graphic option maxed out. I think it is throttling midly, maybe as there are some multiplier values of 13.00 mixed in, it wasn't enough to have a noticable effect on the game play.
Link to full 40 min file on my site: http://www.cj7jeep.com/random/1645/ThrottleStopLog-40min-maxed.txt
BUT looking at the overall temps it must have been doing something to keep them way down...GPU peaked at 78C and then went down and was held in the low 70s for the 2nd 1/2 of playing

2) ThrottleStopLog-FM-95.txt
- This shows FurMark + Prime95 running, here it takes no time for it to throttle and the multipler to scale down, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7.00
- FurMark @ 1280x1024, in stability test, Post FX checked

I would agree throttling dosn't seem to be temperature related, max GPU temp I saw was 78C (old system I saw was 101C), max CPU temp was 82C (old system 89-91C?)

More time will tell...but this sytem is a massive over improvement over the last 1645 I had.

Overall idle temps seem higher than the last 1645, with the 85C ambient heat, everything (cpu/gpu) are 57-59C

 

Hmm @ 1920x1080, in stability test, with post FX checked, MSAA=none
AVG 15/16
MIN 13
MAX 24
- thats with furmark, throttlestop and hardware monitor, about 1 min run

 

Wow, that runs cool. If you still have your old XPS 1645, this would be a great opportunity to test out its power adapter on the replacement system before you send it back (and/or the new adapter on the old system)...

 

I tried this with my 4670 and got pretty much identical results:
AVG 16 (90% of the time), 15 (10% of the time)
MIN 14
MAX 24

If anyone is wondering, FurMark alone didn't throttle my system and I ran it for 15 minutes. I decided to turn it off because it hit 98C for my GPU and I don't want to break anything (right now ).

 

I see.. I was using Xtreme burning mode and not post fx..... Now I get those results. : )

 

m715: Your FM-95 test shows classic throttling. The multiplier drops down as low as it can go which is 7.0 and then clock modulation starts to slow the CPU down internally even further. At the end of the log the clock modulation is at 50% which means that internally your CPU is doing zilch approximately 50% of the time. Clock modulation tells the CPU to take a break so it can consume less power which will help it cool down

When combined with the 7 multiplier, your CPU is running at about 30% of the speed that Intel designed this CPU to run at. Your temps are high but not sky high. Your core temperatures are not the reason for the throttling so it has to be power consumption related.

The clock modulation was still dropping in your test so if you continued to test, it might have slowed down further. Thanks for posting your power adapter details.

 

Speaking of power adapters, one of the updates from A09 last month is:

"Support over 230W adapter to treat as 130W(EC)."

Does this mean someone with a 230W adapter (from a large Dell business laptop I'd imagine) could test this out? I understand that it's not supposed to draw more power, but if the 130W is malfunctioning, testing the 230W could provide some insight.

 

So who would you guys advise me to call in regaurds to getting a new unit or replacement power adapter? I just want to talk to someone who knows about the issues with this unit, prefferebly an XPS tech and not somebody in India. I'm in Canada so is there a # anyone can give me? Or do I just call and go through the hoops? Thx.

 

This is a video of EVERYTHING running on my XPS and the wattage is the same 115ish or lower. I used my most powerful mouse (razer naga), wifi, speakers running, keyboard lit, screen at full bright, prime95/ts/furmark running, even a few windows things running. There is nothing else I could run when doing the wattage draw.

I have kinda of a tude in this video due to many things, mainly wife aggro. So I apologize for that.

width='480' height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jgbkC_SSfDA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jgbkC_SSfDA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='480' height="385"></embed></object>

 

Question: If the laptop ran 115-119 before turning on a bunch of things and 109-115 after, doesn't this show a conflict?

 

Lets see some details on people's AC adapters and where they are made
"unclewebb" might be onto something here

I realized I was still using my old AC adapter not the new one...5 minute test says there is a difference

I am rigging up a ghetto cooler and will run some longer stress tests...

Also for testing what should we be choosing for fumark and prime95 so we have similar results?

There are a bunch of differences between the 2 adapters...not sure what it means but see below:

2 Pictures (1) image of old AC, (2) image of new AC

Hardware Monitor power draw MAX
*edit* - after some more playing around both pull 45w when running fumark and prime95 together but when doing other things will pull 55w max

OLD AC ADAPTER
PA-4E Family
Model: FA130PE1-00
REV: A00
P/N: CM161
INPUT: 100-240v 2.3A
OUTPUT: 19.5v 6.7A
DP/N CM161
Flextronics Sales & Marketing (A-P) LTD.
(VP-09500042-000 Rev. A00)
Made in China

NEW AC ADAPTER
PA-4E Family
Model: DA130PE1-00
INPUT: 100-240v 2.5A
OUTPUT: 19.5v 6.5A
DP/N: JU012
REF. NO. ADP-130DB B
Delta Electronics Inc.
Made in China

 

Just checked, I have the newer AC adapter and I'm still having throttling issues.

 

Ok here's what i did:

1 - NEW AC adapter
1 - ghetto cooler
1 - 1645 specs in sig
1 hour of tests

no throttling
max cpu 75/74/77/77C (CPUID HM temps)
max gpu 76C (CPUID HM temps)

conclusion AC adpaters makes a BIG difference...at least for me!

If I have time I will try the new AC adapter with my old 1645 and see if it makes a difference...

FuMark
- stabilit test
- xtreme burning mode
- 1280x1024
- MSAA Sample = none

Prime95
- Torture Test
- Small FFTS (max FPU stress)

note log attached has 0-10, 30-40 and 50-60 mins inorder to keep file size manageable

full unaltered log:
http://www.cj7jeep.com/random/1645/ThrottleStopLog-new ac 1 hour.txt

 

Well how far did it get with the old adapter before throttling occurred? Only a minute or so?