Dell XPS 15 (Skylake) 9550 Owner's Lounge

It is an issue though when the chips are throttling at a range of 65 - 75 degrees? That's very much under their "designed limit" right? It is also an issue when it's being triggered not by the chips are at their limit, but because a particular VRM sensor is badly placed? (note all of these question marks are not sarcasm but legitimate questions) And it's also an issue when comparable notebooks do not have similar throttling issues, by similar I mean under similar stress/temperatures?

 

Well, sounds like mono-syllabic thinking knows some limits

Dell Europe this morning has confirmed me 3 times in a row that an upgrade release of the XPS 15 was gonna hit the streets in late october/november. In fact, they even admitted I would be better off to wait for this R2. Now so, I am...

Thanks anyway

 

What's that got to do with power limit throttling, you're now quoting thermal throttling???
(I didn't detect sarcasm?)

Sent from my SM-G920F

 

Oh the lid /Wi-Fi issue should have been fixed with a recent driver update?

Sent from my SM-G920F

 

GoNz0 - I assume estimating continuous power consumption accurately in a very small laptop is a difficult task.

So could certain temp sensors (e.g. that one near the voltage regulator) reaching a certain threshold be another factor that a computer uses to trigger power limit throttling?

No sarcasm!!!!

 

No, you have power limit throttling, in this case 45w continuous (more short term) and thermal throttling. The chip measures with an on board power meter.
Thermals are another cause to throttle, the 2 are not linked.

 

Not too sure what the difference is sorry.

From what I've read on the thread dedicated to the issue the problems are cause by a certain sensor rather than the "actual" package temperature, hence the throttling at 65 - 75 degrees?

Tried all possible combinations with drivers + bios versions with no luck.

 

Nah that "certain" sensor being the one in the VRM's is one of many that are all linked to thermal throttling, as you seem to be unable to differentiate a CPU being limited by it's TDP and it's the thermal limits imposed by the Tjmax along with the other sensors added by the motherboard I will give up now

 

Hey guys. How is this laptop at the moment? I need to get a laptop for online poker because my previous one an i7 quad core sager broke. Im told i need to get a quad core laptop because problems i run use lot of resources etc. Such that an i5-6200U even with SSD and 8gm ram would still lag.


I see this laptop is i5 quad core. Is this laptop very fast? Where do most of you buy the laptop? On dell.com? I need to get the laptop quick as possible as I travel. I check on ebay they have it. Is that worth it? Its new but dell outlet new which means it is either overstocked or it was an unopened return. The seller has pretty much perfect reviews.


The thing is i don't want to get a laptop then find out it has tons of issues because returning it would be a huge problem because im not in the USA most of the time.

 

Hey Drew,

Why don't you start looking at the following for an idea of issues

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ist-of-hardware-and-software-problems.784691/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...rature-observations-undervolt-repaste.785963/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...en-flicker-thread.795285/page-8#post-10350506
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-every-xps-15-9550-unit.796289/#post-10346478
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/dell-xps-15-9550-poor-digital-sound-quality.788570/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/funny-charging-experience.796236/

Note that a lot of the issues from 2015 and early 2016 were resolved by BIOS updates and driver updates. Also happy customers tend not to post in the above threads

 

Sure, I get that I don't understand it completely, far from it. You can however address the fundamental question of whether a CPU should throttle to 800mhz, when it has only reached 65 - 75 degrees..

 

I actually think he has a good point. See my screenshot below:



Throttlestop claims it's a TDP throttle, yet the power draw never went above 19.1W. This is with an i7 6700HQ without a re-paste, undervolted by 125mV on the core and cache. If it weren't for the undervolt, it would hit 800Mhz, and stay there. I would love to have a proper solution for that - I might do a re-paste, but need to go shopping for thermal pads first.

 

Check the TPL. Should be 56w short and 45 long. Your temps look very high for an XPS 15 as well. A repaste should help a lot

 

Yeah it's at 56 short and 45 long. The temps were for a simple load test (running a game for like 5 mins until I noticed choppiness to confirm the throttling).

 

Did you mean that 47 was high for idle or 81 was high for gaming or load-testing? Mine will hit 85 when playing games with re-paste

 

I thought the same but it is not that easy, unfortunately. The developer of ThrottleStop notes wattage figure is inaccurate:

 

I just purchased a dell xps 15 i5 6300 quad core laptop with 8gb ram online.


The issue though is it comes with a 1.0TB HD 5400RPM + 32GB mSATA SSD


Thus hard drive is way too slow. Also what does it mean it comes with 2 hard drives? Theres 2 hard drives in this laptop? The big one and the small ssd?


I have 2 ssds that are both samsung pro 250gb. Both of these are from 2 laptops that no longer work. My issue is this. One of these ssds, i still have information lot of things there that I want to transfer to. The other ssd is pretty much empty. However, the pretty much empty SSD when i first got it a few years ago, I had disk fragmented it and did not know this would make the ssd worst. But the thing is i do not have any use for this ssd at the moment.


Do you suggest i use one of these 250gb samsung ssd and put it in the new laptop and take out those hard drives that come along with it? Or you suggest i buy another SSD? The thing was if i do, i was thinking of a 512gb one even though 250gb is already huge enough. However, i'm worried that the 250gb ssd that has been defragged a lot could possibly cause damage to the dell xps? Or is there no worry about this? Repair shop say the ssd and said it looks fine but he didn't test it, just looking at it. How reliable is this. The thing though is this SSD isn't clean. So how would i wipe it clean? Do i buy the ssd enclosure thats around 10 dollars? Then wipe it clean and then use it on the XPS? At the moment, i only have a working desktop.


And for my other SSD, if i put this ssd into the new computer, does that mean when i start it up, it will start my laptop just like my old laptop that broke etc?


When i first get the new laptop, do i start it up like that and start windows? Or am i suppose to replace the hard drives first with my ssd hard drive and then once i do this, then it will ask me to install windows? If i install just like that with the hard drive they supply me with, does that mean when i swap the hard drive for my older ones, then it will show all my files in my new computer without having to install windows? Note... the new computer is windows 10. My 2 other ssds are both windows 7.


I know 100 percent i have to swap the hard drives since no way im using a 5400rpm. But when do i do this? Im pretty sure you swap it in the beginning...

 

Also im curious but if you buy this laptop from dell with an SSD, what ssd brand do they typically use? I assume its not samsung right?

 

For CPU those are both high. My idle was 32-36C and under gaming loads was mid 60's. This is with gelid gc and pads on the pipes by the exhaust.

 

CPU temps =/= VRM temps. TDP throttle has nothing to do with the CPU itself.

Look at the VRM temps in the images. CPU temps are fine at the end, but VRM is not.
Images in order: Starting stress -> First throttle -> Tries to go back up -> Stable throttle after 15 min (2.1-2.3 GHz)

 

Whoa, I never even get close to those CPU temps before it starts throttling, and even then the throttled speed is a lot lower. Any tips?

Eason, FWIW my idle is around 35C .

 

Those are temps stressing both CPU and GPU. Pretty unrealistic loads tbh. Not sure why your CPU throttles more. My CPU was able to receive 0.76v at throttle, as opposed to your 0.65v, which is why mine is clocked higher. Perhaps your VRMs are throttling way more than it shows? Throttlestop's wattage is known not to be the most accurate, it's more of an indicator for the system.

My settings are -125mv on core & cache, and -75mv on iGPU.

 

Hmm my idle is around 36. Not sure about the amount of load you referred to but I think mine was pretty heavy when playing Project Cars. How did you apply the pads to the pipes? Maybe the cpu gets the heat from the gpu I guess since I can't see such temp when doing stress test only for the cpu

 

For those of you having throttling issues, is the laptop lying flat on the surface? Remember that the cooling fans draw most air from the vents underneath the chassis, and airflow will be severely restricted there if the laptop is not propped up.

 

Mine is propped up on the monitor stand of my Acer X34, so it should have plenty of air access. I also leave the lid open as far as it goes.

 

And it can also draw the hot air back in that's also partially vented out under the laptop.

 

It's been nearly a year and have I've still never had one of these in my hand although I've been close many times but for whatever reason never bought. A year on and would people still recommend buying this laptop? I'm interested in putting W7 on it and AFAIK I won't be able to do this with the later kaby lake models. I know this laptop had many issues that some people were putting down to either hardware or W10. Have most of these hardware issues been ironed out at this stage or has the problem turned out to be the chipset more than the OS?

 

Can you show me pictures of how you applied the liquid metal repaste?

 

Can you show me pictures of how you applied the liquid metal repaste? It would help a lot because my 960m reaches 90° C during gaming.

 

Can you show me pictures of how you applied the liquid metal repaste? It would help a lot because my 960m reaches 90° C during gaming.

 

Hey all. I received my dell xps 15 9550. I have a samsung 840 evo 250gb ssd from a sager laptop where the laptop no longer works and i want to put this ssd and swap it with the one on dell. Dell has a 5400rpm hard drive and 32gb hard drive and i read you remove the 5400rpm hard drive.


Questions on this.


I took a look at the back of the computer. It not that easy to unscrew it because there are a good amount of screws. Is it very simple to remove the old hard drive and put in the new one? I'm worried i might do something wrong here. The only hard drive that i can take out and remove and swap it with is an asus laptop of mine and reason is because theres only 2 screws and you just take it out and put it in... very simple. I had a sager laptop where theres around 20 screws so i don't bother with this. Should i bring this to a repair shop for them to do this? There seems to be 10 screws so i have to take the whole thing out?


Another question. My sager ssd is not new and thus have lots of things there. When i put this ssd into the new laptop, it will automatically wipe everything out and start new? The thing is when i get a new computer, its very simple to set it up as you just press continue and enter information and you are all set. Because this ssd is an older one, i read that there would be message asking you if you want to delete a partition? True or false? Otherwise if you dont delete it or you delete wrong one and make mistake, then when you start up the laptop, so instead of having 232gb total... most of it will be full since its added on to the other computer?


I know if i asked the computer repair shop to take the old ssd out and put the new one in, its very simple. But everytime they do this, they always power the laptop on to make sure it works right? Now if this was an older laptop, i believe thats all they do. But since this is a new laptop, when they turn it on, wouldn't it be for the installation? Thus i would have to have them do the installation? The installation is very easy if you get a new laptop and instructions are simple. But here in my situation, its different right because it will ask to delete partition? And the other thing is it would be not suggested if i ask the guy okay can you swap the hard drive and test to see if it works, but then i do the install myself? Or should i have him to the installation because if i don't, then there isn't really a safe way to shut down the computer after turning it on, then going back to my apartment and starting the laptop up again right? And even if i do this, i might be not sure which partition to delete? And how much does it cost typically for them to do the installation? Because if its a new computer with everything new, obviously almost no one would need to have someone set up windows for them. But is this called installing windows or setting windows or something else?


I will be doing this soon so want to know 100 percent what i should do here. Wondering if i should pay the extra 30-60 dollars maybe for them to do the install? Because i imagine theres very few ppl who get a new laptop and go to a repair shop and ask... can you set up windows for me assuming they dont need to replace an ssd or anything like that because setting up windows is very easy following the instructions.

 

Most of the issues have been ironed out by BIOS and driver updates. Remember most customers don't post here, only the problem ones or the ones trying to tweak for max performance.

Study the forum and see the trends and what issues might remain (e.g. screen flickering for some, nvme hoops for some...)

 

If you PROPERLY raise the laptop you can get better thermals without sucking in the hot exhaust air from the back of the laptop to the bottom intake fans.

As GonZ0 noted in an earlier post, the key is the long rubber "barrier" feet which help prevent the intake of hot air. So you want to maintain the "barriers" whilst increasing the empty "moat" area under the fans to promote additional cool air intake. You could use a long solid piece of plastic the length of the back rubber foot to raise the laptop. If you can figure a way to lift the front barrier the same way, the volume of the moat will increase and likely improve thermals.

One guy here (maybe custom90gt or eason) noticed about 5*C thermals improvement by holding his laptop in the air during benchmarks. So that gives you an idea of potential improvements from propping up the laptop.

 

Once you have the back off it is 1 screw for the m.2 and a HDD mount for the other.
You can download the manual (google "Dell XPS 9550 service manual" and you get taken to the Dell official link)

It is a 1 beer job to me, a 2 beer job to those who have an idea. 4 beer job to someone that has never seen inside a laptop (1st been before you start to calm the nerves)
beer rating 1=easy 10= don't bother

 

Not that you shouldn't do it, but I would recommend a new install. The old drivers might conflict, and even in the case where you installed drivers properly I would assume the old system in the SSD would be quite "messy" with lots of old leftover files. Not sure how activation will go, I assume it would activate itself from the bios readings, but just know your original win10 serial number just in case anything goes wrong.

 

The back cover is easy to unscrew, but the screws are very small and are easily lost. From what I read here, you might want to try to latch on to a local computer club or track down a local guy who does this sort of stuff as a hobby (sort of like an off duty GoNz0) and learn by watching if you are going to be interested in upgrades and such.

 

Hey thanks. I have a question i want to ask. The dell xps laptop i received earlier. I have not turned it on yet. I have transferred all the files from my ssd to an external hard drive that i will later transfer on to the new dell xps 15.


I want to have the hard drive that comes with this laptop... its a 1tb 5400 rpm with my old ssd. So i know i have to bring the new laptop and ssd to the repair shop. Now here is where i get confused. Do most people who want to replace the hard drive that comes with the laptop with their own ssd.


Do you first replace the hard drive with the SSD first before turning it on? Or do you just turn it on to see if everything works such as laptop, screen, keyboard, battery and everything. Then once everything works... then you take the laptop to repair shop and ask them to switch the hard drive with the ssd? I got very confused b/c it was either on this forum or another forum that when i asked this, someone mentioned you first take the hard drive out and put the ssd in first? So that statement is wrong right? Or its only true if you know how to open the laptop and replace the ssd yourself and then set up the computer? The thing is im 100 percent going to bring it to a repair shop as i dont want to risk opening the computer up since this doesn't seem that simple like an asus laptop with 2 screws. Someone mentioned of course you turn on the laptop as it is and see how it works before you bring it there. Because say you have issues with screen, keyboard or anything with it, well then you wasted money having the guy replace the hard drive first right? The thing that confuses me is someone told me to replace the hdd with ssd first. Because if they didn't, obviously i understand you suppose to power it on and test it out.


Can someone here answer this part? I want to make sure before i head to the repair shop. And also when i do go there, i am asking them to replace my hdd with ssd and do what? I assume thats not called installing windows 10 since its already installed on my computer right? So basically its a configuration? Such that if i turn on my laptop now and set everything up and if everything is fine... then when i go there, all he has to do is open the laptop and switch hard drives, power it on... and thats all? But he still has to do a clean install since my ssd is not fully clean right? Thus he has to delete the partitions etc?


And does anyone know how much something i described costs? I mean if you just want someone to replace the hdd with ssd, obvioulsy that doesn't cost a lot of money. But does he need to do anything with windows or drivers etc?


Thanks all.

 

Is the ssd you want to install an m.2 one as the one in the Dell is with a 2.5 inch 1tb Drive.

Sent from my SM-G920F

 

Hi all,

just got my new Dell XPS 15 9550 and I am very impressed with it, however... when I unplug the unit the wifi is incredibly slow, while this is not the case when the AC adapter is plugged in. In fact, if I select battery saver, the loading of pages does not happen anymore. I have installed a clean version of windows 10, the Killer driver for wifi from Dell's site and the latest BIOS.

Also I have the crackling audio when on battery. Since I am going to use the battery mode quite often, any advice on this would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Considering purchasing this USB 3.0 to ethernet adaptor, would it do an adequate job do you think or should I consider a different one?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product..._sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AEB9F56C3A3O6

Thanks.

 

Looks good to me, mine cost £4 from cpc.farnel on an offer so it is as cheap as they come and worked fine.

 

I'm currently using one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JTSYBUY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 which also gives a 3-port USB hub. Good for permanently attaching Logitech wireless adaptor for keyboard and mouse plus GigE when desk bound. Simple performance test with iperf gives almost 900mbs and much more reliable than WiFi.

Now if only Dell/Intel between them had managed to release a working Thunderbolt 3 dock rather than the TB15 PoS, I'd have spent a lot more money for little extra functionality than this device plus a TB3/DP cable. Another missed opportunity Dell.

 

would anyone on here be interested in selling there dell 9550 packaging box for there laptop, i purchased mine second hand as a spares repair unit a few months back and never got the original packaging and have always liked owning original packaging for any laptop iv had, incase i went to resell the laptop on later thanks

 

I'd setup the computer and make sure it works, and swap the ssd in, change bios to AHCI and install a clean copy of windows.

 

Hey guys i have a pretty big issue i think with my dell xps 15 9550. First off, i bought it online through ebay from a seller that has pretty much perfect feedback. The condition is Dell New Outlet. It has a 32gb ssd and 1tb hard drive 5400 rpm. I wanted to replace the 5400rpm with my old samsung 250gb ssd.


I went to repair shop and the guy was able to do this. He was surprised there was a 32gb ssd attached to it. Well after he did this, he went to disk management and wiped out my ssd so my C drive had like 2gb free out of 28.7gb... the 32gb ssd. The samsung ssd... showed 115gb free out of 232gb until he did the wiping and it has 230gb free out of 232gb free.


Well i downloaded a bunch of programs on the computer. I then no longer could download anything and noticed the C drive shows about 3mb free out of 28.7gb. So basically i got the message manage your storage or cancel and i clicked cancel. I had thought anything i download goes to this hard drive until it runs out, then goes to my ssd.


In another forum, i was told he should have copied windows 10 to the 250gb ssd instead. I did not ask him this because he had told me i was set. The thing was i thought everything was fine. But shouldn't he known that the windows 10 cannot be only on the 32gb ssd since it will eventually go over it due to updates and stuff like that?


someone else on another forum mentioned there should be no way dell installed the windows 10 on the 32gb instead of the 1tb hard drive. Is that true or false? I did buy this laptop on ebay though because i needed it very quickly and dell takes too long to ship. It is Dell New Outlet. But does Dell install windows 10 like this correctly or not?


And what are my options now? Do i have to go to repair shop and ask him to copy windows 10 to my 250gb ssd?

 

I have the same 32gb + 1TB (refurb) configuration from Dell and have several posts here which you should search. There are others with that config that have also posted here so take a look.

That 32gb drive is garbage. Incredibly slow and not reliable; also old tech and not really designed to run W10 directly. Dell installed w10 on my 32gb drive but after the first day when windows tried to auto update, there was not enough space and updates failed. You can sell that 32gb drive for around $25 on ebay (less commissions and fees, of course) or just put it in the bin.

Apparently, some of these laptops (new?) might run windows on the 1TB using the 32gb only as a cache but not 100% sure and don't really care as I don;t run that. But that should be the correct way to operate; however, it is really slow.

If you don't want to buy a good m.2 drive now and just keep your current 2.5" 250gb SSD, then I would consider removing the 32GB drive and putting everything on the 250GB drive for simplicity and speed.

Also remember you don't want any SSD more than about 70% full for performance reasons

Good luck.

 

HI there. Well i dont care about the 32gb hard drive. I only want my laptop to work with my 250gb ssd. I had thought that was for the windows and 250gb ssd was for everything else.


Do you recommend having the 32gb ssd taken out or just leaving it there? Does keeping it there cause more problems later on though when windows does more updates? Thus keeping it there will cause more problems down the line? If so, why in the world is that even there in the first place?


I cannot buy any hard drive now because im short on time. I needed to get this laptop set up already due to me having to fly out of the country. Now i can't even fly on time due to this. It was only earlier i found out... hey how come i can't download anymore things into my laptop due to this.


So i have to go back to repair shop for this. Can you tell me what exactly i need to ask here? Ask him to copy windows 10 from the 32gb ssd to the 250gb ssd? Well its more like 232gb but you get my point. But the other thing is do i need to bring back the 1tb hard drive there or not? I have no use for it. Also... is there a copy of windows 10 on the 1tb hard drive? Because if there isn't, then wouldn't i have the same issue with this laptop had i not went and asked to have the 1tb hard drive replaced with my 250gb ssd?


Is windows 10 even suppose to be in that 32gb ssd? In another forum, someone mentioned its not suppose to and if so, they would have tons of complaints from customers already. However, this laptop was bought new dell outlet condition on ebay from a seller that has close to perfect feedback over thousands of feedback.


Was there anything i asked wrong when i went to the repair shop when asking him to swap the 1tb hard drive with my 250gb ssd?

 

I replied int he other thread, I suggest you delete the content of your post and explain you cross posted and the issue's being dealt with in the other thread (that is dedicated to the type of problem you have). Don't cross post it is annoying.

 

Was windows 10 installed on the 1tb hard drive or not? So basically Dell screwed up with this whole process by putting the windows 10 OS on this 32gb? If so, why in the world would they do this?

 

Because they are f**king useless, refurbs are handled by a 3rd party company who have no idea what the hell they are doing, they just shove a USB stick in with the image and let it do it's thing. They do not have a drive dedicated to the cache drive setup so it puts it on the wrong drive.