Solution S-XPS 1645/1647 Throttling Issues

[danp224]

Originally Posted by dangel

My 1645 has exceeded 30 days return period (naive to think that Dell would solve all problems promptly and apologetically). Anyone knows how I can get full refund, either from Dell or credit card company please suggest.

Another problem arose, spent over two hours on incompetent support call and rude ending I am now completely fed up. I bought this for work so this has no financial impact for me, but I must live up to my principles.

Definitely time to consider standardizing to other OEMs. Dell seems to be having QA/internal communication problems and its support is getting worst. Everything I bought over the last months, Latitude E6400, Studio XPS, and latest Studio 15 received last week all have problems. I have bought close to 1000 computers and this is the worst experience ever.

Again please suggest how I can get this fully refunded so Dell doesn't benefit financially from my painful experience. Greatly appreciated!

If you paid by Credit Card, I would start with them. I would look at what type of buyers protection you have as a benefit of using their card; either Mastercard or Visa. I would let Dell know that you are not satisfied and to make it right for you, or you will initiate a Chargeback, as the product is no bueno!

[danp224]

I would also like to add that you can also call the Attorney general in your state, and file a complaint there.

I am also watching this with great interest. I'm waiting to see if the 1645 will be added to this.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0512189620100205

[Turbe]

Originally Posted by Rise677

So I cannot seem to find anyone with the RGBLED that has tested the system. Is there any throttling with those who have the RGBLED screen?

Originally Posted by Rise677

Yes, but you still have the 90w adapter, which has been verified to be insufficient from multiple people. We need a test with a 130w.

1647 i5-520m | A04 BIOS | RGBLED

Just rec'd the 130w (had two power cords, 1 with the 180 degree plug, the other straight) and did some tests:

prime95 + furmark (ThrottleStop v1.94 disabled, more data), Full RGBLED Brighness

No Throttling anymore with those two apps (Multi just a tad under 19 in TS, CPU-Z shows Multi x18 - x20).

BIOS does show 130w.

Going to monitor the heat near the bottom left of the screen, that is of some concern to me due to XPS 16 design.

[danp224]

1645.

130 Watt PSU.

A.07 Bios.

RGB.

Yup, Still Throttles.

[unclewebb]

Turbe: The default multiplier for an i5-520M is 18 so anything beyond that is turbo boost which is great to see when fully loaded. Maximum turbo boost when fully loaded is a 20X multiplier but it's usually the Intel CPU that will prevent that when it detects too much load. It's typical for the multiplier to continuously cycle between 18 and 20 based on load and CPU power consumption.

danp224: Your results aren't nearly so great to see. Not only is your Quad running at less than half the speed of Turbe's Dual Core, it's also suffering from some clock modulation which slows it down even further. Dell does not intend to release a bios which lets a user run Prime95 + Furmark at full speed on their mobile Quad Core so about the only choice is to send it back and tell them they can have it.

Whoever originally decided that a 90 watt adapter was good enough should get this:



Even a 130 watt adapter is marginal since it is still being throttled back to a lot less than the 130 watt DC rating on the label.

[Turbe]

Originally Posted by unclewebb

Turbe: The default multiplier for an i5-520M is 18 so anything beyond that is turbo boost which is great to see when fully loaded. Maximum turbo boost when fully loaded is a 20X multiplier but it's usually the Intel CPU that will prevent that when it detects too much load. It's typical for the multiplier to continuously cycle between 18 and 20 based on load and CPU power consumption.

That explains my observation then, it was doing 18-20, I left for 15 minutes, when I came back it was at a rock steady 18. In fact, not even running furmark (or anything else) could get it to change, always 18. When I stopped the prime95 workers and restarted them, it went back to 18-20...

Seem like the 1647 with A04 and the 130w is running properly now (even with the RGBLED).

Now, if they had only had a different screen hinge design that didn't basically block the back side (and exhaust)..

[Turbe]

Originally Posted by unclewebb

Even a 130 watt adapter is marginal since it is still being throttled back to a lot less than the 130 watt DC rating on the label.

I have a Kill A Watt, I guess I should check it.

[rbats]

Quick question -- how do I know if Turbo boost is enabled on my 1647? I see the driver in the Device Manager (Intel Turbo Boost) -- is that all there is to it?

[Turbe]

Originally Posted by unclewebb

Even a 130 watt adapter is marginal since it is still being throttled back to a lot less than the 130 watt DC rating on the label.

Originally Posted by Turbe

I have a Kill A Watt, I guess I should check it.

Kill A Watt shows 114-118 watts with prime95 + furmark, RGBLED @ Full Brightness.

It's around around 75 watts with only prime95, RGBLED @ Full Brightness (bringing brightness @ 30-40%, it shows around 67watts, brightness all the way down, 65 watts, Brightness @ 75% it shows around 71 watts).

EDIT: With display off (prime95 running), it shows 56 watts.

IMO, it's clear (and has been apparently for some time) the 90w is not enough - there just isn't any headroom. The 130w should have been standard on the 1647s and they should ship 130w to existing owners for free (not requiring the 90w to be returned).

[Turbe]

Originally Posted by rbats

Quick question -- how do I know if Turbo boost is enabled on my 1647? I see the driver in the Device Manager (Intel Turbo Boost) -- is that all there is to it?

You should be set