XPS 15 (L521X) Owner's Lounge

Did the Dell just give you the U3 for free?

 

Hahahaha no they didn't, I got that on sale at PB Tech. Puts the laptop at a good height now, and has the advantage of solving the hinge problem.

Normally, the hinge covers a part of the exhaust, and when it sits on the desk the angled grill below is almost useless due to the close proximity to the desk surface. Having it up on the U3 stand means that lower grill is actually usefull, and I've placed 2 of the fans to blow air into the twin intakes, since the fan has a hard time pulling it in alone.

Seems good, I dont get temps about 85C on full load now, so thats alright. The U3 is good enough that I forgot to put the fan back too PMW 100% after restarting meaning the fan was running at 2200 on a fairly heavy load (game, Lightroom, chrome etc).

Id definitely advocate a U3 for anyone interested in a fan equipped stand

 

Hi, I've been thinking about getting this XPS 15:
Dell XPS 15-L521X i7-3632QM 2.2GHz NVIDIA GT 640M 15 Laptop - $1,200.00 : ComputerUpgradeKing.com, Delivering Cutting Edge Performance

but I'm worried about the throttling and the gaming performance. Are there still throttling issues that can't be fixed without actually taking it apart(replacing heatsink, paste, etc.)?

 

Zortwil: change your statement to simply read "throttling hasn't been fixed" ... neither has the WiFi performance.

Some people get better/worse behavior, and obviously some get some improvement from the re-work, but I'm betting anything that isn't coming from dell directly is older/returned/refurb stock.

I'm actually 90-95% happy with mine, but my use patterns don't induce the throttling so much so it's not a big deal for me.

If the wifi had fewer issues I'd be 100% happy with it and I have a Killer-N 1202 in mine. There are still times when the only way I get a good wifi connection is with the external usb dongle though, such as at my in-laws place where they are using an Apple Airport Extreme and I couldn't get any connection with the Killer-N at all, at any range.

 

I can only speak for mine but hope these info will help you. I bought one from outlet in March.

So far, no throttling issues. I track usage using precision X software, and memory clock is constant at 1992Mhz and GPU clock at 708mhz (with ~1-2 seconds to 699Mhz) during 3 hours of online BF3. I played at 1600x900 LOW and get a constant 40-60fps. Reducing to lower resolution will be much smoother but playable at1600x900. Temp is max at 80C.

Wifi issue are non-issue at home when set to high performance. if set to max saving, then i get occasional disconnect. Tried wifi in library and it works flawlessly.

So I think the newer version might have things tweaked that fixed these problems, though this is just my experience.

 

If you hit 80C, the GPU will automatically downclock (throttle) until the temperature drops below 80C. This is very apparent if you running a GPU stress utility like FurMark and CPU stress utility Prime95; FurMark alone will still trigger it given 15 minutes+.

I too bought my XPS 15 from the Outlet in March/April and it initially did throttle but I had Dell replace the Heatsink and Fan and that helped a lot. I didn't see any throttling after that in games, temps held around 74-78C on the GPU.
However I decided I wanted better than that and removed the optical (Bluray) drive and it improved temperatures significantly (~10C)

 

The max temp is 80 but it hovers from 76-80. However, there is no downclocking of either memory or GPU clock for the 2-3 hours of BF3. Nonetheless, I have to set max CPU to 95% so to prevent turbo boost on the CPU (according to some suggestions on this site). Changing it back to 100% MAX set the CPU throttling almost immediately.

 

Hi there! Can u explain how did u change the cpu max..? Which software was used and how u did it

Cheers!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

Go into the Advanced settings for your current Power Profile and change the "Maximum Processor State" to 99%. This disables Turbo boost on the Intel CPUs.
It looks like:

Yes, that trick I am aware of. However that does reduce game performance slightly from my experience, although it depends on the game.
This does reduce temperatures pretty dramatically but its a performance trade off. I don't do this since taking out the optical drive.

 

Did you replace optical drive with another hard drive or did you just leave it open?

 

Left it open/empty. Provided for a better airflow, more space to intake air.

 

I'm new to this. I just purchased this model, so my question is: Can I simply replace the Killer-N 1202 with a Centrino wireless card that I have, say from another Dell laptop, or would this not solve the wifi issue? (Haven't received the computer yet, so I don't know if I even have a model with the issue, but has ANYONE been satisfied with the wifi performance of the Killer-N 1202?)

 

Donalgadon, of the available options the killer-n seems to work the best. As long as the card you have is half length you can swap it in and test yourself. The problem seems to be a fundamental physical design issue, case + antenna lead routing + antenna placement + ??? And affects all WiFi cards.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

The reason the Killer-N 1202 works better is that its better able to maintain a good connection with lower signal levels and/or lower quality of signal. The reason for the Wifi being less than optimal in the XPS 15 is that the wifi antennas in the laptop itself are not optimally designed, its not because of the wireless card.

I would first use the laptop and see if you even have any wifi issues. I still see the full speed of my internet connection at the far end of the house, its just that instead of getting 90-100% signal strength, I get maybe 70-80% with the XPS 15.

 

Thank you!

If I want to add a SSD, should I remove the 32GB mSATA? I had read something about it possibly slowing things down, as it is slower than the SATA SSD itself.

Anyone know?

 

You just need to disable the SSD caching in the OS and BIOS. You can however remove the mSATA SSD.
Theres no benefit in having a small SSD cache a bigger SSD.

 

Sorry, but do you know if I can find a guide to this procedure? I mean, is it obvious in the bios and in the OS how to disable the feature?

 

This is what I did, doing a clean install

In simple terms

Prepair a UEFI boot disk
Installing Windows 7 on UEFI based computer - Ask the Core Team - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Update to the latest BIOS
BIOS settings (from memory were UEFI & Lagacy) I'm sure someone will correct me.
Put all the latest drivers on a USB pen
I removed the HDD to stop any MBR issues
Install the msata disk
Boot from the USB Pen
Start the install
Remove all partitions on the SSD & let windows sort it out.
Install
Update drivers
Put old HD in
Set boot option to the MSATA disk
Copy what you need off the old HD
Remove all partitions (including the hidden ones) on the HD using diskpart
Create a new partition & format

Job done

 

Hokay, for any veteran's of this laptop, a question:

There is a small button on the underside of the laptop, at the front L edge, beside what looks like a case mount bump. I've been told it is a battery meter, but I cannot for the life of me see where the indicator lights are?

 

Just press and hold the recessed button (bump) ... the 4 LED power level indicators will shine thru the grill :thumbsup:

 

thanks for the prompt reply!


I tried that, plugged in and not, nothing happened. I pressed held, tried tapping it, nothing.


Oddly enough, i can see a little shiny piece of plastic behind the grill not covered with the mesh stuff, which I assume is the lights. Just nothing lights up =/



Ideas?

 

Another quality Dell build.

 

cable is probably disconnected from the base. There's a base cable that runs to battery to make that battery meter work. You'll need to take apart the computer to reconnect it.

 

Yeah that's defo not connected, shouldn't be too much bother reconnecting it though.

 

LOL Your comment has just killed me xD

 

Cheers for that guys. Anyone with ideas on where to buy the necessary screwdriver bits in NZ?

 

If you can't get a T5, a proper sized flat screwdriver will work, not much force should be used in either direction.

 

I must say that i have received my l521x a week ago.
and everything is just fine.
No wireless issues! on the contrary, its faster and it delivers exactly as promised.
I cannot noticed any gridlines on the screen except for being very close. Though im never that close to the screen and i think no one should be.
i haven't had any throttling so i cannot comment on that yet.

i hope everything is fixed and that im not just lucky

 

How far from the Wifi router/base station are you using the laptop? It works fine in a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment but try a big house and its definitely not as good as other laptops. It still works, just not as well.

 

Hi guys, I'm having the same issues with a bad connection on my XPS 13. Does anyone have any fixes? The interesting thing is that my Sager with the same exact card has no issues with a rapidly diminishing connection like the XPS 13. Also, has anyone tried an Intel 6300? I used to have that on my Vaio Z and it was literally the best card I've ever used. Thanks

 

There's no fix unfortunately. Some have reported that Dell replacing the screen assembly which includes the wifi antennas has helped, but others have reported no change.

 

Hey guys, I was thinking of getting a xps 15 but want to wait until haswell and NVidia 700 series start to appear in notebooks. Does anyone know a timescale or can give a guess as to when dell will start including the said chips? Do you think they will change anything in a newer version? as ive heard the wireless issue is now fixed as they are using killer wireless cards in their new machines.

Im quite out of touch with dell laptops as I haven't owned one for a couple of years now.

 

the Killer-N has *not* fixed the wireless issues, only mitigated some of the effects.

some people are getting units that seem to work for them, but I don't consider the reporting frequency high enough to consider anything "fixed."

To my knowledge there's been no announcement from Dell about Haswell based hardware. I'd expect it to come out pretty quickly once Intel declares it "on the market" ... but I haven't seen any Haswell based hardware reviews/previews of Dell parts yet.

I'd also consider it prudent to wait AT LEAST 3 months after the new generation hardware comes out before purchasing one, if for no other reason than to let hardware drivers to become stable, etc.

 

I replaced the mSata with a Crucial 256 mSata and use it for additional storage.

 

If you're getting an SSD, get a Crucial mSATA SSD (256GB). Use that as your boot drive, and leave the HDD for data (pictures, music, docs, etc.)
You can configure the BIOS to boot off the mSATA drive instead of the HDD.

This way, you have the equivalent of two drives in your XPS.

 

Hi all,

I had ordered an XPS 14 but I cancelled it, as I just can't decide which one to get: 13, 14 or 15. I think the 13 will be a bit to small for me, so that leaves me with the 14 or 15.

I would like to get the Full HD screen of the 15, over that 900p screen in the 14 one, but I am really bothered with the cooling issues mentioned here. How bad are they really in an everyday use?

I doubt I'll use the NVIDIA card very often (if ever!), as I don't game with my laptop, and I will be installing Ubuntu anyway. I'll use the laptop to do some development (with IDEs like MPLAB or eclipse based ones), websurfing, use some virtualmachines (nothing serious though). What I'll do a lot is surfing the web, email an so on. Yes, I may not need such a powerfull machine, but after having used an underpowered and small Acer 1810TZ since 2009, I think it's now time to get a powerfull premium machine. I don't need that extreme mobility anymore, so a 15,6" machine is perfect for me, even more with the high res FULL HD display.

I assume that, even if the 14 had the same issues, they would be much harder to trigger, since it uses ULV processors, while the bigger 15 uses standard mobile ones.

Also, how often does the fan kick in when doing things like internet browsing of writing some documents? How are the temps there? I don't know which proc I would get, if the Dual Core i5 or the Quad Core i7.. the later is very tempting though...

Anyway, sorry for the long write, I hope you can show me the correct way! Thanks

 

There's no cooling issues if your not using the dedicated GPU. Like Ubuntu will run off the Intel iGPU and it stays very cool. I use bbswitch in Ubuntu to completely power off the Nvidia GPU. You could use Bumblebee if you want certain apps to run on the Nvidia GPU.

 

PatrickV, your stated usage has a lot of parallels with mine, I have no issues with the cooling as I rarely use the NVidia GPU.

I have one of the early models, it's almost a year old.

I'm running it off a 128 Gb mSATA SSD with the HDD as data-only. I also bumped the ram to 16 Gb.

 

Hi!

@c0derbear and silentjudge: thanks to both! It's really what I wanted to hear!

I'm still deciding what to do.. I've now included the XPS 14 with only the Intel card to my choices... I'd prefer not having an extra card that I'm not gona use, which in the future may cause problems too. Too bad there's no XPS 15 intel only!

I'll keep you posted!

 

If you don't plan on gaming, there's no real advantage to getting the XPS 15 unless its cheaper. I dual boot and do occasionally play games so that's where it benefits me.

Just make sure you install 13.04 if you want to take advantage of Dell's Project Sputnik out of the box which has improved driver support. You can on 12.04 but it requires installing Dells PPA whereas its built in to 13.04 kernel.

 

Arghh, I today ordered an XPS 15 - L521x from the Dell UK Outlet, only to now discovered this thread and issues. Is there a high probability I'll suffer throttling with any CPU intensive activity?

8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz Memory (2 DIMMs)
512 GB 2.5inch SATA Solid State Hard Drive
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-3632QM (2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.20 GHz) + 2 GB Graphics
5X Blu-Ray Disc (DVD+/-RW + BD-ROM)
English Windows 7 Professional SP1 (64 Bit)
Display : 15.6 Inch Full High Definition (1080p) True Life WLED Display and Skype-Certified Hi-Def Webcam
Power Supply: 90W AC Adapter
Wireless : Dell Wireless 1901 802.11a/b/g/n + Bluetooth v4.0

 

I've gone ahead and cancelled. Seems the odds of experiencing issues are high, and don't want to take a chance as this was supposed to be a replacement for my M1530 that blew thanks to the infamous Nvidia chip flaw!

 

Someone please help

I installed a second HDD in a caddy but then my computer doesn't boot. It goes to the windows startup animation then blue screen quickly and restarts. I can't even read the bluescreen code.
I tried undoing what I did but it's still blue screening

 

@PatrickV,

I have an XPS 15, the widest version of your options;
The cooling issues I had a few pages back were *fixed* albeit at the cost of a new motherboard, new thermal paste and new fan (different brand to original). Having said this, the cooling is only an issue when one is really working the GPU out.


I can tell you right now, once you go HD, you'll never go back. I briefly considered going to a 14 while shopping for the XPS, but ultimately, the dvd drive, extra USB and screen tipped the 15 for me. And just 2 days ago, i went to JB HiFi (electronics retailer) and looked again at a 14 next to a 15, and was really glad I went with the 15.

Sure its bigger, and weightier, but the HD screen is REALLY something noticeable.

Ultimately, it comes down to what your useage is, and for a person who wants a fast email/ web latop, the 14 is perfect for them and travel. Ill admit that, even though I'm doing a bit of flying in the next few months, the 15 is just a bit too big to be comfortable travelling with, but for day to day work; Photoshop, Lightroom, gaming, web surfing, document processing etc, its perfect. And the HD screen really brings the photos I work hard for out


Finally, some stats for you; As of this moment, I have Chrome, iTunes, Word and a movie on VLC running + McAfee. Core temp is 53C and GPU is 47C (cold by any other word).
If i open up a few games, the temps occasionally max at about 80C, depending on render distances and details etc.


While I had some issues to start with, the WiFi has never given me grief, the boot speeds are super quick (I used to race my GF's MBP to show off to her, mine beat hers every single time XD ), processing speeds are quick, the extra USB is a blessing, DVD is great to have, and the screen makes it for me.



I'd still recommend Dell to people, and I' definitely recommend the 15 to you. BUT, as with all things, take your time. Its your money, your laptop. Make sure you're happy with your choice. I know I'm happy with mine

 

Anyone tried to run Crysis 3 on this bad boy? I was able to play Crysis 1 and 2 with anywhere from 30 - 60 FPS.

Presumably, C3 should get somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 - 45 FPS. Any experiences?

 

God damnit. No reply from my cancellation email I sent soon after ordering, so rang them this morning and have been informed it's too late to do so and the order will be delivered and my account charged. The Dell rep told me you must cancel within 24hrs. How the heck to I call up and cancel within 24hrs when they're closed over the weekend?!! I pointed this out and he apologised, but still, that's not good enough.

Guess I'll have to send it back and demand my money somehow.

 

I am pretty sure there is a period you can return for 100% no problem.

Just do so as soon as the machine arrives.

Will probably be a PITA to work through the phone calls though, but be persistent.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

Does this laptop have a sim card slot? If not is there any possible way I can add one (probably a dumb question).

 

no, and i doubt it.

i guess it may be possible to replace the mSATA SSD with some kind of mini-pci card, but I haven't heard of anyone figuring out if any cell-data cards are compatible.

i think the only safe bet is a usb device for cell data connectivity.

 

refuse delivery and dispute any credit card charges.

Refusing delivery is return to sender without accepting and thus they cannot charge you