Dell Inspiron 9400 With Intel Duo Core Available (specs)

Where did you find the other bios? And did it make any difference while playing games?

 

Flames,

no I didn't need to check "keep fans on". It just does that automatically. It keeps the temperature stable at 62 when idling in windows (temps do go up when playing games, tho, which is normal).

Also, it seems to be doing ok with the lid closed all the time. It gets warm, but the airflow is still good enough, I guess.

 

Does checking the "fan always on" offer any additional cooling? It didn't seem to make a difference to me. What's the opinion here, leave this on or off?

 

"Does checking the "fan always on" offer any additional cooling? "

Thinking about this question has made me wonder if one needs to underclock the gpu back to the 260 core for lite work. Like the fan...is it underclocked automatically anyways??

 

Great thread.

So, I'm looking at a 17" laptop. Not interested in gaming, but yes to presentations, video, pictures, basically multimedia stuff...

Do I pick the Inspiron 9400/e1705? Or go with something else? Suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
Wall8888

 

i would say most of us are 9400 fans ...though not great fans of Dell in general.

If you have no need for gaming --just about anything will do

 

LOL,

Your good to go, just get the optional multi media cables on your option(s) selection. Graphics wise, for your purposes the machine is ideal (well apart from some =complaints (re:- light leakage) about the Samsung / LG screen you get delivered)

Dougie.

 

I don't think leaving the box "always on" checked makes any difference - if you want to see a nice little checkmark in there, then go right ahead

I don't think the GPU throttles down at all. Running the hardware monitor in Rivatuner shows a constant speed regardless of what I'm doing. The GPU fan throttles depending on the temperature. My fan is always on the lowest setting when doing normal windows stuff, and will increase as the GPU heats up in games and stuff.

As for a 17" laptop, I have to admit that if you don't do gaming, there are better laptops out there. Even better dual core laptops. The biggest drawback to the dells is the screen. Now, if you are using an external monitor, then the dell is just fine The Macbook Pro would be ideal for graphics, but doesn't come in 17" (yet).

 

Here's the URl for the thread for doing the overlock. Part way into the thread someone gave a link for a file to download called 1-2volt.rom I think. That is the flashable rom. There is also an ISO someone made that lets you recover with an original bios should something go wrong. I'll have to warn you though that you would be doing it at your own risk.. mine went ok as did others, but one person got a blank screen and couldn't reflash back to his original bios. As for performance increase... it's hard for me to really tell because I didn't really do any comparison's. You can, however, push the core much further. I'd recommend the 1.2V mod as it's only .1 volts different, there is also a 1.3V mod which is a little more drastic.

http://www.notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=136668

 

where can i see my pc temperature?
or how can i see it?

 

G'day everyone,

I have yesterday ordered my Dell 9400 2.16Ghz Core Duo notebook. I went for the 2GB 667mhz RAM, 100GB 7200rpm, 7800 Go. It came with free "Deluxe Nylon Case", 256 USB key, 15 months McAfee and free Delivery. Also free upgrade on the screen to the True Life 1920x1200 display. I pushed them further over the phone and got the upgrade to XP Pro SP2 for free too + media. This cost me AU$4400. I eagerly await its arrival.

I want to say a big thanks to everyone on this thread for helping me make decisions on the purchase of the laptop. We had ordered an Inspiron 6000 a couple of weeks ago and it turned up pretty quick so fingers crossed I don't have hassles here in Australia.

I bought the laptop to play BF2 amongst other games, what is the current view on the 7800 in terms of drivers and performance. Is the 83.90 MobileForce driver the way to go? Set at say 350/850?

I will post my experiences on here anyway. Thanks again to you all.

 

Welcome aboard! The 83.90 drivers seem to be the driver of choice currently. I've installed them and noticed the optimal frequency detection set the speed much higher then the 81.97 driveres (which seemed buggy as well):

81.97 mobileforce drivers optimal detected frequency overclocking: 336/827
83.90 mobilieforce drivers optimal detected frequency overclocking: 352/859

For me, 352/859 is fast enough. BTW - gpu temperature is usually in the 60's but can go up to 82 at times which then kicks the fan in on high and cools down to 72.

Cheers.

 

Thanks for the welcome FFF

OK cheers, I will download those drivers in anticipation of my notebook arriving. I'm hoping those drivers coupled with 2gb of fast ram will allow me to run BF2 at high settings. Looking forward to mobile gaming!

 

Thanks for the responses on the laptop.

By the way, I see others play BF2. I do also, usually BF2 SF, but use a desktop. I had wanted a laptop but decided to cut costs and get a desktop (at that time I was playing BFVN). I usually play as "RogueStation" online at TheTomClancyGameServer or 420 Jedi's - good squads & voip's.

Later.

 

im wating for mine right now, should be here in the next few hours..i cant wait much longer, cant take it anymore, overnight delivery and so far without any issues..sweet

 

here is a bit o good news on the hi def decoding front:

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/03/03/nvidia_ship_h264_purevideo/

"Nvidia has posted software that allows certain GeForce graphics chips to decode[via hardware] video encoded using H.264 format. But it wants up to $49.95 for the Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center plug-in."

3 price points ..but still a bit pricey just to unlock what is on the card already.

the good news part is that the go 7800 is one card that has this capability.

----------
I guess each gpu has some slight variation. My friend's optimum setting is 366 core.

Definately use the 83.90 v 2.25 mobileforce (edit: drivers). Using the originals will mess up your gaming experience in too many games.

I think it was v2.25 i downloaded

 

Yeah, it should be free, and kind of an incentive for those buying the higher end GPU's. I'm sure ATI's AVIVO and free transcoding software is helping draw sales.

Anyone have a i9400 compatible mobile x1800/1900 they want to trade for a dell-underclocked 7800go ???

 

ok my dell e1705 just came in and its unreal..i love it. now what should i do to it, i updated everything, what about my 7800 dell drivers. What can i do to make this machine a awesome for gamming?

 

Good find. I wouldn't worry about paying for the software though. It will probably be out on the torrents faster than you can say "Who's your momma?".. hehe

 

If you reinstall windows and use the 83.90 mobileforce drivers you will be blazing. The laptop is acutally pathetically slow out of the box. Major, major performance increase after the rebuild and new drivers.

Every game i've played on this I've played either cranked/max res or very close (with acceptable fps).

 

where can i get those drivers have a link?

 

nm i got em

 

yea thats true, my machine was plauged with so much bloatware that I was actually pretty dissapointed at first...a quick reformated rectified that problem

 

I would really love love love love love.... to do a reformat, but has ANYONE actually managed to reinstall mediadirect... I quite like booting into mediadirect in like 15 seconds or so

 

i reinstalled media direct after reformating, but whenever i press the media direct button, my computer starts to boot up then i get a blue screen of death.

 

That does'nt sound too good!! So its effectively a suicide button

In all 88 pages of this thread has there been one sucessfull reinstall of media direct?? Dell must release some sort of driver in the near future. There are plenty of people including me which have reinstalled the OS and are hoping to make use of the media direct button. Dell must take account of this.

 

Hi guys,

Don't know if anyone has this problem...i just got my new dell 9400 yesterday and straight away i noticed that the task bar icons (ie explorer, mozilla, show desktop etc) are not smooth if you know what i mean?

Everything else seems to be fine albeit the odd internet site like hotmail, the sign out button seems distorted!

The weird thing is that i installed a trial copy of windowblinds and installed one of their skins - the icons on the taskbar smoothed themselves out!!!

When i uninstalled it they went back to their fuzzy appearance...

I checked the dpi settings and tried both normal and large - same issue...
I installed a different driver for my nvidia 7800 card - no luck
I changed the resolution - no change

Please help as this is so irritating!

Here's the link to my screendump, it's a word document - you need to view it at 500% to get any idea of what i'm talking about...

http://www.filefactory.com/get/f.php...170e2046874c27

Thanks for any suggestions!

Damian

 

guys I urge you ALL to read this article!

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4604

 

Cool, so that means that Yonah has the 64bit extensions built in?

 

Actually check this one out

http://digg.com/hardware/Intel_Core_Duo_is_a_64-bit_chip

The debate rumbles on. I wonder if it would be possible to stick one of those Sossaman chips into a i9400.....

 

well i was under the impression that it was the sossaman AND the yonah that were 64-bit...So far I think they are rumours and nothing more. But still, I will be very interested to find out if they are true when vista comes out.

 

Iv just put my 9400 on charge for the first time. What the hell is that anoying beeping noise?? Iv only had it charging for 2 hours or so. Does it mean that the battery is full??

Bye the way if these are stupid questions please excuse my ignorance. This is my first time owning a laptop.

 

mine does this to, only when charging tho and then it stops.
doughy

 

i know a few people have mentioned 88 pages ..and lately that has bothered me. Takes way too long to find stuff ...and some stuff is getting repeated now.

So..since there are no new posts for awhile now, here is a tip (as i have only just now tried to find it).

Go to your options and change the thread count to 50 per page. This way there are only 18 pages. It makes it much easier to keep track of stuff and to use the FIND... command efficiently.

your welcome. hehe

 

Firstly I would like to congratulate the main poster on this forum, your hard work and efforts here have helped a lot of people including myself, thank you. I recently purchased a 9400 and by the information posted here I have been able to keep the laptop running at an optimum level.

I still have problems with the machine, I guess this is natural, these are:

1. I get a static noise from the sound card whilst playing BF2, although this does not affect the game performance. After tweaking with the 7800 drivers I can now manage to run the game on the highest setting. I have upgraded the sound card driver with no success.

2. The font on some of the websites I visit is very small, I did read there is a file that needs deleting in the registry, does anyone have this file information to hand?

I have the graphics set to 352/858 and I am running at a temp of 59 degrees. This is with the new 83.90 driver.

In the end I went for the 1.8 processor, the wife’s lip prevented me going higher, I must say my machine is not lacking in any way. I am more than happy with the laptop.

Pete

 

Hey all, im new to this forum. I have recently purchased a 9400 as well, but Dell (of course) is taking forever to ship. I do not know how to "track" it. All you have to put in is Customer Number and Product Number right?

Where would I download these drivers for optimal performance?

 

Well if your thinking of optimal performance then you should firstly reinstall Windows XP. This will get rid of all the crap Dell puts on the laptop. Then download all the device drivers from Dell.com and then finally install the XTreme-G MobileForce drivers 83.90. This will allow you to overclock your graphics card.
After all this is done the laptop should be operating at optimal perfromance.

 

I do not think I will receive a Win Xp pro CD with my computer unless it comes with all. Couldn't I just delete some stuff in Add/Remove Programs and maybe even in Program Files or Mycomputer? If not i should Just install the XTreme-G driver?

 

I just want to give my opinion and I don't think people should reformat their 9400 unless absolutely needed, or knowing what they're getting into first. Removing the dell bloatware through add/remove and other means is much less stressful, plus there is still an issue with reinstalling MediaDirect after a reformat. You might be fine if you leave the partitions the way they are, but nothing has been confirmed/denied yet.

In my case, just removing the programs has sped up the machine to an acceptable level, and I currently have no desire to format the system.

I'm just saying...

Also, it's always a good idea to use the newest video drivers, regardless. A good set is the 83.90 MobileForce drivers here:

http://www.tweaksrus.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=163&Itemid=41/

 

my school might reformat it, will I have to tell them about the media direct thing? Is it possible to re-install media direct after the reformat? I know there is a section on this forum from reformatting with media direct, but is it posible to add it after formatting?

 

Well, apparently, this guy got it to work with his m140 after XP was reinstalled. You will need the MediaDirect installation CD (not the Repair CD), availalbe from dell, as well as Quickset installed. Here's the post:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1286177#post1286177

 

re: the sound card static.

The achillies heal, if there is one, would be the integrated sound. In demanding apps, it just can't keep up all the time.

I would suggest getting a 'soundcard' card to plug in. However, just to be sure this is really the problem...play BF2 at the lowest settings but high sound quality and see if it still has static.

I tried Bf2 with old drivers and it was crap. I will have to get my friend to try it again with the new mobileforce drivers and see if he has same problem you describe.

Heh, i prolly could have waited to post this --but, not sure when i will be able to test it. Though, i will have no way to see if 2 gig of memory might make a diff.

The font size can be changed via the browser that you are using (IE is view/text size/1 of 5 settings --Sounds like you are talking about something else though.


As for your wife -- you should have shown her a 6000$ rig and then broke down and settled for your lowly 2.1 ghz core duo )

 

I ordered my Dell last thurstday. It's scheduled for the 14 of feb. I can't wait. I dumped my desktop and my old laptop en buyed this one instead.

 

Does anyone know how to track a dell computer system?

 

You could try putting a bell around the neck of the monitor. If it's really sneaky, you could tap its modem cord or hire a P.I.

Sorry... too easy...

Really, once the computer has shipped, dell will provide a tracking number under your order number in customer support. You can use this to track the current location. It only works to a point (for example, if you order from Canada, they usually send with purolator and therefore it only lists as "in transit in US" until it crosses the border).

 

In case anyone is wondering about dual core processor support in games you might find this interesting, it's the readme for COD2 patch 1.01:

Call of Duty(R) 2 Intel(R) Dual-Core Optimization Update README

PLEASE NOTE: This is an optional update for users of Intel
Dual-Core processors and is not recommended for use with other
processor types. Please consult your CPU documentation to make
sure your processor supports Hyper-Threading before installing
this update.

This optional update for Call of Duty 2 adds optimization,
specifically to take advantage of Hyper-Threading technology in
Intel processors. These optimizations will increase performance
in both Single and Multiplayer modes. While significant
performance gains will be seen on Single-Core processors which
support Hyper-Threading, the greatest increase will be realized
on Dual-Core processors.

HOW TO TELL IF YOU HAVE A SUPPORTED PROCESSOR:
1. Hit Ctrl + Alt + Delete.
2. Select 'Task Manager'.
3. Select the 'Performance' tab.
4. Select View CPU History One Graph Per CPU
5. More than one graph side by side below the 'CPU Usage History'
label indicates you have a Dual Core processor or a processor
with Hyper-Threading technology.

AUTODETECT: Call of Duty 2 will automatically enable these
optimizations if it detects that you have a supported processor.

 

Hello, I have an interesting but far-fetched question.. I am wondering if there is any way in the world to put a quadro fx 1400 video card in the e1705... barring that does anyine have any advice on how to optimize the 7800 for openGL appplications..autocad etc.
Thanks.
I have read through this forum, and as someone who has an e1705 I think this is an amazing resource. props.

 

Yesterday I had 3 blue screens show up, so I turned the overclocking off on the video card, I will now see if I get anymore. Anyone else had this problem?

 

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=911

nvtweak will expose some opengl extensions.

Back in the day --quadro was overpriced and often overmatched by the "gaming card"

Today, the hardware is almost the same (quadro has 256 mb more memory for example). The key difference is in driver optimizations and SUPPORT.
I have no direct experience on this issue. I just research it now and again.

Seems certain companies will not provide you support if you are using an unsupported graphics card. So that mileage will vary.

The other argument for a quadro -- is that the quadro is a bit slower because it does better error correction and produces better quality ...important for things that take hours to do and you can't afford little mistakes.

bottom line: you prolly can't stick in a quadro (never say never and your best bet for other opengl optimizations is nvtweak.

----
as for overclocking --scale it down until it is stable. You can indeed go so far.
As far as i know ...FFF and fredrick are the only ones here that truly pushed the overclocking and, i think, decided to keep it on optimal.

 

hi guys.....

i had some problems wf my 9400 these days, and i cant realy stand it
so i do a format on it @.@
and after my 1st format, i try to follow the instructions to reinstall the media direct, end up i still cant use media direct,and i have to press the media direct buton to login to windows (if i use the power button,blue screen will come out )

after that,i format again, this time i din put in any partition for the media direct,is there any chances that i might be able to reinstall the media direct in the future?
besides, which driver should i use now for my geforce 7800?
the 81.97, the 83.70, the 83.90 or the latest 84.12??