Dell XPS 15 9500 - GPU Power Draw limited?

Question

I recently purchased an xps 15 9500 for both work and some casual gaming when bored, and I noticed that the performance in many games was not at the level of a 1650 ti. When I tried to monitor the temps, utilisation and power draw of the processor and gpu, I found that the gpu never exceeded 20W. Doing some research online, all sources say the maximum power draw of the 1650 ti mobile variant is 40-50W. So am I right in assuming that the gpu power draw is being limited by the laptop?

The temperatures on the gpu also never exceeded 86C, which is said to be quite normal while gaming on a laptop. I am aware that the xps is not a laptop meant for gaming, and that the thermals are nowhere near meant for gaming, but still wanted to understand if the power draw of the gpu was being limited, and if there was any way to increase it.

Laptop Specs:

i7-10750H

16 gb RAM

1650 ti

1920x1200 FHD+ display 60hz

XPS_Man · Accepted Answer

Yes not all 1650/1650ti are the same.

Well depends of which Gaming Laptop you are purchasing

Most Laptops have integrated GPUs (soldered on Motherboard) and are not as powerful as their desktop siblings. Some Alienware models ship with Desktop Grade Graphic Cards too. Depending on the model dell will select GPU model but will customize it to fit the respective model.

Dell has limited it to a maximum of 20W, : I don't have any official numbers for this. You can google. But one thing is for sure if you compare it with a G Series or Alienware notebook, it would be higher. Their's a reason those machines are shipped very Large Power Brick.

XPS_Man · Answer

Yes it is

They made a mistake in their XPS 9700 by not limiting it and later ended up introducing a new version of motherboard for affected users.

You have answered your question : This is not a gaming machine, people buying this computer expect best performance, great Battery Life, with controlled thermals.

If Dell wanted us to fully utilized that CPU/GPU, the machine would have shipped with a 180w or 240w power adapter. Even if some mastermind somehow finds a way to alter this behavior the cooling mechanism of this notebook (or any XPS) isn't powerful enough to handle that, so GPU will throttle anyways. A Gaming notebook would do the trick but than you are loosing Excellent battery life, a slim and sleek design and most important of all 6-9 hours of battery.

I have the UHD version and end up playing my games of FHD (medium settings). My brother who spent 500$ less than me has a more powerful computer than me.

Gigalodon · Answer

Thank you for the prompt reply.

So am I right in understanding that the gpu in itself is capable of drawing 50W of power, but Dell has limited it to a maximum of 20W, for the various reasons they might have? I am just trying to understand if the 1650 ti gpu which is in this laptop is in any different than the ones in gaming laptops.

Gigalodon · Answer

Ok. This clears up a lot of things. Thanks a lot for answering.

XPS

Dell XPS 15 9500 - GPU Power Draw limited?

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