XPS 15 9570 Owners Thread

Dell denies that the XPS 15 9570 may have a BIOS related GPU issue | Notebookcheck.net
2018/11/26

The Dell XPS 15 9570 (Source: Dell)

Dell has denied that there are any BIOS related GPU issues with XPS 15 9570 laptops, the company has informed us. Despite providing the company with data and numerous online posts demonstrating otherwise, it has not been able to determine what is causing some NVIDIA GPUs to throttle.

In a private message, a Dell representative reported that the Product Engineering team:

"couldn't find other users reporting the same issue and it has been concluded that this isn't a known issue."​

Interestingly, the company states that the team has checked various sources before making this judgment, which is curious as we have provided them with data and numerous online posts demonstrating otherwise. Frustratingly, Dell still has not stated what causes the NVIDIA GPU power limiting throttling on the two XPS 15 9570 laptops on which we have replicated the issue on BIOS 1.3.1 and above.

 

@Papusan PURELY DISGUSTING. Enough is enough... They cant be serious...

Dell is a bunch of disgusting lying... " couldn't find other users reporting the same issue and it has been concluded that this isn't a known issue."

I have personally reported the issue a month ago. Lots of people in this Reddit have:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/9nme92/extreme_gpu_throttling_in_cold_situations_xps_9570/

 

Yeah, nothing new there.

About time you talk with the boss https://twitter.com/AzorFrank/status/1026796643235127297

No sales = Changes has to come.

 

@ Papusan I have tweeted to AzorPropagandaFrank several times also about this issue, he never responded.

 

What more have/need to be said

 

I'm pretty disappointed in Dell's response to their bios issues with the GPU (also tweeted Azor multiple times and posted on the dell "support" forums). I may replace my 9570 with the X1 Extreme because of it. It's a shame because I do like the 9570 quite a bit.

 

Hahaha.

The "Dell representative" has no technical background and is just here to sell goods & shut customers up. The above quoted response was just invented by him or her so, therefore, does not represent Dell's corporate position on the BIOS of the 9570. The quote may, however, fairly represent Dell's customer support and business practices.

All IMHO and YMMV, of course.

 

X1 Extreme, IMO, should have been called an E1 Extreme, but I digress. It's not flawless, either, but it is cheaper than any similar Dell XPS 15. What constantly holds me back is:
-First gen Lenovo product (wait for the 2nd gen, at least)
-It's missing a few of the usual X/T series features (including the obvious LTE WWAN card slot), that make me think it was not really developed to be an "X" series laptop from the beginning
-Lenovo power management is getting better, but it's still quite a step behind Dell in terms of power efficiency (sure, this may mean DPC is better in some cases, but my X1C6 still triggers LatencyMon to say it's not suited for realtime work)
-It, too, has odd BIOS thermal management issues
-Poor BIOS issues that may brick the machine. Other than the famous TB3 mode bug, hybrid/discrete mode has at least two reports on Reddit).

However, Lenovo's BIOS team seems to be in-house and responsive to issues for their flagship products. It's why I had any faith at all in the X1C6 purchase. Maybe the X1E branding is a good thing for the laptop, though it hasn't helped out X1Y3 owners much when it comes to Si03.


Either way, my intention (as it was before my Latitude E5450 stopped working reliably from a HW standpoint), is to wait for Intel 10nm or a potentially competitive AMD 7nm before upgrading laptops again. I anticipate it to be late 2019, early 2020 before that happens.

 

I agree on this 100%. It corresponds with my own experiences with Dell support people. They seem to invent statements, have no idea what theyre talking about, or are just lying. It is the same with the S3 sleep issue, where the guy I was talking to in the end just told me, the engineering team said the machine doesnt support S3 and wont, therefore, fix the problems...

I wish someone may know someone directly at Dell who is in a development or engineering position, we could contact and report all these problems directly too, and have then maybe a real chance, it gets into the right "ear" and may be fixed.

The guy on the reddit post told me today:


So maybe... maybe, there is still a little chance, this will get fixed, and the "Dell representative" just lied to notebookcheck. I have very little hopes though now... I am though on 1.5.0 and cant downgrade anymore to 1.3.0...

 

@jeremyshaw What market are you in? At least in Sweden, the XPS15 is significantly cheaper than the X1E.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

 

The X1 Extreme, from my two weeks of using it, definitely does some things better than the XPS 15 9570, but others worse. Better port selection and a newer WiFi card out of the box is great. Pre-configured 16gb models coming with a single 16gb stick in single channel is an oddity, and can really reduce performance in some scenarios versus two 8gb sticks in dual channel. Thermals were pretty disappointing, and the keyboard area was more uncomfortably hot than the XPS 15 9570 I had for nearly a month in such load situations. Audio performance was stronger on the Thinkpad. Worse FHD screen than the XPS 15, especially in terms of max brightness, but I had no perceivable bleed, unlike the Dell I had. Quality control is a mixed bag on both machines, from the looks of it. I am returning my X1 Extreme due to some issues with freezing, along with a loud touchpad and some bezel popping at the top of the display, which is something I've experienced during my initial foray into the XPS 15, the 9560. Battery life is alright on the FHD model of the X1 Extreme, but it is inherently weaker than the XPS 15, which is top in its class, due to a significantly smaller battery. No idea what I'll end up buying next. Hopefully I won't get quality control issues forcing me to return whatever machine that is.

And in my market, it has been cheaper recently than an XPS 15 9570 with the same specs.

 

US market. Discounted X1E usually runs a bit cheaper than a similar XPS15. In the past few days, the XPS 15 didn't even come close in pricing.

 

Was there somekind of adaptive brightness setting hidden somewhere on the 9570 or was it only a "problem" with the 9370? I tried to look in the BIOS but couldn't find anything

EDIT: Also what Thunderbolt 3 dock are people using or suggesting to get? Dell has its own TB16 which comes with a enough powerfull charger to fully power the XPS and also Lenovo has few docks with powerful chargers.

 

Has anyone in here tried the newly released Intel Gpu 'Windows Modern Driver'?

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28148

 

Tried but wouldn't install on my XPS

 

A couple of "strange" driver updates for the 9570.

1) SK Hynix SSD firmare that "Fixed a compatibility issue with the Intel graphics driver that could result in a blue screen error."

What does the SSD have to with the Intel Graphics?

2) Intel RST that "Supports the C10 power management status that improves the battery life".

 

Hey guys,

Have anyone had any success connecting an external mic (headset) to a Dell laptop??

I am using my Sennheiser Game Zero headset with usb dac. But I want to use the microphone.

So I bought a splitter, you know one 3.5mm aux split into green and red (audio/mic). The adapter works as it worked on my phone.

But the laptop refuses to work. It is dead set on using the build in super cheap crap microphone... Can't get rid of the built-in mic.


One guy said that it could probably that the XPS laptops are not build to have MIC > IN and therefore don't have the channels to manage the sound

 

When you plug in the mic does it ask you what type of device you plugged in? If not you may want to reinstall the Dell audio drivers.

 

I updated all my drivers. It does not ask for anything, I don't even think it recognizes anything....

Are there some place I can download dell audio or?

 

You can get them directly from the dell support website:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19?app=drivers&c=us&l=en&~ck=mn

Here is a direct link:
https://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER05...266-Audio-Driver_93M93_WIN_6.0.1.8454_A03.EXE

When I insert my headphones into the port it always asks me what I inserted and one of the available options is an external mic...

 

Downloaded the link and installed it. Still doesn't work, it doesn't ask for anything.

Do you run Waves maxxaudio?

 

I do not. Perhaps at some point you clicked "don't show this again" and it's set to not pop up? Maybe look around in the settings. Sadly I am away from my XPS now so I can't look.

 

Is it realtek hd audio manager we are talking about ? I don't have that. and wave maxxaudiopro from dell isn't helping either

have you ever used external mic on yours? just so I know if it's possible or not

 

It should be in the realtek hd audio manager somewhere.

I have not used an external mic on mine (don't have one) but when I plug in headphones or speakers I get a box that pops up and asks what I plugged in. One of the options there is "mic." Without selecting that, the system has no idea what you plugged in nor how to handle it and may even be trying to play sound out of your mic, lol...

 

Please note that many other docks with chargers uses a second connector for power, and if so, won't work with the XPS.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

 

I did... and it ended in a disaster: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/a1pyi8/thank_you_windows_10_ms_for_rolling_back_older/

 

For me the UWD driver says it is not compatible with my machine

 

Thats because you still have Dell OEM driver installed. Read the reddit post.

 

I just received my 9570 (ordered via Costco, BF sale; i7, 32 gb, 1 tb ssd, 4K) and noticed that under system info, components, display, the following fields have 'not available' listed under Nvidia: color planes, color table, resolution, and bits/pixel. In addition, color planes are not available for Intel graphics. Is this normal? Also, I looked at the previous posts here and my stock Realbench benchmark is terrible.
https://ibb.co/NxLYD8S

Cinebench output isn't great either.
https://ibb.co/bWx45cR
https://ibb.co/Y7kFTBh


Do you recommend that I return this system? Or is there a way to fix these issues?

 

I would do a totally clean install of Windows and then install only the necessary stuff from Dell.

Then run the tests again. Your scores are better than mine on stock (i7,16gb, 512ssd,4k). And if you did compare the scores, you should make sure the scores are not ones that have been undervolted or the system hasn't been repasted and modded for thermals.

Also my scores are lower with stock than yours and only can get those kind of Cinebench scores after undervolting.

 

Thanks, also to inffy, for testing it out. I'm sorry that your time was wasted, though.

 

as maffe pointed out in the reddit thread it will work. Just follow his instructions to remove the old driver and after that the new UWD driver installs fine.

 

Another thing, I'm experiencing an issue where my cpu clock is capped at a max of about 2,3 gHz in these scenarios:

1. If i turn on the machine without the AC adapter plugged in - connecting the AC even just a second after I pushed the power button and the max clock will still be around 2,3 gHz.

2. If I boot with AC connected, but disconnect it at any point, and then connect it again, the clock is capped at the above mentioned speed.

I've tried the obvious like fiddling with both Dell power app and windows power settings. No change. Only way I can get back to full speed is by shutting it down and turning it back on again.

It is a bit annoying; am I the only one?

 

Oh yes, I see. Followed the steps, and now on 6444. Curious to see if the display still flickers periodically after coming back from sleep. Also, it seems to have resat some settings, so don't forget to go into the control panel and disable "Color Accuracy" under 'display' -> 'color settings' to get your reds back!

 

New bios is out (ver. 1.6.0), anybody installed it yet?

 

Fixes:
- Fixed the issue where an unexpected warning message is displayed when a USB Type-C device is connected.
- Fixes the issue where the Dell Thunderbolt dock is not recognized after updating the power delivery firmware.

Enhancements:
- Replaces Absolute Software service from Computrace to Absolute Persistence Module service.
- Enhanced the supportability for BIOS attribute management through Windows Management Instrumentation service.

Sigh. I was really hoping for improvement in the DPC latency department with this one.

 

Just installed it and at least it still boots. Nothing different for me, I didn't have either of those issues. GPU still has the same 75C power limit and the throttling bug when less than 50C. Sadly I think it's going back to Dell if this X1 Extreme is even half way decent...

*on edit*
With Heaven and four instances of Prime95 my gpu runs at 400-650mhz. Ouch. I don't even think I'll try running any games on this release.

 

Thanks for testing. And is ACPI.sys still spiking out?

 

Sadly I don't ever test DPC latency as it doesn't matter to me. I would imagine nothing has changed on it.

 

This is a pathetic joke. I am done with this crap laptop. Where are the countless promised bug fixes? This bios fixes NOTHING.

lol! did they make it even worse!?

 

Ah, the reason I assumed that you were concerned about DPC is that I thought you were the same person who posted this: https://twitter.com/azorfrank/status/1044479012389703680?lang=da

Sorry about that. As you say, I imagine nothing has changed, too.

 

I am not the same person. My concern is mainly with the GPU and sleep functionality of the laptop. Neither of which were fixed...

 

You'll only get them to change making junk like this IMHO if you either stop buying them or send it back and complain about its technical issues.

I returned my 9570 and I'm still on the lookout for a decent replacement model, but holding onto my wonga until something able to do what its meant to properly appears!

The whole 'thin but really powerful' design isn't working out as planned for Dell is it?

 

What did you expect? I already posted this in the thread a few days ago.. Dell denies that the XPS 15 9570 may have a BIOS related GPU issues

 

I think the XPS Skylake platform which covers the 9550, 9560 & 9570 has some engineering flaws that can't be fixed until Dell completely reengineers the platform. Timing depends partly on Intel as I don't see Dell making big changes until necessary.

So, the XPS will continue with some issues, including audio, latency, sleep, heat, power, throttling, etc. I got most of these "largely" sorted on the 9550. The 9560 and 9570 suffer from more serious power requirements so they are further behind the ball as far as I am concerned.

Generally these are nice laptops for everyday internet surfing and light office use, if you are able to sort out the driver problems and thermal paste problems on your own. XPS will not deliver full spec on CPU or GPU so gaming and aggressive video editing are not realistic expectations (despite specs marketed by the 8750h and 1050ti).

 

Now I installed it too, and it changed my screen calibration to ugly.

 

Happened to me too... I just installed 1.6.0 and after Windows reboot, the colors now are in too vibrant mode. This was before easily fixable, by going into Intel GPU settings and ticked the "Color Accuracy" checkbox... but the option is now GONE after the bios update. How can that be related to the bios update?? Weirdly also my DPI setting was reset to default 250% after the bios update.

The Dell Power Manager App isnt working now anymore too with the latest service update: https://www.dell.com/support/home/u...2&osCode=WT64A&productCode=xps-15-9570-laptop

 

Install the older 3.0 version from dell to get that fixed. Seems the new version is missing a module which it requires or something like that

 

Probably figured why I can't play cs go anymore, or anything for that matter and why I dropped from 250 fps down to 70.

I get 430 in Cinebench when you are supposed to get something between 1000-1200 haha

My XPS is power throttling. Before, a month ago I could play pubg and hit 99 degrees, now it won't go higher than 64 and the max watt usage is around 15-18. Far from the spec. 45W TDP...

So something somehwere is holding it back.

Dell power manager is set to performance and adaptive on the battery charge.

Any ideas? In idle Throttlestop "limit reasons" screams in red "EDP other" under ring. And red "PL 1" for core and yellow "PL 1" for GPU.

 

What Windows settings do you have for that performance bar? CS GO is running like crap on everything these days it seems, 500 fps and you still get input lag when trying to throw a nade in a crowded place

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