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

Ah I was afraid of that! =(

The reason I wondered was that I saw in Everest it said my memory was on DIMM1 and DIMM3, was hoping that DIMM2 existed! haha.

For consistency, can anyone give me the part no. for the OEM 4GB sticks of RAM?

 

When in doubt, just open the bottom and have a look! If there's no slot to put a third stick of RAM in then it aint goin in

 

Haha, I would, but I'm at work atm, just killing time.

Oh, another thing, I'm using Everest 5.3 system icons for a general temeperature indication, currently I've got it showing only Core #1 temp. Is there any reason my temp should be jumping around 10*? For example it'll show 55*, then 50*, then 48*, 57*, etc, all in the space of a few seconds. I'm not sure what the refresh rate of the sensor/software is, but surely it shouldn't be varying that much, in such a short period of time?

 

@laj01
I've always found Everest to be inconsistent with the readings from other hardware monitoring software (like Rivatuner, HWMonitor, or HWiNFO), which leads me to believe its often inaccurate, for whatever reason.

Try HWMonitor. See if that still persists.

 

Hi guys,

Posting after a long time.... But is it possible to get a new laptop (replacement) with the updated 5730 card? And guys with this card and the i7 720 or higher, could u just give me an update on how the card actually fares when compared to the 4670?

Also if it is possible to get the replacement, then what is the process of getting about it?

 

i just had 2 mobo replacements and now they are sending me a totally new system with the 5730 but from the benchmarks it doesnt look THAT much better.I probably will not see a difference.

 

Hi everyone,

I am a new member to this group. Got my SXPS 1645 few days back. And I am already facing the heating problem. Today, I played a video for half an hour and the back of the laptop got so heated that I turned my laptop off. Also, when I was doing a video chat on skype, the fan started making a lot of noise (probably in an effort to cool down the processor). I know there are heating complaints with the i7 processor. But I am just concerned that is this the amount of heat that it should generate or is it something to do with my machine? I didn't play any game to test the amount of heat generated. It is just a video and skype .

Can someone suggest me some test to decide whether my machine is normal or is there some problem? I am not a computer expert, so a detailed message will be highly appreciated. Also if anyone can suggest some solution, that will be great.

Thanks in advance.

 

It's perfectly normal. Just take a step back and think about what you have. It's a relatively small, thin and lightweight POWERHOUSE. Anything with this much power is going to generate heat. Don't worry about it.

If it bothers you a lot then buy a cooling pad. I recommend the Zalman ones. Make sure you're not blocking the vents too and try messing around with the power settings (change CPU max to less than 100% or something).

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks Kezuk12. I already planned to buy a cooling pad. Thanks for the recommendation. The problem is that I have a plan of running some huge softwares (this was the reason for buying a i7). If my machine generates so much heat for running skype (and nothing else), will it be able to survive if I run those softwares?

Can someone recommend some standard test which other SXPS1645 users have performed. If I find that my machine performs similar to others, that will be a huge mental satisfaction.

 

Look back a few pages, I posted my FPS ratings for CoD MW2 and Crysis Warhead. I didn't do any synthetic tests. And on your heat issue, just leave it on a desk and you'll only notice the heat on the trackpad. This laptop isn't meant for laps since it's hungry for air to cool it and clothing or skin tends to block the vents underneath. I play games on it while it's on my desk and I have a mouse and keyboard hooked up to it and I only notice the fans. You should be good to go the way you are, the heat is completely normal.
P.S. The machine has failsafes where it will downclock and put the fans on full if it gets too hot, which is normal as all hardware should make an effort to save itself from heat. If temps get too extreme, a quick message will appear to say that the PC's too hot and will now be shutting down. This shouldn't happen, I just know of it because I didn't attach my heatsink to my CPU in my desktop properly and the whole PC just shut down from the heat.

 

Hi all...
I've got my XPS 16 few days ago. I got with it a DVD (drivers and utilities) and a CD (Sound Blaster Xfi MB). What are those? Shouldn't I be getting recovery disks or at least windows 7 cd/dvd?

 

i hv askd dis question earlier also...so plz rply dis time...i hv got scratches on my screen...and 1 area z lik kinda smudged wid small round scratches...wt shd i do..i knw dey wnt replace d screen 4 sch an insignificant reason..bt i really h8 those scratches...
wl dt toothpaste trick wrk??
or shd i make peace wid those scratches...

 

Dell recently stopped sending out those Backup/Recovery Windows discs with their systems. This THREAD discusses it. If you want to get the discs, I believe you can request them by following the instructions from this LINK. I liked that Dell used to bundle those discs with their systems, but it seems like they're becoming more 'restrictive' (if that's the correct word). Try the request though and make it clear what discs you need, just to avoid mistakes.

 

Thank you for your reply... This is to create dvd's so I can restore my laptop to original state. I am more interested in a copy of my windows 7 so I can make clean installs in the future without the need of the software that came loaded on my laptop... any ideas?

 

Oops, I guess I didn't read the article I linked as closely as I should have, my fault . Have you try calling Dell and requesting? Play the "oblivious customer card" and tell them that you had not heard of the change before you purchased your laptop. I really doubt that they would deny you the discs if you asked earnestly...but then again, we are dealing with Dell here . Worth a try though.

 

@livinsaint

Call Dell. They replaced my screen assembly when I complained about scratches from where the screen touches the keyboard.

 

Thanks spike53 for your reply. The problem is, whatever I wrote before, all the experiments were performed on a desk. The trackpad was hot obviously. But the place where I rest my palm was also enough warm to irritate me. And I don't know how to express about the bottom of the laptop . Anyway, from your replies, I am having a feeling that this heat is absolutely normal. Since I am not used to this kind of heat, I am becoming over concerned. Let me run some softwares and see how it handles that. After that, may be I will need your suggestions again.

 

Wow, you must really hate looking at that screen so much that you resorted to writing about it on your cell phone.

 

hahaha^

Are the recent XPS made with glass? I talked with two people from Dell asking if the screen was plastic or glass. both said glass but idk if i can trust them. Do you guys know? i tapped on the screen and it seems plastic. either that or its a very thin piece. And if it IS glass, I dont have to worry about it scratching and denting while closed correct?

 

Does it bend???? because the plastic cover on mine bends in very easily... it's quite crappy... wish I had glass...

 

Hey I have this system:

XPS 1645, i7 720QM, 6 GB ram, Ati Radeon Mobility HD 4670, and the 1080p RGBLED

so my question is this, this shipped with the 9-cell battery, and Dell doesn't offer the 1645 with the 6-cell battery, but I'd like to buy it, will it work with my xps?

 

Dell don't sell it on their site any more. They withdrew it for power consumption issues or something like that. But you can get it on ebay and it will work, as long as you get a trusted seller!

I was going to get one but I always use mine on my cooler so I'm used to it!

 

sweet, thanks

 

yes my screen bends i can see it touching the LCD... So its no glass? liars! btw has anyone been able to get their xps to be cooler or use less power?

 

This is a very popular topic. The two most common ways are changing the thermal paste and buying a notebook cooler. Supposedly (according to Bill from Dell) changing the thermal paste will not void your warranty.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ging-thermal-paste-as5-studio-xps-1645-a.html

 

Thanks for the link!My Dell is new, do i need to chnage the thermal paste? I've been reading around this site here and there. I was excited about undervolting my CPU but then i found out i7 cant be undervolted also the ati 5730's temp cant be read. so much incompatibility! I need to reduce my temp as much as possible without the use of a cooler.

 

Uruha, you can download a program called HWMonitor and that will give you your gpu temps. The 1645 unfortunately runs extremely warm and im sure would start a fire if you left it on your bed with the vent blocked for a little while for example. On a desk with a 6-cell battery my idle temps are 55-60 C for my CPU/GPU and with partial load are 65-75 C, while gaming is 75-85 C. If I was using a 9-cell battery my temps would drop by 5 degrees at most, which would be nice. I usually try and game using an external monitor though so that the laptop screen is off (not using power and not blocking the exhaust vent), which results in no throttling and my temps never exceeding 80 C while gaming.

I too am curious about a thermal paste re-do with a brand new unit.

http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/1.16-setup.exe

 

hwmonitor does not monitor my gpu. what are the tz00 and tz01? I was able to play 30 minutes of Mass Effect 2 in 720p smoothly though. I was worried about my GPU temp. My one core reached 76C

 

If your CPU didn't go over even 80 C after 30mins of ME2 than you're golden (temp wise anyway), are you gaming on the laptop screen or an external screen? Are you using a 6-cell or 9-cell battery?

 

that was with my laptop screen, 9 cell.
I have the same specs as you minus blu-ray but I do not see the GPU 5730.

 

My max temps playing on my laptop screen are 84 C both cpu and gpu so if I was using a 9-cell they would be around 78-79 C which is right where they should be I think.

What part of the world are you in, Im in Canada but its summer here so everyday is 25 C or higher since I received my 1645.

 

I am in Pennsylvania, USA. In my basement, where my laptop is, its 21-23C.
Do you know why I cant get a GPU reading?

 

Where in canada are you . In toronto its been 42c for the last 3 days

 

Edmonton...

BTW, is there a way to uninstall IDT control panel? I disabled the equalizer and stuff in it but it's not part of the programs list in Control Panel.

 

@Uruha
The 5730's temperature can be read - just not with the stock Dell drivers. Download the latest ATI drivers (10.6) AMD's site, and the temperature should appear in HWMonitor. Or, if you don't want the trouble, just download GPU-Z. That reads the temps even from the stock Dell drivers.

@Wetcardboard
IDT control panel is part of the IDT audio drivers. If you've disabled everything in it, there really is no need to uninstall it. Of course, if you'd still rather not have any interference, you could uninstall the drivers themselves and stick with the Microsoft HD Audio drivers.

You're better off uninstalling Creative X-Fi Audio instead. It sucks if you don't tweak it properly.

 

You can also see the GPU temp in Furmark.....

 

I know this might not be a demanding game, but I have been playing COD MW2 for the last hour, screen brightness maximized, wifi on, game on highest resolution and AA x2. everything in its settings is on. After one hour I checked HWMonitor while the game is still playing:

GPU temp: 64 degrees C
CPU: 67 64 66 74

I am satisfied by the performance so far. I am a bit worried about the battery, 6% wear level, I've got my xps 5 days ago... I am not sure how reliable that is.

specs:
i7 820QM, HD 5730, 250GB SSD, 4GB RAM, 9-cell battery.

I got lately the drivers from ATI, I am not sure if that was reason, but before that, I couldn't play any game on FHD, I had to stick to 720 even with AA off... after re-installing ATI driver, I've got COD WaW, MW2, and Prince of Persia Forgotten Sands all on 1080p.

 

I got my xps 1645 a few days ago and so far I'm really happy with it. I haven't checked it for throttling but it never gets warm, when rendering in maya the cores sits at about 67-70.

However, I do wonder what I can uninstall from it? What programs are crap and such, I really want to maximize the computers performance, so all tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

I usually get the most up to date from ATI, nVidia, but this is my first laptop and the site said I should use drivers from the manufacturer of my laptop. Is there any trade-off to updating my driver to ATI's?
Thank you for the help everyone!

 

michom, what were your max temps after playing the game for that long? If you minimize the game the cpu and gpu temp will drop so those temps arent necessarily accurate for when you were playing the game.

 

yeah those temps are awesome! i moved my laptop to a room thats room temp instead of freezing and after just 15 minutes of CSS, my cores were 77,66,71,67C

I updated my driver to 10.6 and still no reason. I restarted to see if that would help. Im getting GPU-Z now.

 

Hi everybody. I just returned a recently purchased Lenovo Y560 due to the horrible display quality. I'm looking to replace it with a Studio XPS 16.

I know that the RGB LED display is supposed to be one of the best out there, but it is not an option currently (at least not from what I can configure on the Dell website). Does anybody have the 1600x900 WLED display? Is it any good?

Are there any problems with the XPS 16 that a potential owner should know about?

 

HWMonitor was already open, so I took a screen shot like 2 seconds after minimizing. What software can I use to record temperatures and possible fps during the game so I can try it?

 

Is the 1645 with 5730 still throttling with the latest bios(A10) and 130W adapter?I have a 1647 with 4670 which is throttling with latest bios and 130W adapter but it is not as high as 1645.I am working with dell for a replacement so which one is better in the present situation?I have an option for 1645 and 1647....And there is no 1647 with 5730 out yet.....

 

I'm interested to know now. How do you check the wear level of your battery? I'd like to see where mine lies now after about 2 weeks.

 

Hwmonitor CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

Will give you current capacity and original capacity

 

does wear mean how much charge ive lost? I just got thi like 3 days ago and its at 2%!

 

Im not sure but for example my 6 cell from February 2009

Original Capacity 5100 Mwh
Current Capacity 4188 Mwh

So i have list 18% of the original capacity. Thats not bad.

 

Thanks for the program! I'm about 2 weeks in and have a 2% wear on my battery. This is my first laptop so I just want to know if this is bad. Thanks

 

ive had my battery exactly 1 week and im already at 13%, after about 3 full discharges.