Studio XPS 1645 OEM Dell Build details

Prior to doing my wipe and rebuild I like to document several key areas of my new Dell system as shipped with the Dell OEM build. I thought it may prove helpful for others to share this information.

I received this system on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009. This is the config, per the packing list:

Studio XPS 16 Notebook
Intel CoreTM i7-820QM
8GB, DDR3, 1333MHz 2 Dimm
16.0 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p Full HD RGBLED LCD w/2.0 MP, XPS 1645
ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670 1GB
256GB Dell High Performance Solid State Hard Drive 2.5MM
Merlot Red High Gloss Finish with Leather XPS 1645
Genuine Windows 7 Professional, 64bit, English
Integrated 10/100 Network Card
8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive (Dell mistake, BluRay was ordered, its enroute)
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi MB
Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGN Half Mini Card
9-cell Battery​

Programs and Features:



Device Manager:





Disk Management:


Autoruns:


Running Processes (All 80 of them!!):




(Windows) Startup items:


Control Panel:


System Tray:


Windows Experience Index:


Startup time (From power-on to logon, no peripherals attached, power connected):
28.0 seconds

ATTO Disk Benchmark:
(Transfer size 0.5 to 8192 KB, Total length: 256MB, Direct I/O enabled, Overlapped I/O, Queue Depth: 4)


CrystalMark DiskMark:


CrystalMark Mark2004R3:

 

-->>WIPE & Fresh Install

My wipe and fresh install have begun. Here are several screenshots showing you what you can expect following the fresh install w/Win7. I should state that I removed the RECOVERY partition and reclaimed that space (during Windows Setup, using the Drive Mgmt tool). I personally have a Windows Home Server and backed up the OEM config prior to starting my wipe and rebuild so I really have no need of the RECOVERY partition and image, I do want the 15GB back however

Programs and Features:


Device Manager:





Disk Management:


Autoruns:


Running Processes(Down to 35!):


Windows Startup:


Control Panel:


System Tray:


ahh clean... but what about performance?

These benches were from just after the wipe & reload, with Windows detected drivers. Performance is sub-par, but will improve and surpass the dell OEM image I'm sure.



Startup time (From power-on to logon, no peripherals attached, power connected):
30.3 seconds

ATTO Disk Benchmark:
(Transfer size 0.5 to 8192 KB, Total length: 256MB, Direct I/O enabled, Overlapped I/O, Queue Depth: 4)


CrystalMark DiskMark:


CrystalMark Mark2004R3:


-->>POST-WIPE & RELOAD PERFORMANCE and TUNING

Foreword: I am going to document what I do here. I am a longtime computer nerd, I have done computer support for a long time. Opinions vary and I do not claim that what I do and the way I do it is the right way, its just the way I do it. YMMV. Take it all with a grain of salt and don't go all liberal progressive snotty on me. Don't like how I do it? Write yer own.

** Immediately change Folder and search options, View tab - Show hidden files, folders and drives; clear the check on Hide empty drives, Hide extensions for known file types, Hide protected operating system files. If you don't like these settings, you can flip it back following your updates, but everything you install will be done in your context and doing this ensures a smooth process throughout **

1) First and foremost, always, with any rebuild install the Chipset drivers, asap. This is absolutely vital. I always download my chipset drivers from the manufacturer if possible, you can get them from Dell but they will be older. Dell has v9.1.1.1015 available in the SXPS 1645 downloads, I went with the v9.1.1.1019 from Intel. I always use the "-overall" command line switch when installing the driver INF files. Here is the download link:

Intel INF update utility

2) Update system bios if applicable. A03 is out!

3) Update Video Card drivers. Again, I prefer to get the ones from Manufacturer if possible, Dell is always outdated. I installed the beta drivers from ATI's website. NOTE: After applying these drivers, windows update showed an ATI driver update which I applied. It turned out to be a downgrade. Here are the versions before (the windows update) and after:

before: after:

I decided to use the Mobility Modder from DriverHeaven and install the latest ATI Catalyst™ 9.11 Suite for Windows 7 (64 bit).



Stop and set the AMD External Events Utility service to Disabled. This service provides for Hotkey polling of your system. Get rid of it unless you use ATI Hotkeys.

4) From elevated command prompt do: powercfg -h OFF. This will disable hibernation and get rid of the ~3GB hiberfil.sys file @ the root of C:. Hibernation is retarded, don't use it and reclaim those ~3 GIGS so Windows has more space to gobble up with \winsxs (but thats another story).

5) Download and install QuickSet from Dell. This is the utility that provides on-screen feedback from your multimedia controls, etc. If you manually launch the app from \Program Files\Dell\Quickset\quickset.exe you get:



6) Download and install the IDT Audio driver from Dell. This installation will place a SysTray app, remove it with AutoRuns. The systray tsr is bloat.

7) I personally like to put Dell Support Center on my systems, I kill the SysTray tsr that it places and I disable the update polling. I never use it, I just like it on the machine. Time and again I'll manually launch it and poke around, it can be helpful in a support situation.

8) Show all SysTray icons, right-click Taskbar and select Properties. Click the Customize button in the Notification area, select Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar. Click OK.

9) Pagefile. I find it advisable to have a small pagefile, even with a large amount of system RAM. With 8GB of system ram in my 1645 I configured a fixed size 256MB pagefile.

10) Firefox. I prefer the Firefox browser. I installed v3.6 beta 4 as v3.6 has Win7 awareness. It seems pretty stable even in Beta. I always add the Addblock Plus extension with Firefox and subscribe to the EasyList (USA) subscription.

11) AntiVirus / AntiSpy. I have been a fan of Webroot Spysweeper in the past but I am very disappointed with their lack of 64-bit executables and their system footprint with later versions. I've been an on again off again fan of Kaspersky. But with this system I have decided to run ESET NOD32 v4 (64-bit). Its very fast, small footprint and has always had good detection rates.

12) Intel Wifi Link 5300 AGN. Dell doesn't even have a driver for this card that I could find. But I'd go to Intel regardless for the driver, Win7 detects it and has a driver, but I got the v13.0.0.107 from Intel® PRO/Wireless and WiFi Link Drivers-Only for Windows 7 and updated it.

** Optional items **
I've elected not to install any of these items at this time:
Ricoh Card Reader, Dell Webcam, Facial Recognition Software, Dell Datasafe Online, Roxio, Soundblaster X-Fi


Before and after performance graphs.

Dell OEM Image .............. Fresh Install


Dell OEM Image .............. Fresh Install


Dell OEM Image .............. Fresh Install

 

Thanks, thats a nice reference. I'm probably going to be wiping mine at some point.

 

what does quickset64 do

and how big a diff do installing the dell audio drivers make in comparison to just a clean install of windows 7??

 

Have you done the re-install yet? Please note any issues you run into along the way.

I have a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate I bought from a buddy at MS, so I ordered my machine with just Home Premium and want to do a fresh install with the Ultimate.

 

My dream configuration with the blu-ray of course and in white... if only I could justify it...

 

Nice setup.

 

I'll post more info after my wipe and rebuild, Im still testing, going through the 2010 Sandra Professional benchmarking suite right now..

 

Dunno, my primary purpose for the post was to dump out everything running on the system as Dell shipped it. I'm guessing the quickset has a 64-bit executable, which is nice. I like Quickset and will be re-installing it.

 

Thanks for posting this here buckZor, here too am testing my newly arrived machine fully too.

Strange though that your WEI out of the box gives you a 7.2 rating for your HD. I'm only managing to get 6.8 (was 6.4 initially but I'm guessing that was because the HD was in use previously). Still, 0.4 points difference and we seem to be having the same HD. Mine is also the 256GB Samsung PM 800 se SSD...

If you run some HD benchmarks (and perform some tweaks) be sure to let us know

 

Hmm odd.. i have the same build except i have the BD burner and i720 proc and i get an overall rating of 7.1 . i wonder why there is soo much variance in the WEI ratings on similar systems. I did mine first right out of the box.

 

Ya, I am struggling with the #*$^@ Sandra suite for the last 2 days, keeps locking up and .. it just appears to be junk software now. This is with the latest 2010 home professional version, I can't manage to get a full system benchmark, only one-offs will complete.. grrr, but yes I plan to focus on HD benchmarks next and plan to track the HD over time because of the SSD decay issue. This PM800 has a very new firmware though, it may support TRIM, I doubt it but its possible.

 

Gave up on Sandra, that software is junk!!! I went with ATTO Disk benchmark and the two CrystalMark benchmarks. Those actually work. I've begun my wipe and reload and will be posting comparisons..

 

Did you update the firmware on your PM 800SE SSD?

 

This is crazy. Yesterday, out of the box the WEI gave a score of 6.4 for the 256GB Samsung SSD inside (perhaps HD was still in use though). Later the day a score of 6.8 repeatedly. Did some 3Dmark benching and that was pretty much it yesterday.

I then did a system reinstall (using the recovery drive/factory settings) and did some more 3DMark testing. I called Dell Support today to mention the AC Power throttling issue. The Tech remoted via Dell Connect, installed BIOS A02 (didn't solve the issue but it was already past 17:00 by that time). Did some further testing of 3DMark today. And then noticed when going to System that my WEI was 7.4 for the HD. I re-ran the assessment and again, 7.4 !

Strange strange strange.

Just installed Crystalmark and ran some tests and the results seem very nice:

 

Where I can find firmware for the SSD drive ?
I've got the 128GB version.

 

Not even sure if there is any new firmware out, but your best bet would be the Samsung SSD site.

Do post if there are any firmware updates.

Would also be interesting to know how to tweak the drive, and see if TRIM works on it and such. Perhaps we can make a separate thread for that. Somebody?

 

Reinstall 7 and get BT driver and you'll have less than 40 processes on startup.

QuickSet is a set of tools by Dell that integrates into Windows Mobility Center and shows you what media buttons you pressed.

 

(Dell) Samsung SSD's do not support firmware updates. My firmware is: VBM19D1Q

 

Geez Fred2028, why in blazes did you quote the first post?!? This entire thread is about re-installing Win7.

 

No firmwares available for Samsung SSDs, at least at this time. Indilynx and Intel drives will get TRIM via firmware updates, Samsung drives won't. Later rev Samsung SSDs do support garbage collection though, which is probably why you saw your performance shoot up. When left idle the Samsung will clean up and performance will improve. You can read all about it on Anandtech.com

 

That's odd. Dell told me that the Samsung SSDs will support a TRIM firmware update. I guess it isnt that odd since they email probably came from a technical rep that doesn't know what he is talking about. I saved that email, do you thin Dell will swap out my SSD with one that supports TRIM in the future?

 

got me.. Im sure interested, and Samsung SHOULD support TRIM, they all will eventually, and Anandtech's dismal statements on Samsung SSDs were a few firmwares back from what we are getting now, so who knows. You can use CrystalMark DiskInfo to see if your drive supports TRIM. Mine doesn't.

 

Fred2028, please go back and delete the quoted text, that was madness!

Interesting the details for the disc partitions. Windows 7 normally creates a 100MHz partition labelled System Reserved, but Dell's Image doesn't have that.

 

I've updated post #2 showing the screens immediately following the wipe and reload. More updates to come.

 

How many Running Processes now?

How do you show this Autoruns?

 

Sorry guys, didn't realise it was that long.

 

Hello all,

I can tell from your posts that I'm not quite as tech savvy as you guys. I just received my xps studio 16 from dell and want to do a clean install. Am I correct in assuming that I just need to reinstall Windows 7, reinstall the drivers from the drivers CD, and install the chipset driver, then I'm good to go?

I didn't go with an SSD so that isn't an issue.

Thanks in advance,

-Scott

 

Down to 35 processes fresh from the wipe & re-install. I've added more information to post #2.

Autoruns is a very very nice startup process management tool from Sysinternals, sysinternals.com now redirects to Microsoft as they bought them out, but its still available and kept current. Get it.

 

Hi Scott. You should have a bootable Win7 re-install DVD. If you boot from that, yes you can format your existing partition and do a fresh install. You will lose everything though so you should backup any work and hopefully this thread may prove helpful if you choose to embark. I will be slowly, time allowing, filling in more information towards this end. The information you'll want is in post #2 and I'll flesh it out there.

There may be other threads that touch on this as well.

 

Did the bootable Win7 re-install DVD come with your Studio XPS 1645, or did you order it separately?

I've ordered a Studio XPS 1645, and I would like to perform a fresh install and then add just the software that is truly needed and avoid the non-useful junk especially all the extra running processes.

 

Ya, it will come with a bootable Win7 re-install DVD. I used a Win7 Enterprise DVD though, from work.

 

Wow, that's useful. That makes it much easier to do a clean install. I recently worked on a new Sony Vaio - they ship with Sony's own reinstall disks which don't allow you do just a clean install of Windows. The disk(s) run a routine that installs Windows as well as necessary Sony software and the unwanted Sony apps and third-party trialware and resource-eating tools.

Did you use a third-party tool to repartition the drive to remove the Recovery partition, or did you use what's built into Win7?

I see that you downloaded chipset and video drivers from Intel and ATI's sites, rather than from Dell. Did you download all hardware drivers direct from original manufacturers, or did you download any from Dell or use any from Dell disks that came with the laptop?

What does ATI Hotkeys do? I Googled, but found conflicting and confusing info.

What did you install from the included Dell disks (apps, etc?) and what did you decide to avoid?

Thanks for the good info. The more detail we add, the more this can become a real "How to". There are some excellent, detailed "How to" guides for fresh installing Sony and other laptops on this site, but I haven't yet seen one for Studio XPS 1645 - we can create it here.

 

I just used the Drive Management functionality in Win7 Setup.

Well, I get Quickset, Dell Support Center, IDT Audio Drivers and of course BIOS updates from Dell's site. Going to have to get the Ricoh Card Reader and Bluetooth drivers from Dell it looks like. I haven't bothered with them yet.. Also, I went with the Mobility Modder in order to get the v9.11 ATI CCC and display driver (I'll be updating Post 2 with that info soon.)

I don't run ATI CCC normally, I disable it with Autoruns. Hand in hand with that I disable the External Events service. Some people like to have pre-configured hotkeys to switch their resolution, color depth, and whatever other functions you can configure via ATI CCC. If you don't use the functionality, its a service you can kill, besides I don't like a polling process running.

Nothing. I go on Dell's website and find the latest version of anything I need from them, the Quickset and Support Center on the Dell disc is outdated.

One exception in this particular case appears to be the Soundblaster X-Fi Disc, which I don't have yet and will have to get.

Welcome. The original intent was just to document how the laptop ships, all the installed apps, device detection, etc so people could have some comfort in wiping their 1645. I'll continue with the post wipe tweaking, just wasn't my original intent. It's a lot of work and nobody has even repped me!

 

Is the External Events service another ATI thing?

So, you installed ATI CCC so that you could then obtain the latest ATI drivers? Otherwise, you then disable ATI CCC?

I agree with you: I don't like needless processes running, and I don't need hotkeys for the graphics card.

I've done that rep thing for you. I didn't think of it earlier. The other forums I use don't have such a function.

 

Thanks Toronto. The service to disable (assuming you dont want ATI hotkey polling) is called: "AMD External Events Utility" its installed as part of the ATI driver/catalyst install.

No, you can download the Driver without Catalyst Control Center. In my case, I do want the CCC, I just don't want it to run memory resident. You can still launch it to modify your AA, AF, etc Display settings.

 

Got it, thanks. If you don't download ATI CCC, do you not have access to various graphics settings via whatever software Dell provides? What are AA, AF?

 

AA = Anti-Aliasing, AF = Anisotropic Filtering. These are Gaming specific settings which effect graphics quality vs performance. You should get it with CCC, explore CCC there are many options within. It doesn't hurt anything to let it start with Windows, I just find I am not in there mucking with settings often so I don't let it always run.

 

More details fleshed out in Post #2

 

What is the purpose of Mobility Modder? Their home page has a section entitled "what exactly is Mobility Modder?", but it doesn't actually answer that question. Must you first install Mobility Modder if you want to install latest graphics card drivers direct from ATI, rather than older ones from Dell site?

 

Right, the Mobility Modder modifies the INF files in the ATI driver package so that it will install. If you don't run the Modder and instead just download the ATI driver you'll receive a notice that you should contact your equipment manufacturer for drivers. Dell is notorious for sitting on their hands about driver updates, so if you want the latest drivers from ATI, and you have a laptop, this is what you have to do.

 

Thanks!
.

 

I know this thread is old, but I think the question belongs in here.

It's Bluetooth. It took me ages to get the latest driver off of Dell's site for Win7 because it isn't listed on the XPS 1645's site.

Anyways, it's super-annoying to use now that I have it. It takes up 3 processes: BTTray.exe, BTStackerServer.exe, BluetoothHeadsetProxy.exe.

And don't try to remove the adapter icon because if you do, you'll NEVER be able to open it again unless you reinstall the drivers.

Any solutions? I just want to be able to toggle it on/off and change the visibility settings. But to do this, it requires ....3......processes and a permanent icon?!

 

any updates on the Soundblaster X-Fi Disc?
You say that the system comes with a Win7 disc, do you mean the Dell branded disc?
I haven't tried using that disc yet, but how do you use it to do a "clean install"?

 

Ya, I noticed that when I was running the Dell Image too Ikja. I don't have a solution yet as I've not installed the Bluetooth drivers yet on my build (I must confess, I have no Bluetooth devices to use yet, I've yet to find the perfect bluetooth mouse.

Anyway, I know that I'll go after slimming that bloat down as well in the near future (I'm searching for the mouse) and I will update this thread and PM you.

 

There is a thread on the Dell community forums which discusses this:
SoundBlaster X-Fi MB Software for the Studio XPS 1645 Laptop
If your 1645 didn't come with the disc, you'll need to call Dell and have them ship one to you (if you purchased the upgrade).

On the Win7 disc question: Yes. Your system should come with a Dell re-install Windows 7 disc. Its basically a Dell branded Windows 7 installation DVD. If you've never installed Windows before, then you aren't exactly the target audience of this thread. It's not difficult, but it will completely wipe your system and you'll be starting from scratch with none of the included Dell software. It can all be re-installed, but it may be more than you want to bite off.

 

Thanks, man. I'm working on it, too.

So far, the best way to get the latest drivers is to use the XPS 13's driver site. They have almost the newest ones, but not the very latest (.9603 [mid-November '09, though] vs .9700 floating on the interwebs [unknown date].

~Ibrahim~

 

My boss has the exact same system, and a bluetooth mouse, and has been having nothing but problems with the bluetooth. He gets stuttering. Dell sent him a replacement and the replacement does the same thing. Dell has stated to him that they believe its a driver problem with Win7, so maybe they will have a new version soon..? Where did you hear about a .9700 version, and thanks for the .9603 link!

 

Did you try extracting the drivers and just updating the device from the driver files via Devmgmt instead of running a setup executable? Perhaps that reduces the bloat?

 

Ooh, that's an idea. No, I hadn't thought of that.

Check out this link:

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19291476.aspx

Apparently there is some registry patch, but that seems to be only with a certain issue with MS Help?

I'm downloading the driver sets off of Broadcom's site (only 4MB vs Dell's like 70MB) which is more updated says that guy?

~Ibrahim~

EDIT: Well, I uninstalled the WIDCOMM stuff in Programs & Features to clear out the driver so I could put in Broadcom's. Well, the reason the file was so small: it has to download the driver, but it first it has to detect your radio. Somehow, the BT Radio has disappeared from Device Manager after uninstalling .9600. Maybe it has to be installed for you to update? Gonna install .9600 (.9603 isn't on the XPS 13 site...damnation! I think I just saw the numbers somewhere) and try Broadcom's update thing again.

UGH.

EDIT2: Poop nuggets! So, I installed .9600 again [even though it only shows .9000 in Device Manager???] and tried Broadcom's software. Now it tells me that "This program cannot upgrade your software. Please contact the manufacturer of your Bluetooth device for support."

I also think updating the device instead of installing the driver's won't exactly work because Dell's drivers HAVE to be installed or the BT Radio doesn't show up in Device Manager.