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

Interested in this too.

I don't think so yet, it seems for some reason Dell are shipping all the i5's with the PM55 chipset (which doesn't support switchable graphics), despite what they claim on their website:



Thus, pretty much ruining existing customers chances of adopting switchable graphics in the future by way of a BIOS update.

Sneer82, have you got the PM55 on your i5 SXPS 16?

 

When I reinstalled windows 7, it seems that turbo boost was already applied as the little widget(sorry gadget) download said I was getting 2.53ghz(which is turbo with the i5-430m I believe)

 

Please get with me in PM with your order number, name and daytime contact number. I have some resources lined up to give you some help on this. Sorry for the frustration.

 

@Bill-B
You get my PM?

I'll update once it comes out and we have some news.

 

Yes, but I can't get to it until after hours. It's about in the middle of the pack. I should be able to read it by 8 PM or so.

 

Did anyone else read into this quote that perhaps the new bios for the 1647 will have support for the 130 watt adapter?

From the comments, it seems that the question is not whether the system throttles, but whether we are complaining loud enough on our side to warrant Dell spending the cash to rectify the problem absolutely via the new adapter.

I am just curious; what are the feelings over here are on this?

My fantasy is to just talk to the engineers directly:

"Look, I know you can't admit it throttles because it affects Dell's bottom line, but as long as you are in there "fixing algorithms," write the support for the bigger adapter into the bios so I can buy the dang thing myself and stop checking notebookreview.com every ten minutes."

 

The voice of reason speaks

 

You are close but off by a bit. First, the question at face value and rephrased is, "Will the system use more than 90W if I use a 130W adapter?"
Answer: no.
Reason: the circuit that controls total power draw is set to a number below 90W. I can't share that number. Engineers have determined that performance in Crysis at medium settings is optimal at that undisclosed number, and there is no need to use a bigger adapter. This is due to the fact that Arrandale procs draw 10 less Watts than Clarksfield procs.

Question you should be asking (in addition to why have that number in the first place?): What if my 90W adapter is too hot at whatever that undisclosed number is? Can I get a 130W based on skin temperature complaints?

My take on 1647 is wait until the new BIOS comes out, do some real world testing- not Furmark or any synthetic tests- and report back to us here how you feel about the system performance and whether it throttles or not. That's actually something I can take back to the team if you all think I need to. I can't take back, "Uncap the undisclosed number altogether so we can run Furmark all day." Just being blunt and shedding light on the realities. I do not mean to demean or belittle your concerns. I take whatever you report to me seriously.

 

@Bill-B I sent you a PM too as I have the issue with order delays.
Thanks for all your help with all these issues.

 

Wow, hope none of that starts to play with my order. I ordered on the 31st and have an EDD of 2/25 so I wont start calling them too much until the end of the month. I don't know what I'll do if they push the order around too much. I'll be traveling next month so I'd be forced to buy a second laptop probably in a big box store. Thanks for the information about your ordeal, as well as the way you handled the phone system. Your post along with Dell_Bills posts about talking to the various groups about RGBLED delays has me somewhat worried now.

 

It is funny you bring that up. I have an older home with hard wood floors and have always had to dangle my power adapter because the wife thinks it might "start the house on fire."

Truthfully, I am highly doubtful of that happening(she just loves to worry) but I do notice that the adapter gets rather warm after a long gaming session. Will this bios update be raising the aforementioned "undisclosed number" from the current value. i.e. Will the adapter be getting hotter?

And by the way Bill, I do appreciate your candor in regards to the synthetic test vs real world test argument. Working in development myself I realize there is a fine line between genuine issue reporting and nitpicking.

EDIT: What it looks like is we will all have to bite the bullet and put in an hour long Crysis session post bios update and report our findings across the different 1647 configurations. Of course my real world scenario will dictate high settings rather than medium.

 

I think neither .. as of the last status the engineers are of the belief that a new adapter will not be required which given the lower power requirements of the new i5's and i7's is a plausible starting point. The statement above tells me that they are leaving the door open in the event that they need to revisit it.

 

Bill buried way back early in this thread from when I got my 1647 a week ago or so I ran the performance testing etc with Furmark and Prime95, Throttlestop etc to measure performance. Sure enough everything demonstrated throttling based on numbers. Subjective use of the laptop during that period however did not appear to suffer. I was encouraged to try running some games on for real world experience as you mentioned above and my experience was that they played fine with the exception that Crysis had to have its settings lowered from absolute maximum to be playable. I don't believe that was the case with the 1645's.

Your note above hits that nail on the head. I currently play Crysis (now that I'm addicted to the damn game thanks to this crowd) at a mix 50% high and 50% medium with no noticeable issues whatsoever albeit with a frame rate lower than idyllic.

 

Correct. On the 1645 the game was unplayable.

 

Any particular reason Crysis is being used as the "benchmark" for these issues? I played that game a couple years ago and don't intend on playing it again.

I understand that Dell is looking for some "day-to-day" applications that would effect end users, but not everyone plays video games on their laptops. Plus, I'm looking to use this laptop for at least a couple of years. Is there a possibility that there could be an application down the road that pushes my system to 100% on the CPU and GPU? If there is, I don't want a laptop that throttles when it is pushed to it's full limit. I want it to run at its maximum performance. That is what I paid for.

Although people don't run Furmark and Prime95 all day, it is a good example of what happens to the system when fully pushed to its maximum. Just a thought....

 

Well,
I just ordered mine (after having a rebate equal to the price of the charger). Here is my config:
I7 620m, 128go ssd, full hd, 4gb ddr3, HD4670

 

FYI, I called the automated line through the number that was provided earlier and it still says Pre-Production. Needless to say, it'll probably miss this weeks deadline as well.

 

I think its because its one game out there that really punishes a machine and both CPU and GPU. There are other things out there but this is probably he most readily available.

 

and you ordered before me right? I order Jan 26 and mine is in the build stage. I love how Dell is fair. Anyway I still have small hope that mine will ship out tomorrow.

 

hey. not sure if this is best thread to ask this, but i've been having problems with my xps m1530 and recently dell has agreed to replace it with a xps 1640. However, it was told this 8weeks ago, and still havent received my replacement (was in 'in production' status for the past 4weeks).

Today i was told by a 'manager' that he could get me a 1645 or a 1647 instead of the 1640, since that has taken so long. i haven't been reading up the situation with heating and throttling on those systems. can someone give me a quick summary of what's going on with that? also, which do you recommend?

 

Putting aside Furmark (due to unnecessary controversy about this particular tool) for a second, why not synthetic tests? They are the ones that are designed to push your system and provide a control factor. You can reproduce the same result over and over with a synthetic test. A real world test is hard to reproduce and control.

My gut feeling about how something is performing in a real world test isn't enough for me. I need to see concrete numbers from a synthetic test to be satisfied.

 

Dell is in the process of updating the XPS 1645 first with a free 130 watt adapter and a soon to be released bios, version A07. The new bios will allow the laptop to draw some more watts so the CPU and GPU will have a better chance of being allowed to run at full speed without any throttling. Bios A07 hasn't been released yet so no testing has been published yet but in theory, gaming should be much improved.

The 1647 Dual Cores draw less watts than the Quads so don't throttle as much if at all depending on one's configuration. I'd probably go for the 1645 at the moment since it is closer to becoming a finished product.

I don't think Dell has made a final decision about the 1647. AFAIK, they are going to try and do some bios adjustments first before upgrading the power adapter to a more appropriate 130 watt model.

 

I ordered 1/17/10...I think that was before you if I remember right. I think I'll try to call and complain again tomorrow.

 

then why is mine in the build stage and yours in pre production?

 

Bill I sent you a pm, so don't miss it!!

 

Straphanger:
Did you read post #1253?
You may want to PM Bill-B too about your order. I did.
Bought mine on 1/16 EDD 2/17 (delayed twice so far.) and still Pre-Production too.

 

Because Dell hates me...lol...even though I've spent a fair amount on their products.

 

I actually did earlier in the evening...thanks.

 

You’re welcome Straphanger.
It's pretty cool that Bill-B is taking some time out of his schedule to help out with the order delays too. Hopefully, we will get our lappys soon. Maybe Dell will FedEx 'em for all the hassle.... Wishful thinking now I think.

 

If its at no cost to you, then get the 1645. Dell is going to release a new bios for both the 1645 and 1647. As of now they are only going to issue new 130 watt adapters for the 1645. They might for the 1647 but its up in the air. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=458139 this thread should help you figure out whats going on.

 

LOL,
Just finished my Signature for this board... Think I'll be here for a while, Waiting...Reading....Waiting...
Updating EDD...Waiting... Posting...Waiting...

 

Well, i've returned my SXPS 16, there was problems with it and it would not boot most of the time. I got a Asus N71JQ, for the price, if you don't mind the lower rez display you should go for it. It has the ATI 5730, Blue rae drive, i7 720QM and 2yr /1yr accidental warrenty for 1400$, it's a steal really.

Jov

 

Slot Blu-ray Is Now Available!!!

Yuppie!

 

Now I'm kinda hoping mine gets delayed tomorrow so I can ask them to toss that in

 

which one to get??? --

I mainly would use it to surf internet, photoshop CS4, Nikon Capture NX2, and Lightroom...some light gaming like Modern Warfare 2 and WOW


Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Quad Core Processor 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
2 Year Basic Service Plan
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Full HD Widescreen 15.6 inch WLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module (2.1+EDR)
Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)
85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi MB
Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish

==> $1,549


Genuine Windows 7® Home Premium Edition
NEW 2010 Intel® Core™ i5-540M (2.53GHz, 4Threads, turbo boost up to 3.06Ghz, 3M cache)
2 Year Basic Service Plan
4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3
Edge-to-Edge FHD Widescreen 15.6 inch WLED LCD (1920x1080) W/2.0 MP
500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
9-cell Battery
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi MB
Slot Load Blu -ray Disc (DVD/CD read/write + BD read)
Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish

==> 1,534

Hmm that's mess up!

why such a close price differences!

 

First option without a doubt, its the most future proof config.

 

It depends on what you will be doing I guess. The main difference between those systems are the processors. The only thing that differentiates your configuration are the processors Core i7 vs Core i5.

I would also upgrade the ram and if you can afford the RGBLED screen go for that. There are current delays on the RGBLED screen but based on what I have read its worth every penny Best of Luck

 

I am having a major issue with my media buttons at the top...For some reason the eject disk button and the wifi toggle button seem not to want to work.

 

What BIOS do you have?

I heard that problem from someone, and he said that installing the newer BIOS he fixed the problem, although I think it was with the 1645. If you have an older version try installing the most recent one..

 

a01 is the latest one for me its weird but somehow quickset keep coming uninstalled

 

Wait until Dell sorts this throttling mess, and it is confirmed the new bios works! Then wait a little longer as DX11 class GPU are coming.

</pre>

 

Your problems are related to quickset, not the BIOS.

 

Just because newer graphics cards are listed in an inf file on an existing driver set does not necessarily mean that a new card for this particular laptop is coming. It can also be there because more than one model of computer uses the same set of drivers or package of drivers.

 

There are headings under Dell. Not only that, but most of the big vendors have DX11 gpu, it is only Dell who have not released them yet. Considering this, I believe it is a given that within the next 60 days there will be an updated gpu configuration to choose from and possibly even USB 3.0.

 

I was thinking of the same. Isn't the new bios suppose to come out next week.

I would love to see a refresh XPS 13 / a new XPS 14 with i5-540m. That would be ideal as a portable notebook.

 

There is always something just over the horizon. Some one said it on this board not to long ago, if you think like that you can be waiting to buy a laptop/comp ten years from now.

 

Thanks for quoting that

And as of that comment, I ordered mine.. and just got confirmation, I will be holding it in my hands within the next 13 days

 

When spending top dollar for a system, there is no point shelling out when a new set of GPU's are out just not currently available for said system. If we were talking 12 months, then sure no point waiting. This is not a low end system people are paying for.

Not only that but these cards use less power and run cooler and faster. Plus they are more futureproof as support DX11.

 

anybody saw that Dell released a new BIOS today for 1647??? A03

 

Yeah. I posted a new thread about it awhile ago, but I guess this thread sees more action. I'm wondering if this is the update that Bill_B from Dell was referring to in the throttling thread.