**The Official Studio XPS 1647 Intel Core i5/i7 "Owners' Lounge"**

I'm just hoping they have switchable graphics on the i5... then life will be complete

 

Trust me, it isn't. I ordered from that exact quote number and I got the same thing you did, where they told me at first it was a 720.

Shin-Etsu X23-7783D

 

This thread got big, Death could you add the important stuff to the first page? Like any issues, does it throttle, etc etc? Would help newcommers like myself (I've already dug up all the answers, just would have been helpful!

 

Shin Etsu paste is amazing. Its made from very very high quality silicone paste IIRC thats particular "model" or type is made from the unused silicone during the wafer manufacturing process, very very pure.

My father used to be in upper-management of the Vancouver, WA. USA fab before he retired, used this stuff before it had a name

 

Done, with everything I could think of that I considered relevant. Tell me if you think anything should be added.

And call me DW

 

Hmm I didn't get any documentation with the download I have and I didn't see anything obvious to me in the .ini to indicate what to set and yeah the heading says DTS. I did some more testing, I'll post up the results in a moment.

 

The guy actually sent me the quote in the email and it specifically stated the 720 as a cpu and I can see from the details that it was meant for you. It still had your details.

 

Ok ran some more tests this morning, no gaming testing yet that will be later today. The first set are with the screen at max brightness. All tests are with the power profile on high performance.

On battery:

Prime 95 alone running in place large FFT's 4 threads.
Multiplier ranges 20.58 C0 99.9 - 100% on all four, CMOD and CHIP at 100%

Furmark alone
Multiplier on thread 1 21 - 22.58 C0 - 99.9% CMOD and CHIP 100%
Multiplier on threads 2 - 4 19.0 - 20.5 C0 1.9 - 16.5% (average between 14 and 16) CMOD and CHIP at 100%

Prime 95 and Furmark
Same results as Prime 95 alone

On 90W power

Prime 95 alone as above.
Mulitplier ranges from 19.45 - 19.79 C0 99.9%. CMOD and CHIP at 100%

Furmark alone
Multiplier drops to 15, everything else is the same as above.

Prime 95 and Furmark together
Multiplier drops to 12 occassionally down to 9 and then back up to 12. C0%, CMOD and CHIP all 100%

On 130W power (I bought one when I ordered the 1645 which I haven't received yet)

Everything is the same as on a 90W power supply.

One thing I did notice in watching the Furmark fuzzy donut slowly rotate is that on battery it is not smoothly rotating and my FPS are quite low. On full power the donut rotates nice and smooth and my FPS are more than double the results on battery.

Brightness at minimum.

Battery:

Prime 95 alone: same as at full brightness

Furmark alone: multiplier on all four threads at 19.5 - 19.9, everything else the same as full brightness. (lower FPS, avg of 7)

Prime 95 and Furmark together: same as at full brightness.

On 90W power

Prime 95 alone: same as full brightness

Furmark alone: same as full brightness (higher FPS. avg of 21)

Prime 95 and Furmark: multiplier 15, C0, CMOD and CHIP all the same as at full brightness (fps averages 21)

I'm going to load up a game later (honey do list was just presented) and capture some log files. Throughout all these tests the laptop stayed nice and cool, the fan runs intermittantly and only cranks up when I am running both Prime 95 and Furmark together and even then only goes to full power for a short burst and then slows back down. The power supply never got warmer than just to the touch. And in case its relevant my house ambient temp is 21C, I'm not using a cooling pad and the laptop is sitting on my lap.

I also ran some non-empirical tests. I have a benchmark scene for 3DS Max 2010 that I use and on my E6500 it takes 1 min 35 sec to render a 2048 x 2048 image. On the SXPS-16 it takes 47 sec. Thats with 90W and the screen at max brightness.

Oh yeah, I'll also gather a list of the drivers I updated. I still need to update Catalyst as this is the stock out of the box version 8.something or other.

Off to tackle the honey-do list.

 

I think you didn't set powerplay to high performance on battery.

 

So what are we saying now guys that it does not throttle?

 

Correct. I set it to high performance and now frame rates are consistent on or off battery. No change anywhere else though. Still throttling according to the Throttlestop.

 

Thanks Stormwerks!!! really appreciate all the testing.... can't wait to see some result from game play....

 

When plugged in with your 90 watt adapter it is definitely throttling compared to when on battery power during the same test.

The bios is designed to limit you to 90 watts regardless of what size adapter you are using. In the XPS 1645, the only way around this limit when you are using a 130 watt adapter or better is by using ThrottleStop and forcing the multiplier to its highest by putting a check mark in the Clock Modulation and Set Multiplier boxes.

The docs for ThrottleStop are a recent addition so your version might not have come with any.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/ThrottleStop.zip

Try running RealTemp and it should be able to read the TJMax of your CPU correctly. Go into the Settings window of RealTemp and it might show 105.

Open up the ThrottleStop.ini configuration file and add this:

TJMax=105

or whatever the appropriate value is and then ThrottleStop will show your core temperature instead of DTS. The DTS sensor is like a count down timer. As the CPU gets hotter, it counts down. When it hits zero then your CPU will start to throttle and slow down. I included this data because it clearly shows that Dell's computers are throttling themselves even though according to the Intel specifications, you are still miles away from the throttling point built into the chip.

Some log files while gaming will be great to see.

 

Awesome man thanks! I have just ordered some anyone got a link to a video or step by step for actually doing the procedure ?

 

So all Ix processors are having throttling issues on all dell systems? Bleh. I really needed a new laptop too

 

Precision uses 210w power adapter, so I think it shouldn't.

 

I heard from one user with a Precision E6500 with a 210 watt slim adapter and it too was throttling when pushed hard. He was shocked and so was I.

No matter what laptop you buy, you need to do some testing when you first get it to see if it can live up to its rating. Return it immediately if it can't run the apps that are important to you.

 

How much is the blu-ray upgrade?. I know it is not available now but I plan to get this laptop in the next 2 months and I heard that the blu-ray drive is coming back in february. If you could only upgrade one of the following, would you choose the bd drive or the rgbled screen?

 

RGB screen, however I hear that adds the the throtteling problems. Saying that the Bluray and RGB Screen will run had in hand during multimedia use like watching movies!

Dont know how much the upgrade will be as they may have gne with a different supplier.

 

DW - can u pls update the 1st post saying that this laptop too throttles..
stormwerks & unclewebb just confirmed the same. would be helpful for users trying to decide.

 

I second arjunprabhu..

Thanks DW for posting some info on the first page..

 

So how much are the throttling issues going to affect the average computer user. I don't game or do any heavy processing. Only thing I'll do occasionally is edit photos in Adobe Photoshop Elements. Use office 2007, but mostly listen to music lol. Who is impacted the most by the throttling?

 

By doing those tasks you will not be affected..
Serious demanding CPU+GPU taks are the ones that are making the laptop to throttle.

the real question is, will the applications that you may run in the future make the laptop throttle?
That no one knows.. only the future you :lol:

 

In your case, I think you don't need to worry about the throttling....

Throttling only start to kick in when the CPU + GPU is under heavy load..... and I don't think these activities u listed qualify for heavy load ....

 

Dont think the throtteling issue will offect the mid range user, this ocmputer with throtteling is more than capeable of editing pictures in Photoshop.
The problem comes in high end games.


Sorry already answered above

 

Dell says there is a shortage of blu-ray drives. How is that, every other notebook maker is offering blu-ray. You can easily find new blu-ray drives for these on Ebay. I think for some reason they pulled the option themselves. I would bet blu-ray doesn't come back until the next generation.

 

Ill second that, I honaslty dont see them brining out Bluray as an option untul the new systems are released and how long away is that ?

The Dell rep told me that they were dicountinued indefinatly until futher notice. I would suggest buying one of ebay (found one for $99) and installing it your self.

The other option is, and this is the one I have opted for. Buy an external ! the amount of times I will buy and use bluray can be counted on one hand. However still nice to have the option isnt it

 

HP pulled external blu-ray from their envy line as well. I don't think there's any conspiracy going on.

 

Some more results: I loaded up FEAR2, maxed out all the graphics settings and anything else I could find to turn up to the max. I've attached the logfile for that run which clearly shows that the machine was being throttled while I was playing. I was running on the 90W adapter that came with the computer. Temps stayed in the mid 40's.

I then plugged in my 130W adapter enabled Throttlestop and went back in and played the same section of FEAR2 with the same settings. The logfile from that shows that I'm not being throttled naturally. Temps increased to high 50's to low 60's with the odd spike up to 64 and one up to 67 which may be an iffy reading.

For both tests the screen brightness was at is maximum. At no time during teh game play could I tell that I was being throttled. Graphics were smooth, no stuttering at all. In fact I couldn't tell any difference at all between playing on the 90W adapter without throttlestop intervening and playing with the 130W adapter and Throttlestop giving me maximum performance.

Prior to beginning the test I also upgraded my display drivers to the latest version available on ATI's site.

So am I being throttled on the 1647 with an RGBLED screen? Yes. Can I tell without looking at monitoring tools? Nope. Am I happy with this machine, you betcher a$$.

I'll compile that list of drivers that I updated here in a moment. If anyone has another game suggestion please let me know and I'll see if I can try that out.

 

Hp's external blu-ray and this situation has what in common?

 

Thans the dirver help would be amazing! Can I just download the same ones for the 1645.

 

It proves this is not true.

 

may be ........... (just a guess)... shortage of blueray laser diodes...

 

Ok here is the list of drivers I updated.

From ATI: Catalyst 10-1 (I downloaded the complete thing drivers, control etc)

From Dell:
Chipset - Intel Driver, Turbo Boost Technology
Chipset - Intel Driver, PM55 Express Chipset Family
Input Device Drivers - Synaptics Driver
Network - Broadcom Driver BCM5784M LAN
Network - Wireless 370 Bluetooth Minicard

My BIOS as shipped is A01 and only A0 is showing under Dells drivers section so no updates there.

For chipsets if you aren't sure which of the three you need to download (mine was PM55) you can go to your start button, RIGHT click on computer, select manage. Then in the Computer Management panel select Device Manager. Scroll to System Devices in the window on the right hand side and look Express Chipset LPC Interface Controller. It will have the correct chipset listed there.

 

HP Pavilion dv8t still offers the internal blu-ray. I wouldn't compare the external blu-ray of the envy and the internal on the xps.

 

Wouldn't that affect all blu-ray drives (internal, external, desktop and laptop)?

 

dv8t uses tray loading driver. envy uses slot loading driver.

 

So your saying the slot loading design of the hp external drive makes it a more relevant comparison with the xps, than the internal tray of the hp and the internal slot of the xps?

 

Thanks for the awesome result......I am just worried down the road when games becomes more and more CPU/GPU demanding the throttling will become a issue...but at the same time, Prime95+Furmark is pushing the cpu and gpu to their very maximum...I doubt it any game will ever get there....I guess the dual core with higher clock is better for gaming afterall compare to the Quad core.....lol~~~Great news in general!!

 

External driver is just an internal driver plus encolsure.

 

Well considering my 2.5 year old XPS17 aka the beast that doesn't even have the CPU power of this new XPS can still run everything I've ever loaded on it I think you'll be safe. Typically with games the issue isn't the CPU that you have to worry about, its the GPU.

 

So dell is missing out on sales because they didn't want to put a tray loading blu-ray on the xps? Its still an overpriced option on the Covet. Couldn't they make it an overpriced option on the xps?

 

@stormwerks: Thanks again for running all those tests, specially for running FEAR2 which is a real case scenario.
Its bad news that the 1647 is throttling too, but what I found weird is that your laptop is throttling but you did not noticed as you mentioned, so Im guessing you didnt have any important stutters or freezes. I am no expert on this situation so I cant explain why thiis is hapenning, but I can say that is good news for you, despite this awful throttling situation

 

Tray loading driver won't fit xps 16.

 

I ow you big time ! thanks for your time and effort dude!. under the XPS 1645 the BIOS says A03 is it worth updating ? as i hear there are problems.

 

@fmac no problem. You're right I didn't notice a thing playing FEAR2. No stuttering, no pauses absolutely no evidence of any slowdowns of any kind.

@fluffyuk For the BIOS update I believe that there is a new one floating around A05 but not on their website. The owners thread for 1645's has some more info on it but I would say until it officially hits Dells website I would just stick with what you have for now.

 

Thanks dude, will most likely stick with what I have, Im going ot update all the other liek you did though TY again

Cant fine the Turbo bust dirvers on the Chiset section of DELL site, the i7-720 has TB right ?

 

Well with this issue this laptop is having I might look into the Alienware auoura Desktop and a cheap laptop for around the living room,I hope theres a solution within 3 weeks that I order so I can change my mind

 

Its enabled by default on the 1645.

I'm quite confused about the throttling results. Heading out to a party now, but when I get back I have a couple tests to run. I think I might know what's up.

 

Thanks have a good one!