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1719221
November 24th, 2009 17:00
DELL Studio XPS 16 1645 i7 power problem
Update 4 (2/13/2010):
Bios A07 shows a significant improvement with the 130w charger.
There is still throttling that need to be analyzed, most likely this throttling is a machine limitation.
For now, the system is able to run near the advertised specs.
Please post your experience with the updated BIOS.
Update 3:
Dell is finally listening, they are replacing the 90 watt charger with a 130 watt slim charger with a promise of a BIOS fix version A07 that is promised to fix the problem.
Will update upon the testing of the BIOS.
here is how to place a replacement request in USA and Canada
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19320784.aspx
Update 2
DELL thinks a BIOS release will fix the problem and is working on it now.
ALL the people who performed all kind of testing in NBR assures the engineers at DELL that a BIOS fix will not fix the problem completely without the use of a charger of higher power. Using Throttlestop the system was able to consume 110-120 watts under load.
Some people will accept a BIOS that throttle up to the maximum power of the charger used so for a 90 watts charger the system throttles at 90 watts, for a 130 watts, it throttles at 130 watts.
Some people are planning a class action browse the thread for more information.
Update
Here is our group findings so far
1. The power conservative BIOS forces the system to throttle to 7x when the power consumption is around 90 watts due to one or more of the following reasons:
a. Limitation of the power supply capability
b. Limitation of the motherboard to accept more than 90 watts (This reason is from DELL, but we suspect it)
c. To increase the battery life
d. To limit heat generation
obviously DELL should be blamed for poor design if it is a, b, or d.
2. Thanks to unclewebb there is a software now to unlock the throttle, this one will almost certainly put the 90 watt charger to rest or fire.
3. Due to the power limitation, it looks like the people with the RGBLED are most affected by the problem due to the added power consumption.
4. DELL is aware of the problem, but according to them it only affects a small percentage of people that put the system on full performance.
5. DELL keeps saying that the 130 watts adapter is not the solution of the problem, which is quite true as it needs both an adapter and BIOS update.
6. After a long wait, DELL acknowledged that there is a problem and that they will address it soon without announcing a time frame.
7. We as a group lack the trust in DELL fixing the problem to our satisfaction.
I think most of our group will agree on the above.
With all the above said, i am quite happy that mine was returned back to DELL after a frustrating experience with DELL level 1, 2, and 3 technical support. This doesn't represent the other members as most of them are happy with their notebook but expect action from DELL.
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We are among the first to receive our DELL studio XPS 16 1645 with i7. We have some benchmark results that strongly suggest that the equipped 90W charger is not providing enough power to the system. To summarize, the performance of the system is correlated to the brightness of the monitor which suggests that the power provided is not enough so when the monitor is dimmed it allows more power to be consumed by the system. Here is some findings:
Here is the findings, if you stress the laptop using 3Dmark06 the performance is correlated to the brightness of the screen, here is the findings
Full brightness: 5003 3DMark '06
SM2.0: 1664
SM3.0: 2189
CPU: 2568
Lowest brightness: 5405 3DMark '06
SM2.0:1834
SM3.0: 2326
CPU: 2785
To further see the effect of the power consumption, i ran Crysis benchmark for two cases with one difference, the power source battery and minimum brightness vs charger and maximum brightness. I used the exact same settings for power plan (High performance and optimize performance for powerplay)
On Charger, Battery full, maximum brightness
Run #1- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Low ~~ Last Average FPS: 68.75
Run #2- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Last Average FPS: 30.24
Run #3- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Last Average FPS: 20.38
On Battery, minimum brightness
Run #1- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Low ~~ Last Average FPS: 80.31
Run #2- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: Medium ~~ Last Average FPS: 50.93
Run #3- DX10 1024x768 AA=No AA, 32 bit test, Quality: High ~~ Last Average FPS: 29.50
To further test the claim that the power is not enough, an external monitor is connected and to our surprise the system showed its muscles with best performance.
The correlation to the between the brightness and performance, and the heat generated from the charger strongly suggested that the charger is not providing enough power under full load.
It will be a shame if the power adapter is not adequate specially after the whole mess of delaying orders.
[Poll]
Irulz1081
9 Posts
0
January 16th, 2010 19:00
Hi Everyone,
I have said this before but I say this again posting all the specs of my system.
Dell Studio XPS 1645
Intel Core i7-720QM 1.6ghz
4gb DDR2 Ram
ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670
WLED 1080p
500gb Hard Drive
Windows 7 64-bit (Upgraded from Vista)
90w Power Adapter with high performance mode selected in windows
Now, I have NOT had any throttling issues that I am aware of. But I have had an issue non related to the problem that you guys are experiencing. Since I upgraded to Windows 7 64-bit from Vista 64-bit the hard drive does nothing but constantly freeze up and the HDD indicator stops blinking, them I am forced to manually cut the power to the system and restart.
QuadSk8erBill
9 Posts
0
January 16th, 2010 20:00
I created a separate thread to cover the 1645 audio bleed issues I noticed (so as to not derail this throttling thread). I made a mirror post of this new thread on Dell's Forum, and NoteBookReview.com. This new thread has far more information on this issue than I've mentioned thus far.
Dell.com: http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19316231.aspx
NoteBookReview.com: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=451627
Irulz1081
9 Posts
0
January 16th, 2010 20:00
Oh, I did not know that this was an issue already, also, my moms laptop which she got a week ago Studio 15 is also having hard drive freezing.
The only CPU intensive work I use on my machine would include:
Sims 3- All grphics turned on highest with 1920x1080 resolution
Roller Coaster Tycoon 3-All graphics on High 1920x1080
HD Streaming Online Video and saved video
Picture editing
Other than that there is not much else, when is this so called "BIOS" update supposed to be released anyway, I love this computer i just can stand the freezing :(
RaymondKL
37 Posts
0
January 16th, 2010 20:00
Hi there,
This is another known issue ontop of the throttling issue is random freezing. If you have not bumped into this thread its located in the link below.
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19303822/19618493.aspx?PageIndex=8
Dell has quoted that this issue will also be resolved in the next bios update, I do hope this gets fixed ! my machine is currently quite unreliable with random freezing . ...
Concerning Throttling:
Do you perform any heavy CPU intensive work on your machine?
Cheers
pidge2k
20 Posts
0
January 17th, 2010 14:00
Hello. I was curious of this problem affected the newer Core i5 processors since they have a 10w lower TDP?
unclewebb
38 Posts
0
January 17th, 2010 21:00
That's not true. I just heard from a user today with an XPS 1640 that uses a P8600 CPU. When pushed hard he watched his CPU speed drop down to 800 MHz. First the multiplier dropped down to 6.0X and then SLFM (super low frequency mode) kicked in which cuts the bus speed in half internally within the CPU from the default of 266 MHZ down to 133 MHz. The result is a 2400 MHz computer that is running at the equivalent of 6.0 X 133 MHz ~ 800 MHz.
After you've lost two thirds of your performance, then clock modulation kicks in to really slow things down.
With any Dell laptop you buy, you better be prepared to do your own testing to see if it's able to deliver its rated performance when fully loaded. I've only been looking into this issue for the last month and already I've had reports from users with XPS 1645/1640, Latitude E6500/E6400, Studio 17, Precision M6500 and even the performance oriented Alienware M15x all having issues with throttling.
The new 1647 continues with an under powered 90 watt adapter and it also includes an ATI 4670. Will it throttle and slow down at full load? If / when it does, I'll add it to my growing list.
Chad2009
11 Posts
0
January 18th, 2010 10:00
Just adding my name to the list of those with Throttled 1645 laptops. Hope Dell fixes it some day.
QuadSk8erBill
9 Posts
0
January 18th, 2010 11:00
I'm sorry to say, but the "manager" you talked to has no idea what she is talking about. It is unfortunate, but I've talked to a number of Dell reps (techs, customer service, etc.) who are very confident about what they say (yet clearly are out of touch with the technology they are selling). I do believe they mean well, but mistakes are rampant.
The different hardware revisions (1640, 1645, and 1647) each map to the general motherboard core logic chipset architecture. As I understand it, here is what each version accepts:
1640: Older Core 2 Duo processors (older front side bus)
1645: Quad Core i7s (eliminating front side bus)
1647: Duel Core i5s and i7s (eliminating front side bus)
It is impossible to put an i7 with a 1640. The 1640 doesn't even support the new elimination of the front side bus architecture. If you are getting an i7, it will be a 1645 or a 1647. If you are getting a 1640, it is NOT an i7 (regardless of what a "manager" says). Sorry to make these things complicated for you, but you are being fed with misinformation.
Baldip
32 Posts
0
January 18th, 2010 11:00
Thats interesting, I asked the manager and she told me they did the test on the 1640 with a i7 processor. And it ran how it was supposed to. People are telling me that the 1640 does not have i7, but the one i am receiving will have it.
ste1505
14 Posts
0
January 18th, 2010 11:00
When I ordered the RGBLED they put it in as part number 320-8332 which correctly described the RGBLED. Then my order was canceled and redone with part 320-8335 which says WLED. Dell is still confused with this issue. 50% of the techs insisted it was not the RGBLED and the others said it was.
Oliphaunt182
3 Posts
0
January 18th, 2010 15:00
I found this topic trying when researching that some games were causing me some problems. I ran the test and I seem to be affected by it also my specs are:
Core i7 Q720
4GB of ddr3 1333
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670
1920x1080 15.6 WLED monitor
500 gb 7200 rpm hd
blu-ray player
bios version A03
mjbrilla
8 Posts
0
January 18th, 2010 21:00
I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I thought that I might have some information that I'd like to add to the discussion.
I own a Studio XPS 1640 and have been running into stuttering problems while gaming. I initially thought that it might be due to excessive heat, but the temps during game play seem reasonably cool (around 60-65C). After reading a few threads about the downclocking issue, I decided to look into the possibility that this might be the cause of the stuttering problems.
I've noticed the stuttering problems while playing Crysis and COD4. I can play each of these games with a smooth framerate of about 20-30 fps for about 30-60 mins and then suddenly it drops to about 1-2 fps.
So, I decided to download the ThrottleStop program, and do some investigating. The following figures are from were logged during a COD4 game I played tonight:
DATE TIME MULTI C0% CKMOD CHIPM DTS
01/18/10 22:24:08 9.02 31.3 100.0 100.0 41
01/18/10 22:51:14 3.00 88.7 100.0 100.0 23
The first line corresponds to the start of the game (running at 20-30fps). BTW, I believe that 9x is the max clock multiplier for the P8600. The second line corresponds to a time about 30 mins later, when the stuttering started and the game dropped to an unplayable 1-2fps. So, it appears that the XPS 1645 is not the only system affected, it seems to affect the XPS 1640 too.
I'd just like to say that I hope Dell can resolve this issue because I really like my XPS 1640, and aside from this issue, I haven't had any significant problems :)
My system specs are:
RaymondKL
37 Posts
0
January 19th, 2010 00:00
:( I'm also experiencing this same issue it is such a shame that i didn't do enough research on this matter! all i can say is its great that searching on google "Dell XPS 1645" this thread comes in very high hopefully potential buyers are aware of this current issue that dell is looking into.
symmi
5 Posts
0
January 19th, 2010 00:00
I have same problem with my xps 1640:emotion-7:
T9600
Ati 4670 1gb
7200 rpm
4gb ddr3
16'' RGBled
eeehee
9 Posts
0
January 19th, 2010 08:00
I was pretty close to buying one of these today and in searching for heat related issues, found this thread. I still want one but I'm not sure that this is ever going to get resolved in a reasonable manner.
For what it's worth, I chatted with a Dell rep today in Laptop Sales and he (after checking for about 10 minutes) told me they are still shipping these with a 90 watt power adapter.