should i keep my laptop?

I just purchased a dell studio xps 1645. i love it, but its giving me problems, then i come here and see tons of people having other problems with it. im thinking about just returning it. i am willing to try to fix all this crap myself, but i am not a computer genius, and im not sure it will be worth it. i need some solid advice. first ill list my specs.

dell studio xps 16 inch RGBLED
intel core i7-720QM quad core processor
6GB DDR3 at 1333MHz
500GB SATA hard drive 7200RPM
ATI mobility RADEON HD 4670 - 1 GB
windows 7 premium

OK so the first problem i had: ONLY when viewing videos online and ONLY in fullscreen after about 10-20 mins it freezes and then says "ATI family display driver has stopped responding but has recovered" then it would remain frozen and i would have to restart. [I contacted dell support and they did absolutely nothing, they said ATI would put out updates that would fix it.] i ended up checking the AMD/ATI website to look for new drivers. i downloaded what i thought to be the newest ones but for some reason my comp still says i have the old ones.. doing this did nothing. so i have not found a solution to this one yet. any help would be greatly appreciated.

onto the rest of it.. i downloaded hardware sensors monitor 4.4 and its telling me that my HDD(does HDD mean hard drive or high def display?) is at 38C my cores are both at about 50C and my GPU is always about 2 degrees hotter than the cores. and this is at IDLE. the GPU temp bothers me the most.. seems very high. so i bout a cheap targus fan to put under it. does almost nothing. the only difference i see is that it keeps the HDD about 3 degrees cooler. the GPU is still hot. IF i keep this laptop i will probably get a zalman NC2000 or a NZXT Cryo LX (which is better for this comp?)

the only game i play at the moment is counter strike 1.6 and i am able to get 100fps all the time. i am planning on switching to counter strike source or possibly COD4 in the future. i am worried about frying my graphics card. i was so excited to get this computer and this is ruining everything. i have read about undervolting and that seems like it might help... although it also seems like a complex process.. not sure if ill be able to figure it out.. but it seems worth a try.

and ive read about these throttling issues with this model? what is that all about? how can i tell if mine has this problem? like i said before im no computer genius so i cant really make sense of whatever is goin on in that thread with like 1000 pages where everyone is trying to figure it out.

ANY and all help with any of my questions will be GREATLY appreciated. thanks in advance

 

AMD/ATI doesnt provide mobile graphic cards drivers so you wont be able to find them in their website.
Try donwloading the ones that are on Dell site, Reinstall them and see if the problem continues.
Download the driver from here, under the tab "Video": http://support.dell.com/support/dow...ID=STUDIOXPS1645&os=WV64&osl=en&catid=&impid=

About the temperature, it seems fine to me. The card will not run cooler than that and its a normal temp but I dont own that card so maybe you should wait for some 4670 owner to answer. BTW HDD means Hard drive, 38C is OK.

If CS 1.6 wont run at 100 fps then we are screwed haha. Play Source, Play COD4, play anything you want, you wont fry your graphics card

For the throttling problem check this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=446193

On the first post there is a very simple explanation on how you can check if you are suffering from throttling issues.
hope this helps

 

thank you so much! now more input please!

 

can anyone possibly give me a rough estimate on how much cooler my laptop would run if i were to undervolt it?

 

The typical 1645 idle temps (for me personally) the CPU cores typically sit around 60C as does the GPU however doing very lightweight tasks (doc editing etc) and in a cool room I can idle around 50C. That being said my peak temps for the GPU is 86C and 90C for the CPU. Both the GPU and CPU of the 1645 are rated to operated up to 100C

 

If you aren't a computer expert, an expensive laptop i a terrible thing to learn on.

Send it back. I AM a computer expert and I'm sending mine back because I don't to put up with it.

 

why are you sending yours back? because of the throttle thing? i cant seem to figure out how to test my comp to see if i have the throttle problem.. can someone explain how to do it? is it certain that EVERY xps 1645 model has this problem or is there a chance mine doesn't have it? im not an expert but im no dummy, ive been using computers for over 10 years so its not all foreign to me.. just when it gets super technical i get lost.

 

It is almost certain at this point that every 1645 has the throttling issue. The way that most users are testing for throttling is to run Prime 95 + Furmark to stress the CPU & GPU (which causes the throttling) however you can run Realtemp and it will tell you if clock modulation is occuring also the program throttlestop can easily monitor for throttling of either kind and that's the best bet. Get throttlestop and turn off all the options and keep it in monitoring mode (basically turn off throttlestop) and run Prime95 + Furmark and watch your poor laptop choke and writhe in throttling agony. A more simple way (but less reliable due to the sheer number of variables) is to run a game like Crysis or something equally demanding on the adapter with the settings and brightness turned up.

 

ok that helped a lot but what exactly is throttling? why is it bad? have i not run into this problem because the only game ive played on it (counter strike 1.6) is old and not demanding in terms of performance at all? if counter strike (possibly counter strike source) and all the half life single player games will be the only games i play on this computer then do i even need to worry about this throttling issue? or are there other things that it will cause problems for? (the only things i use the comp for are mild gaming, instant messaging, web browsing, watching movies, basic photo editing, and schoolwork.) or is that not even the problem? does this throttling problem decrease the lifespan of the notebook?

who knows of a good replacement laptop for this one? i really like the RGBLED and i know there arent many that offer that...

 

You can install the latest ATI driver from the website, provided you use modtool.

 

If you're not encountering the issue, I'd say don't worry about it. The computer is meeting your needs and you shouldn't be bothered by it. Throttling is a decrease in performance by locking your CPU at lower speeds and slowing the entire computer down. It doesn't decrease the lifespan of the computer but it does decrease performance when the computer needs it most. Based on what you said though and what you intend to use your 1645 for it's unlikely you'd encounter this problem and you'd be better off not paying attention to it (because if you're like me it'll eat at you and make you less satisfied with what is otherwise an excellent computer)

 

thank you so much for explaining all this to me! so this problem for the most part wont affect me for what i want to use it for? do you think ill have a problem with running half life 2 single player and/or half life episode 1/2? cuz those are the only games i really want. seems like they should be problematic.

SO tell me if im understanding this right.. there IS a solution to the throttling problem but I have to buy a 130W adapter instead of a 90W AND I have to get this throttlestop program that unclewebb created? if i did all that i would be able to play high end games?

 

Throttlestop + 130W PSU=Fix More or less. With games that don't have high system requirements and old games like CS you probably won't see the throttling.

 

Personally, I think telling anyone not to worry about it isn't fair. Thats what Dell is telling us power users: "Don't worry about it".

If this guy starts doing more modern 3D gaming, CAD, video encoding, etc. he WILL have throttling issues.

If you wan't to actually GET i7 PERFORMANCE you will need to look at a different laptop if you aren't able/interested in dealing with the Throttlegate saga.

Stephen you said you're interested in Half Life 2. While you may only be interested in those games now, what happens if/when some hot new game gets announced and requires more out of these laptops? I'll tell you the answer: You'll be shopping for a new computer again. Half-Life 2 on higher settings probably will have some issues on this computer, especially Episodes 1 and 2 which introduced HDR effects.

 

In all fairness I did tell him he's affected, it's just that if you're not going to encounter the issue, why worry about it? Everytime I check this forum I find a new reason to not like my laptop and it's because you keep thinking about the problems. Anyway Zlog is right you won't get i7 performance where it counts but in daily use it doesn't make much difference either way.

 

Exactly, and as i edited in, he's talking about HL-2 and thats entering throttle's turf.

Throttlegate don't take kindly to them types round there.

 

lmao fair enough. When you're right, you're right.

 

so the bottom line is this computer blows hardcore? i think so. ive been looking at this one as a replacement: http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-g73jha1-order-p-2731.html it looks like its much better in terms of performance. only thing i would add is a RGBLED screen but cant have everything i guess. what you guys think of that one?

 

That thing is a monster.... I hope they come out with a redesigned 14-15" gamer