Dell XPS 17 (L702x) Thread

[ray4jc]

Hi,

I just got a refurbished L702x. have used it lightly for 2 days due to no time, but it seems ok so far.

Thanks to this thread I managed to sort out the "DIM brightness not working" problem.

I have one question that has been bugging regarding this machine. The one I ordered came with only 1 x 500GB drive. However, Windows shows that only 400GB is the total capacity for the C drive. And with nothing new install apart from the initial Dell package of programs, the free space on my drive is now only around 375GB.

So I am really chuffed, and do not know where the 65GB+ gone (as 500GB drive is normally 465GB usable), and what junk has taken up 25GB of my drive already?

Thanks for anyone who could offer some clues.

There is a dell restore partition ~9 Gigs

Then the Windows Install and any Dell installed apps takes up the rest of the used space

Check your system restore settings as it may be set really high, also check your pagefile size

You might want to check in your disk management console and make sure there isn't any unformated space as well.

It is possible since it is a refurb that there could be some extra files or something taking up space.

There are quite a few programs to visually show you used space and you can easily isolate large folders/files, the one I use is called TreeSize

[ray4jc]

Just got my L702X, got a question on temps...

What are norm temps for the L702X ? I ran a game (BF2-BC) for about 1/2hr and when I went back to windows, CPU core temps were 70C !!
I expected higher temps then a desktop but 70C ?

I know the search is broken but there are temps posted all over the place just look a few pages back for multiple examples...with that said yes that temp is fine.

If you notice the temp does go up fast however it drops almost as fast.

One thing you can try is setting your processor at ~99% min/max performance all the time, there is a thread on this in the alienware section, I don't see why it wouldn't work for the xps 17 as well.

I actually have mine set for only 60% max processor on battery.

[Rangnarok]

There is a dell restore partition ~9 Gigs

Then the Windows Install and any Dell installed apps takes up the rest of the used space

Check your system restore settings as it may be set really high, also check your pagefile size

You might want to check in your disk management console and make sure there isn't any unformated space as well.

It is possible since it is a refurb that there could be some extra files or something taking up space.

There are quite a few programs to visually show you used space and you can easily isolate large folders/files, the one I use is called TreeSize

The Ninja to the rescue. Thanks for your suggestions. I norally use Total Commander, but will use TreeSize to see how the disk is occupied and what takes up 25GB worth of space.

But that still doesn't answer why around 65GB is not showing up at all! Even if the recovery partition is 10GB, that is still 55GB unexplained.

[ray4jc]

The Ninja to the rescue. Thanks for your suggestions. I norally use Total Commander, but will use TreeSize to see how the disk is occupied and what takes up 25GB worth of space.

But that still doesn't answer why around 65GB is not showing up at all! Even if the recovery partition is 10GB, that is still 55GB unexplained.

Actually on my xps 17 the dell restore is actually closer to 15Gb so if you give the dell/windows software 25Gb that would be 40Gb and I could see the system restore possibly taking up the rest depending on the factory settings

You can also try http://windirstat.info/ to see your disk usage visually

[morfmedia]

pagefile.sys + hiberfile.sys could be upto 15-20GB for laptops with 8GB RAM too....

[letmeknov]

Today my CPU reached maximum temps when I was converting flac to mp3 using 'Easy CD-DA Extractor 15' with highest CPU priority (8 converters instead of default 2). All cores where maxed out for about 3-4 minutes, so temperature reached 92 °C degrees. Since these Sandy Bridge mobile cpu's can handle max of 100 °C, is it a reason to start panic?

[ray4jc]

Today my CPU reached maximum temps when I was converting flac to mp3 using 'Easy CD-DA Extractor 15' with highest CPU priority (8 converters instead of default 2). All cores where maxed out for about 3-4 minutes, so temperature reached 92 °C degrees. Since these Sandy Bridge mobile cpu's can handle max of 100 °C, is it a reason to start panic?

I'm no expert and could be wrong but I think what is happening is when turbo boost kicks in it kicks the temp to near max and then as soon as the power isn't needed it basically jumps back down, basically the temperature correlates to the amount of 'turbo' being used.

I think it would be a problem if the temp was running 90°C all the time and/or if it wouldn't go back down after processing power was not needed.

Also just out of curiosity how often do all the cores really get 'maxed' out in normal use?

Have a look at what they are doing with the L502X and try it out, I really wonder if you would notice much difference etc in encoding time.

[jebas15]

i have another pbm. If i connect the headphone i can hear only music not voice. what can i do?

[letmeknov]

I think it would be a problem if the temp was running 90°C all the time and/or if it wouldn't go back down after processing power was not needed.

Totally agree here.

Have a look at what they are doing with the L502X and try it out, I really wonder if you would notice much difference etc in encoding time.

Sweet, thanks for pointing at that thread. I've tried out this trick in 'Power Options' and repeated same converting process again, so maximum temps were only 72°C degrees but took pretty longer to convert files.

[ray4jc]

Sweet, thanks for pointing at that thread. I've tried out this trick in 'Power Options' and repeated same converting process again, so maximum temps were only 72°C degrees but took pretty longer to convert files.

That was my only concern was how does the XX°C stack up to +/- processing time.

I keep my system set at ~60% power while on battery because I mostly just do light tasks anyway and I easily get 5+ hours out of it and no fan etc.