S-XPS 1645 Throttling Info. and Updates

That's true regarding GDDR3, but that's bad. GDDR5 is what we want because it's QDR.

 

Gaah, what bios version are you currently running? Are you using TS?

 

Not using TS- running A05.

 

PA-15 seems to be a real big brick...

 

Its been a few days, any verdict from the people using the up and coming bios? power consumption, throttling etc?

I see a lot of talk about it, but some info seems contradicting etc. Wonder if we have anything concrete yet?

 

PA-7E it is compatible?

 

This 4670 is not really that bad, if you have Crysis warhead do this test plugged in, This is one game that runs much worst unplugged even on high performance mode then plugged in. At least for me it was.

Plugged in I'm getting *respectable frame rates at 1920x1080 on enthusiast, hard to believe I know. But without the throttling I believe it would be playable at those settings!

However make sure you restart the game after you change the settings. At first I was getting horrid frame rates and then tried it again later and things were so much better I turned the settings back up and, low and behold it ran Crysis maxed, albeit not smoothly but smooth enough I could kill everything in sight.

 

Did you change powerplay to performance on both?

 

It is GDDR3. And that's true....the 3xxx series -> 4xxx series was a huge leap, architecturally. Not revolutionary, but big improvements. Completely forgot about that.

Just between single-cards, the 4670 is on the upper-end/high-end that is seen. Sure, there are lots of high-end cards, but you just don't see those in a lot of systems. Does that qualify it for high-end status? Debatable...

~Ibrahim~

 

I tested the A05 over the A03 and the X29 bios. My best results were with X29 (clock modulation was not used nearly as much on A03). A05 on the other hand totally killed my performance. Running furmark by itself on A05 locked the multiplier to 7 and the clock modulation at about 50%. On X29, running furmark only, the multiplier would stay high 18+ and randomly drop to 12 for a few seconds when my RGBLED brightness was 5 clicks or above on brightness. If I set my brightness to 4 clicks above the minimum, I would never see the random drop to the 12 multiplier; it was always 18+.

I immediately switched back to X29 after using A05. This is just a quick "what happened" rather than a detailed bench with logs, etc.

In the end, I wanted to play COD:MW2 and the A05 bios totally killed the performance even with the brightness workaround.

 

This, in relationship with the fact that Dell still hasn't make a clear statement, suggests me that we'll see more bios versions in the near future.

 

I thnink we're all just going to have to wait for the official release of this 'new' firmware before we can pass serious judgement.....there are so many conflicting stories!!!!!

 

What on earth are you talking about?

With ThrottleStop + my 130W adapter, I get really good performance in EVERY game I've played on my machine at max settings at 1600X900 resolution.

Dragon Age, Batman Arkham Asylum, Mass Effect, CoD:MW2, Resident Evil 5, Mirror's Edge, Assassin's Creed, Need for Speed Shift, Prince of Persia 2008, etc. etc.

It's not going to beat my desktop, which I run at 1920X1200, obviously, but I don't see what kind of criteria you're holding here for good performance. I get at least 40-45 fps in pretty much every game listed there, and sometimes super smooth at 60+, depending. I'd say that's pretty good performance for those games listed for sure.

 

Do you have WLED or RGBLED screen? Maybe because you are playing at a lower resolution than 1080

 

Hi everyone,

I've posted this once before, but I'll try asking again.

I have a XPS 1645 arriving February 4th. Realistically, could I get Dell to send me a PA-4E adapter, instead of the 90W? I've e-mailed my sales rep the link to this thread, but she hasn't responded and seems to be avoiding my calls.

If so, does anyone know who I should contact? I'm in Canada.

Thanks!

 

Um realisticly? You wont til you get the laptop and complain about its throttling you see. its a bit iffy, they did for a while if you got lucky enough to find the right rep that just wants to make you happy. But they may have stopped doing that, could be much more difficult to do now days. I havnt read of anyone recently getting an adapter.

The best thing ya can pretty much do right now is call them complaining about this problem once you get the laptop. They should open up a support ticket etc. Tell them the problem your experiencing etc. Seeing how this throttling issue doesnt look like it will come to a close anytime soon, that open ticket will let you have leverage later on, to get an exchange/refund/etc.

To the graphics card stuff, I think for its class the 4670 is a high end card. Its especially unfair to compare to a desktop, but for a laptop thats not specificlly just gaming, its pretty good. I can play tf2, l4d2 at max settings, and dragon age at 1080p just fine. with 30-60+ fps depending on game (throttlestop required of course). Certain settings like shaders will take a huge hit though. But its all how your define your criteria i suppose.

 

I don't think PA-15 is a flat adapter (like PA-4E). I think it's more a brick one, akin to PA-13. At least that is what it seems looking at ebay.

 

I was playing games all night last night without throttlestop and A05, and its been just as fast and smooth without TS and a 130W, i need to test with my 90W, havent used it since i got the laptop

 

Thanks I was trying to figure that out, went through the CCC and found it, now it runs great on battery too.

However I still recommend people stop using FurMark, unlike CPUs GPUs are a lot more dynamic in the fact that all pipelines in the core can be in use, but its unrealistic that this would happen.

AMD calls this a power virus because of that. The 4670 has software based throttling and if it doesn't kick on soon enough you could be needlessly damaging your GPU. The new 5xxx series has hardware throttling so its not an issue.

 

Yep mine turned out to be that. Bought it off an ebay listing that showed a sexy slim adapter with a warning that "product may not be exactly as shown".

Its a definite brick, so look elsewhere unless you can hide it under something or you don't care. I have the 820QM + RGBLED so I wanted to err on the side of too much power. Maybe I still didn't get one big enough judging from comments related to the beta bios files floating around these days. I also couldn't find a 130W unit that I could get sjipped to Canada for much under $70, though some have suggested hounding Dell for a free one. It runs nice and cool.

Anyway, my brick has a part number of N3834. Its also called model PA-1151-06D and says its PA-15 family.


Still the price was right. $31 CAD shipped which is about $29 USD. Its also almost certainly "used", but it is "original Dell".

No fires yet

 

I have the WLED 1600X900. But he specifically stated "or even 1280x720", which I obviously play at a higher resolution than, with very little problems now with ThrottleStop and a 130W adapter.

I mean, it's obvious the card isn't a top-end SLI, Crysis at 100 fps card or anything, but it's ridiculous to keep calling it a low end card when it's most obviously not.

 

yeah I find this card to be decent not top of the line but decent. @ 1280X720p he should be able to run all games smoothly no problem

 

Just got the return request done for my laptop and ordered the envy 15 with the discount codes. The envy's actually cheaper with a better vid card, and with usb 3.0? anyways they were really good about it, said it was within "31" days which i thought was 21? if you have a support ticket open, your probably pretty set if you still want a return.

It will be nice not have a laptop that works properly. Ill keep things up to date in this thread still.

 

did Dell charge the 15% restocking fee on your 1645? How can you avoid it. I am also thinking about returning mine. please help.

 

I just fiinished ordering the ENVY as well. I used the $350 coupon and the price was ridiculous cheap. It will also come with USB 3.

 

They did not charge a restocking fee, and i made sure to ask a few times as well to be clear.

I dont know the normal return, i think ya can if your within so many days of receiving it. But if you have called them with this issue, and they have a support ticket etc open for you. You then should be able to get a full return pretty easily as they dont all they could, and it still has issues.

For my case, I just told them that i have been having this problem for a while and called multiple times. That previously when i asked about a return that the reps told me to wait til the 11th for a fix. The issue still wasnt resolved so id like a return. And they started the process pretty quickly no questions asked really.

Daraj, that offer was just to good, i was tight on money but doing this will actually save me a bit. i really liked the backlit keyboards though :-/ oh well. I think it expires the 16th tomorrow so if others are thinking about it decide fast

 

Could some one please post up the coupon or send it to me in a PM? I'm looking for it and not seeing it

 

Coupon code "NBK11659"

 

http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/193558

350 off making an i7 720qm + 1080p screen + ati 5830 gpu for 1175$ expires tomorrow it looks like

 

Yup thats the one, hurry up like said before it expires.

 

Darn, i could have sworn that HP ENVY 13 had a Core I5 in it now. I REALLY want a smaller laptop then a 15-16"

My heart would melt for a Studio XPS13 with i3/i5 with same or better gpu that it currently has... i know i've said this already ;(

 

maybe they were having issues and thought it best to wait til they resolve them before shipping them out. jk jk

sure it will be there coming up here soon?

 

Yeah, I think someone was saying that the keyboard had some flex. But, yeah, that had nothing to do with throttling I'm sure.

/sarcasm

 

Huah.Got a 150w PSU sittimg here waiting for the last 36hrs, just need to get my head wrapped around TrottlleStop, a donate, and hopefully get my 1645 before of my EDD of 18 days from now, can'wait

flynte

 

I bought a envy 15 when it first came out

It's a very nice laptop and HP is a awesome company, unlike dell

But what i really don't like is, the fan runs too loud!!!

even i shut off fan always on and only open a single IE 8.0

it won't leave u alone... run 10 s in every 5 s slient



what i feel is, the overall of xps 16 is better than envy 15

except this issue, for a gamer, this problem kills this latop .

It was sloooooooowerrrrr than my t6400 + 4G b when i was playing game

 

I had no problem getting a full refund for mine; I just told them about the three issues I had, including the power throttling. BTW, they told me that the new Bios fixed the problem, I didn't argue, I just told them the machine was defective and I wanted to return it.

 

I've had mine about a week and it was throttling when I tried to play COD:MW2. Got a 130w power supply today and tried COD again without running throttlestop and it seems to run fine. (Running at 1680x1050 res)

The i7Turbo app logs the multiplyer going from around 9 - 12 but I don't notice any slowdown ingame. Does this mean it's still throttling and I'd probably get even better performance running ts or I should just leave it as is?

 

I'm still running the old A01 BIOS I got when I received my laptop 5 days ago and for me, most of the time, playing at native res, I don't get throttling unless I really push the comp. Got a score of 7492 on 3DMark 06 with the 90W power adapter plugged in (at 1280x720) res.

The only game I've really seen throttling in is GTA IV (haven't tried Crysis on it, so can't speak for that). About once or twice in MW2, but alright for the most part. So it's been running reasonably well, but I'm not satisfied, coz well, I didn't fork out the equivalent of $1500 for a laptop which can't perform to it's potential.

Talked to the Dell India tech support today. Here's what the guy had to say. It'd be great if the seniors at this forum (unclewebb, please comment) would comment on what the man said.

1. New BIOS to be released within 7-10 days.
2. I asked him about the A05 BIOS. He didn't seem to know what I was on about at first, but then confirmed that A05 was a testing BIOS, and the final fix would have a higher version number than that.
3. I asked him if he was aware of what steps Dell was taking to fix the throttling issue, and how they would be able to continue using the 90W adapter when it was clearly not sufficient. Now here's what he had to say. And I am half inclined to think he was talking crap.

He asked me go to the BIOS setup page. Showed me the CPU cache indicator which said 256KB (which I assumed meant the L1 cache). He said that the number should actually be 6MB. And that is one cause of the throttling. According to him, it is as if the system cannot see the L2 and L3 caches. He said Dell would fix that in the upcoming BIOS update, and apparently the increased data rate to the processor is supposed to fix the issue and reduce load on the CPU.
I think he was talking total crap. Guys, care to weigh in on this?

 

The specs for the 1640/5/7 found in the included spec sheets say that L2 cache is 2, 3, 6, or 8 MB.

 

Yes its still throttling. It should never under any circumstances fall under 12x, unless the load on the cpu is gone. I doubt COD uses 4 cores as well? should be well in the 15x+ range. With just multiplier throttling like you mentioned i can see 70% increase in fps in TF2(it also relies a lot on the cpu).

Run throttlestop as described in the main page. Then re-evaluate how smooth the game feels

 

Okay now I'm really confused
I got a sxps 1645 with i7 720QM and a WLED display. I did a 3Dmark 06 test with the the standard 90W power cord and no throttlestop:
5480 3Dmarks
Did another test with a trust universal 120W power cord and throttlestop ON:
4910 3Dmarks
Anyone any idea what I possibly did wrong or what can cause this?
Both tests ran at 1920x1080 and the battery disconnected.

 

Cool, thanks.

I tried that and put the res upto max and it did run a lot better.

Is it right that I should set the multiplier to 13 and clock modulation to 0% in throttle stop?

 

Set it just like the picture on the mainpage. Clock modulation should be 100% etc for no throttling. if its 85% etc means its only 85% of the full speed etc.

 

just wanted to supply some more numbers,

A03 130W TS
3DMark Score 6883
SM 2.0 Score 2362
SM 3.0 Score 2982
CPU Score 3324

A05 130W no TS
3DMark Score 6825
SM 2.0 Score 2338
SM 3.0 Score 2947
CPU Score 3360

A05 130W TS
3DMark Score 6839
SM 2.0 Score 2331
SM 3.0 Score 2970
CPU Score 3346

A05 90W no TS
3DMark Score 6754
SM 2.0 Score 2331
SM 3.0 Score 2881
CPU Score 3408

 

Syphen, did you try a real game to see the performances with new bios A05? Because 3Dmark does not seek in a simultaneous way the CPUand the GPU, thus you should not completely trust it.

We would like to know performances with this bios in a concrete environment, with a power-hungry game like Crysis for example.

 

I've already supplied these numbers previously for A05.

 

my god, i just realised that even with my 1640 and a p8600 processor i experience extreme throttling when running prime und furmark at the same time... my multiplicator goes as low as level 3 even!!!!?? ?

ironically enough after that testing whenever i just have prime running the multiplicator wont go over 6, but then however when i force the p8600 with throttlestop into level 9.5 for one sec and then deactivate throttlestop again, it stays on that very level!??
can anyone come up with a reasonable explanation for this?

 

There is a register in your CPU where you set the requested multiplier. When CPUs start to throttle, sometimes the wrong value gets stuck in that register. When a 6 is in there then your CPU can't go beyond that level. A quick click of ThrottleStop will put in a higher value and it might take a while for your throttling Dell to put a low value in there again. It still thinks it has a 6 in there. It doesn't constantly check this. I think the Core 2 1640 would only adjust this about every 30 seconds. Send me a PM if you want to do some more testing so the XPS 1645 thread doesn't get off topic.

Better yet start a new thread or go to a thread and tell me where I should go to join the discussion. ThrottleStop works OK but could use some more Core 2 testers to help with development.

 

I also ordered and returned an S-XPS 16 due both to the throttling issue and the fact that I originally built the system with a blu-ray burner and Dell removed it when they became unavailable. Thanks for all of the info here. I was just looking into the HP Envy 15 with the $350 coupon. It comes available in the i7 quad and i5 versions, both with the ATI 5830 Graphics card. It comes standard with a 120 W AC adapter and listed on the accessory page is a 180W AC adapter, compatible, obviously, with the Envy 15 system. It also comes with USB 3.0.

Does anyone know if the Envy 15 is capable of taking advantage of the integrated graphics chip on the i5? Is it either manually or automatically capable of switching between the ATI card and the integrated graphics as some of the newer systems are? This was the one question the sales rep could not answer.

Thanks again, Mike

 

I ordered an SXPS16 with i7 and RGBLED on 31st December for £984 inc EPP discount. Got an EDD of 28th Jan but then came across all the information on this and other forums...
I cancelled the order on Tuesday last week, other issues for me were the lack of blu-ray, the lack of wireless N, and the new announcements at CES. Especially the Sony F which I'm watching closely; if I pull the trigger on one it will be a change for me after 5 Dells (work and home).
Unfortunately the Envy in the Uk just doesn't cut it with a lower resolution screen, if the US spec screen were made available I would be interested.