**The Official Studio XPS 1645 Intel Core i7 "Owners Lounge" - Part 2

How did you convince the rep to take back the order. Please elaborate, as i will be getting a new one and might have to do the same.

 

How do you "test" for the throttling issues? I understand what it is, but I don't understand how you can test for it and determine if it is impacting performance. I have not even tried a game yet, but installed Major Leage baseball 2K10, so we'll see how it works.

So some folks are saying If I call and say I want to send it back because of throttling, they will give me a discount off it?

I did get the 130W power supply with it, I thought that resolved the issues? I guess not?

 

Sorry i couldn't find this on the thread, can anyone tell me if 1645 supports MXM.

 

No, unfortunately not.

It's soldered onto the motherboard.

~Ibrahim~

 

It was still within the 21 day return policy.

 

can somebody plz suggest me ...how to remove scartches from the screen..i hv got a streak of scratches at the bottom of my screen and weird dotted scratches(dont knw wt deyr xactly) in the middle...help me plz...
will the toothpaste and petroleum jelly trick work or z it gna make matters worse..???
thanks...

 

Do you think dell will release a new upgraded version of XPS later in this year or with the problems fixed. I chose dell because i think it has best config/cost. How much time do you think you will wait. I am more than willing to wait for a newer xps if there is one in the works, for now i can order a mini.

 

Can anyone give me some advice to optimize my Studio XPS 1645 for gaming? (Mobility Radeon 5730, i7 Q720, 1900x1080 display, 4GB RAM). I just purchased this laptop, and I have tried to run the Just Cause 2 demo at lowest graphic settings but max resolution and I only get 10 to 15 FPS. Is this what I should expect? I am playing with the 130w AC adapter plugged in. Thanks for any help, I appreciate it.

(BTW, if there is a more appropriate place for this question please direct me there, I am new to this forum.)

 

Make sure you're on maximum performance in the Power Settings. Or put CPU Minimum to 100% and disable Powerplay (to be sure).

Someone, IDK, said that the 5730 models don't throttle? True?

~Ibrahim~

 

Not true....mine consistently throttles, the A10 bios made it even worse.

Right now I'm wishing I waited for the Envy 14

 

Gotcha. Thanks for the update.

Last night, I sent an email to my old Dell friends (remember Bill?!) to see if they knew anything.

For what it's worth, these were the guys that enabled us to get free 130W adapters (after months of emails...lol).

~Ibrahim~

 

Will setting the CPU minimum to 100% significantly heat my system? I don't want to damage it, though I am getting my Zalman nc2000 cooler delivered sometime this week.

 

Yeah, it will probably add some heat. But that is just a test to see if that is really the issue. After you figure it out, decrease it to about 50% or so. Personal preference, really.

It won't damage it, but it may get somewhat uncomfortably hot if you game and keep the processor pegged at 100% when it doesn't have to be.

~Ibrahim~

 

Awesome, setting it to 100% boosted me up to 30 fps on the benchmark. I'll try to tinker around and find the sweet spot for the minimum - 100% makes me a bit nervous.

 

Cool beans.

Haha, definitely, tinker away.

 

How will my laptop fit onto my zalman NC2000 with the big 9 cell battery on the bottom? Will the raised height have a negative effect on the cooling? or can I just push the rear portion of the laptop over the edge of the cooler (with the 9 cell hanging out) and still find good cooling results?

 

I use the NC-1500 and it fits fine, so the NC-2000 will be too.

As for the 9 cell battery, laptops cool better when there is some space between the cooler and the laptop, it allows better circulation I guess. The only negatives the 9 cell has are the added weight and the annoyance when using it on your lap, but on a Zalman it'll work great!

 

Excellent! After the cooler shipped I started having second thoughts, thanks for the input.

 

I use the nc2000, but what I do is that I take out my battery and run off the AC (adapter/power source) alone. That not only helps increase the long-term life of my battery but I also use my system mainly as a desktop replacement, so it just makes sense to remove the battery anyway . I never used the cooler with the 9 cell as I thought that the angle it would create on the nc2000 would be way too much, as the nc2000 already gives the system an angle. Also you can't really hang the 9 cell battery off the back edge of the cooler as the cooler has a strangely slanted back edge, which might make it weird (maybe you'll see what I mean when you get it). Otherwise the cooler is great, sturdy and quiet. A little on the big side, though not heavy IMO. I hope you'll like it as much as I do, as I was second thoughts as well during my shipping process .

 

I have the full game, and at max res I get about the same FPS. The game runs relatively smoothly if I turn the resolution down to 800x480 (or something around there) and then turn the other settings most of the way up. I have the 90 watt adapter, too, so you could probably use a higher resolution if you wanted. But max resolution is pretty much makes the game Lost Cause 2, unfortunately. You'll just have to settle for lesser graphics I guess...

 

You're not gonna be running ANY new game at 1920x1080 without low frame-rates. Remember this is mid-range graphics card so games should run on medium to high settings at 720p resolution, NOT 1080p. I couldn't even run Just Cause 2 @ 1920x1080 smoothly with everything maxed on my desktop pc which had an HD 4890 in it. I'd say on medium settings at 1280x720 you should get 30-45FPS.

I run all my games at 1280x720 (except older titles like Half-Life 2, Halo, etc) on medium settings and get in and around 40 FPS in most titles. Bad Company 2 runs great and acceptable even on high detail settings with no AA, AAF or HBAO obviously. Mass Effect 2 runs fine as well although there is little customization options for visuals in that game. I was expecting Crysis and Warhead to run fluently on gamer settings, but I have to put everything on mainstream to make sure I never dip below 30 FPS when lots of stuff is going on.

Of course for the majority of SXPS16 owners everything I've just said is pretty much pointless because after playing for a few mins you can forget about running ANYTHING at acceptable frame-rates due to throttling...

 

Um, I play everything at max res (1920x1080). Dawn of War II and Left4Dead2 are my mainstays at the moment. Perhaps not the most graphically demanding games, but they both run very well. L4D2 particularly is smooth as silk with all setting maxed except MSAA (still runs smooth, but as I mentioned in another post, it always seems to introduce a delay between control movement and corresponding action on the screen). Also, as mentioned in the other post, I played L4D2 for 26 hours over the weekend (yes, it was insane, but forgive me, I just got the game and it is AWESOME), and didn't experience any throttling. I know throttling is a real issue, but I don't experience it during gaming, and for my purposes, the 4670 video card is more than powerful enough.

There, I fixed your quote.

 

I agree that 1920x1080 is the way to go, even in most newer games. In Left 4 Dead (1) I play with most settings on max (antialiasing off). Plays great until it throttles after 20 minutes.

BIOS A08: GPU throttles when it hits 84C (quickly)
BIOS A09: CPU throttles, causes drops from ~50fps down to 10fps, GPU temps usually ~98C

Should I bother with A10?

 

RacingGun...are you kidding me?

Anyways I'd beg to differ that the throttling problem affects the MAJORITY not the minority. The fact I'm using a 5730 and your using a 4670 and I GET THROTTLING irks me beyond belief. I haven't tried L4D or L4D2 though, so I will do that and see if I get any throttling. You're right, they arent graphically demanding games and yes you should be able to run them at full res. I was talking about the majority of new games in relation to the description of this gpu on notebookcheck. Again, mid-range card = mid-range performance in MOST games.

Sorry I'm not trying to sound like an @$$, I'm just really unhappy with my SXPS and venting...this isn't directed at you.

BTW, what was your max temp when you went on this day long gaming run? And are you using a 6 or 9 cell battery and a cooling pad or not?

 

How long into game should it take before the computer starts throttling? Some days I'll play for hours and barely notice a slowdown in framerate.

 

Lol , you make it sound like throttling is supposed to happen. It should not happen under any of the circumstances that we are putting these systems in. The length of time before throttling can occur differs from one affected system to the next. Some take 5 minutes while others can happen after 30 mins. It all depends on whether your system's power consumption needs surpass what the inadequately, capped 130w adapters can provide (a value I don't know). Maybe some days you're playing a game that is not so tasking on the system, or your screen brightness is lower than usual, or you changed something else that keeps your system's power needs below that CPU throttling threshold. If it is GPU throttling you experience then some days are cooler than others, and ambient temperatures can have an effect on keeping the GPU temps below that thermal limit (~84C for anything other than A09). None of these throttling schemes need to be imposed by Dell, as I've heard that Intel's throttling scheme is good enough under the most extreme of conditions, which we aren't even reaching with games or furmark+prime.

 

Is throttlestop still an option for A09 bios?

 

Ordered my xps on the 23rd and got a ETA for the 15th. To my surprise I tracked my order today and found that the new ETA is the 2nd. A custom build xps in 9 days is not bad at all, I just hope the computer itself is as good as the delievery time

 

I ordered on the 24th with an EDD of July 8th. Still unchanged lol

Anyone in Canada have any info on turnaround time?

 

I have the NC-2000 and it great. Build quality is good (1 USB port is a bit finicky, but thats my fault). But most of all my temps never reach above 70c, even when playing for hours in a house with a broken AC. Though, its not ideal to for on the go use (well neither is the SXPS16).

 

Good to hear that, I wanted the NZXT Cryo...but havn't seen them in stock at a reasonable price in 2 month and the 2nd one I was looking at was the NC-2000.

 

Can anyone post the best config till date to stop throttling (i.e. any software + power adapter + cooler etc). I just received the laptop as i was typing this

 

Download ThrottleStop, there is a link in unclewebbs signature... for help with the settings you will need to post your specs...

 

No worries, I'm not taking it personally... in fact I'd probably rage like crazy if my laptop throttled while I played. Concerning the temperature of my laptop, I've only monitored it while stress testing and haven't done so while gaming. While running Furmark and throttle stop, I'd gotten my GPU over 90C with no/negligible throttling (BIOS A09, current bios for me). Having said that, I can force it to throttle if I really try. During long periods of gaming, the wrist pads definitely get pretty toasty, but never what I would consider too hot. 9 cell battery/130W adaptor, but I exclusively run off of AC while gaming. No cooling pad, and I always have the screen open while playing. Screen brightness between 75% and full. High performance setting for power plan (which, I've gone into advanced settings to make sure everything is maxed). Keyboard backlight off. Running on wifi. Wi-max and bluetooth are off. Only peripheral plugged in is a singular USB mouse. I've used both the internal speakers and headphones with no problems. I live in Los Angeles and my apartment has a window AC unit, but we almost never turn it on because it sucks, so ambient temp is whatever it is outside mostly. Never did a fresh install of Windows, just cleaned it up like a mad man, installed all of the latest drivers, and try to defrag (AusLogics defrag) regularly. (I'm just trying to think of every little thing in case there is a magic bullet to stop throttling, though I suspect that it is mostly a luck of the draw thing).

 

I am posting config of my system, delete this if this doesn't fit here.

1 224-6716 Studio XPS 16 Notebook
1 317-2361 Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
1 317-2365 6GB, DDR3, 1333MHz 2 Dimm
1 320-8330 15.6 inch Wide Screen 16:9 1080p Full HD WLED LCD, W/2.0 MP, XPS 1645
1 421-1010 Dell Webcam Central v1.4
1 421-0188 Facial Recognition
1 320-1307 ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 - 1GB
1 330-7785 RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP,MADISON,XPS 1645
1 342-1294 640GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive, Western Digital ML-320
1 320-8351 Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish
1 421-1737 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 421-0323 Windows Live Search,Multiple User Interface
1 420-6576 DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron
1 420-9100 Dell Dock Consumer
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
1 421-0187 Dell Support Center Software 64 Bit 2.0
1 420-7938 Dell Connect 2.1
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1 330-6222 Windows 7 Label
1 420-9352 Dell, Software, Wild Tangent Inc Games
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp 2.0 Basic
1 421-2086 eBay Webslice
1 421-0757 Skype VOIP Application
1 430-3605 Integrated 10/100 Network Card
1 410-1883 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE
1 421-1582 Cyberlink Power DVD 8.3 Playback
1 313-8874 8X DVD+/-RW Slot Load Drive
1 421-1361 MOD,SW,RXO,EZCD,10.3,DE,FI
1 421-2000 Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio Software Enabled
1 430-0725 Intel 6250 Wireless-N w/WiMAX (2x2) Mini Card
1 410-2466 MCAFEE PEARL MUI,15MTH,Without Media
1 312-0950 9-cell Battery
1 410-0487 Microsoft Office Starter 2010
1 950-3339 3 Year Limited Warranty
1 980-5877 CompleteCare Accidental DamageProtection, Inspiron, 3 Year
1 905-6418 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus At-Home Service, Extended Year(s)
1 905-5637 Dell Limited Hardware Warranty Plus At-Home Service, Initial Year
1 905-6832 Banctec In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis Plus Nights and Weekends, 2 Year Extended
1 906-5390 Banctec In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis Plus Nights and Weekends, Initial Year
1 412-0360 Soft Contracts - Banctec
1 412-0358 Soft Contracts - Consumer Complete Care
1 960-3652 Warranty Support,2 Year Extended
1 960-8710 Warranty Support,Initial Year
1 991-9789 30GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS
1 420-9327 DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 30GB
1 988-0099 To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks

Adapter : PA-4E family, DA130PE1-00
CDs : Drivers and Utilities, SB X-FI (No OS, instead a pamphlet suggesting recovery media)

Ordered On: 6/21/10
Shipped On: 6/28/10 (Chicago)
Delivery On: 6/29/10 (Iowa)

I will do a fresh Win7 install, run UncleWebb, Fumark etc and report results.

Thanks.

 

Feel free, although I am still getting GPU throttling with the same setup minus 2 gigs of ram... not to get you down or anything!!!! haha

 

Has anyone tried using ATI's official drivers for the 5730? Are they more up to date than Dell's support page drivers? I've heard that using drivers not given from the support page can potentially damage the laptop.

 

I use them, they work great : )

 

@ Father Flex: I ordered my SXPS on the 15th of June and got it last Thursday the 24th. I live in Ottawa and it gets shipped up from the US. Didn't have to pay customs or anything as i ordered it through Dell (dot) ca. I got an estimate for the PC shipping the 28th. I'd expect yours to come a little sooner than what they gave you.
Anyways, about my SXPS. It's the i7-920qm with the 5730HD graphics. It runs hot, but not unbearable, all the time which I've gotten used to. I don't really care about finding the exact temps since it's not close to burning me yet. I ran MW2 on high settings and got 45-60fps according to fraps. After about an hour of gaming, i saw no/negligible framerate dropoffs. Pretty satisfied with my first laptop! I'll try running Crysis Warhead and see what I get. I'll post the results later today.

 

Can you tell me how you installed them then? I tried downloading the suite (drivers+CCC) from AMD and I got an error that they didn't install.
Thanks,
Spike

 

Interesting.. I had no issues and would go about it the same way again?!

Use a program to delete your previous ATI drivers... I did a fresh install so there were no previous loaded ATI drivers that could have conflicted...

 

Is this where you got the drivers from? ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

 

Someone please help. I just got a 1645 and it is getting HOT without running anything. I thought my old thinkpad was hot, but this is like molten lava on my lap. I can cook eggs on it though.

 

This has been stated a number of times, but unfortunately this laptop isn't really a computer that is ideal for being on a lap. Now having said that, I have used it myself on my lap is decent success when only doing light work like browsing and such. The key is to make sure that you don't block any vents on the bottom of the laptop with your clothing/skin/whatever, so that it can still get all the air it needs. Also, if you aren't doing anything intensive, try switching the power plan in windows to "Power saver", this definitely makes it a lot cooler for me.

When working on my lap, I usually cross my legs (as a guy does, with my ankle/calf resting on the knee on the other leg, so as not to crush the junk), then rest my laptop across my leg. This keeps the entire bottom of the laptop free and open. Granted I have long legs, so this might not work for me.

Congrats on getting a 1645... I know lots of people have issues with theirs, but I love mine and it has been working wonderfully for me.

 

Thanks for the info. I mostly game at home, and at school some browsing, programming and document editing thats all.

Update:

After fresh install with drivers from the component websites (ATI,Intel etc) the heating stopped by a considerable amount. I will be posting the throttling info soon. Thanks.

 

I just ran an hour of Crysis Warhead and on mainstream settings I get sustained 25-30 fps which is surprisingly playable.
As for the drivers, I'll try installing them again and see what happens.
Edit: Uninstalling the CCC that came with the PC then reinstalling the suite from AMD worked perfectly, thanks.

 

Awesome news on all counts! Ya the stuff from AMD worked perfectly for me as well. Though sometimes coming out of sleep, the screen is blank. Annoying, but this is solved by simply putting the computer back to sleep and waking it again.

 

Thanks for the info. How long did yours stay in production for and how long did it take to ship? Thanks again

 

So it seems more and more people are getting the SXPS with 5730's and not running into issues...I really don' know what to do @ this point, ask for a 9-cell battery and a new AC adapter or just say screw it and send the whole thing back. I don't want to be without a computer but if it can't play games for more than 10mins it's useless to me.

 

I have the 1GB 5730, really don't have any issues playing games. High Frame rates and high CPU throughout (Plaing 2K10 baseball, which seems fairly high graphics intensive). Runs smooth as silk. yes, it gets hot and the fan kicks up, but that's about it. It is not melting or anything.

I did get the 130W power supply with it and upgraded to Bios A10.