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XPS 8100 i7 clock speed.
I have an XPS 8100 which I bought about three weeks ago with an i7 870 cpu @ 2.93 GHZ but when I run the Dell support centre and do the cpu check it reports that the cpu is running current speed 3.19 GHZ.
It also says:
mutliplier = x24 (9-22)
Bus speed 133.00 Mhz.
The temps are all in the 35-42 range.
Is this usual or am I being overlclocked? It has a 95w processor heatsink in the product listing, is that a special heatsink? Do retail i7 chips come with one and basically why is it specced? Is the XPS supposed to run faster than stock? It certainly does fly in games, mananging full settings at refresh rate frames at a high resolution of 1920 * 1080 on cod and wow.
The machine has been totally stable even after 12 hour World of Warcraft sessions running in 1080p on ultra settings on a 24" Dell WLED monitor, It is a little noisy though. I went for the GTX460 card as I'd read that it runs very cool and wanted something that would last. I would have expected the whole machine to be silent, especially on idle, infact there's not any change in noise between idle and playing WoW. Most radeons I have owned tended to make quite a bit of noise under load. I can't really make out where the main source of noise, It's not the card, cpu fan seems to be quiet, my only guess is the rear mounted fan or the PSU. It's not a bad sound like a failing or dirst fan, just a general humming with a high pitched squeaking if you listen hard enough, This may seem petty as it's runnig cool but my previous quad core XPS 720 with a radeon 3870 card was absolutely silent out of the box, the card fan ran a little inder stress but the whole machine was much quieter in general but it lacked the rear fan, infact there wasn't much room in the case, I would have thought it would be louder, After two years and the dust that comes with it, the machine is obviously louder, although there's barely a spec of dust in the case, it's dust that accumulates on the fans but from experience I'd say that a bit of dust and noise ir preferable to potentially damaging a working machine cleaning it. So my question is - why is my 8100 louder than my 420? A lot of reviewers said the machine was extremely silent, my 420 was but the 8100 certainly isn't silent. The miniscule but annoying extremely high pitched sound is quite annoying, it doesn't really sound like a fan, I have no idea what it is.
Would you say your XPS8100 is silent? Maybe it's the graphics card choice (GTX460). I guess bearings could make that kind of noise but it's very faint, like an electronic hum, for want of a description.
JMICHAEL
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February 6th, 2011 06:00
Dell would never overclock the CPU in the XPS 8100. The i7 870 is a 95W CPU. I didn't know that the XPS 8100 was ever offered with the option of getting a GTX 460 with such a small power supply. I would think the power supply would be making this noise if you had a GTX 460 hooked up to it and played games for that length of time at high settings and resolution. Even the XPS 420 had a bigger power supply.
Download and install CPUZ (version 1.56) and see what information it displays HERE for your i7. I thought this system only came with a 350 watt power supply and did not have the two 6-pin PCIe power cables required by a GTX 460. Did you open up the side of your case while running to see if you could isolate the sound? Also, with it open, verify the power supply information on the sticker and the connections to the GTX 460. I would also download and run GPUZ HERE just to verify information on the GTX 460.
Stinky68
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February 6th, 2011 09:00
I've just run GPUZ and everything seems ok, it reports fan speed at 25% with an idle temp of 32.
It's been this noisy out of the box, games don't make it any louder. It's a 350w psu but everything seems to be working steady. Does anyone know if this is a large enough PSU? The 8100 isn't on the site anymore, I wonder if it should be sent back? It's no louder than your standard 1 year old PC, just louder than you would expect going on the 420's noise lvl. 350w does seem a little low for the card, I don't have the info on what power the card draws,
JMICHAEL
1.7K Posts
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February 6th, 2011 12:00
What do your clock speeds show with GPUZ? Most would tell you including myself that a 350W unit is underpowered for a GTX 460. Dell has often underclocked their cards to reduce power consumption and work in a system that would not normally work with a retail card version. The recommended power supply is a 450 - 500 watt unit. Your total system power consumption would never exceed 350 watts with this card, but it falls below what is recommended. Therefore, it is logical to assume that the Dell version would not consume as much power as a retail version especially if Dell is only using one 6-pin PCIe cable to power it versus two. Did you happen to check this?
Noise is subjective so it's hard to say what you may consider loud compared to someone else. It's hard to compare it to another system since they all have different sound levels. Most OEM systems today are relatively quiet though. I have found that video cards and certain power supplies often increase noise levels. Case fans do increase the noise levels, but with just one that is normally not any concern. I have 4 case fans running and the noise does not bother me at all. There are many different GTX 460s on the market with their own cooling design and this can result in different noise levels from card to card. It's hard to say what dell put in there so I just don't know how much noise it would have, but generally the GTX 460 is a quiet card. The ones that exhaust heat out of the case with the turbine looking fan type have been known to be louder than other fan types though. I choose to increase my fan speed when gaming using EVGA's Precision software. Otherwise, my fan speed stays at 40% and does not increase unless the temperature exceeds 75C. When the fan speed increases, I can definitely hear it above any other noise.
I just don't like the combination of a GTX 460 and a 350 watt power supply. Maybe the both together are just producing more noise than you would like. I find it hard to believe you can have a stable system, but if you do, I would not be concerned about it right now since everything is new and under warranty. I have had several video cards that were just noisy all the time that I didn't like so I am careful about choosing ones that are known to run quietly especially at idle speeds. This is one reason I buy my own compared to having one installed for me along with a system purchase.
If it is just very bothersome to you, contact Dell support since you are under warranty. I just have not heard of anyone complaining about the noise of the XPS 8100 system, but I have not seen anyone with the GTX 460 either. I guess if someone has the combination they can chime in and address any noise concerns. Other than that, it's hard to say unless, like I said, you can isolate the noise by putting your ear up to the components that have fans like your CPU, GPU, case fan and power supply.