**Latest Driver/Softwae Updates for Studio XPS 1645**

Just installed A10, still throttles with Prime+Furmark and I think the GPU threshold is back.

Can someone please confirm GPU threshold if you've already installed.

edit: yeap it's back to 81 or so degrees. GPU BIOS version: 011.022.009.003 (2010/05/17)

 

The last Synaptics driver version 15.0.9.0 found at /input/R266782.exe was around 29MB.

Now, the latest version posted by dell support site 15.0.18.0 is 19MB.

Has anyone installed v15.0.18.0 ?? Has dell removed some of the features ??

Also last when i downloaded R266782.exe, on the dell ftp site the date for the file was 5/18/2010, now that has somehow changed to 6/18/2010 !!!

 

WOW...I find it so hard to believe that they would put the GPU thermal limit back!!! I mean what sense is there in that!! And at an even lower temperature (as it was 84C before A09)?!? That would mean GPU throttling would be added to the issues list again. Please can someone confirm what error-id10t has has kindly tested out just to cover all bases. I don't know anymore if Dell is trying to improve things or just make them worse for themselves (and us)...Absolutely no steps forward but 2 steps back. Guess I'm sticking with A09 (as that works best for me with no blatant throttling in game [GPU & CPU] with a notebook cooler, 130w, and AS5 application), but please someone else kindly confirm.

 

Where can I download the A09 Bios?

 

A09 has one major drawback...the fan randomly kicks in and it bothers me haha.

 

Does A10 run cooler than A09? What I really mean is: Does it take longer to hit 80C (arbitrary number) on A10 than A09?

A08 had the 84C limit which was moderately easy to reach, but then under A09 I could hit 84C in approximately half of the time (I hope this isn't just me)?

 

No.. A10 doesn't run any cooler compared to A09. Maybe I'm overly paranoid now, but I think it's made Furmark+Prime run worse also.

With A09 I was able to keep the Multi between 10 to 11.5 with no modulation (it averaged 10.7), but with A10 it seems to remain fairly stable at 10.3 - haven't seen it reach 11.

Anyway that's a a moot point for Gamers considering the GPU is back to it's old ways. I see nobody else has said anything so nobody has probably installed it. It's almost like A09 was a mistake and they fixed it with A10 (from their point of view) - it's closer to A08 and previous versions.

 

The double finger scrolling is removed :S

 

Anyone happen to know where I can download A09? I can't find it one dell's website. Once I find a place to download it, what would i have to do to go back from A10 to A09, just download it and install it?

 

I have it installed, but the 5730 never even gets close to the 81 degree GPU limit. (Highest I've seen is 75 after a few hours of Crysis)

 

Thanks for all the info you've provided error. I'm glad I didn't upgrade my BIOS to A10 as soon as it came out (because that's what I usually do). I just had a feeling that Dell would put that GPU limit back, and my feeling was right on. I guess I like the "mistake" that is A09, because it's the only BIOS that allows me to play BFBC2 with a peace of mind and no throttling (GPU + CPU). Hopefully A10 doesn't fix anything too major, that would make me need to install it. I'm sticking with good ol' limit-free A09.

I have A09 and I would host it on one of those file-sharing sites, but I don't know if that's against NBR forum rules or even Dell rules. Plus I don't know if people would trust me, although I would never ever try to infect anyone's computer with any viruses or anything. Try PMing gaah from HERE to see if he still has the ftp link for A09. As for the downgrading your BIOS back to A09, follow the instructions from this THREAD. Good luck.
EDIT: Jedis put the ftp link for A09 below.

**Gaah, maybe you can put back up the ftp link to A09 on the first post, just so people have a choice (if the link is still active)? Maybe you can also state the differences between them too highlighting the GPU limit? Just a thought.**

It's funny that you should say that, because I think that A10 is primarily intended for the newer 5730 XPS 1645s (with i7 processors, like i7-720). Those run much cooler than our 4670-720 combos and thus don't reach 81C. On BFBC2 I reach 84C with my cooler and AS5 application (imagine that), so A10 would just cause all sorts of problems in my games. I'm glad A09 even exists or else I'd still be stuck with GPU throttling and be SOL. It's hard to believe that Dell would disregard 4670 gamers by reinstating the GPU limit, and at an even lower temp [from 84C (A08) to ~81C (A10)], but it looks like that is the case . If it wasn't for A09 I'd be angrily calling Dell for a refund right about........now.

 

You can't simply execute the A09 executable to roll back - it won't let you. You need to use that 'roll back your BIOS' method someone created (I think someone attached a link here earlier). Then once you've rolled back, go from there back to A09.

 

I believe you can (i am not sure)

1.Execute 1645_a09.exe

2.Go to "C:\Users\'USERNAME'\AppData\Local\Temp\WinPhlash64"

3.Execute WinPhlash64

4.Specify new bios (the directory is: 'C:\Users\'USERNAME'\AppData\Local\Temp\WinPhlash64\BIOS1.WPH')

5.Choose Advantage Settings

6.Uncheck 'Flash only is BIOS version is newer than system'

7.Flash the bios

 

Can we use an Idt Audio Driver from this page:

Latest Sigmatel / IDT drivers - LaptopVideo2Go Forums
( Latest Sigmatel / IDT drivers - LaptopVideo2Go Forums)

it seems to be a newer driver.


Is it fully compatible with our Dell xps studio 1645 ?

 

It won't install. You could go ahead and try it.

 

1645 BIOS A09
Release date: 5/17/2010
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/R269189.exe

 

So what's the consensus...stay away from A10? Keep A09?

 

That is what I have done; until further proof that the thermal limit is somehow intermittent of some sort or something...

 

Wise to stay away from A10. Stick to A09 if you want to be able to game properly without pulling your hair out.

 

Just an update for the earlier post where I said Furmark+Prime run worse with A10 compared to A09, I found the reason.. the CPU doesn't draw the same power anymore.

Somewhere, earlier, I posted the A09 results showing the Multi going between 10 and 11.5 (someone else posted exact same behavior) and this was due to the CPU watts changing from 45W to 36 and dipping down to 29 all the time. ie: it just doesn't allow it to stay at 45W giving us normal Multi of 12 (if you enable TS it will stay at 45W giving us Multi of 12).

With A10 it doesn't go above 36.50W and spends most of it's time at 29.41W, so the Multi is constantly around 10-10.3 and actually drops under 10 now (into the 9s).

add: here's TS log with A10. It's close to 1 Multi lower in average compared to a TS log I posted while back running A09. You can easily tell where only Prime was running vs. Prime+Furmark.

 

A10 enhance throttling?

 

Letting everyone know that new Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers are out and about.

9.6.2.1001 and 9.6.3.1001

 

What benefit do these have? I didn't install them when I did a clean install...

EDIT: Seems they are better than default MS Drivers?

 

I have the same question ...I really didn't think they did a whole lot so I left them out as well when I did my clean install.

 

I know when I installed the older drivers (rapid storage matrix from DELL) it makes my HDD Indicator blink every second or so due to CD drive polling. Very, very annoying, so I removed it through system restore. A simple uninstall didn't work. I tried this out with the newer generic Intel drivers and the same thing happened.

I haven't tried this newest version yet.

 

9.6.4.1002 whql is out
www.station-drivers.com :: Voir le sujet - Intel Rapid Storage Technology Version 9.6.4.1002 WHQL (Maj)

 

The "My Dell Downloads" page doesn't work for me in either Firefox or Chrome. I click on "Register my System" and then nothing happens...don't tell me I need to re-install IE to download D3ll drivers.

 

LOL, I was about to suggest IE too before I read your last sentence. If you asked "D3ll" that would be the first thing they'd tell you to do. So, yes, I'm telling you that you most likely have to reinstall IE to download "D3ll" drivers... (though there's always a chance that it won't work even then...)

 

Lol I'm so used to posting on other websites "D3ll" is kind of a habit now.

 

The driver page was asking me for a service tag too last night, but my service tag was already listed on the page and the drivers were there. Seems back to normal today.

 

ATI Catalyst™ 10.7 Beta OpenGL ES 2.0
GPU-74: ATI Catalyst? 10.7 Preview Driver for OpenGL ES 2.0 Support

 

ATI Catalyst™ Display Driver
Version 10.7

Operating System(s)
Windows Vista - 64-Bit Edition; Windows 7 - 64-Bit Edition

ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver


.

 

Can anyone explain what the Intel SATA/AHCI/Rapid Storage Technology are for?
I currently don't use them?

 

It makes your HDD indicator blink every second.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ery-second-source-determined.html#post6089651

Supposedly they don't improve performance or do anything useful for the XPS 16. They may be useful on windows XP or if you had a RAID set up.

I don't have it installed- it's probably the only driver I wouldn't install.

 

I see, thanks.

However I dont see why anyone would notice/be disturbed by the blinking light, as mine HDD light pretty much always blinks atleast once every 1/2 seconds

 

I would install it myself, chances are you'll get more optimized performance and it's required to take advantage of newer features in the chipsets and hardware. The drivers included with Windows are typically very generic in what they support and are usually old versions as provided by the manufacture anyway, no reason not to update..

 

Mine never blinks. Maybe I'm unusual, but I'm going to keep it that way.

 

As gpig said in another topic ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/507976-sxps-1645-bios-a11-available-now.html)
BIOS A11 is available

Fixes and Enhancements
1. Fix burn-in/ATidiag issue in factory.
2. Key in password using Keypad related bug.
3. Fix bug : Unplugged SATA device may temporarily appear to be available.
4. Flash BIOS will hang up when Click Power Smart to"Personal Mode"button with Fast Access

 

Ati catalyst 10.8 drivers are out:

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/920...mobile/10-8_mobility_vista_win7_32_dd_ccc.exe

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/920...mobile/10-8_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc.exe

 

And for me at least they are rocking! I mention this in another thread, but my framerate in Starcraft 2 took a major hit when I installed 10.7. 10.8 definitely returns it to where it was with 10.6 Make sure to uninstall previous drivers first though, as this may have been a contributing factor to my problem

 

I decided to do a clean install of the new 10.8 driver. I was using the Dell driver (I think it's actually based off of 10.4 but it shows up as 10.6?). Seems to have identical performance as the Dell driver for the 4670.

 

fis6h at forums.laptopvideo2go, posted a mod IDT sound driver
ver 6.10.0.6289
17/6/2010

6.10.0.6289_mod.zip
(manual install)

Works fine for my dell

 

i tried to install the 10.8 but it will not recognize my 5730.

 

did you download the mobility drivers ??

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/920...mobile/10-8_mobility_vista_win7_32_dd_ccc.exe

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/920...mobile/10-8_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc.exe

 

Just an update: Planning to update the first post soon with all the latest drivers/updates, probably won't post modified drivers tho.

 

Good
lets support the drivers issues as good as we can

 

since when did they go back to having seperate drivers? this is horse crap.

The whole big deal about 10.3 and onwards was native mobility driver support from the same install/package as the desktop.

This is lame.

No wonder I couldnt get the new driver to install.

LAME

P.S. whats the point of downloading a 1mb file just to download another 70mb file within this stupid Ati branded downloader. What a waste of time.

 

I did the same, wasted 30+ minutes before even starting to download the mobility driver. And there was no benefit to me of installing 10.8 over the Dell driver.

 

There might not be any immediately noticeable improvement over Dell's drivers, as they usually address issues with new games and new videocards (the 4670 is getting pretty old). Still, might be some performance increases depending on the game.

 

I don't remember which version I had before, but I had passed on all the updates up into this point. I dunno why today I decided to upgrade. I don't even game.

It broke my Premiere CS5 plug-ins, all of them. I'm reading this all over the net. Looks like its been broke since 10.5.

Where can I download the old cats? were there 2 versions then? I cant even remember now..I need 10.4 I think..


Edit: I can't remember what version I had before this, but it worked..Is there anyway I can look up what driver I had installed previously before I installed 10.8? I never bothered to look. Thanks..