Dell Studio XPS 16 (CPU Upgrade)

Hey guys!

I'm thinking about buying this laptop soon: (Probably on Friday)

DELL XPS 16 NOTEBOOK - Castanet Classifieds

I have been searching everywhere but haven't been able to find a definitive answer yet. I was wondering if I can upgrade the 720QM to a 940XM? Or a 920XM possibly. Are the CPU's soldered to the board, or can I simply swap them? Is there a BIOS update that will support either of the previously mentioned processors? Are there any recommended cooling updates for these laptops? Would I need a beefier power supply, and will the 9 Cell battery provide enough juice?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

The CPUs are definitely not soldered to the board. A quick Google search seems to indicate that people have gotten 920s to work in 1645/47, but I don't know if you need to do anything funny, etc. I think there's a good chance it'll work right out of the box, though.

 

It often does work out of the box (there are a few exceptions), whether you will be able to make use of the unlocked multipliers is another story though. I think the bios has to support it, but you will enjoy the higher stock clocks for certain.

 

My only concern for you would be the extra heat produced by a faster processor. The 720 was already great at producing heat, and I think a 940 would be even better. Just something to consider if you do upgrade; you should also look into a much better cooling solution. There aren't really any "cooling upgrades" that can be done easily. You'll probably have to remove the bottom panel and have a good sized fan point directly at the CPU and GPU (maybe a silent fan that pushes 60+ CFM?)

 

A good repaste might outset the extra TDP or it may not.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys!I will do some more research and see if the bios is indeed compatible with the chip and if it will allow me to overclock it.

Another thing I am looking at doing is swapping in a motherboard with the 5730 video card. Was this the best video card offered for the XPS 16? And does anyone have the model number for the motherboards with the 5730 chip? Did both the 1645 and 1647 boards support the 5730?

Are there any major differences between the two boards? I have found a few places selling motherboards but they don't list the specific features of the board. Did this laptop have many other features that would require different boards (such as different wifi chips) or were those things compatible with either? Do both boards offer the same ports? (HDMI, Expresscard, Firewire, etc..)

Also, what type of thermal paste would you guys recommend?

Sorry for all the questions I just want to find all the information I can. Really appreciate it!

 

Just to rephrase my question a bit: Do the boards which have the 5730 graphics card also support the i7-940xm. (Or any of the quad-core i7 cpu's for that matter).

 

I think the 1647 (5730M) can only do i3/i5 CPU's and no quad core i7's while the 1645 can do any Clarksfield i7's but not reverse, but someone correct me if I am wrong.

 

That seems to be correct. I've been seeing in search results and on some forums that the 5730m was available on certain 1645 boards. Can anyone verify this? I found this thread but it never went anywhere.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/488288-sxps-1645-ati-5730-motherboard-part.html

If it's true I need to figure out the part number.

 

It will support your CPU but you will need a 130w-150w adapter and in high stress conditions your laptop will shutdown due to the heat, my advice is : stick with the i5 and be happy, i've seen a lot of studio 16 will heating problems,all of them had i7 cpus.
Personally i'd do my best to get a laptop with a sandybridge CPU even an i3 that can pe upgraded later on. ( XPS l502x maybe? )

 

Thanks for the tip. I would be happy to get a newer laptop, but I require an express-card slot to run a FireWire card that has the TI chipset. The only ones I have found are way out of my budget, or don't have the best specs. Any suggestions?

 

Did you look at the Latitude E6420/E6520 ? that had express-card , almost sure of it

 

Thanks again for the help guys. After reading through the entire thread regarding the heat vents on this model I have decided to stay well away from it. I have made a new post in the What Notebook Should I Buy section to get some further insight.