S-XPS 1640 (w/4670 1GB) Throttling Issue

[02/03/2010]

I posted a few weeks ago about how my 1640 might be throttling. While with unclewebb's ThrottleStop shows that when I run Furmark and Prime95, the multiplier of the CPU goes down to 3x.

I'm going to do some intensive testing tonight with my system and hopefully some other 1640 users could come out and test theirs since most of us have different configurations. (Please see my signature down at the bottom for system specs)

Also, I see that in the other thread about the S-XPS 1645, it was normal gaming that caused it to Throttle. Games such as TF2, Demigod, and D.A.

Here's there theory that I'm getting then.

IF I ran a game that is CPU/GPU intensive, AND I'm using a 90w adapter, using a Kill-a-watt meter to measure the watts coming out of the outlet to my adapter, and/or using ThrottleStop to log my results (long with other results from in-game benchmarks), THEN the S-XPS 1640 should throttle because it trying to avoid drawing too much power from the adapter. (Please correct me if I'm wrong)

Equipment

• Dell Studio XPS 1640
• PA-15 150w Adapter
• Dell 90w Adapter
• Kill-a-Watt meter

Games to be tested

• Mass Effect 2
• Demigod
• Left 4 Dead
• Others as the become available

How I would be testing it

First I'll be doing a hard drive swap and re-installing Windows 7 Home Premium (thus preserving my HD). Updates/drivers will be installed. I'll be recording the Kill-a-Watt meter from time to time during this time.

Then I'll install Furmark and Prime95, and do some recording from there ONLY using the 90w adapter and log files from ThrottleStop [Disabled].

With ThrottleStop running still, I'll install/run some games and see what kind of performance I get. I'll average, low, and high FPS from each game, if possible.

After some screenshots and some recording, I'll swap over to the 150w adapter and test it again, using Furmark, Prime95, the games and ThrottleStop [Enabled].

Hopefully this is will conclude any throttling issues against the S-XPS 1640.

 

How's the testing? Any results?

 

Yes, I made another thread for Dell Bill, your results would greatly help. Please post them here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=458668

thank you