Dell Studio 1557

I've just installed A04 today and am having some problems it must be said.

I ran 3dMark06 twice this morning, with no problems at all, however since installing A04 my 3dmark has dropped from 3531 to 3331. Also during one run of 3dmark i got some error about a MISSING_D3D9 device half way through the test?

Are there any tweaks & tips for the GPU on this laptop for getting the most out of it? I only ask not because of 3dmark, but when I was playing l4d on there a few dyas ago it was really slow, whereas on my other XPS laptop with a much slower CPU + 7800Go gpu (256MB) it was silky smooth?

Many thanks

 

For the experts.... Is there any chance of switching off the ATI graphics card and using the chipsets on VGA? I'm using this as a work laptop to don't really care about the ATI, but i need stability. I would assume that this sort of setting is in the the bios but i cannot find it.

Thanks

 

my dell studio 1557 3dmark 06 score is 4400 pts. it was around 3500 pts when i recieved my laptop( was using old dell driver and ao2 bios) . now iam using ati 10.3 beta drivers and bios a04.
detailed scores are :
sm 2 score - 1500
hdr score 1750
cpu score 3084

using a notebook cooler also increases fps and thereby 3dmark score also

geforce go 7800 gpu was one of the best mobile video cards couple of years back. its some what comparable to present mobility radeon hd 4570 in 3dmark scores and performance in recent games onlything it lacks is DX10 and new shader model support.

 

I'm already running 10.3 beta and A04 ( Were there any tweaks you ran at all? I'm Running win7 x64 if you think that makes a difference?

Thank you

 

iam also running windows 7 64bit. 7200 rpm hdd, etc i didnt do any tweaks (tested alot of benchmarking softwares though)
1.check whether u r using powerplay settings in higher battery life mode..
2. uninstall the drivers ,use driver sweeper or driver cleaner to delete all possible registry links and reinstall the 10.3 beta drivers. (while installing it is preferred to turn off the antivirus too)
3.it might be problem with your 3dmark 06 also. so test with any other say cinebench 10 and run the opengl test in it. my cinebench score is around 5000+ (max 5500) so urs must be expected to be around this value.
4.check gpu-z ,and check what all are the temperature values.
5.whats ur windows experience index scores ?

 

There is now "onboard graphics" bud.

ATI is all thats there.

What are you having stability problems with?

 

Just out of curiosity did you do a clean install of Windows 7?

 

hello one cool whats ur systems benchmarks.. just curious to know about how the 10.3 beta drivers are performing.

 

What are your guys' HDD performance btw?

My results:



For specs, see my signature below.

I just ran driver sweeper to remove my display driver and reinstalled 10.3 beta drivers. I installed A04 BIOS yesterday and I am about to run 3DMark06.
Will let you know the results

edit: 3dmark06 results



Windows Experience Index ratings:

Processor - 6.9
RAM - 7.4
Graphics (Aero) - 4.9
Gaming graphics - 6.2
HDD - 5.9

All these tests are run with ATI Powerplay settings on 'Maximized performance' and Battery Power Plan on 'High performance'

 

It took a couple minutes, maybe a little bit mre. I did it with the A04 version. The laptop restarted itself and then it booted normally.

 

Thanks, I'll try doing a clean, but I only got the laptop last week so only driver I installed was the dell one then straight to 10.3, but i'll give it a go.

Windows experience scores are

Processor : 7.0
Memory : 7.4
Graphics : 4.9
3D Graphics : 6.3
Hard Disk : 5.9

Not sure how this compared with others?

Yes, only had the laptop a few days, first thing i did was a full, clean reinstall of win7 to get all the dell crap off there

 

Wow been awhile since I hit this thread (ITS HUGE!).
Anyways just wanted to chime in, I just got the new Battlefield Bad Company 2 and I'm running it on my 1557 and I have to say while it's not "AMAZING" it's looks and runs surprisingly well! With the settings on med I'm getting around 35-45 FPS and very little stuttering unless there is more then 2-3 explosions going off @ once. All in all using the 1557 now since nov. I have to say I have been very pleased and it has served me very well so far.

The only issue I have had thus far is the overheating, looks like my battery has heated up to the point where it has actually burned the windows serial sticker underneath the battery, should I call Dell about this?...

 

I tried to apply BIOS A04 again today (since I recovered with BIOS A03). It freeze again while trying to erase block 67. The same place when it happen last time. I think we need to call Dell about this.

I recovered my laptop using BIOS A04. At least BIOS is up-to-date this time. I think next time the new BIOS come out, we should use this recovery method to update our BIOS.

kizwan

 

Occasional crashes. Its my understanding there's integrated intel graphics (low power of course) on the chipset itself.

for some reason i don't see my process reach 20 multiplier anymore. is it possible its been locked out? When i first got it occasionally i would see it jump to 20. but i haven't see it do that for a while.

 

Do you know how to permanently turn on the fan to a medium speed? I think we should find this kind of setting on the bios, but I can´t find it. Thank you

 

my scores are
cpu 7.0
ram 7.4
aero graphics 5.0

gaming graphics 6.3
hdd 5.9

windows experience index is not a great benchmarking tool but will give a vague idea about the system.

 

i have tried msi afterburner once . this tool doesnt allow me to overclock the gpu , but allows to change fanspeed in pecentage (intially it was 30 % , i tried 50% ) i double checked with everest ultimate edition and it was correct ( 50 %).
i didnt observed any changes in performance or temperature though.
try it comment on it.

 

I think you referring to Intel chipset. It is not a graphic card. Laptop don't have more than one graphic card. You can't alternates between graphic card. Even if some laptop come with more than one graphic card, it is either in hybrid or SLi mode & it have identical GPU (except hybrid but still, both are power-hungry GPU).

You can however "contain" the power of the ATI graphic card. Have you try set to "Maximize Battery Life" to both "Plugged In" & "Battery" profile at PowerPlay settings? It should prevent the ATI graphic card from working in full throttle hence lowering the GPU temperature.

But I think your problem more to CPU overheat than GPU overheat. Have you try RMClock to control either multiplier or voltage feed to the CPU? BTW, what is the room temperature over there?

IMHO, you should get new unit or get repaired at least. Normally CPU should throttle down if it is overheating.

kizwan

 

hello all..
any one know how to find out the power consumption of laptop.. i mean any software tht can monitor.

thank u

 

I´ve just tried it. It didn´t work at all. I was able to open it, but then it made my computer to crash. I tried to change the speed but I could hear any changes on the fan speed.

Any other solution? I also tried speedfan, but it didn´t work.

 

yes i too didnt find any changes... but my system was stable with any changed setting(fan speed).

 

hi evryone.I got my 1557 in nov for 61000 INR and right now i'm quite happy with it.

My WEI scores are :
Processor :7.2
ram :7.4
aero :4.9(it was 5 in vista)
Graphics :6.3
HDD :5.9

the system was quite slow when i recieved it so i did a clean install.
after the clean install the system used to become unresponsive at the welcome screen a few times in a week.
If anybody has that problem then its because of the faulty IDT driver that clashes with the fastaccess application or maybe some other application or driver.(Its still fauty BTW)
now the ati issue...the system did had some issues at first but after i modded the ati driver with catalyst 9.12(I know its older version) it was all right.
now i use the new ones provided by dell which i think is again 9.12 but with a new driver.the system hasn't crashed since a month.
i also noticed that the system perfoms much better when its cool.when i placed it in front of ac unit at my home the benchmarking scores in everest improved quite a bit.maybe its bcoz of better multilier due to low temp but it does helps in increasing ur scores or performance.
everythng above was with a02 & a03 bios.
Now after upgrading to a04 my scores in everest have dipped a bit,maybe its bcoz of summers and high room temp now a days,but has anyone else experinced it ?

srry for writing long(my first post).

 

Was anyone able to fully eradicate the freezing problem by reinstalling windows?

 

I have no freezing problems.I have done everything with this laptop although it gets hot as hell but no freezing or random reboots.
I also have no problems running any flash videos or games.

I do have a fresh Windows 7 install be it is now a few months old and still doing great.

 

I reinstalled windows immediately upon receiving the laptop for the holidays. So...you think I should give it another go with a fresh copy? what a pain in the

 

What is it crashing in?

 

There is no current software that I know of that controls the fan manually with this setup.

I have tried EVERYTHING.

 

Seems like pulling the plug in the middle of fullscreen videos. Although since all the driver updates, crashing is MUCH less frequent.

 

"pulling the plug"

Im guessing you mean pulling the AC power to switch to battery.

I cant say I have tried that yet.


Was it a streaming video from the net or just a video from your hardrive or maybe a DVD?

Let me guess... streaming from youtube?

 

Me too, I also have tried everything, but I think is impossible to lower the temps when iddle, or surfing the net. Just as I said, when the temperature goes as low as 46ºC, the fan turns off and the temperature goes up. I would love to be able to control the fan, as I think there is no way to lower this temperature.

 

I never see mine idle at 46c.... EVER!

49-56c idle and surfing.Watching online streaming video maybe 55-64c

Laptops are very sensitive to ambient temperature .... even more so than desktops from what I have seen.

 

Ambient temperature is very hot over here during daytime. Outside temperature around ~32C to ~35C. CPU temperature can be between ~55C to ~69C. I noticed the temperature quickly goes down (average ~56C to ~57C), so the airflow keeping the CPU from overheating.

kizwan

 

hi kapi i think 7.2 is the highest cpu score i had ever seen for this laptop. mostly it is 7,6.9,and rarely 7.2.
was it due to the fact tht u were using it right in front of ac.
i uninstalled idt ,now i am using the drivers tht installed automatically by microsoft update.

 

has any one compared the performance, temperature, stability of core i7 720qm of dell studio 1557 to any other laptop with the same cpu ..

 

It maybe.The system performs much better when kept cool.I used to get 14k+ scores in memory read benchmark in everest before but now i can't get past 13500.similar sitituation in other benchmarks too.
maybe its bcoz of the a04 or maybe surrounding temps(which is high now a days) or maybe both(which i think is correct).

anybody facing performance degradation after applying a04 ?

 

Does anybody knows the terms and conditions of accidental damage cover coz one of my frnds was denied replacement for his inspiron when he spilled water on the laptop...

 

I use BatteryBar, but it only shows the battery consumption, obviously. Is this what you're looking for?

 

My average temperature when iddle is about 49-50ºC. Same as yours. If I could keep the fan working it could be much lower...I just hate that I can´t control the fan. I bought a laptop cooler, but believe me, it doesn´t help too much. The only thing that it lowers is the HDD temperature. It doesn´t get higher than 41-42ºC. I think that this laptop is not that sensitive (when iddle or surfing) to outside temperatures, because I think It´s designed to keep a certain temperature depending on the cpu stress. On load I guess the laptop cooler helps a lot more.

If someone discovers how to change the fan settings, I would like to know it. I think that the BIOS A02 allowed to change it, but I don´t remember. Does someone know how to downgrade the bios? I would like to check, as I don´t care too much about the gpu performance. Probably the way I used to recover the bios also allows to downgrade it.

 

iam sorry what i meant power consumption was power in wattage.. (eg: 90w)
not battery consumption

thnks any way

 

here r the screenshots...
the first one is my wei.
second is memory read benchmark with a03 bios and the 3rd one is the same with a04 bios.
i know the multipliers in everest benchmarks r different but even with x20 i can't get past 14k moreover i don't think a difference of 133mhz in cpu clock will make such an impact coz this benchmark depends more on ram performance rather than the cpu.

One more thing
Does anybody gets a static noise from ur speakers when connected to the laptop with the charger plugged in ?

 

the performance of my dell studio 1557 with ao4 bios.
i am uploading my temperature level (normal condition -just listening music and using a browser like chrome)

 

speaking of chargers, i use my laptop mostly on charger only and i usually remove my battery since i am using an UPS line.(this was an advice from dell support executive as that will increase the battery's lifespan.

till now i haven't noticed any static noise from speakers .

 

Since the a04 bios update I've noticed a few interesting behaviors.

1) The temp seems to be about 2-3C higher on average
2) Once the fan kicks up to a higher speed it takes a very long time to reduce or doesn't reduce until a shutdown and reboot even after the temp drops.

 

Now i get it...its the cpu clock thats making the difference coz i see my ram is working faster as well as my cpu fsb but still my scores r lower.So the cpu clock does plays an important role.

my temps r way too higher.I have a minimum of 57-58 at idle...its like summers here in india.
in winters it used to be like 50-51.
Also ur battery life doesn't improves from what u r doing.U should regularly charge n discharge ur batteries(at least once a weak)
and before storing them ensure 40-50% charge level.
Its only the heat that affects ur battery life but in ur case i don't see any coz 50C is just fine.
so will u plz check the static noise in externally connected speakers with the battery and charger plugged in ?

anyway does anyone thinks that dell should provide BIOS in which we can set the multipliers(BIOS allowing custom Overclocking) coz i've read that the maximum clock of our processor is 4GHz...a quadcore at that speed will be lightening fast ...but we gotta place out laptops on ice sheets to keep it from burning

 

I think 57-58ºC is way too much for iddle. Look what temperatures I´m getting right know while hearing music and surfing.

http://picasaweb.google.es/lh/photo/1sBM7ItC-G_5meOV9Tpr6w?feat=directlink

 

Most likely its a difference in ambient temperature.It makes a big difference.

 

Onecool is correct.the surroundings matter a lot.

 

Seems to me that temperatures on these things vary wildly.

I've seen people post idle temps around 45-50C and then others like myself posting idle temps of 55-64C.

Not sure why the large variation(are people with the lower temps always checking on first turning on their systems and not doing anything prior, running coolers?). I personally have firefox/thunderbird/pidgin/konsole/irc/calendar up when i mean idling. And by idling i simply mean not using those apps for a few minutes in either direction. My processor utilization is about 3-4% average during that time. My idle temp appears to be ~60-61C.

 

hey guys, quick question as my dell account is with the wrong email (long story...)

someone told me wiping the hdd's dell restore points will void the warranty? is this accurate? I'm on the verge of reinstalling again, this time deleting EVERYTHING from the hdd and hoping it helps.

 

No it will not Void your warranty.

I deleted mine too when I did a fresh install.

Your warranty is for the hardware.What software you want to put on it is your business.Just dont wipe your hard drive with a clean install of Ubuntu and expect to call Dell for help cause they wont.