XPS 15 9560 owners thread.

Problem is, the XPS is expensive but you pay for the looks; some of those christmas tree monsters with the same chips may actually perform better because they have some more heatpipes and fins inside, and they are less sensitive to bad paste (though all use the same print method in production).

Careful with the pads on the heatsink. It has been shown by many that quality pads on the VRMs alone can send too much heat to the backplate so that things get worse in the long run. The heatpipes and fins with good paste actually do take enough heat away from the two (no direct throttling reported by many), it is mainly the VRM heat causing power limit throttling.

- iunlock's mod seems to be the best method to date, by adding extra "fin surface" above the VRMs and redirecting some cooling air over there - but is kinda involved and partly non-reversible. It may not be the only and the simplest possible solution so you can consider different variants, but mind that iunlock obviously did try quite a few simpler things.

- 3 layers of Arctic 1.5mm pads on the VRM mosfets is an easy option that works to most (with undervolting both + repasting + disabling CPU turbo and limiting quality settings for games)

- recently there is another relatively simple idea with a thin pad sheet (.5mm) "bridge" from the mosfets to the heatsink above the CPU&GPU but not touching the backplate - but serious tests of this haven't been reported. Mind a copper "bridge" might transfer heat better, but might also cause shorts if not isolated and fixed properly.

 

very good points, thank you.

i'll report back with results when i finally get it done over the weekend

 

Hi all,

What's the most current best advice for a clean install of Win 10 on my Dell XPS 9560?

I've never done this before and am afraid of bricking my machine or not having the right drivers loaded on a USB. I can't just do this with the factory image on the computer by using Windows Reset function?

Is this a perfectly good walk through if you don't recommend the Windows Reset function? https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/5qe3oh/how_to_fresh_install_on_xps_15_9560/

Any particular things, issues, or novice errors to look out for when doing this?

 

just follow the instruction on the link you provided, that is the proper way to do it

 

not like anyone is going to care, but for the few that do:

updates:

XPS 15 9560

Pictures:

https://imgur.com/a/VqG6UAL

1) To answer my previous question, DDR4 2666mhz is supported on bios 1.9.4. i'm using kingston hyperx 2 x 8gb ddr4 2666mhz cas latency 15.
as you can see on the pictures, bios displays correct speed of ram, also cpu-z displays correct speed @ 2666mhz.

2) Swapped stock Killer 1535 wifi card for a Intel 9260. Night and day difference, no more random drops, connects instantly when waking up the laptop. Very satisfied with the $30 i spent on it.

3) I cleaned and repasted both cpu and gpu thermal paste with kryonaut.

4) undervolted cpu (i7-7700hq) by -0.120mv.

5) MSI afterburner to create a custom voltage curve for the gtx 1050. currently @ 0.95 volts @ 1700`1784 depending on how hot it gets. does throttle down to 1700 after a long gaming session.

6) added thermal pads to some of the VRMs as seen in the pictures.

7) #3 to #6 = cpu stays around 75 degrees after 1 hour of prime, multiplier goes from 30`38. Definitelly some throttling still, but as you know prime95 punishes the heck out of the cpu. GPU fared a lot better, it stays under 70 after 1 hour of unigine heaven.

8) installed a white carbon fiber dbrand skin. The key to perfecting this is PATIENCE, which i don't have. you can see the results of little patience, it doesn't quite aling on the bottom panel. but i don't care, i just want to protect my laptop from scratches. it looks good enough for me.

I think i might repaste the cpu + gpu again, i only applied ever so little.

 

New BIOS for XPS15 9560

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=TPFJN
https://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER05073643M/1/XPS_15_9560_1.10.1.exe

Fixes:
1. Updated Intel ME Firmware to address security advisories INTEL-SA-00112 (CVE-2018-3628 CVE-2018-3629 CVE-2018-3632 ) & INTEL-SA-00118(CVE-2018-3627)
2. Updated CPU microcode to address security advisory Intel Security Advisory INTEL-SA-00115 (CVE-2018-3639 & CVE-2018-3640)
3. Fixed the TPM configuration on a TPM startup error during S3 resume

Enhancement:
1. Added TPM PPI Bypass for Clear Command support
2. Addressed PCIe compatibility
3. Improved BIOS Recovery experience
4. Improved startup stability when the RTC battery voltage is low

 

Justr so you know:

- You didn't pad the VRMs correctly, you might want to double check the guides to see what you need to pad.
- You shouldn't pad the heatsinks to the back panel, you are superheating the panel which draws in hotter air. Combined with a VRM pad to the backpanel, you are superheating all your components.
- General consesus these days is that you shouldn't pad the VRMS to the back panel, but straight to the heatsink. It heats up the CPU and GPU a bit, but it helps the VRM stay cooler without overheating the back panel and the incoming air.
- What settings did you select with Prime95? A 38x multiplier indicates a single-core workload (when all 4 cores are loaded, the max multiplier is 34x). You shouldn't get any single-core workloads when stresstesting with Prime95.

 

yeah, pads were removed from heatsink completelly. however pads on vrm's are fine as they were. not plannning on padding to heatsink, i'll leave as is for now since removing pads from heatsink actually got temps were i want them to be.

prime95 = small sff for max heat
stopped using intel xtu, too limited. instead opted for throttlestop. currently undervolted -120mv on core and -50mv on igpu.

i ran some more benchmarks, this time with hwinfo64. you are correct, the multiplier stays around 30-34 after 1 hour of prime95. not sure why xtu showed me 38 before.

cpu temps after 1 hour prime95 = around 70 with a max of 77. i'm happy with this since with real world usage it means i'll never get over 70.

Playing overwatch for 1 hour = small instances of gpu throttling, based on the log file created by gpu-z. it seems after about 30 mins of constant playing, the gpu hits up to 75. now i thought the gpu would throttle when over 78, but it seems to dial back a bit when it gets over 70.

not very noticeable in game, it's still butter smooth and can definitelly play at a competitive level.

and that pretty much wraps it up for me, no more mods planned for this laptop.

i just wish manufacturers would start doing a better job at thermal pasting. i still have a lenovo s510 cheapo laptop that came with factory paste that is perfectly fine even today. Granted it's just powering a 6200u + 940mx, but in 3 years this laptop has never ever throttled on me.

 

I'll give you a hint, it's not Lenovo's pasting job that helped you there. It's the fact that the CPU uses 1/4 of the power...

Trust me, I've owned a lenovo or two and their paste job is just as crappy and I've had just as good of repasting results.

 

First time posting here, after some weeks reading everything about the 9560 machine and its adjustments (thermal) needed!

Thanks for all forum members such @custom90gt and @iunlock for the entire lesson on how to manage the thermals of this notebook.

Got a refurbished 9560 from Dell Outlet with the 4K UHD, 7700HQ, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD (LITEON, by the way).

Not sure why/when this was built and the reason for being refurbushed. Opening it to install the thermal pads saw some dust on the fans so they may have worked a while before becoming mine (no trouble with that!).

Some pictures of it, just for the record. Made the mods previously recommended (ARTIC 1.5mm pads, MX-4 Paste on CPU/GPU) and yesterday started undervolting and enabling SST (currently at -120mV CPU and -70 iGPU) System halted with -125mV.




Post Mod thermal pads:



I'll post the temperatures, after all testing is finished!

 

As I understand it the power requirement is 130watt, but charging via USB-C is max 100watt.

Does anyone know if the power adaptor that comes with the D6000 dock (which is 130watt) can directly power the laptop.

I ask because I need a secondary charger, and I can pick up a D6000 dock with the power supply for the same money as the XPS15 130watt power adaptor on its own. So I get a free dock and the option of USB-C charging.

Thanks
Dan

 

What CPU do you have? I don't think the 9560 will draw more than 100w of power even under something unreasonable like prime95 and furmark.

 

The Core i7 7700HQ.

 

I would guess you'd still be under the 100w limit since my 9570 with the i7-8750h was under 100w draw running prime95 and furmark.

I have ran all of my XPS laptops on a 65w usb-c charger for a long time. I don't game on it but it's totally fine for everyday use.

 

Thanks.

Just to go back to my question, would the charger for the dock be usable as the charger for the laptop directly, to get the full needed power?

 

As long as the charger is usb-c I don't see why it would be an issue. It likely wouldn't deliver the whole 130w but you likely won't need it. Out of curiosity do you have a link or part number for the dock?

 

The power supply for the dock looks like its the same plug as the normal charger port on my xps.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-universal-dock-d6000/apd/452-bcyt/pc-accessories

 

I see what you're saying. It's really hard to tell from the pictures if it is the more slender power connector that the XPS uses or the older larger connector from Dell. Looking at the side of my 9560 the power plug is about the same size maybe smaller than the height of the HDMI port. That picture it looks larger, so I'd say no.

Why spend 200 bucks on a dock when you don't need the dock portion of it? Besides the power supplies that come with the docks are usually larger physically than the slimmer XPS power supply.

 

The reason is because in my country I can get the dock from a third party for the same money as the charger that came with my device, and as the second charger will only sit on my office desk I thought it may be a better option.

 

Makes sense then I would get it and use the USB-C portion of it since the power adapter by itself won't work.

 

No, it is not an USB Adapter, and the plug is the "older" 7.4mm plug. But charging via D6000 is ok, we use it daily here in the office. 4K output is also fine, though it's a DisplayLink, not native.
Edit: it also charges slowly, notebook reports just 60W charging.

 

Thanks.

I thought the D6000 had two native 4k outputs and one virtual display link when used with the XPS 15 9560, hence giving you the 3 in total.

 

Hi,

I just double-checked, actually writing this in our conference room, where the XPS 9560 is connected to a large 4K TV using the D6000 (We decided to use this solution, because we can attach any PC, since the D6000 is in fact just a USB 3 device ("USB 3.1 Gen1 5 Gbit/s"). Thus, it also includes an adapter for USB Type A.)

This is what I can see:
- Screen is operating at 4K / 60Hz
- There is absolutely no noticeable lag
- Intel context menu (on desktop) is not available when connected
- Graphics adapter shows as "Displaylink USB device"

(Screen is attached using HDMI output)

I attached a screenshot showing the above mentioned details.

Where have you found info regarding native outputs? That would be quite interesting.

Best regards from Austria,

Gerhard

Edit: found it - https://www.displaylink.org/forum/showpost.php?p=83836&postcount=6
-> yes, it's using alternate mode, but only for a potential 3rd screen, if I unterstood correctly

 

g.achrainer, thanks.

I though this because of other forums discussions I read, along with the fact that the spec from dell states the third output is only at 30fps or a lower resolution, and USB3 is probably saturated with one 4k screen using displaylink.

If the dock does not simply pass through the display port signal from the USB-C port thats really dumb and a total waste.

Plus, it states only two displays via USB3 and three via USB-C, so I wonder why the difference.

So I assume you are connected via USB-C?

 

Sorry, wasn't quick enough with my edit ;-)

https://www.displaylink.org/forum/showpost.php?p=83836&postcount=6
states that it's using Alternate mode only for a 3rd screen under certain circumstances.

Yes, I'm using USB-C here (reason for dock was the single cable Connection including charging).

 

Thats great then, and I think having the third display via display link is a neat feature.

I have a 4k star tech USB3 display port adaptor, and it eats a fair amount of cpu cycles, hence my concern that three display link monitors would place a significant performance hit on my system.

 

Of course, there is some Performance penalty with DisplayLink, especially when using 4K. I also compared the TB16, where this is almost non-existent. This is insignificant for office work, but clearly unusable for videos / gaming.

 

Great, so I ordered one and will report back when I get to test it!

 

I haven't seen any report here yet, so I'm posting my experience: not a single problem.
The update didn't even reset AHCI BIOS setting as usual, so it booted straight to the OS just after flashing the new BIOS version.

 

Same here, running 1.10.1 smooth since it was released!

 

Does any one know the maximum output is of the XP15 USB-C port, in terms of charging other devices like tablets?

 

I'm guessing since my bios were so old... Like the 1.0.4 or something... The newest bios reset my Sst...gonna have to do the mod again. Joy...

 

Up to 5 volts, 3 Amps. But know that many tablets and phones have their own quickcharge methods that may not work with USB-PD. It is likely that you will drop to something like 2 Amps (or even lower...?) then.

 

Hi to all.
Have someone installed the latest relase (24.20.100.6194) of the Intel HD 630 drivers?
And... how can I know the best setting of the bios as well as how can understand if the cpu work fine and I haven't throttling problems?
I work with 3d and sometime the laptop seems to be slower
Thanks

 

Had mine a year and haven't had the back off for a long time. Despite a regular blast of compressed air the gap between the fans and heatsink were clogged up with dust bunnies so give it a clean, it's summer after all

 

My charger is plugged in but when I check the status, it says plugged in, discharging.

Is this normal?

 

My charger is plugged in but when I check the status, it says plugged in, discharging.

My laptop is not charging now even when plugged. Need help please.

 

I did not want to go back and read 400+ pages so want to ask again. My fans work constantly at low rpm under low work load as now. Is there a solution to this?

I have only Edge open with a few tabs and XTU. I see 40C package temperature in XTU which is very very good. I undervolted, did repaste CPU GPU, thermal pad additions to VRM and overcame the throttling issue under load playing games i.e. Wow. I rarely see over 70C now under load. Dell Command Power Manager set to silent. CPU cooling set to passive in power plan options. Is there anything else I can do?

I owned an XPS 13 for 3 years before this one and it was so silent when watching something before sleeping in my bed. Now I can't bear it. I turn this on, put a movie (nothing hires 4K or anything. Not even stream. just old DVD rip of Blackadder running with MPC-HC) 3 mins later fans kick in at low speeds and never stop with temperatures barely above 42C.

imgur link here for recent temp and fan rpm
https://imgur.com/a/XllMEqY

 

I'm afraid this is a known issue. Fans are very rarely still when on AC power, more likely on battery. You can try starting from the Quiet power profile and further throttling down the CPU in the advanced power profile settings. Add make sure the some GPU acceleration isn't turned on.

 

lol

Not sure this is so good unless you are running in a very very hot room.

Regardless, more useful thermal information and issues are seen when machine is pushed hard. If you can work out any issues at the extremes, your computer should run cooler at or near idle.

A few ideas that you can research.

1. Check that your undervolt is in the range of those posted by others for your CPU. Each CPU is different but you might have more undervolt ability.

2. Make sure you are undervolting both the CPU cache & core at same rate (applicable if you decide to use ThrottleStop).

3. XTU may be erasing your undervolt if your computer sleeps, crashes, or has some other non-standard activity. So you need to manually monitor that undervolt is being applied.

4. Are you sure that your repaste is good? Are all cores running within say 2-3*C during full stress? Even the professional computer engineers here try repasting a few times to get it right.

Compare your benchmarking results-temps to those of others here by running the same stress tests (make sure you are comparing with same CPU). Prime95 and ROG RealBench are a good place to start but there are others also. Compare temps and scores.

Are you sure that your thermal pads are optimized? Only a few people here managed to get them sorted properly. If you are heating the case bottom, the fans are intaking hotter air so will need to spin much faster.

5. You can try enabling SpeedShift with high EPP=255. That is the best master control of the CPU. Easiest way to enable is to use ThrottleStop, check the box and type in the EPP. But...you can not run XTU at the same time or will have conflicts writing registers. So I would use ThrottleStop also for the undervolt. XTU is rather buggy so I prefer ThrottleStop. There is a large XPS SpeedShift thread you can study.

6. You could change power options to say balanced (SpeedShift should override most of these settings BTW). And newer consumer versions of W10 seem to be changing these schemes so I don't know what you are running.

7. Go to the ThrottleStop Guide thread. Check what idle C0% is with only ThrottleStop running and all other programs closed. You should aim for 1% or less, else you have rogue processes running in the background that you need to tame if you want to control CPU heat.​

 

Almost forgot, the PCH will cause fans to whirl rapidly even at low temps. Like around 40*C.

The typical fix is to sink the PCH chip to the case bottom with thermal pads.

However, if you padded the VRM to the case bottom, and your case bottom is significantly hotter than room temperature, that might cause more issues.

 

Yes this is the typical fix. But is isn't very effective unfortunately, my fans still tend to spin when on AC power, maybe a bit less, even with raised rear (an active cooler stand kinda defeats the purpose) ;( Mostly not on battery, hence the suggestion to throttle down the CPU as it is "on battery"... but then the CPU feels downthrottled, hehe, I tend to prefer that bit of noise. Heatsinking to the nearby fan case might help, but then the fans might cycle on/off...

 

Agreed - it is not a great fix but it helps me a bit more when room temps are below 20*C.

I think the problem is that the case bottom is a terrible heatsink. And it is passive.

The small delta in temps between the PCH at and case bottom does not help; if the PCH triggers at say 40*C and room temps are 30*C then the case bottom will sink very little heat.

 

Following on from my D6000 post, it turned out to be a total waste of time.

The D6000 does have the larger power connector as someone else mentioned, however I figured the USB-C PD would be useful, it wasn't, my battery slowly discharged under any significant load.

But I thought, hay, I still have a native HDMI 4K output, but no, its not because once you install the DisplayLink drivers, it switches from HDMI Alt Mode to DisplayLink, which increased CPU usage by 6% when running a video full screen. Seems their is no way to switch it back. The DisplayPorts will not work a tall without the drivers installed, nor will the Lan port.

So I then thought, at least I have two DisplayLink 4k 60hz outputs, but no, because these will only work at 30hz on Dells 32" 4k Ultrasharp monitor. This is because those screens require MST and DisplayLink does not support it.

Maybe Dell should say on their own website that the 4k dock will not work with some Dell 4k monitors!

I get the feeling that no one has really thought out this USB-C/Thunderbolt thing!

In the end I bought a Thunderbolt to DP adaptor, which works.

EDIT:
With some more testing/tweaking, I was able to get a single DP output to work without DisplayLink drivers, however only at 30hz. I guess is this is related to the MST input required by some monitors.

 

You should just return it and get a TB16. The D6000 is just bandwidth constrained over USB-C (without using USB-C Alt Mode). The TB16 has none of these issues, and allows for the full 130W over USB-C.

 

I had the idea a day ago while fixing up a cracked display on an old Lenovo for my girlfriend: Has anyone attempted to install a different display in the XPS line to deal with the terrible refresh rate? Would there even be any that would fit though?

 

BIOS 1.11.0 is out

Fixes:
1. Update Intel ME Firmware to address security advisories INTEL-SA-00125 (CVE-2018-3655), Intel-SA-00131 (CVE-2018-3643 CVE-2018-3644) & INTEL-SA-00141 (CVE-2018-3657 CVE-2018-3658 CVE-2018-3616)
2. Fixed a potential system hang issue when an incorrectly formatted password is entered at the BIOS Security Manager (BIOS pre-boot password) prompt
Enhancement:
1. Added BIOS Password Feature: Master Password Lockout
2. Improved PXE stability in Legacy mode with Dell USB-C mobile adapter DA300

https://www.dell.com/support/home/it/it/itdhs1/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=XNPMM

 

Have you installed it without problems?

 

Not yet, I was waiting a few days just in case Dell retires the BIOS update as sometimes it does shortly after a new release.
Then I've seen a report about max reduced display brightness on Reddit...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/97r0cm/dell_xps_15_9560_bios_111/

I'll wait some more time, I guess.