Ventilation upgrade XPS1640

These are the "Rear Caps" on the Dell XPS1640:




Take a close look at the two pictures below. Showing two XPS1640's and their "Rear Cap" (ventilation). They are different. I drew a green line in approximately the same location. "v2" definitely has more ventilation slots towards the bottom. Looks like Dell has an upgrade policy going on regarding the early 1640's:





To back up this claim, when I got my RGB screen replaced earlier this year, the Dell tech came to my house, bringing not only the new screen - he also brought a new rear cap! The one with the slots for ventilation. He didn't know why it was in the package and therefore did not swap it with my existing cover, which is shown in the first picture. He just put it back in his bag. I quickly compared the new one with my existing one, and they seemed exactly similar. But thinking about it now, I could have been wrong. This just might be a standard procedure by Dell rep., ordering a new upgrade cap for the early 1640's (like mine).

Comments? How does your rear cap look?

 

wow.. nice find.. I dont think I ever read about this being discussed..

I got mine last week from the outlet and I THINK I have the upgraded cap.. I never really looked, but I always reach back there to feel it to see if its hot and I do believe it extends further down to almost the bottom.

I'll double check when I get home though.

 

Excellent observation.
+rep for you.

 

My 1640 has the old one, unfortunately.

My laptop doesn't get hot though; but of course I wouldn't mind having those rear caps with more vents.

 

I must be lucky mine doesnt get hot either!!!

 

I agree. Really great find. This could be the key way for a lot of 1640 and maybe 1340 users to solve their heat issues.
+Rep

 

Mine gets hot gaming and I have V1. I've had this laptop for going on 3 months.

 

I'm wondering if you can request a new rear cap... hmmm. I had my screen replaced a couple of months ago, and I did not get a rear cap with it at that time...

 

I have the old cap too, but my laptop doesn't get hot. And you know why? Undervolting

 

I have v1 but when the tech came to replace my keyboard he warped it and it creaks when pressed.

 

I talked with the dell xps support and i asked them to send me new rear ventilation caps and they are . hopefully they send me the updated version, if so I will post with the part number when I get them if it is the updated ones.

 

Did they change the ventilation for the 1340 as well? I'd be interested in it...

 

I just checked and I was wrong.. my 1 week old outlet 1640 has the old cap.. I'll be anxiously waiting for the part number so I can call Dell too.. my laptop doesnt really run too hot (well, I dont do much on it.. yet).. but can't hurt to have more ventilation..

 

hey guys, i contacted dell support via the web chat and pointed a link to this website and he said that he was going to send it to me. at first he said that they are currently working on the design for the new one and that it would be out in a month or so...i then pointed to this link and he said that he found it and will send it to me...by the way, he is going to send me the one for the studio xps 13, so there is one for the 13 according to him. ill update you guys when i recieve it...

 

Dell is sending me part number H113P for the 1640, i dunno if it is the correct one or not. Description: SERVICE KIT..., COVER..., CAPACITOR..., BACK, BASE (ASSEMBLY OR GROUP)..., 1640. I will let you guys know if it is. The girl I spoke with at Dell had to get approval from her manager to send it to me for some reason, maybe it is an expensive kit or she chose the wrong part. I guess I will find out...

- Dan

 

Good to hear. I'll be receiving my new SXPS 13 in a week or two. Hopefully it will prevent ventilation problems which a decent amount of people seem to get (i.e. especially when opening laptop to certain angles). I'm assuming they'd put it on all new orders XD.

 

well after 1 hour and 30 minutes and two technicians on the phone I finally got them to send me the replacement cap, The first one try to explain to me that its a "software problem" that is causing the heat and not a hardware issue, telling me to download bios, dell unity and such which I did and after installation didn't help with the heat. I call again and was finally able to get them to send me the caps. They are going to replace the caps and the heat sink. Part number is H113P for the cap.

 

5 days old and i got a crappy cap, 24x7 support is getting a ring in a min
ok, first he said update the bios and its no problem. now they are saying they want to replace the motherboard, heatsink and fan because the laptop is hot (they all are and i only asked for a vent replacement). after that, i told him there was a very small dent in the case and he said they will replace the whole lcd screen and cover. and im already having a keyboard replaced.

i told him not to replace the lcd (i dont mind scratch) and the heat related things, but dell insist that they change the parts as they might cause problems later on (a dent on the case will right??).
i guess its very good support.

as iv got multiple problems, dell said i should just get a brand new system that i can swap for my existing one once its made, which im happy with as the keyboard will work and my vent might be new.il try to squuze some upgrades for free or discounted as they wasted my time, got to wait till monday to call them though.

 

Frankly, I dont' think the "v2" cap will improve the cooling a huge amount, but I'd be happy if proven wrong.

Undervolting would typically be a much more effective way to reduce the temperature.

 

I'd do both just to get the best possible.

 

Absolutely agree

 

I had a chat with dell tech support this evening and the guy confirmed that Dell is testing a new ventilation system on the SXPS16. He told me that Dell will roll out the new ventilation system after the testing phase has been done, and we will be notified by Dell on the replacement program. So I'm not really excited to try on the v2 version yet until Dell has done their researches right this time.

 

This won't be a redesigned laptop with ATI 4xx in it, will it? Sounds like a possibility.

 

They could be testing this "new ventilation system" on an upgraded Studio XPS 16 (upgraded graphics card for example). If it works well enough and improve thermal dissipation of the system, Dell could implement it too to existing 1640 setups.

 

How much work is involved in replacing the cap? Do you have to take the backing plate off? Thanks.

 

exactly, dell studio xps 16 seems to run on dinosaur bios used before intel speed step was introduced .

 

what do you mean?

the laptop only seems so hot on the bottom as its metal.

if you look at HWmonitor, the laptop seems cooler then most other laptops would be.

 

Are you referring to how limited the bios is? I agree it is limiting.

 

....why dont u guys just make some more holes on the old caps....

 

Great idea for an out of warranty system, but Dell frowns upon mods like that. Not really worth voiding your warranty for that.

 

that s a good idea, if somebody doesnt mind drilling some small holes on that piece of plastic cover, both on the top facing the screen and the back side near the battery.

 

I think most of the heat is coming from the Intel Wireless card, if you disable it or remove it from the computer it doesn't get hot at all. It also helps to enable maximum power saving for the card to lower the heat. Just my two cents...

 

+1

I'd hate to lose a 4 year warranty (which cost quite a bit) for that...then again, I could always say I "accidentally" pushed a power drill symmetrically into both sides of the back of my laptop .

 

So i received the H113P part today, it is the same old style vent part that I already had. Do not bother asking for H113P it is not the new part

- Dan

 

@hjorte

where did you get that picture of the updated/V2 rear cap??

 

I think it was from the review here on this very site. Try search for the review. Here's the original picture at the original location: www.notebookreview.com/assets/39915.jpg

 

ahh.. ok.. thanks.. I read that review a few times prior to making the decision to purchase one but I never really looked that closely..

strange, the "updated" rear cap does exists.. yet no one seems to have one.. except notebookreview.com and the one Dell sent AEDan1977 is no different..

 

update: they sent out the supposed upgraded part and turns out to be the same vent...kind of had a feeling this was going to happen.

back to tech support i guess...ill keep you guys updated

 

Did the notebookreview reviewer have the production unit?

 

What is it that makes this laptop get so toasty, d'you think it might be that the graphics are overclocked or something or the BIOS not using the right clock speed for the task on hand? Or is it just a really naff cooling system?

 

I don't know. The review doesn't say. It's weird though that an early model has more vent slots than later ones. Mine has 4 rows, where the bottom row is covered by an inside cable running along the vent slots. The review one has 6 rows, it seems.
Even the Dell manual shows a 6-row vent.

Looks like they went from 6 to 4 rows. You guys who asked for an upgraded cap, got the 4-row model. You got what you asked for. The 4-row is the upgrade cap!

I've also noticed that the back cover on the review model has silver screws. Could be the flash from the camera, but they look silver. Mine are black.

 

What reason could they possibly have to reduce the amount of ventilation holes?

 

Not enough users reported heating problems .

 

I'm looking at the bottom of my laptop right now. Although the older vent looks like it would help in the photos, wouldn't those extra vent slits near the bottom just be blocked by the plastic from the cpu fan anyway?

Looking at my xps 16, the bottom-most vent is already partially blocked by the plastic already. 3 of the 4 vents along the bottom strip are pretty much useless, so i'm thinking would the extra downward facing vents in the photos would be completely blocked if the internal design is the same?

I seriously wish this thing had more venting though! Let me go get my dremel...

 

And your camera, please