Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, Take 2

Ok i get it you are being sarcastic

 

You need to stop taking peoples comments out of context.

A. I said idles between 65 - 75C. Most of the time it is actually over 70C, it only gets down to 65 when the fans kicked in.

B. If you read the entire post you got my temps from you would of seen this...

I completely agree that the cards shouldn't be failing at that tempurature, but the fact is they are. There is obviously some underlying issue with the product, i.e. sub-standard packaging/substrate etc...

C. The laptop already has great cooling, it just doesn't use it as IMO it shoud. Simply lowering the thermal threshold for the fans on the GPUs would of significantly increased the life span of the units that have failed. I'm kind of glad they didn't though as it would of hidden the under-lying problem, not solved it. I've had lower temps while gaming than on idle, simply because the fans were kicking in more often because the CPU was getting hotter.

 

I would absolutely love the ability to control my fans. If I had this ability, I'd have the fans on 100% 100% of the time. And I probably wouldn't be on my 3rd major issue, Batboy and others would still have 1730's!

 

Can Dell not do an update for this machine so that the fans kick in at a lower temp ? I know they probably won`t be all that bothered about the M1730 now seeing as they are phasing it out, how hard would it be for them to an update that allows the fans to kick in at a lower temp ?

 

I would say it would be easy for them to do both, espeacially the fan control. They already have code that can alter the fan speeds in their system diagnostics.

The predecessor for l8kfangui was written by Dell techs disassembling the Dell Diagnostics, and then was taken and modified by the l8kfangui author.

 

Agreed. They really need to do is put out a BIOS / GPU BIOS update to cover the fan/thermal ranges. As Kracs mentioned, totally easy to push out. Its rather sad really that they don't. Just shooting themselves in the foot.

 

Yep I'm another one. I don't think idling at 52c and then climbing up to 75c can be good.

The first thing I noticed pre purchase reading thru the 1000's of pages dedicated to the beast was the unsuccesful search high and low for a fan controller.

Who was it back on XPS Wiki who was always asking for programmers to donate time on adding/altering I8kfangui so the XPS would be included?.......

 

Yes, and fact - for paying thousands of dollars, the thing should have a longer life-span, given that practically -everything else- seems to last longer. You see, by making a wise crack like that, you're obfuscating the debate. You're essentially grasping at straws when clearly it doesn't deal with the real issue. Dig? You're using that argument -way- out of context - you're making a broad statement to tackle a very specific statement. You're using a general statement, and when you say something like that, people are forced to agree, because it is too 'broad' and provides little grounds to 'disagree'. Now what happens when you bring specifics into the question? That's when the entire thesis falls flat on its. . . nevermind. It doesn't take a genius to realise that a specific problem cannot be negated, overruled, or debted-out through making broad general statements that lack spcificity or detailed factors or even relevance. What you have said is simply a trivial, general statement about electronics, and that's where its relevance to this topic completely ends - it is -that- irrelevant. By the way, it also doesn't take a genius to realise when someone starts clutching at straws when they've failed to either tackle, or comprehend the crux of the debate.

Put it this way: The 'more I use, the more it breaks'. So, how much life does my machine really have, and how much of that would constitute the 'standard' and then the 'more' and then the 'less'? Give me specifics; parametres - years - months - hours - something of that sort. If other electronic devices with a hefty price tag can last long enough, then so should this baby. By the way, once again, my Toshiba is -still- working - never had to use warranty. And as for going easy - I don't care about your particular case as of the moment, because your machine is doing fine. What I do care about, is you, using your case, to kind of talk down to the rest of us who don't have such a good case. I think you've kind of acknowledged that yourself, in your post, but you really need to step down from that podium, because crap like this turns the board into a political bipartisan debacle, and believe you me, that's not something we need on these forums, because we struggle to support and help one another, not confuse and dodge topics through shoddy politics.

-FIN-

Anyway, give me fan-control, and I'll S.T.F.U. with my next M1730. And Gundam, dude, that three-strike-policy - bull! Seriously, bull! It doesn't always apply, especially here in Europe, where they still have a sigifnicant supply of M1730s to go around. If that policy was as accurate as some people make it out to be, I'd be on my 'second' M17x. Lawl. You are correct about the policy, but you need to understand that Dell is very dodgy in how they exercise themselves. They will try to screw customers who don't press or push hard enough; if you keep calling them and explaining how your GPU isn't working, they'll keep sending in damaged spare parts.

Now, after that fifth gpu failure, I landed on my first replacement, which was an M1730; I've already explained how it also failed so hard. The laptop was damaged and scratched out of the box, and -seriously downgraded-. I am currently working with them on another replacement. I don't know what it'll be as of this moment, but if it is another M1730, I would certainly hope it makes it to Halloween without a series of part-failures.

On the note of gaming - 24/7 - 8 hours - 2 hours. It doesn't matter to me because we're now digressing into another technical territory. And quite frankly, I don't care much about what you consider 'ideal gaming time' and likewise, you shouldn't care about mine; it's a subjective cocncept. What matters is that we as consumers didn't sign some release statement in which we agreed that wanton gaming will kill the machine and so we take full responsibility. What's good long gaming for you, might be too much for another; what's good long gaming for someone like me, might be too little for you, or BatBoy. KracsNZ, is right about the negative impacts of thermal cycling in comparison to 'system on - off' - I'd rather have the machine running consistently for one proper session. But I can also tell you hands down that a well made machine with better vents and cooling protocol will always last longer. This has been the story for a number of Clevo laptops, and judging from the die-size, looks and design, and other features of the new M17x, I think it'll run much cooler than the M1730. Hopefully, much more stable as well.

I just want what I 'paid' for, which is stability - the same stability that you seem to have with your system, and the same stability that I hope M17x users can celebrate with their new machines.

Another count says 130 degrees. Account coming from a Dell on-site engineer who has worked with these cards. He told me I have -nothing- to worry about if the machine peaks at the upper 90s.

 

A few xps m1730 owners don't have any problems at this moment now, but what about tomorow or next week/month???
Its not only here that m1730 owners complaining about there issues but simply look at the Dell forums,....read the story's,....pages full of people who are screaming for help.
I owned a lot of computers in my life desktops/notebooks also 2 m1710 (btw great working machines), my wife have a Hp HDXdragon the 20inch now for about 2 years without any problem, ....its just the m1730's that are great machines(specs looks great) fail after a time for some after 6 months others a year or longer, and always it begins with gpu (artifacts, blue screens....).
There must be a reason why dell is stopping the m1730's, they know the reason believe me, but not going to tell to you customer.
Btw, maybe after one year the m17x will also have his issues or problems no one can tell.
personnaly i don't like them, i miss the look of the m1730's, but thats my opinion.
The last call i made with the support, i sayed " i only wanted a perfekt working gamersnotebook, but you "dell" can't deliver that, thats the reason i called for the refund after months full of troubles with replacements and refurbished parts, and engineers that even don't know how to completely open the 1730 or to replace a gpu?!!"
After one week they are still deciding about a refund or not, nothing heard anymore at this moment.... but i have time and patience.

 

@Stig: Yopu might also want to check in the registry undy HKLM\Software\Microsfot\windwos\CurrentVersion\run and see if there's an something there

 

Thought I would like my share of my M1730 as well...

6 months passed from my purchase. No problems. Cards running so cool and fine. Highest peaked is just a mere 68*C while gaming COD, L4D, FC2, Crysis for a couple of hours of my free time.

Besides, I once had it turned on for 2 weeks (yes, for 2 weeks long) doing batch rendering 3ds Max scenes continually for my architectural submission (Yes, I didn't sleep too rushing my stuff) hours after hours with the X9000 @ full 100% usage. I never had any overheating issues with any of my components. It runs fine, it runs very well, and I used no cooler nor any form of air-conditioning. I run all the heavy and intensive workstation stuff on this machine as well and I can use up to 7.5GB of my RAM; you can the amount of intensity I go through.

But I do maintain my machine every 2 months, changing the paste, cleaning the vents, and defragging my twin 500GB 7200.4s on every weekends. Running in tip-top condition.

I guess the question is how well you treat your machine. I know 6 months is still considered young for my machine, but will continue to look after it.

 

If care is the question, then I took better care of mine than even Dell did for my replacement system on their assembly line. Not trying to play down your efforts, SomeFormOfHuman, I think your approach is very good and commendable.

Anyway, I think the x9000 also gives the owners an edge by default. The whole cooling of the system because of the CPU thermals. This, helps. KracsNZ made a thread about this topic, and it showed that x9000 users were least likely to experience problems. Now even though the sample size is too small, it does demonstrate what we all have believed for a while - we need the fans to kick in earlier, and extreme CPUs in overclock help that happen.

I have say, SomeFormOfHuman, your temps are -very good-, especially for Singapore without airconditioning. It can get signficantly warm and it's humid. So a question for you: Do you hear the fans kick in often? I believe Ernstig's machine has run just as smoothly as yours. Also, do you overclock? If so, then please do share your choice of frequency.

Even I'm thinking of giving the M1730 one last shot, seeing as Dell has compensated me with another offer that involves an X9000. Maybe the quicker cool-down will help the temps from ever reaching those dangerous peak levels. I remember the good old days when 70 degrees was considered an alarming temp on the M1710. Lawl.

 

Does anyone on here have any regular contact with Dell and has got to know someone well ?

Maybe it could be worth someone with a tech mind with this sort of thing contacting Dell and making the suggestion if its not already been done before.

 

Yeah the trick here to tame an M1730 is using an X9000 or other Xtreme series CPUs, have them OC'ed to take advantage of the full fan blast when it reaches 3.2 - 3.4GHz when set in the BIOS. When the fans are on full blast, the fan noise is definately loud, but it really cools the system alot. But I'm on the other; I kinda like the fan noise when it blasts on full speed. Alot of my peers commended on it, "Woah, your fans are loud and fierce!!" LOL. Somehow it gives me a fullfilled feeling that it has reached the top as it roars.

Seriously the fan blasts are like built-in mini notebook coolers onto the M1730.

Erm, the fans actually run constant RPMs when OC'ed to 3.4GHz, regardless of whatever temperatures.

However it's a different story when I decrease my X9000 to 2.8GHz stock, yes the fans do kick in when it reaches ~70*C max. Idling temperatures are in the mid 50s with powermizers disabled.

I once did some tests, it ran about 76*C after gaming for and hour and a half. Considered quite alright for this temp. To be honest, it once reached 80*C when I ran constant vantage tests, but the good thing is, it cools down really fast after the tests were over; the temps drop like 5-8*C in 5 secs, so I'm not really worried about it. One reason is, this due to the fact I applied MX-2s on my 8800 cores. Kudos to MX-2s. I advice anyone who wishes to drop their GPU temps to use MX2.

But I think the coolness of a GPU will depend on the card's abilities. Just like OC'ing, I believe not all cards can perform the same cooling efficiencies as some others of the same cards do.

Haha, well I guess everyone has their own so called -evil- ways of maintaining their system.

Yeah I hope this helps. Thanks.
Stefan

 

Anyone tried Call of Juarez Bound in Blood? Anyone want screens of that game too?

 

Allright the new Wolfenstein game on my XPS M1730 all maxed out 1920x1200

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNWNtSl-PSE

 

Runs great. Looks good as well. Any tweaking done to it? AA or AF on? How is the game itself? Is it worth buying?

 

Nah no tweaking yet, full AF I haven´t tested AA yet since I don´t usually run with AA at 1920x1200

It´s a fun game and quite much blood I must say

 

Great, thx I couldn't find its demo, so I guess it doesn't exist. Might get it if it will be available on steam or d2d Hpe Mass Effect 2 will run just as smooth all maxed out

 

NICE! Liking the res!

 

Will be released in a few days. This is a review copy. Yeah this beast still runs games at 1920x1200

 

Thank you, Magnus. This game, along with Call of Juarez, are only a few sample-proofs of just how easily most of your future-games will run on the Dell XPS M1730 - it'll eat all of 'em up.

Call of Juarez- everything max - 1920x1200 - absolutely floored my PS3 demo, and to think that this was the game running with single-GPU.

Saddist. . . Yeah, I said it.

To SomeFormOfHuman.
You need not defend the fan-noises to a person like myself. I say with this power, give me the full-blast treatment. Consoles are nosier and hotter. So you do use the technique of overclocking the CPU and then having the fans keep your laptop cool. Back when I had the old Inspiron 9100, that's exactly what I did to keep the entire unit cool, and people should know full-well just how badly those P4-Hyperthreading machines would heat up with the Mobility ATi Radeon 9700 and the old P4 design.

I think, for me, this X9000 CPU just might be my solution to getting full-blast fans. And I'm cool/down with the noise. Thanks for the input, dude. Much appreciated.

Indeed. All cards, while the same, are only genenrally similar. There will always be milder differences. But, the general temps--differences taken into account--should be around a certain range for all cards of a certain range, like the 9800m GT/8800m GTX. For example, me with the same [email protected] GHz and 9800m GT could have my GPUs peaking at maybe 84 at best when compared to your 80 (or 78 - highly unlikely). Now if it was still around 90+ the way it is now, then y'know, there's something very wrong. I believe if the fans were running full-speed, that thermal reading would drop by a massively signficant margin. Couple the full-blast treatment with some good thermal paste--I ain't no expert on thermal paste--and I think you have a good setup.

 

Yeah I need to get hold of a X9000 too CPU. My notebook if fast today but I want it faster

Sadist yes!

 

I hope this isn`t a sign of poor quality as ive only had my M1730 a week lol

I was just doing an email when all of a sudden i noticed that one of the keys had popped off the keyboard, its not a key that ive used yet either... It was the # key, surely that shouldn`t be happening already. Has anyone else had anything similar with the M1730 ? Its only a minor thing but i was just amazed to see it had popped off given tht my laptop is only a week old, i just hope its not a sign of a poor quality keyboard.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about that, Stig. Just pop it back in; if problem persists, then have 'em send you a new keyboard. Simple.

 

On a side note with my M17x, I have the discrete graphics disabled so running on the 280Ms, and when idling in Vista I have yet to get above 34C on the GPUs. That's a 40C difference to my idling temps on my M1730 with the same drivers (186.03).

I haven't tried any of the 190+ range and have just installed the 186.12 performance Dell drivers. Same temps. After 2 hours of straight gaming in L4D last night I peaked at 48C.

The thing I notice is the fans are on allot i.e. on low speed even when idling. If the M1730 had this level of thermal control I'd say allot of the issues wouldn't have appeared.

 

@KracsNZ: Agreed. I'm seeing the same temps as well. Did you try my 186.24 driver a try? If you didn't see it, hit my blog for the info. I'm still on the stock driver but will be testing the 186.12 next and then my 186.24 mod. After that, moving to the 190 series once I have time to fiddle with the INF.

 

Yeah mate, got your PM, just haven't had a chance to really muck around with the beast. Might have a look on the weekend.

 

Can i ask what your using to get your temps ?

 

Everest Ultimate + HW Monitor. Usually use Everest as it gave me accurate readings on the 2nd GPU in my M1730. HW Monitor was giving me the same temps for both GPUs.

 

Here is two videos of Armed Assault 2 running on my XPS M1730 too at 1920x1200

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkdRjOZsMXM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlmEIYjyI3w

 

Thanks, ive just installed it. Do these temps look normal, the top one was on idle.



These were with a few applications open and with the fan running

 

Yes those are ok temps, but what is more important is what kind of Load temp you have. Run ATI tool stress test and see where it tops out.

 

Yeah, for idling they look good. You may be benifiting from the X9000 keeping the fans on longer.

As Magnus said, might want to take some temps when under stress as well.

 

Looks sweet, any chance of the config settings... ?

Cheers.

 

Yeah will post theme here soon, trying out some other minor tweaks to make the performance better

 

I keep my X9000 at 3.4Ghz all the time, this way my load temps rarely go above 70c for either the cpu or gpu's. I rather have dell replace or send me new fans than replacing the cpu ,gpu's, or mobo.

 

I see no fault with that logic. It's a wise choice. It even makes a hell of a lot more sense than Dell not offering some kind of bios-update or software that'll help manage thermal thresholds and fan-control on these machines.

 

- Thank you!!

 

with driver 190.40 @3.4ghz 3dmark06 is very low hits only 12.800.
sli is on physx on
somebody any idea?

 

@ 3.0 ghz i hit 12.040 temps gpu 80 c° after the benchmark test

 

Turn off PhysX. See what happens. My returns suggest that PhysX enabled tends to produce lower results with 3DMark06.

 

Hi guys,

Ive been a long time follower of this thread for quite a while and wanted to say thanks for all the info you guys have posted and what not. I had to come an ask a question but I must after reading a lot of your comments about the GPU dying.

About a week ago for some reason my computer temps with the fans on was reading in the 150+ range according to Hmonitor since then ive done a system restore and my temps still read 130+ heres my latest Hmonitor report if it helps. Again this is with the computer just sitting idle

Hmonitor Version 4.4.3.2 Pro Special Edition for Ru-Board
Ru-Board (forbidden to be shared)
H/W diagnostics info:
Windows XP Professional Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2
Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Board model:
Version:
BIOS vendor: Dell Inc.
BIOS version: A09, Release date: 05/29/2008
Chipset: Intel 965GM
Vendor ID: 01F71028
SouthBridge: 28118086
SMB port used: 10C0
CPU:Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9300 @ 2.50GHz
CPUId:0-6-7-6
Cores:2
Internal Freq=2494.0 MHz
External Freq=311.75 MHz
Multiplier=8.0
SystemBus Freq=1247.0 MHz QDR
Thermo control configuration:
Full Throttle:100.0%
AMD Low Power mode isabled
Win 95/98 Idle Control isabled
Device:None Throttle:25.0% Enable at:158.0°F Disable at:149.0°F
Main Sensor: PC87591
Monitored data values:
Mainboard=139.4°F (0,Auto,0.0°F)
CPU=134.8°F (1,Auto,0.0°F)
CPU1 Core=137.8°F (1,CoreTemp,0.0°F)
CPU0 Core=137.8°F (0,CoreTemp,0.0°F)
Chassis=xxxx rpm
CPU1=xxxx rpm
CPU2=xxxx rpm
Power=xxxx rpm
Core=+x.xxV
Aux=+x.xxV
+3.3V=+x.xxV
+5V=+x.xxV
+12V=+xx.xxV
-12V=-xx.xxV
-5V=-x.xxV
HDD1 temp=125.4°F FUJITSU MHZ2160BJ FFS G2 0085001C
HDD2 temp=130.0°F ST980811AS 3.ALC
VGA device: NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT
VGA Device ID: 040910DE,019B1028.A1
VGA driver: NVIDIA Compatible Windows 2000 Display driver, Version 176.78 6.14.11.7678
VGA sensor: GeForce
VGA GPU=145.8°F
VGA Ambient=xx.x°C
VGA Fan=xxxx rpm (xx%)
VGA Core=+x.xxV
VGA Bus=+x.xxV

Should I be concern any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

@Zero Shadow

So in celsius that should be 63c. Which is right in the ball park. Mine go 53c right thru to 75c BUT avg around the 63c. So converted that is 127f thru to 167f. My highest ever temp while gaming was 181f which shouldn't be a problem but alas I have GPU errors......... Thus it would appear to be at idle the constant climbing and dropping thru 25c (77f) changes is what the killer could be.

As the last few pages say - the consensus seems to be for longevity - have an Extreme 9000 cpu and clock it at 3.4Ghz so the funs are running at high. So that there is less climbing and dropping of the temps.

As for should you be concerned? Not really. If you've got the x9000 then you should be even less stressed.

As for me. Well I'm in the non extreme boat so I'm guess I'm not stressed but more annoyed that I have to deal with the hassle of getting thru Dell customer support. The Dell battle is doable and i've won b4 but nonetheless I would rather just game when I get a chance as I don't have heaps of free time. And when my new cards do arrive how long until the temp cycling kills them??

 

Anyway if my beast died God forbid and I started getting crap like Batboy and a lot of other have gotten lately from Dell. I would push back since my Comapany (Deutch based Co.) uses Dell exclusively and I would use my corporate clout to get an upgrade ASAP but hopefully this will never happen.

 

Seeing as the theme is temperatures.

I ordered a Cryo LX laptop cooler at the end of last week which arrived this morning, all i can say is impressive and thats an under statement. It fits the M1730 like a glove and the angle is perfect, it looks like part of the laptop.

A lot of people will already have one, if you don`t have one then all i would say is don`t hesitate in ordering one.

 

@stig:

I want to see some benchmarks buddy. When you getting around to running 06 and Vantage?

 

Stig, power it off mains in stead of USB, seems to get a little better speed in the fans. Also, I've modified my Cryo LX with 4 solid rubber door stops at each corner (top ones had to be custom cut to fit) and used ultra bond arildite to attach them. Gives me almost a 1" gap between the two. Temp were between 3 - 5C lower doing this.

The Cryo doesn't seem to move much air when the laptop is placed directly on top of it. Think it's a case of path of least resistance and allot of air escapes out the sides of the perforated covers. Seems to move allot more air with a gap.

 

Hi KracsNZ, how do you power it from the mains ? Mine only came with a USB to power lead and a USB to USB lead.

Would you be able to post a pic of your mod if its not too much trouble with the modified door stops at each corner ?

 

thx batboy for reply and i try it out later tnx.
@Stig Yes let us know what you think about the Cryo please
I also have one for months now, but it's off, i did some tests for Batboy and it seems ik got higher temps with it than without it, ....one reason, it blows the hot air back in the system

idle temps

TEST CRYO ON
-----------------------------
Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

ACPI hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 46°C (113°F) [0xC73] (THM_)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 40°C (103°F) [0x3C] (Core #0)
Temperature sensor 1 37°C (98°F) [0x3F] (Core #1)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

GeForce 9800M GT hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 64°C (147°F) [0x40] (GPU Core)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

GeForce 9800M GT hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 64°C (147°F) [0x40] (GPU Core)

Dump hardware monitor


CRYO OFF
------------------------

ardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

ACPI hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 42°C (106°F) [0xC4B] (THM_)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 36°C (96°F) [0x40] (Core #0)
Temperature sensor 1 35°C (94°F) [0x41] (Core #1)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

GeForce 9800M GT hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 56°C (132°F) [0x38] (GPU Core)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

GeForce 9800M GT hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 56°C (132°F) [0x38] (GPU Core)

Dump hardware monitor


you see these is not the way it should be
notebookcoolers makes youre system getting hotter, by blowing the hot air back in the system.