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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]
eeehee
9 Posts
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January 22nd, 2010 05:00
Sorry to ask again but is the Studio 16 XPS end of life? I am needing to order a new computer shortly and will have to look elsewhere if either a fix isn't imminent or the will be EOL'd in favor of something new without these issues.
Anonymous
5 Practitioner
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274.2K Posts
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January 22nd, 2010 12:00
I was talking with support today and this person told me that I'm must wait for new BIOS version and then they probably sent me new AC adapter. I think than then everything will be ok. But I still think that this laptop is ok.
97mg
14 Posts
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January 23rd, 2010 03:00
Hi everyone, I've been doing some rough tests and have CPU-Z and Core Temp running, both supporting the i7, but when run simultaneously you can see the real time readings are quiet different! Im assuming this means that Core Temp 0.99.5 is not a very accurate tool for the 1645?
unclewebb
38 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2010 10:00
Give ThrottleStop a try.
http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/ThrottleStop.zip
It can show you what each of your 8 threads are up to in real time and the log file will show the highest multiplier which is what Intel recommends when reporting these new CPUs.
As long as you don't check Clock Modulation, Chipset Clock Mod or Set Multiplier; ThrottleStop will be in monitoring mode and will accurately monitor all 8 of your threads. This is the default for ThrottleStop and is how ThrottleStop will be configured when you first download it and start it up. Most monitoring programs are not following the method outlined in the November 2008 Intel Turbo White Paper about how to properly read a Core i CPU.
The XPS 1645 is just fine as is for most tasks. When using any application that stresses both the CPU and GPU at the same time like when gaming, these laptops can slow down significantly to a third or less of their rated performance. If you are not monitoring for this you might be unaware of what's going on. Hopefully Dell will offer a 130 watt adapter and a suitable bios in the near future to fix this issue.
2by4
17 Posts
0
January 25th, 2010 04:00
Can somebody from Dell provide us with a date to when the new Bios fix will be available, and be more detailed to what changes are being made to the Bios to correct the Throttling issue. I am sure that many of us would like to see more detailed information as everything so far has been very general and vague.
Also please inform us if you are updating the 90W power supply to the 130W power supply and if you are not can you explain why, as it seems that the 1645 draws more wattage than what is supplied.
Thanks in advance for any or all of the information that you can provide us with.
kadvek_44
1 Message
0
January 25th, 2010 12:00
I've had my studio XPS 1645 for all of 5 days and I'm sending it back already.
Adding to the issues stated throughout the thread my XPS is overheating within about 20 minutes of watching any type of video fullscreen and freezing or shutting itself down. Tech support did nothing to solve the issue and said I could send it too a depot or have a new laptop sent. With the fact that my power adapter appears to be ready to burn through the carpet, the over heating and the BIOS issue, I'm just getting a full refund.
Sad because otherwise the feel and look of this laptop is exceptional.
redcbx78
3 Posts
0
January 25th, 2010 13:00
Got my second XPS 1645 today. I can't believe the poor fit and finish of this. My daughters $750 laptop has a better fit than this $2000 laptop. My second XPS has a nice sized gap right above the front panel indicators on the front edge of the laptop. Almost like the palmrest was not snapped down. The silver strip is bowed up as well.
I'm going to call Dell (wish me luck on getting someoen who can think for themselvs) and get it returned.
After 15 years of Dell, I'm done. We use Dell servers in our IT department and we do purchase Latitudes and Optiplexes - but for my personal laptop - I can't spend $2K on a laptop and be happy with a poor build quality and the other issues that have been discussed in this forum.
After 15 years of supporting Dell products for our users - I can say that this laptop ranks up there as one of the poorest assembled laptops I have seen from Dell. Between my Sister-in-law and me we have been through 3 of the 1645's and all of them have or are going to be sent back.
Baldip
32 Posts
0
January 26th, 2010 21:00
It does overheat and performance levels do drop. I do not think thats the problem. For example when playing a game. Increasing the brightness increases the lag and drop in performace. When brightness is decreased it runs smooth and the peformance is great.
BruceL86
13 Posts
0
January 26th, 2010 21:00
I have a question for the community. Is the problem just that that processor can't get enough power so it drops to a lower level of performance or is the problem that the processor heats up and then drops to a lower level of performance. Dell wants to come out and install an heat sink on my processor that they say will take care of the problem. Please accept my apology if this question has previously been asked and answered.
unclewebb
38 Posts
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January 26th, 2010 22:00
The throttling problem has absolutely nothing to do with heat. Your processor already has a heatsink on it so someone coming out and blowing some compressed air on it or replacing it isn't going to make a bit of difference.
The throttling problem is because of Dell's decision to ship the XPS 1645 with an inadequate 90 watt power adapter while other manufacturers with similar systems are shipping their laptops with 120 watt adapters and up. The only fix is an updated bios combined with a 130 watt adapter so these computers won't have to throttle and slow down like crazy to stay within the present 90 watt envelope.
ryancouture
14 Posts
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January 26th, 2010 23:00
can someone please tell me how the hell i unsubscribe from this thread i canceled the thing months ago
nikolay.t
19 Posts
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January 27th, 2010 05:00
I also experience the throttling issue with my 1645 and awaiting a solution from Dell engineers. Something else I noticed, Do someone experience display flickers ? In addition, is it normal v the 1080p display to be brighter on left and right, than the middle of the display
thanks
Midnight_Voice
24 Posts
0
January 27th, 2010 05:00
If you run it on battery, you should get long enough to see the CPU/GPU thermals stabilize at least, at levels of performance that are simply unobtainable on the adaptor. That should show you where the problem lies
kenshee78
10 Posts
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January 27th, 2010 18:00
4th business day?? Any news on the DELL promises?? I returned mine after 3 days of use!!!
seandavid
1 Message
0
January 27th, 2010 23:00
I was about to purchase one these notebooks. I'm glad I came across this forum first. This is a shame. I expected better from Dell. How did Dell let a computer make it to the public with such a problem? This says something about their quality control.