My new SXPS1645 cant handle games...

I can play Bad Company 2 for like 5mins before my FPS drops below 5 and my speakers start making loud glitching sounds. I just got this today and was impressed but not so much anymore, the cooling system especially is a joke when you really look at it and feel just how hot this thing gets after a few mins of heavy use. My CPU and GPU temps seem to be in the 75-80 degree celcius range, what should they be at under load? This is a brand new 1645 with A09 BIOS, 130W adapter and Radeon 5730. I have throttlestop installed and ran a Furmark test for about 10mins with the gpu temp peaking around 81 degrees. The bottom of my unit was too hot to touch, so I didn't want to start up Prime95 and melt the thing...I am so dissapointed right now!

 

some info on temps for you

http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...rket-upgrades/263039-nbr-cooling-central.html

 

I tried removing the vent covers and that helped a bit, I was able to play for about 15mins before I started having issues and had to quit the game. Here are my idle hw temps with vent covers removed...went down a few degrees.



After doing some research it seems this is in the normal temp range for that CPU (could be wrong)...after running FurMark for 10mins one of my cpu cores reached 81 C and my gpu reached 78.5 C. The graphics card is definetly fine so I think the CPU is causing my problems.

 

It sounds like your XPS 1645 has throttling issues like many other XPS 1640/1645 users have experienced. The cooling solution is also inadequate for the heat that these can produce when both the CPU and GPU are fully loaded.

Run ThrottleStop in monitoring mode and check off the Log File option. This keeps track of the main types of throttling that Dell uses on these laptops. Do some gaming and then upload your log file somewhere like mediafire and post a link here so I can have a look if you're not sure what it's telling you.

Add the GPU=2 option like I mentioned so it can log the GPU temps in the same log file.

 

OMG throttling issues still exist in SPXS 16 even with 5730 (lower TDP).

I think this one of the reason why Dell Japan removed and stop selling this problematic SPXS 16 from their website 2 weeks ago. The Japanese are very picky about products quality.

SXPS 16 really need 100% redesign.
Yeah, the current cooling system is a joke.

 

The main issue i find here is that you are using a 6-cell battery. The laptop isnt getting a proper airflow on the bottom thats why is heating up so fast.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with temperatures really... This screenshot represents normal temperatures, especially for a thin laptop such as the Studio XPS 16. Even the 78.5°C in load temperature isn't anything to worry about. My XPS M1710 (which is far more thicker than the SXPS16) GPU always ran at +- 85°C in load, and is still living its life. In my opinion, most of the "this is feeling too hot" comments are overrated. Yes notebooks do get warm while playing high end games, or running benchmarks. That's the way it is for smaller notebooks. But does it get THAT uncomfortable hot? So hot that you can't hold your hand on it? Mostly some areas are just feeling "warmer", which is something completely different. And normal.

Anyway, I think the main problem here still is the power draw. I'm not sure why Dell isn't releasing any Arrandale CPU with the HD5730. This combination shouldn't suffer, or suffer les, from these power throttling issues, right? Is a bigger power adapter a solution? (together with a new BIOS which supports up to 150W or something..)

 

Mine really does get hot if I do anything more than browsing while it's on my lap... they say that heat applied for long periods of time to the genitals will get you.... kill your swimmers!

It's not TOO hot to touch, but def. way hotter than what ANY other laptop I have ever used and I think what makes it even worse in my head is that the design for cooling could have been done better by some munchkins...........

 

If your doing anything other than basic computer functions (browsing,IM,work) the laptop does get uncomfortably hot on your lap. When running games it is too hot to touch in certain areas after about 10mins, then very quickly after that it throws in the towel and runs like garbage. It really is a shame, I absolutely love the look and the way this thing operates (when it's not throttling), and my GPU temps are perfectly fine it is the CPU which is causing the problems IMO. If it was about 10 degrees cooler then I'm sure I'd be laughing. The screen, backlit keyboard, touch keys and bluetooth are great and just the overall look and design(minus the cooling) is great. I have mine booting up in around 30 seconds with a complete restart in the 1 min mark. The ONLY other quibble I have outside the throttling is my touch eject button not working. It shows that it's being pressed by illuminating more but nothing happens, slot load drive doesn't even make a sound. I have to right click the ROM drive in My Computer to eject any discs in there. I have heard about this problem before but all my other touch keys work so I don't think it's a driver problem. It also seems like the screen doesnt close firmly...there's a bit of a gap between the screen and the base in the front. If I shake the unit the screen isnt firmly resting, instead it moves up and down slightly (is this normal?) Also I'll probably need to get one of those cloths to protect the screen from the keyboard marks, can someone link me up (and do I need a custom cut size?) Appreciate all the help everyone.

Also what do you guys think about re-applying some AS5 thermal paste on the cpu, do you think I just got a bad one? liquidxit2 seems to have temps about 10 degrees lower than me and he said his system is working great.

 

hey wetkeyboard,

Do you think it may be just your notebook since liquidxit2 recently posted his results with similar specs.

Here is the link: link

Have you tried other games besides Battlefield BC 2?

 

I have tried Crysis Warhead and Bad Company 2. Crysis doesnt lag out and have my speakers scream at me, but there are some visual problems (like clouds appearing around me instead of in the sky). Then again I didn't try to play Warhead for a really long time but I could just tell something wasn't right. Bad Company 2 runs fluently on HIGH settings at 1280x720 for about 10mins and then all hell breaks loose and I have to end the task or restart. I saw what liquidxit2 posted a few days ago and even though he's running WoW, the game shouldn't make much of a difference in temp. His idle temps seem to be 5-10 degrees lower than mine and his load temps about 10 degrees lower. I took out the vent cover as he did as well.

I just looked at his screenshot from Furmark and when he ran that test the highest any of his cpu cores got was 76 C and his gpu only 73C. I ran Furmark for about 10mins and my cpu got up to 82 C and my gpu got to 80 C. Again the graphics chip temp seems reasonable to me but I think once the cpu hits around 80 C then we start having issues. Now the computer didn't start doing funny things or reset itself while the cpu was above 80 degress in Furmark but after feeling the bottom of my laptop I thought it was going to start melting so I shut all that stuff down quickly. I don't believe he (liquid) was using a cooling pad but he probably has a 9-cell battery. I am not using a cooling pad and have a 6-cell battery, so can that justify a 5-10 degree change in temperature? It seems likely so. When the unit is on a table you can tell it's not raised enough to get sufficient airflow underneath, that's for sure.

 

See bro. Check 1645 owner's thread. There is 2 more users with 5730 series xps recently talking about high temps. I saw there snapshot and both had 6-cell battery. I have a 9-cell battery and it definitely provides better airflow coz the bottom is lifted. You saw the user with new 5000 series xps with gr8 temps in default thermal parte, yes he has a 9-cell battery.
On the bad company part. Try updating your video driver to 10.6. Check my thread.

 

One of the first things I did was update the ati drivers. I am going to call in and see if they'll send me a 9-cell battery and send me a box to put the 6-cell in. I really liked the slimmer form factor but in hind sight it was stupid for me to request a 6-cell when the 9-cell is what was included originally. I ended up saving like $40 but thats not worth it considering the retail price difference in the two.

 

liquidxit2 results show that as soon as he went up to full load, the throttling started. It wasn't severe throttling like some users experience but the CPU was definitely throttling. He tested for 10 minutes but was only at full load for 5 minutes. Users that spend an hour or two trying to play a game, might run into throttling issues.

All CPUs and GPUs are not created equal so power consumption and heat output varies from one to the next. wetcardboard might have got unlucky. Dell continues to sell laptops that are not capable of running both the CPU and GPU at full speed. The result is throttling. This may never be a problem for the games you play or the frame rates can instantly drop to the low single digits and make a game completely unplayable. As newer, more multi-threaded games are released that are able to fully utilize more of the CPU and GPU, the result will be more throttling.

 

Bad Company 2 update: If you are using Catalyst10.6, An application profile update is required. Source

 

I've been playing mass effect for last 2 hours on hgih settings...no problems.....the xps throttling is present but not to the degree that some people will make it out to be unless you just got an overall lemon.

 

Once I get home tonight I'll install Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Crysis (original), Gears of War, and every game I have and see what kind of results I get.

Regaurdless, is it good for the CPU to be in around 80 degrees..EVER? The GPU is within more than acceptable temperature range, and also...should the middle sector of the bottom panel be to hot to touch?

 

CPU @ 80 is fine... I think under load 90-100 is normal...

 

Played Splinter Cell: Conviction for more than an hour w/ the ATI 5730 and no throttling or lagging issues... although the fan kicks on very quickly.. so far, my temps reach the max 70 C when playing games...

 

And my desk won't catch on fire if that happens? I was worried with my cpu over 75...

 

Not to worry my friend.

 

you are talking in Celcius right? why would it be throttling at 80 degrees then...

 

This throttling i believe has nothing to do with the temp, but the energy available to be used for the system... basically the power supplied is not enough to run the componants at full power correctly.... bad design on dells part.

And no, that was the temp in furmark, being Celsius...

 

I'm propping my laptop up a few centimeters underneath the battery to simulate what the cooling would be like with a 9-cell, and trying lots of different games. I'll update later on.

Any answers to my other issues? (eject touch button not doing anything) thx.

 

I have had troubles with that on my studio... could be quickset.. could be hardware...

 

Actually I uninstalled quickset so I will re-install and thats probably the issue. Why would all the other touch keys still work though?

 

I just received my new XPS1645 (with 5730 i720) today, with exact same specs as yours (except 9 cell instead of 6 cell), and I am running idle CPU about 50C and GPU about 54C. Furmark Xtreme logs about 72C on GPU at 10 minutes, with CPU 66-70C. Unless I am throttling (I don't have TS running yet), mine is quite a bit cooler. I can't imagine the battery would make that much difference, but who knows? Maybe my Furmark settings not same as yours? I'm a noob at testing pc's so could be my Furmark settings are not right.

 

I think you may have gotten a defective unit. When I ran furmark and prime95 at the same time my temps never got above low 70s Celsius and the FPS was in the 16-35 range in fur with an average of 24ish. The room I was in was also 78F at the thermostat but I would assume 80f or maybe more due to all the computers on my desk.

Edit: While I could see software limiting your FPS, the heat is can mostly be due to hardware. Granted I dont know what the ambient temps are when you're testing the rig, if they are higher then 80F that may be your problem.