Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, *Part 3*

So Hikkoo, made ya good score eh? Me try soon ya. I'm finishing up me CPU mod.

Me 9800Ms sitting stock long enough. Me gonna push it to the limit in the coming weeks. + rep for ya.

 

X9000 and any other CPUs have a maxed voltage of 1.5v, and even if you managed to push it to 4.0 or 4.2GHz there may be error bound situations. I got alot of errors on 4.2Ghz (1.5v) so no point for me running at that speeds.

To my conclusion I think 3.8GHz seems to be a sweet spot for our X9000s to run really stable - and cool.

 

Well, luck ran out on me. Been gone for a few days and when I came back, the powerbrick would just not start. Checked the laptop with the battery, worked fine, but the powerbrick is kaput, dead, finished
Sorted the warranty status and now I`m awaiting for a new powerbrick...

Thank God I have 2 backup laptops

 

Or 2 backup powerbricks.

How are your GPU's doing?
You had some problems lately.

 

not yet...breaking 18k is a possibilty but not enough to satisfy Beast.
goodluck with a limit... when it comes to the beast the limit is endless.....well until fry it

 

Yea, wanted to get backup PBs, but...oh well.

For the time being, I don`t know, the beast is placed in 24/7 guarding
When I`ll get the powerbrick, I`ll see what`s the fuss with the drivers... If it`s a GPU failure, it`s back to the service with it...

 

I'm trying to find a real powerful notebook cooler, cause the ambient temperatures in the house are crazy high last few weeks. It has a bad influence on my CPU too, I guess.

I'm seriously thinking about the NZXT Cryo LX. It's just hard to find. It looks like it's sold out everywhere.

 

Hi guys, I've got a problem.

I recently bought one of those 22" Viewsonic 120Hz gaming LCD monitors. It works great. It uses DVI dual link.

Except when the laptop goes onto battery power while in 120Hz mode. Then the screen (on the monitor) goes all grey with a white band across the top. When the power's back, the picture comes back.

It works fine when the display is set to 60Hz instead. The laptop display works fine. It works fine with normal CRT VGA monitors as well while on battery power.

I checked the advanced power settings in Windows and couldn't see anything relevant. The PCI Express link management settings were turned off for both Battery and Power.

Any ideas?

 

I thought I had read another thread about this problem but coulnt find it again.

While I was play Unreal I unplugged the computer from AC and the screen started flashing for some reason while running on the battery.
WHen I put it back on AC all was fine again.

Anyone know what is causing this? Not a big issue with me as along as it doesnt indicate something more serious.

 

I just don't get it. Why one would run laptop on the external monitor on battery without main PSU? You need main power to run your external monitor anyway. Pls en-light me with some bright idea!

 

The power goes out frequently, I'd rather use the UPS to power the external monitor and let the laptop use its own battery.

 

How long you're without power as it happens?

Our M1730 aren't designed to run at max performance on battery load and also not for a long time.
Maybe better to find yourself a more powerful UPS or switch to the M1730 panel during that time.

 

Hmm the 8800m GTX SLI seems a bit faster than my desktop GTX 260. I surely beat my desktop computer in signature in Uniengine Benchmark with my XPS M1730. Both tests were run in 1440x900 and DX9.

Here is the score from my desktop:

FPS:
53.9
Scores:
1358
Min FPS:
6.3
Max FPS:
110.1

and from my XPS M1730

FPS:
66.8
Scores:
1682
Min FPS:
19.7
Max FPS:
142.7

Now I run the older Tweakforce 180.84 on my desktop in sig and with 197.15 on my XPS M1730 both Win XP Pro. But that shouldn´t have any impact.

So when SLI works perfectly I think the 8800m GTX SLI can be faster than the desktop GTX 260, I will have to make some more tests the desktop GTX 260 is no slouch though but sadly I cannot test my desktop in 1920x1200 since I only have a 1440x900 screen. However the GTX 260 takes no much penalty hit when AA is enabled.

 

So I stumbled back to this thread. And found the beast being clocked at 3.8-4.2Ghz ?!?

 

Yeah. Credits to unclewebb with his ThrottleStop.

It's the power we needed for our beasts. Now our bottleneck is the cooling.

 

You guys are sickos and I felt like a god, when I bought my X9000 and overclocked it to 3.4GHz .

BTW. Do you guys know what sata is in the beast? Is is SATA I or Sata II? I'm thinking of buying SSD drives but if it's SATA I then I'm sad ;(.

 

The M1730 has a Santa Rosa (Intel PM965) chipset and has SATA-II support. So you can opt for SSD.

It's an interesting upgrade. Only the price is holding me still.

 

thats probably just the very bad graphics performance on battery.
i dunno about the gray screen thing.
but the gpu is throttled down a ton on battery

 

Wow 3.8 to 4.2ghz and running stable also? Throttlestop freaking rocks.

 

About 1 to 2 hours each time. I'm obviously not gaming on battery, just doing normal desktop stuff. It's annoying to have to turn on the laptop's screen, then somehow switch the refresh rate and re-enable the monitor each time.

Or is there any way to bind switching resolutions to a hotkey?

 

What's ThrottleStop? Also, do you see any noticeable performance boost in games at 3.8GHz compared to 3.2GHz?

 

be interesting to see.

Cos in a laptop, Penryn based 3.8Ghz C2D certainly isn't a slouth.

 

You can find information about here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardware-components-aftermarket-upgrades/489140-how-unlock-core-2-extreme-multiplier-windows.html

And yes, you will notice a big framerate difference if you play some heavy games like Crysis, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-Call of Pripyat etc. The gap between 3.2 - 3.8 GHz is huge.

The 8800 and 9800 GPU's are still powerful enough. Even the X9000 CPU was holding it back @ 3.4 GHz.

 

Oh, really? That's nice. Do you know what's capping speed @ 100MB/s ?? Thought it was a chipset, but now I've got no idea. I've got matrix intel storage drivers installed.

 

Everything I read about these games in PC World and Maximum PC say that CPU speed doesn't matter much because they're so GPU-heavy.

 

i have a quick question.

Has anyone ever sent in their laptop for repairs under warranty, but without some of the parts? Never mind original, but like with no CPU at all?


my speakers have stopped working correctly, as well as my keyboard backlight...

the 2 farthest pins on the molex for the speakers had bent inward. one was working audio wise, without LEDs, and the other vice versa.
LOL
i sorta fixed it... except for one red led. i think it could be the motherboard connector.

 

CPU speed does matter, Arma 2, GTA IV and Bad Company 2 loves a fast CPU and more so a Quad Core.

 

Not me but the first question I will ask the customer is what are you doing opening this thing up. My point is that it can void your warranty.

 

One post, and then I am out again:
SLi and Crossfire have a very important relationship with CPU speed. For DUAL-GPU combination to work, you need ample CPU power. If you read-up everything on that subject, this whole contention would no longer exist.

-FIN-

 

Wow! This throttlestop is awesome! I am glad I've decided to buy Xtreme 9000 machine despite some price difference with a normal model. Now it runs rock solid at 4GHz with Akasa cooling pad (for 15' laptop). On 100% CPU load peak CPU Temp goes 84C max which should be OK for the Xtreme CPU. However my 3dMark score is now about 15420 which is still behind your 16500. Is it because you have 64 bit OS?

 

With a 64bit OS you can fully utilize your memory (sytem RAM + GPU memory).
I also overclocked my GPU.

BTW, what VID setting you used to let your CPU run stable?
I had to use 1.4750V.

 

I use 1.4626V with no stability issue at 4 GHz. I've tried just for fun to go to 4.1 GHz at this VID setting and it crashed. So I've decided to stick to my current settings at 4GHZ. For 2 years old CPU is more than good with 3350 processor score in 3dMark .

 

Looks like with new driver update (25x series' PPU driver update, yoru agiea crap card became just a brick w/in our system. I was trying to see if PPU would help improve metro 2033, but steam updates the PPU driver by itself!

With the new 25x drivers, I'm not even sure if SLI is being used since my 3d06 score dropped about 1k!!

 

er nice point. sooo informative.

my point is, WHAT voids your warranty?

if i sent it in for a new keyboard, would they want to start it up, or try to and just not care?

 

Okay, well I get a 1 fps boost in Crysis beteen 2.8 ghz and 3.2 ghz running fraps. So maybe if I got to 3.8 ghz I could get 2-3 extra frames.

 

For how long did you test your CPU for stability? You should test it for an hour to ensure maximum stability. Errors come around not long after. A 5 or 20 minute test doesn't cut it.

I'm dropping mine down from 4.0 to 3.8Ghz, I noticed a 1 (one) error in my renderings and Prime95 after 2 hours. Sorry, I'm strict with stability. 3.8GHz is what is at. My M1730 runs for long hours - probably a week or more without turning it off rendering 3DMax and Vray. The computer is always stressed to the max for all components all the time, so stability is very important.

 

Honestly, for that kind of application, you're better off building a Micro PC or Shuttle PC with a newer 4 or 6 core processor. Rendering will be many times quicker than on the laptop. Do your modelling/animating on the XPS (the dual 8800Ms should make this easier), then render it on the other.

 

The GPU doesn't do the rendering, the CPU does. I've an i7 950 at home; but I'm rarely home unfortunately. That's why for my future purchase I'm probably eyeing on the Clevo X7200 coupled with an i7 desktop CPU and a future GDDR5 Quadro FX setup. GTX 480M is sufficient actually, as I'm not doing any animation that requires full fledged professional GPUs to unlock the extra features. (Doing Architecture)

 

only using x20 an x21 for insane benchys . dont think TS supports X20.5 yet. Think X9000 max is x21.5?

257.21 giving me 500 points less in 3dmark06 ....its a NO go for benching!!!

185.81 or 185.85 great for 3dm06>>>>xp32 gives about 350 points more than vista64. an 32Win7 gives about 150 points more than vista64(havent tried 64win7)

set TS to x20, 1.4250v > gone past 17.5K on 3d06 xp32pro > can run aquamark on x21 close to breaking 200K

installed EVGA PRECISION v1.9.4 gpu oc tool.......awesooome!!!!!!
sets both gpu clks same time no need to set each gpu like in Nvidias.
when adjusting core clk it adjusts shader clk automatically...yea!!!!
shows gpu temps.

had to find new gpu oc tool because nvidia's oc tool is giving me issues with older gpu drivers

EDIT: 197.16 xp32 is giving me about 220 points more than 185.81 or 185.85 for 3Dm06......

 

Hi all,
Can you guys with RAID 0 configuration post your HDtach results (and drivers used)???? I'm wondering if I'm the only one with the speed problem.

Thx ,
Tom

 

If the computer is within warranty period, just all you can change are hard drives and RAM. Eventhough DELL posted the manual for dis-assembling the computer, they don't want you to.
Now, to your question: I am sure they will want to start it up and test it before and after the repair to make sure it works as intended.
May be you can talk them into sending you the keyboard and you do the replacement yourself.
I am curious though: why is your computer missing the CPU?

 

Hey folks,
Just did some cleanning work, and want to show you and pervent how dust get our system...
Graphics dissasembly, and dust on the bottom cover [On detail]

GPU fans and airflow system

CPU FAN

Finaly the CPU original thermal compound

Cleanned and replaced for some AS5


thats what we can find inside there. Results are cool. I decreased over 8ºC my system. This work is out of warranty as you need to full dissasembly the beast.
Cheers

 

woow!!!!! killer dust on internal heatsink fins.... excellent move cleaning ya rig phoenon.
how many other beasts are affected by dust? this is dells fault for not designing a perforated sheet with about 1mm diameter holes covering vent holes to atleast stop larger bits of dust from getting inside. seen Qosmio x300 manufactured with perforated protector grill under vents, about 1.5mm diameter holes

 

I saw this amount of dust the first time I took apart the beast. From that time I clean my rig more regular. It's much better this way.

 

Man, I wish they`d hurry up with my power brick, it`s been a week and this netbook ain`t good for anything

 

False. You don`t lose the warranty, there are no seals, but if you break something while opening it, they won`t replace it.

Good job, I do that every 2-3 months. Takes me around 40-45 mins now.

 

True, there aren't any seals, not even in the CPU area, but I contacted Dell for remove the PPU, and they told me that will void the warranty...wich could be wrong because was from client care, not from tech support. Anyway I should say just make at your own risk...
I did the job in ~1h. With the pics and the CPU thermal paste, and at this point is where I agree hikkoo, the desing is crappy. It's a shame you have to full dissasembly for almost anyting. I loved my old Asus c90s wich there was full acces just from the back door.
Cheers

 

I was running 3dMark looped for about 65 minutes each run twice. Plus intensive Crysis gaming for about 2.5 hours.

 

really? They usually insist me do the work than sending a tech support when a part needs to be replaced. I do have complete care.

 

Well anyone tried the new Medal of Honor beta yet? I downloaded the beta and ran a couple of multiplayer battles. I must say the game runs better than Bad Company 2, not that Bad Company 2 ran really bad but overall Medal of Honor feels smoother maxed out