XPS 15 9560 owners thread.

Which fluffy ones are recommended? For my 9550 I just used TG Minus pads 8 and they're not particularly fluffy. And the 1.5mm was much thicker than 1mm so that I couldn't combine them. I filled up the deepest part of the hole under the twisted heatpipe with a part of the old pad, and filled the rest with Kryonaut. I hope tha pad sticks to the HP, otherwise it will be a mess when somebody opens this up next time.

 

Well I used the Fujipoly XR-m (17 W/mk) and they were dense like modeling clay so have no real compressibility. Not recommended.

The lower rated pads were of a foamy material so require less precision for fitting. Foamy pads also don't have such a tendency to push away the heatsink, potentially impacting heatsink contact with other components. That second factor is really important for the new 9560 due to the fact Dell removed one screw on the heatsink so it is not down with so much pressure.

So high performance, dense thermal pads could be a problem with the 9560.

The Fujipoly catalogue shows how compressible it pads are on a chart on p.17. The PG80A is 8 W/mk and classified as "extremely compressible". Not sure if that is appropriate for a laptop application but the catalogue will get you started. Or better yet, just call one of the shops that specializes in overclocking and computer cooling solutions...

http://www.fujipoly.com/usa/assets/files/Fujipoly 2015 Sarcon Catalog for web.pdf

 

Correct, but a slipped screwdriver otoh
It isn't the paste I worry about it's the competence (nothing personal and not aimed at an individual) of the person performing the work I worry about

out of interest did you check the GPU to heatsink fit after using those pads as I had issues with 1mm 12w/mk pads.

I think the Dell ones are 5w/mk, quite a standard one for the purpose.

 

Hey I've got one in order too for work

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To be honest, not properly, I've no experience with this and of course I spent a couple of hours more than planned and was fed up with it by 2AM. I just check the fit roughly without paste, the 1.5mm were obviously too thick but the 1mm were I guess actually thinner than 1mm, just slightly thicker than the original ones. I'd have reopened and checked today if the performance didn't improve. But just after I let it run Heaven for a while and there was no throttling anymore, without undervolt, whereas previously both the GPU and the CPU hit thermal limits. So now it appears at least okay, I haven't done combined tests yet.

I tried opening up the grille below the display in the centre, between the fan exhausts. It turns out it isn't sealed completely by tape from the factory, just made narrower. Notice it should be an intake. I thought it worth trying to cool down the VRM area a bit more. It is a bit close to the exhaust, but on my previous laptop there isn't much more space between intake and exhaust. I'm aware this heats up the fan intake air a bit, but I'd expect the majority of the air still come through the holes near the fans. The preliminary result is that nothing catastrophic has occured and that most temperatures are lower but a few are higher too. I'll check under load, it should be easy to close the grille from the outside for live testing.

With lid closed, thermal images posted indicate that the grille open like this shouldn't be a good idea, I guess I'll glue two cigarette butts as separators if I decide to keep it like this just in case; I don't use it with lid closed generally.

 

The Minus pads 8 are also clay-like, appear very similar to the stuff on page 13. Would easily absorb small unevenness like small SMD resistors, but I guess it would take a lot of force to squeeze it to half the thickness, and the rest would need to flow away at edges just like paste. When online-shopping I figured they'd be fluffier, as they're not world-record W/mK.

 

Based on your description, the Fujipoly XR-m seem to be rock-hard compared to your pads.

If you tried out a few size pads for best physical fit...thermals improved and throttling disappeared...that seems to be a good result.

- Are all the cores of your CPU nearly the same temps?
- Use a monitor program to closely watch all the temp sensors-throttling for several days to make sure no issues
- Compare your thermals to those of other 9560 users (your laptop likely runs hotter than 9550 as Kaby Lake runs a bit "overclocked" but that data has some use)

If that all checks out, I think I would be pretty satisfied.
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FYI there are ways to ensure proper thermal pad & paste application so take a look around the internet. Some ideas that worked for me are below but there are lots of better ideas from more experienced people posted around here. Look at the 9550 thermals thread started by custom90GT:

* For the repaste, I think it is important to get just enough thermal paste and that it is evenly distributed. Some people clean the CPU & GPU, repaste and bolt down the heatsink. Then they open it all up again to verify the paste is distributed evenly, there was proper amount of paste, and no obvious heatsink issues. There are lots of pictures of good vs. bad paste jobs that are superbly helpful. Then clean CPU & GPU again, repaste again, and bolt down the heatsink again.

I know repasting a few times is a pain in the ass to do. But it gives you a ton of good information on paste thickness, full distribution, and quality of mating with heatsink. Plus you get comfortable with the paste application. You will see the experienced guys around here do it several times over to optimize.

* For thermal pads, some of the experts here (e.g. GoNz0) recommend no change unless obvious problem.

To change thermal pads, some people start eyeballing fit. Others recommend applying a thin layer of x (I used thermal paste) between the heatsink and pad, bolting up the heatsink, then unbolting and checking if even contact was made between the thermal pad and heatsink. With thicker fluffy, compressable pads, probability of contact between the VRAM and heatsink is probably higher.
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Here is a good place to start which I am sure you have already read but as reference to others
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...rature-observations-undervolt-repaste.785963/

 

I test pad fit by laying a thin piece of plastic on it and seeing if I can pull it out with the heatsink nipped up but not tight.

 

Any thoughts on whether its worth delaying a purchase until the fingerprint readers turn up? Aside from on a phone I've not really made use of fingerprints for logins, though the last few computers I've used have had swipe reader option. I have visions of spending minutes trying to get a fingerprint to be accepted each time the machine is switched on. I'm struggling to see how you'd add this as an extra, as the check out page in the UK only gives the option to customise support and software - unless it's just going to be a standard offering in future?

In the UK the 4K models only have two options. The price difference is £300 and you double both the SSD size and RAM. It looks like swapping these out would give an improvement, however I think it would be more than £300 to get replacement memory and a SSD? Since the Dell memory looks to be DDR4 and 2400MHz would there be a benefit of replacing it in terms of performance, or would it just be potentially more reliable?

 

Dell UK emailed to say the fingerprint reader was an option now, so far it is only showing on the business site but they may again be able to spec it on the home laptops.

 

The finger print readers have gotten much better. The one on my ThinkPad P50 works each time without any problems, would assume that Dell has also included a quality finger print reader. I would really miss it if I didn't have it as I use complex strong passwords always.

 

What about when you connect the XPS15 9560 to an external 4K monitor, would that force the dGPU to become active and thus increase fan noise and heat? Only usage productivity use (office use), no gaming, video editing etc. If combined with a TB16, no problems getting it to work with a external 4K monitor at 60 hz?

 

I don't see why it would require the dGPU to show 4k.

 

Fam, it depends on what you're using to output to the external monitor. The HDMI port on my 9550 is rated at 1.4 which goes up to 4K 40Hz. I almost went nuts trying to get 60Hz on my 4K TV. Using the USB-C port with an adapter however, gave me 4K at 60Hz with a type C to HDMI 2.0 adapter. A display port adapter would also give you 60Hz.

If the 9560 also has an HDMI 1.4 port then you might have to use an adapter

And it uses the integrated GPU without the fans kicking in on the 9550

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Would love to see a few things:

1. Cinebench R15 scores with the i5-7300HQ
2. Unigine Valley UltraHD preset benchmark for the GPU...
3. Temps for both benchmarks

I'm about a month out from ordering mine...

 

For people who were waiting for the finger print reader, it is now available as a $25 upgrade option which is for some reason in the Keyboard category.

If somebody who already has the machine can post a GPU-Z screenshot, I would appreciate it as I still haven't been able to find one yet.

 

Haven't done any prober benchmarks yet. So far machine has been perfect. No coil whine, and not overly loud fans while gaming but obviously audible, nothing that bugs me though especially if you play with sound.

Haven't tested battery yet either, mostly been plugged in. My machine is the i7 16gb ram 500 GB ssd version.

 

It shouldn't but many laptops still activates the dGPU as soon as you plug in an external monitor.

 

Curios, has anyone EVER gotten an update through the Dell Update utility? Have tried it on many machines for several years and it has NEVER found anything, even when I know there are new drivers available on Dells website.

 

Thanks a lot! So the GTX 1050 does have 32 ROPs despite all of the CES articles saying it only has 16.

 

Lol never


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I have (9550)! But what came up was in one case not the most recent update, hehe. Even the Dell Update itself was not fresh at that time. So I chose to remove rather than update it.
I guess it might have a built-in delay of a few weeks, because they know as we do that most of the updates need to be updated soon after release.

 

The irony is that even when I've tried to install it after a fresh windows installation, it still doesn't manage to find any updated driver

 

I may be getting my 9560 today. Tried to get an additional discount on Dell chat but they said no... Best I can get it down to is $1071.89 after tax on the i5 model.... I've got a callback today to see if they'll give me another 5% off. Right now I've got the xoxo10 which is 10% off... 15% would get me under $1k total...

 

What voltage is the GPU running at load? Scroll over to the sensors tab on GPUZ and run a benchmark! plzzzz!

 

I'm guessing it is too early to come to the conclusion that the 9560 has addressed some of the issues of the 9550? It's been very few posts from people who received their laptop but they've been mostly positive thus far. With that said, I don't know just how common it was for 9550 owners to have an issue out of the box.

 

Who knows. But I think the 9560 has been a relatively successful launch. Two thoughts:

1. Based on posts here over the past 18 months, I think Dell worked most of the kinks out of the 9550 model and as a result, the nearly-identical 9560 has enjoyed a much smoother launch. You can compare this thread with the 9550 threads at launch to make your own conclusions.

2. The posters here are generally self-selected. Those with problems and those who want to unlock performance. The vast majority of owners must be regular users with no complaints don't come to post about things working out of the box.

 

Considering that the 9560 is in all fairness a refresh of the 9550 rather than a brand new model, it seems logical that it shouldn't have the problems the 9550 had at launch.

 

FYI...for those that already have their 9560... you may want to download the new NVIDIA drivers... apparently only the 378.49 drivers is the recommended driver for the 1050....

 

Do you generally view this as a good thing relative to a new model? Unrelated to the issues people have faced, is there anything 'dated' about the xps 15 that you think would call for a new model release or is the shell still one of the best there is? Basically, is upgrading components all that is really necessary to you at this time?

Makes sens but reading around this forum doesn't exactly instill confidence that Dell would fix many of their issues.

 

I think the 9560 is best in class. The CPU and GPU were just released and both screens look spetacular.

Dell really pushed the limits of physical design, size and performance here. In this form factor, if you can use a low performing U class processor and integrated graphics chip, there are plenty of other options...

There are still niggles with the XPS. I was able to ignore or fix everything in my 9550 to get a superb laptop. But you need to see if these niggles bother you or if you can fix them. This thread should help you figure out the niggles and which ones can be fixed by user (CPU repaste) vs. unchangable (TB3 x2).

If you are worried about quality, I really do think most of the issues have already been solved in the 9550. Partly because the computers are nearly identical, partly because of user posts. That is a big deal for 9560 users. Also, check out Dell's return and warranty in your country. Here I think we have 30 days to return, which I think takes a lot of the risk away...

 

So I was set on the xps for a long time and may end up with it. Went with alienware 15 for better gaming capabilities and less ghosting on 4k panel. Went to a shop today which had both and I am staggered at the size difference. I know both are different, but the xps is svelte. I actually have no idea how they cram everything into that (especially a dedicated graphics card). The alienware isn't that big but it is heavy. I am OK with that - never going to take it out of the flat. If I don't get on with the AW the xps will be the replacement (4k version).

 

So...

I juat received my XPS 15 9560 day before yesterday after debating myself on getting on for awhile. I decided to get one once I saw the new 2017 refresh. I thought about getting the 13 over the 15 because main reason for getting it is to have something more portable to take to college classes. I do all my PC gaming at home on desktop PC. Having never seen an XPS 13 or 15 in person I ended up going with the 15 for the more powerful hardware ie: dedicated graphics card mainly because I much prefer that to be able to do some decent light gaming or when traveling or if I ever use it for cad or such things. Anyways, looking online I had seen the reports from years past about coil whine and stuff but then I saw people more recently saying that had been fixed so I went ahead and ordered. Couple days after ordering I saw the news about finger print reader not being available till early February but said **** it, that isn't that big of a deal to me and kept my original order. So... to the point.

Got my i7 4k touchscreen 1TB ssd drive decked out XPS 15 and wouldn't you know it, brand new 2700$ laptop and the touchscreen doesn't work. I checked out the device manager and found a USB device not installed properly. "Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed) so shut down by windows. I looked online and found posts about people having the exact same issue on earlier XPS 15 models as far back as 2015. The only difference was they reported it happened to them after one or two weeks of ownership where as mine showed up this way.

Went through the remote troubleshooting support thing and the guys really had no idea what he was doing I could tell but let him do his thing anyways. Ultimately he said I would have to send it in for repair at repair facility. I told him no thank I am just going to return it. So yea, just thought I would share my info / experience with the brand new 9560. I am most likely going to order an other one with the now available finger print reader and hope the 2nd one doesn't have any issues. I just find it very odd this brand new laptop is suffering from a very obvious issue customers have been reporting since as far back as 2015. Looking on dells support site I couldn't find any drivers specifically for or mentioning the touchscreen either.

Also just a heads up for future owners. When I went to the support site and either let it "detect" my machine or entered the service tag it would pull up the wrong model XPS 15. Some older one that had Windows 7 listed as the OS with no option for windows 10. I had to select change model and browse and go to laptops / XPS / 9560 manually and then I got the right page for the 9560 with Windows 10 OS and correct drivers showing.

Good luck all. I really have the worst luck in the world so not too surprised this would happen to me but again at least I can reorder with the fingerprint reader, worth the 25$ I guess. If the 2nd one shows up with issues idk, might have to look elsewhere then.

 

I debated on a 4k screen...honestly I can't justify the cost...heck I may be able to upgrade the screen 1 day to 4k without much of a huge additional cost... I upgraded my old XPS 14 l401x from a 720p to 900p screen and that made a world of a difference. The GPU isn't strong enough to take 4k and honestly even at 1080p its probably gonna struggle. The eye candy would be nice...but even at the 144ppi I think it'll be just fine for my needs.

 

Was reading through previous pages of the thread. Saw someone ask for i5 benchmarks, mines i7 with 32GB but figured I would run them and post them for comparison sake anyways. One thing that did impress me was he Nvidia 1050 running at 1911mhz boost clock. Guess they have been able to boost clock speeds a lot in recent generations.

 

Hi all, i'm new here. Got my 9560 i7 16gb 512 ssd FHD a few hours ago and i absolutely loved it but it has a stuck pixel. Do you recommend to ask for a replacement?

 

One more Cinebench, that first one was after running the CPU test. This one running th eOpenGL test, beats out all the other comperable machines or whatever they have listed for comparison.

 

They likely won't replace it for just one stuck pixel. But depending on where it is located and how much it is going to bother you, you can try if you want and see what happens.

 

It's not too far from the center of the screen. it's visible only with dark background and high brightness. Ok, I'll contact the support and ask them for a solution. It's my 1st laptop and it's a shame to see that broken pixel. If they won't replace it i can ask for a refund and send the pc back to them and then buy another one. It's a very beautifull and powerfull laptop, it's a shame that dell doesn't have a good quality control.

 

Holy cow... 1911MHz boost? That's insane... that's a heck of alot higher boost than even the desktop variant of the 1050... lol I wonder how that works... I'm hoping with proper cooling and liquid metal TIM for at least a 10% boost in performance with GPU overclocking...

 

Yes, they will replace rather than refund, do not accept a repair.

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Should i get Dell to replace 9550 with 9560? How the battery of the new XPS15?
The 1050 seems like GPU that finally give me consoles 1080p games on the move.

 

Hello everyone, greetings from Malaysia. I have just received mine and happy with the machine so far. Wanted the configuration with i7 + 512GB SSD + FHD like what you guys have in US but unfortunately there are only 3 configurations available here and only one of them has a FHD screen, so I have settled with that one which comes with an i5, 32GB SSD + 1TB HDD, and also a smaller battery.

Despite the compromise I made, it is still a pretty significant upgrade for me considering my current machine is a 4 years old Inspiron 15R SE. I have also ordered a 500GB SSD to replace the 32GB cache drive so I'm hoping to see even more performance boost in this lovely machine.

 

I detected a dead pixel way out in the margin on my 9550 4k screen within a week or so of receiving it in December. I too thought that a single dead pixel would not qualify for replacement but Dell sent an engineer to replace screen no questions asked. Surprised but obviously very happy. Maybe it depends on the level of support - I have 2 years extended pro support - but definately worth calling them.

 

I called the premium support this morning and they told me to proceed with a refund and then buy another one. They told me that there is also the possibility to change the lcd kit but the pc is new so they strongly recommended to ask for a refund. I'll take the chance to buy another 9560 but with fingerprint reader. On monday i'll call the "return support". Anyone has experience of refund with dell? How many days are needed to obtain the money back? If i ask for replace could they add the fingerprint option on the new one?

 

Are you saying that you have got Dell to agree to swap replace your 9550 for a 9560? Or do you mean get a refund for your 9550 and then order a 9560?

 

They wont as they still sell the 9550

Pathetic, they should have cross shipped a replacement.

 

You're right. I called them again and asked if it was possible to replace it, but they said that the replacement is offered only if the laptop has a irreparable problem. I have to buy another one and then send this one back in order to not stay without laptop too much time.I thought that buy a premium laptop would have been more pleasant...

 

Call back again and tell then they are wrong and you know people who have had cross shipments for new builds with bad panels, ask for the manager if the 1st line idiots can't help and ask the manager to be put through to the resolutions team should they not help.

FYI I had 3 cross ships until I got a good panel. Why should a new laptop be ripped apart by someone without factory training?

 

I'll try to contact them again on monday to see if i can talk with someone else, the guy who answered me this afternoon was the same one of this morning. Especially if there are many bad panel (mine also tends to some magenta/reddish tint on the right side). Thanks for help!