S-XPS 1645 Throttling Info. and Updates

We all know its not just me but is anyone else able to do another video from another game so we can make dell look really stupid on their own blog?....

 

I might be able to do one tomorrow. I'll see.

 

What do you mean exactly by "its not just a throttling issue"?

 

Dell said that I believe not Ibrahim.

 

I was planning on buying it primarily for video editing as well. I'd be curious to hear your experiences regarding any throttling once you get a chance to try it out.

 

Dell 1557 has the same throttling issues...

i7-720QM, 4gb ddr, ATi 4570, HD 320 7200rpm, etcf...

 

Where did Ibrahim hear this? And I think what he said is precisely what I've been thinking all along: The channels are clogging things up for us (you) to get results like we should.

Just a thought. . . but if throttling is what the laptop is designed to do why wasn't Freddy experiencing those problems here: http://www.youtube.com/user/fred2028#p/u/1/V1BSSQaoyvA ?

 

That question has been answered so many times.

 

*sighsigh* It wasn't answered for me!?!?! I mean honestly there hasn't been virtually anything that hasn't been discussed (from what I understand) over this whole issue. I don't see why it has to be a problem now. Xd

 

There's many MANY reasons someone won't experience the throttling right away or at all. Their CCC settings. Their system configuration. Their in game settings. There's SO many variables when it comes to each end user's experience. Also some games seem playable and then throttle randomly.

 

you must realize throttling just isnt stuttering. Its also a reduction in framerates on the order of half a lot of times, this is usually multiplier throttling and not clock modulation. lower screen resolutions etc get around this, but performance can still be much much better with throttlestop, allowing higher res gaming and silky smooth framerates that dont dip/stutter in certain situations.

It also depends on the games, as not all games throttle. Config does play a big role, screenresoltution is another huge one.

 

In World of Warcraft, sitting in Dalaran with TS off, and running the FPS graph that is built into one of my addons, my framerates go up and down up and down from 60fps to 9fps while staring at a wall with nothing happening. Its fun to watch because it coincides perfectly with TS's monitoring mode and log. You can see that when WoW hits 9fps the CPU is effectively running at 700MHz or so.

Can't wait to be rid of this system. Just waiting on Dell to tell me that I'm getting my super-specced XPS-13 or a refund.

 

If i don't end up returning it, which is starting to look like the way it is going to be, then i should have my new toy in my hands by mid week next week. I will run some diagnostics and post my results...hopefully we won't have another thread starting titled "Studio 1457 Throttling Info. and Updates" I wait with crossed fingers.

I would advise and buyers of the Studio 14 to wait since there is a new GPU coming. The Ati 5450 will be replacing the Ati 4530 in the current model. User guide and latest Bios revision have confirmed my finding. Performance-wise both are still extremely underpowered for gaming. However, a big plus is that the 5450 can transmit Dolby True HD or DTS HD Master thru the HMDI port.

The 5450 should appear in the Studio 1458 first. The 1458 can only be equipped with Arrandale for the time being. The i7 Studio 1457 has yet to receive the bios update to support the newer GPU.

 

@Perdire: Here's a suggestion. Click here. Any questions you have can be found in that thread.


Tomorrow I send my email to the rep who replied to my michael_dell email. It will contain my XPS resignation letter. I absolutely love this laptop, but I also realize that I can't just keep it and learn to deal with it's erratic performance. I didn't pay that much of a price premium for that.
A statement needs to be made somehow.

If nothing happens, nothing happens.

 

do you know what route your going for your next lappy.. if there is a next lappy? returning seems to be a trend as of late..

 

Yea, I know how you feel. I'm almost there myself. It is very fusterating for all of us.

I'm going to hold out alittle longer until Dell fields its response, but I'd like to know what laptop you end up with.

 

My info comes from the "Dell guys". Don't mean to brag, but they are probably the the guys with the "highest level of authority" here.

Right...let's read between the lines, shall we? "It's not just a throttling issue" = some people in Dell want to help....others are more, ahem ahem ahem, more relunctant?

The engineers definitely know the exact problem and are working on the BIOS now, among other things.....

That's enough....I'm not under an NDA, but there are some things I've been told in confidence. :/ But, no worries, the Dell guys tell me much is going public in the coming days/week.

~Ibrahim~

 

I'll be holding my breath.

 

To me this translates into:

The Dell Engineers KNOW that they have to write a new BIOS and that people will NEED new AC Adapters (probably 150watts to be safe), however the people in charge of financials are like "Wait so you're saying that these laptops that are turning on and running just fine for 85% of the users essentially need a recall on their AC Adapters?"

Here is what it boils down to: They can't just upgrade the BIOS to be a two-mode BIOS. There are so many reasons for that being a bad solution I wont even get into it. It WOULD work, but its just a bad idea.

The problem *IS* without a doubt the need for a new BIOS, AND a 130-150watt adapter. Dell would be required to initiate a recall. They would have to legally notify everyone that purchased one that they had an underpowered AC Adapter and needed to ship it back to get more performance.

Not only does this cost Dell money, resources, and time, but it gives them bad press. It would be in the news FOR SURE: "Dell ships wrong AC Adapter with laptops." Dell doesn't want that either.

The Engineers no doubt have come to the conclusion that the only way to fix this issue is what we've known all along: More power, no throttling algorithms. Now they have to convince the people in charge of saying yes or no to spending money and announcing recalls. I have a feeling this may never happen because not enough of us have the problem. Those of you who keep your systems may get the opportunity to return your laptops if you're lucky, but more then likely it will remain an issue.

That's why I've chosen to return my system for refund/exchange.

 

Just between you and me...my boss is a moron.

Me too.

 

If the choices are:

A) Fix the problem, recall and ship new adapters, lose some money.

B) Do nothing (or something marginal) and be forever tainted as the company who throttles their laptops and is not fit for any business or high end home user.

Then I'd hope (and even think) they'd pick A. They'll lose a heck of a lot more money in the long run with B, and in fact, by the sounds of all the returns going on, they've probably already lost enough in current and future business from those customers alone to justify swapping out some adapters. That's what any company I've ever worked for would do. But then again I've never worked for anybody truly stupid, or worse, plain evil Does that describe Dell? I'd hope not, but I really have no idea.

 

Start a lawsuit against Dell if the problem isn't resolved.

 

There's somebody who has already begun preliminary talks with a lawyer regarding a class action suit, though you'd have to dig through these threads and the ones on the Dell forum to find him.

 

Yeah good idea. By the time you get your settlement, the laptop will be obsolete. The only winner in a class action is the Lawyer representing the winning party.

 

My thoughts on a lawsuit is that I think it is a little early for that. I'm willing to give them more time. A reasonable amount of time. Even though they have had plenty already. Ultimately Dell needs to take full responsibility for the problems and fix them. But I still feel they haven't done that completely. What bothers me is that they still sell this item and have no disclaimer about the problem. That is wrong and they lose a lot of points with me for doing that to their customers. The right thing for Dell to do would be to hold sales on these laptops until the issue is resolved, or at least inform the customer of the issue during the sales cycle.

 

Out of all the people that was around since the beginning of this. how many have returned it i wonder? its gotta be quiet a bit anyway

The latitudes have been screwed far longer then we have.. they been waiting well over a year :-/

 

Just as some actually data on dells site about this being a gaming machine, if you go to dell.com.au you will see this under the description on the xps

"ATI 1GB graphics delivers incredibly lifelike videos, movies and gaming." -- incredibly life like.....

lol, lucky australia isn't too important and they haven't changed anything since all of this including the set up of the hardware on the machine. I'm Australian by the way, lol, corporates really don't care about us. lol i think they see us pulling out knives saying that's not a knife, this is a knife.

I did buy this laptop to kill crocodiles but that is irrelevant, it has a strong build i heard, should work well.

 

Not really, it's made mostly of plastic.

 

It's not a unibody chassie. But I'd say its sturdy. But I guess the depends on your values and how you define the term.

 

hitting a disabling crocodiles.

 

And the humor made a whooshing sound as it flew over your head.

 

Virtual crocodiles maybe, if Dell fixes the throttling issues

 

lol!

maybe you should use the power adapter, the heat will knock the crocs out

 

back on topic, i have a question.

I have just recieved my xps 1645.

Now i have a 130w adapter and i game, boy do i like to game. killing things made from 0's and 1's is ecstasy.

Is there any data on the load the mother board can take? i have been following this thread for a month and haven't seen anything yet. Just concerned about long term use. I understand that the intel chip and gpu should be fine but as for the mother board i can't remember.

sorry if this has been answered.

 

We have no data on this at this point. The laptop has not been out long enough for there to be a consensus on "long term" anything. Besides the fact that there won't be a "long term" for the many returning it.

 

Honestly? I think we don't know. Most of us seem to think it can handle the load as the battery provides more or less the same amount of power as a properly unlocked power brick (using TS).

But the only way to tell, is to wait and see. I'm just trying it out and hopefully if it breaks, it wil do so within the warranty period...

 

There hasnt been any concrete info on that.. Fact is no one really knows.. Dell might but they havnt told us if it would or not. They did actually at first, but then retracted saying they didnt test and didnt really know.

Some people think, since it runs fine on battery, it should be able to handle the wattage through the adapter fine. So far no one has reported any damage what so ever related to using TS. the 100-110Watts the adapter pulls could be above the 90watts going in.. but would be less then 10%-20% increase or so. I personally dont think its a problem at all, but thats up to you decide if you want to or not. But once you try Throttlestop, ya cant go back unfortunately.

edit: wow triple answer

 

I win, however.

 

I was busy testing the strength of my old laptops by killing crocodiles. heard that was a good benchmark

Question though.. do you have that 1647 yet?? does it throttle very bad?

 

Received it several days ago. Much prefer it over the 1645. I have a good idea of the answer to your throttling question, but I want to show test results first. Head on over to the 1647 owner's lounge where I'm trying to get consensus on testing methodology.

 

Ill check it out.. As creator of this thread ive been getting a few pm's as of late asking if those will throttle.. I would guess it wouldnt be as bad, but couldnt really tell them anything more then about the situation itself..

Luckily Throttlestop should spot throttling very easily. If it does, ill add it to the list of known throttling laptops on this main page.

 

Its to bad, for informations sake, that you don't have a RGB screen to test with.

 

Hi guys. I'm glad you lot are putting so much effort into this - you represent a lot of us, and it is very much appreciated!

Just a point or two i'd like to raise though. You wouldn't get very far in threatening legal action at this stage. You have to allow them time to fix the issue. If this is isn't done or you are not happy with the outcome or how long it is taking, you are then entitled to request a refund for your laptop on the basis that it is not fit for purpose (i don't need to go into detail there). Dell would be legally obliged to refund you. If not - then you have a very good reason to take legal action.

Also just one other good point which has been mentioned here but not really discussed in length. Dell started off by telling us there is nothing wrong with these laptops. They then sort of acknowledged the problem and some reps have admitted the laptop is not designed to run on a larger power supply. Then some admitted they need more power - which many here say is the case too. This gives me a major concern about the longitivity and reliability of this laptop in time to come. Especially for someone who ordered this machine without an extended warranty. For all these reasons, i shall be calling Dell today to request a refund as soon as it is delivered to me.

Technical reps have clearly tried to cover this issue up but now it has been exposed properly. I have lost a lot of credit for Dell's Customer Service. If you're not happy either - then request a refund. This is the only way Dell will really start to take this issue seriously and put resources where they are needed.

 

On the mention of how Dell should have taken the laptops off their site, that would cause much more of a ripple in the time-space continuum then their current tactice (ignoring it as much as possible).

If they take the laptop off the site, then they're going to have a LOT of people asking why.

 

manny, i wish i could find the post but its lost somewhere. but one of the inside guys at dell that ikjadoon has been in contact with. that have been forwarding messages from the engineering team to us retracted the statement that the 130w adapter would for sure harm the laptop, and basically said they didnt have testing to know either way. Mentioning that he mispoke or worded his statement in oddly. That was a while ago, they may know more then now. Needless to say the reps seem to know very litte. take that as it is though i just thought id point that out.

If you arnt happy, returning is definitely an appealing option. Supposedly a fix is coming, but looks like that fix is poised to still throttle, if not as much.

 

I think this is what concerns me most. I would guess/hope that Dell was saying that because of some bureaucratic bs, but I'd hate for people to have a $1500+ USD laptop that only runs for 4 years and then nothing. I certainly wouldn't want to be one of them.

I really hope Dell finds a suitable fix, we just have to wait and see, and for some that wait has been far to long.

I'd also say anyone that keeps this laptop demand the warranty for free.

 

Very good point - and i would ONLY now keep this laptop if they offer the extended warranty to me for free. I'm sorry but i have lost faith in this. I was also meaning to raise this point in my post above but it skipped me.

One can assuse me of being over-the-top with my concerns, but i've shelled out a lot of money in this laptop not to mention waiting soooo long for the 'right' machine to come along. There's also the matter of prinicple too and i don't like the fact that i've just bought i PERFORMANCE laptop that throttles.

 

How likely do you think Dell would be to actually give the extended warrenty?

 

Well when i call later to request a return, i'll ask them but to be honest i very much doubt they'd honour that. On the other hand, i really think they need to do something QUICK to reassure current owners and potential new buyers that all is ok. At this moment in time i am not impressed with Dell at all. This is my first Dell purchase and it is not a good start. I won't say i'll never consider Dell again but i'll always have my reservations now. They REALLY need to turn this situation around.

 

FYI,

I received a call from Dells Executive Escalations department yesterday after sending out an email to Michael Dell.

In the email I was asking for a 130W adapter and some compensation for the 2 months I now have been waiting patiently for a fix and the bottom line is that I was denied and asked to give them some more time as they are now working on a Bios Fix to be released.

It was also stated that the 130W adapters have been put on hold and will not be offered for exchange at this time.

For now I will wait to see what the fix will do, to everybody else good luck in whatever decision you make.