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

If you can afford to get it, I would get it even if you are going to be using an external display. If you can only afford certain upgrades definitely go with either more RAM or processor speed. Even an SSD if you have the money.

 

I agree DW, I meant to write “or processor” along with RAM, my bad.

 

So fly are you happy you got the 620M I am loving mine lol. The higher clock speeds are definitely better than the quad cores.

 

Hey, i did some testing with my favourite game yesturday. Specs in signature.

Street Fighter 4.
all settings were left as their default settings (i didnt tweak them) except i raised the resolution to 1080p (1920x1080)

test 1: 9 cell battery, unplugged from outlet.
outcome: got 30fps on the "vs" screen, roughly 30fps during game play

that first test got me dissapointed that i couldnt play street fighter.


when i got home, i tried one more time,

test 2:9 cell battery (probably didnt matter) and PLUGGED IN this time
outcome: 30fps on the "vs" screen. 60fps during gameplay.

mannn was i excited to see 60fps during gameplay (but i was confused why the vs screen was 30fps, but that doesnt matter, lol)

i didnt get time to slowly turn on more effects (raising from default) to see how much it could handle before slowing down, but i will eventually try to get it to look the best with 60fps.


now that the tests are out of the way, could anyone help me understand why? or probably if i run cpu-z i might be able to see.

was that the throttling problem i was probably experiencing? or the videocard cant be used fully unplugged? im guessing it was the latter.

notes: i set the laptop to best performance plugged in and unplugged.

btw, i am on a01 bios and 90w adapter default CCC drivers as well. i was scared to update the bios because i heard the adapter got even hotter. maybe if i update the bios, and CCC drivers i would get full power from battery? not sure.

 

Question - I have the 520m processor. On High Performance mode, in CPU-Z my multiplier is always x22 (around 2900 MHZ), even when idle. I would assume it should stay at x18 (2400 MHZ) most of the time and jump to x22 occasionally. But just sitting at an empty desktop, doing nothing it stays at the full 2900MHz according to that program. Is that normal?

 

@silvershadow it is more then likely the power setting you had it at has the ati powerplay setting turned on which clocks the gpu lower to save battery but when you plug it in it clocks back to normal speeds...

Bdw I ordered a Intel centrino 6200 advanced N card from provantage. I heard good reviews from that site and deisded to take the plunge. since they were 10 bucks less then ordering from a random dude from hong kong on ebay I thought it was a steal! Ordered on march 1 in the morning and it got here yesterday. heres a pic of what came in the box which was nice link Installing it was easy and as soon as i put the drivers in it worked a TON better then the dell 1520 n card I got. at my desk i sometimes use my neighbors wifi connection because they leave it open and with the dell card I got around 1-2 bars. With the Intel card I upgraded too I got 4-5 bars. So if any of you with the dell cards are on the edge of thinking about upgrading I really recommend it for this laptop

And if anyone is wondering the DELL 1520 card is a Broadcom BCM943224HMS

 

Check the multi with ThrottleStop (disabled, just for numbers).

EDIT: I ran CPU-Z (64-Bit version) and it shows the correct Multi.

 

The multi's fluctuate from around 11 - 20ish. Is that how it should be?

 

yea, but idle should stay around 10 unless you have something in the background running I guess.

I'd download TS as well..

 

I was opening a bunch of adobe files to see what the multi's would go to, compared to being idle. when doing nothing it stayed around 11 for me, then jumped to 20 as I opened a batch of files. Thanks for the help

 

WOOT! I have FINALLY been able to get someone at Dell to send me a 130w adapter! That only took about two weeks of calling and emailing every day. But it's on it's way.

Any ideas on when Catalyst 10.3 is going to drop?

 

I emailed support 2 days ago and apparently got someone informed of the issue, who shipped the 130w to me today overnight. Yay!

Now to see if I can contact them and also keep the 90w once the 130w gets here. (Since I have heard that the 130 is bigger than the 90, at school the 90 should suffice. I hardly ever game, since I am mostly in class.)

 

Not only is it bigger but from what I hear the wire is thicker too. I want to do the same as you. Please let us know if they let you keep the 90W.

 

Quite happy thanks. I think quad is just overkill on a laptop. I’ll take faster core speed.

 

For sure, FlySwatter, the 620 is plenty good. Best option IMO.

 

Just replaced the DVD-rom with a 2nd SSD caddy....My laptop is so fast now...haha~~

 

lucky, i called once, and didnt get through to a good rep, and i got annoyed and didnt try back. i should try again now that some time has passed (last time i called the day after i received the laptop)

 

thanks for that...

i was new to the laptop scene (capable of playing games), and i only knew about the best performance, i didnt think about the advanced settings of it...

i know get 60fps on battery as well...

EDIT:

playing this game made me excited about pc/laptop gaming. curious, does anyone know any information about the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870. maybe if its gonna come out (in newer models of the sxps16) within my first 30 days of purchase, or if it will fit in the same "slot" the 4670 is in.

also, is the 4670 removable? or is it soldered? i know, i know, if i want gaming, go for a gaming laptop, but i really like the style of this laptop and the more i can get out of it, the better


EDIT AGAIN..answered this by searching, i believe someone said it is "integrated" with the motherboard and it cannot be changed...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=458175


what about insider information if the studio xps16 would get the 5870?

 

Yep. It is "integrated" with the motherboard and it cannot be changed.
If you take the position of I'll wait for the next "latest" and "greatest" you may wait years to buy.
Just my 2c's As this System rocks just the way it is but,
it’s your money only you can decide what's best for you.

Good luck!

 

I just got off the phone with Dell XPS Technical Support.

I told them that my ac adapter was over heating, they verified that I was on the latest bios. I then simply asked "I would like you to replace my 90 watt adapter with a 130 watt adapter"

The reply "Yes sir, that is the solution, I will order one for you, please hold"

Done.

Just make sure you're on bios A04 and make sure you really are having overheating issues. They will replace your adapter NO problem.

Also, make sure to call the number for XPS support, not the general dell tech support.

Good luck!

 

yah, i know what its like to wait and wait and wait for something better to come out, lol. but something always better comes out right after it, lol.

i know ill end up not doing anything and just stick with what i got, because i think its awesome. .

besides, if dell starts shipping the upgraded video card, they will probably ship it with the alienware, rather than the studio xps.

 

I am set on getting this Laptop. Finally! Almost a month of debating and decisions. Now I'm trying to decide what features and options I want from it.

Any idea when another sale will happen?

 

The 4xxx series in the XPS is old in comparison to other systems of this price range and Dell WILL need to update soon if they wish to stay competitive, especially as the XPS system is advertised as an all-round entertainment machine.

When paying this much for something which I will keep for a long time, I don't intend to buy something which is effectively already outdated.

 

what res? max?

 

how? didnt know they could do that.

 

As of when I last checked, which was a few minutes ago, there doesn't seem to be any configuration with the i7 620m anymore; at least, in Canada anyway.

 

Who else here is waiting for a XPS 16 refresh with the ATI 5-series graphics platforrm? I'm just waiting to get paid (later this month/early April hopefully!) and then ima make my purchase for this thing. Just cant wait out any longer! But I do wish atleast by that time they make an upgrade to the HM55 chipset with Switchable Graphics. I think thats the main thing, possibly the only thing missing from this laptop for me right now. That will make for a killer battery life and probably a long laptop life in general too. I can always add-in a USB 3.0 ExpressCard at a later date (I heard NEC have found a way to increase the speed of USB3 anyway, an increase of 4x the original speed using the same hardware setup so im definitely not waiting for that to be released). But its abit of a waste building a IGP on the processor and not ever being able to use it. Not only that, the i5/i7 arrandale processors also have an integrated PCIe x16 controller aswell, which probably might be able to push more data/performance directly thru to the discrete graphics card. Using the older PM55 chipset is probably bypassing this integrated controller and using its default route/controller via the chipset/northbridge. When your paying these premium prices, you wanna make sure your getting exactly what it says on the tin!

Apart from the USB3 x4 thing though, (that and SATAIII 6bps for extremely fast SSDs), everything else i mentioned is already released and in full flow and nothing else is really on the horizon.

If nothing changes by april, I'm probably gonna get a i5 520m, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, RGBLED, ATI 4670, 9cell, 6200Wifi, DVDRW setup and then replace the DVD drive (barely use CD/DVDs these days) with the new 2.5" 1GB HDD for bulk, then eventually get a USB3.0 card and an external Blu-ray drive.

@ zyc_hot
How much battery life are you getting in comparison with 2 drives installed? How well does it work and was it easy enough to fit? Im from the UK and not sure where to purchase the caddy from... Any hints?

 

I think you can only find it on EPP. Dell probably thinks its too competitive against their quads for regular consumers.

 

1920x1080 screen resolution. And all the settings set to high except for shadows and aa which is set to low/1x and it runs nearly around 45-60 fps on my 24in lcd

the only time it drops below 30 is when theres tons of particles such as a crap load of rockets and explosions go off around you and the dust flys up. kind of makes it more intense

 

same but cant play the waiting game forever.

 

Check this thread out.

 

I get about 4 hours just for internet surfing, and 2 hrs for heavy load...however, most my games are stored on the HDD, so when I am using heavy load, I am not really using the SSD...

If you are wondering about where to get the 2nd HDD caddy and how to install them, please see the thread that was linked above...(I got the Caddy from newmodeus.com , I got mine in 2 days after the order and it fits very well)...

 

Hey I just bough the XPS 16 with I5 and RGBLD screen. I got it in 5 days!now how do I know if I really have the RGBLD. I eman I got it so fast that I was suprised maybe they shipped me the WLED 1080. Any way to certify I have the RGBLD? in the systme or something?

 

@Helmr
Here this will help you with RGB verification.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5954725&postcount=2059

Good luck with your new 1647!

 

Thank you! So is yours also RGBLED? if the monitor shown says SEC5448
it is RGBLD? ANy other way to be sure?

 

In my system details it says

MODULE, LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY, 16, FULL HIGH DEFINITION, LOW COST, 1645/1647
1 1CJ45 Assembly, Liquid Crystal Display, 16FHD, Low Cost, 1645/1647

LOW COST??? LCD? I bought Led help me out

 

Hey if any wants to know I uploaded the webcam driver that way if for some reason you can not get to the download page or already downloaded it 3 or 4 times... If for some reason I am not supposed to have a link for this bill let me know and ill pull it down..

http://www.mediafire.com/?mhjmz2innjl

 

If you ordered the rgbled you got the rgbled. They are all LCD's. It just uses red, blue, and green led's as the backlight.

 

So what would be the best way to calibrate the colors on my WLED? The CCC doesn't seem to be cutting it; not getting the tint out of the picture with the 2 sliders it has.

Other programs, Windows, what?

 

I was expecting the Envy 15 but by mistake, I got the XPS 1647 instead.
Oh well, I got it for free so I shouldnt complain I think.

So what should I do with the new one?
Just install the Turbo Boost driver from the 1st post. Thinking remove McAfee, it annoyed me already.
Should I remove MS Work?
What other things I should do?

 

Huhh??? Free??

 

Well a gift

 

What??!!. I cant play that game, its very annoying how much low fps im getting, I played for 5 minutes and couldnt take it anymore. With 900p resolution and Medium was almost unplayable, with Low settings things improved a little bit but was awful too. The thing is I can play Mass Effect 2 and COD MW2 at 900p resolution with settings turned to High. Im guessing BF2 is horribly optimized, but you surprised me when I read that you could play it at those settings.

 

I can also play at 1600X900 with everything on high 1x AA and shadows on low. In fact, I already beat it.

When you select a setting in the game, it sets AA to 4x at Medium and I think like 8x on High? So, do a custom setting with everything on high, AA on 1x, and shadows on low.

 

Apparently your doing it wrong lol. DO what he said and set it to custom... and bdw I turned up the aa to 2x and I am getting around 40 fps still... But ill leave it off since it lags at massive explosions... The reason I got bf:bc2 is mainly for the mutiplayer... I care less about single

 

Yes danevin, that helped a lot. Thanks

 

This is an update for those who have followed my testing for throttling (specifically for GPU).

Don't use the new Dell ATI Drivers linked (to Dell) on strags.com (8.692.1.0000). - Perhaps this is an attempt by Dell to help with some thermal issues......

I did a Win 7 clean install.

Those drivers are locking the core/mem clock (never changes even for idle, or 100%)


Dell new drivers (8.692.1.0000) on strags.com

Always locked on:
450.0Mhz (core)
598.5Mhz (mem)



GPU-Z 0.3.9


ATI HDMI Audio Ver: 5.0.7000.9 dated: 9/18/2009


furmark score: 652 (MSAA: 0x)

WEI score even went down from 5.9 to 4.6 due to Aero performance



After Uninstall (except HDMI) using 10.3 Preview Uninstall
Must have been drivers downloaded and install during Win 7 Clean Install (had a July 2009 date)
furmark score: 932 (MSAA: 0x)

Core/Mem Clock: Normal (from Idle to 100% Load)



After 10.3 Preview Install (I first used the 10.3 Preview Uninstaller - showed nothing installed, rebooted, then used Driver Sweeper to remove all ATI driver related. Upon Reboot, Win 7 used 800x600 rez).

ATI HDMI Audio Ver: 7.11.0.7703 dated: 1/21/2010

furmark score: 920 (MSAA: 0x)

WEI score back to 5.9 (6.7 for Aero and 3D)


10.3 Preview Driver does have an updated HDMI driver.

 

Going to have to disagree with you on that. I have been using the same driver and actually got better fps then the one dell has on there downloads page. and my wei score is still at 6.7 for both 2d aero and 3d.... The 2 slowest parts on my machine are the hdd (5.9) and the ram (5.9)

 

Are you sure you are using 8.692.1.0000 package (this is not listed under your Service Tag on thej Dell Site, it's directly linked on strags.com)?

I didn't see this issue the first time around, but only after a Clean Install of Windows 7 and actually wiping (with Driver Sweeper) all things ATI. See: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5942649&postcount=36 I didn't use Driver Sweeper there.

Also, please do a REFRESH of your WEI (you need to after each Driver install).

EDIT: What ATI High Definition Audio Device driver version do you show (under Device Manager)?

 

Yes I am using the one from strags.com and I did a refresh of the wei and I have the same score as the last time i ran it. I do have a newer hdmi audio driver though date 1/21/10 7.11.0.7703 I reinstalled my machine with my win 7 pro disk and went from dells driver to the one on strags