Anyone here have a Dell Studio XPS 164x?

[Firus]

Well, if not, don't go buying one anytime soon...I did, it had huge issues with throttling down when under load (think 1 fps in Borderlands on low settings), freezing, screen flickering, power supply untouchably hot.

So, I went and did some searching and it turns out I'm not alone...in fact, every one of these things is experiencing it and Dell has basically been doing anything in their power to avoid admitting there is a problem.

There are several threads on the Dell and other forums with no solutions in sight.

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19306277.aspx
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19303822.aspx
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=446193

Just wondering if anyone else is going through this and if they have found any solutions? Also, hoping I can warn people before they go out and purchase one...I guess this it what I get for getting a new latest and greatest laptop

 

[boomhower]

From what I have read it seems to be limited to the i7's. I have been eying one the new i5's as they seem like they will be faster in typical day to day use over the i7's. Does suck pretty hard that Dell is avoiding the problem. It seems the upgraded power supplies have helped but not completely solved the problem.

 

[ReggieDunlap]

You need to go back to the notebookreview.com forums. There have been Dell employees who are registered there and working with US and Canada based customers with the Studio 16 XPS 1645's. These, I believe, have the i5-520M or even the 540m chips with the ATI 4650 1GB video card and have have the throttling issue. Also, some have been the RGBLED 1920x1080 screens and some have been the WLED 1920x1080 screens.

Essentially, the 1645 models have been tested by Dell and been proven to have the throttling issue and power supply heating problems. Dell is working on a new A07 BIOS (no release info as of yet) and will also replace the 90W power supply with a 130W power supply.

That info is based on the 1645 models. There are people there mentioning the 1647's as having the same kind of issues, but the Dell reps stated that the 1647 will be looked at separately from the 1645 and the resolution will be unique to the 47's and not necessarily the same as the 45's.

Just a heads up.

 

[boomhower]

Damn that sucks. I was looking at possibly getting an i5 version. I was debating between the XPS and the plain studio. For the configurations I was looking at the difference was pretty minimal and the XPS just looks a whole lot better. I guess I'll wait until they get it sorted out.

 

[ReggieDunlap]

Well, from what I remember, Dell's position is the 47's SHOULD work to specs with the new A07 BIOS and the 90W power supply. As I understood the issue (Im not a gamer sorry), the XPS line with the i7 and i5 processors were being throttled because of heat and overdraw on the 90w adaptors (the ATI 4670 card and processor were taking almost all of the 90w being pulled) and then the RGBLED screens compounded the issue. Dell engineers reported the issue was with the algorithm in the BIOS and they were basically moving into the testing phases of the new BIOS last week/this week.

Those Dell guys on the forum are NOT the engineers and therefore could not/would not give any idea as to a delivery date for the new BIOS. HOWEVER, their assurance was for the 1645's the new bios with a new 130W adaptor would solve the throttling problem and the 1647's - their understanding from the engineers - would probably be fine with just the new BIOS.

FWIW, I ordered a Studio 1558 with the i5-520m, the ATI 4570, a Full HD WLED and the 9 cell battery and I think I get the 90W AC. Like I said Im not a gamer, but when I get the system I might try that ThrottleStop program posted by a member to test to see if my system DOES throttle and then wait for the new BIOS and test again.

 

[boomhower]

I'm not a gamer either but tend to do a fair bit of encoding from time to time so if it throttles that would peeve me off a great deal.

 

[ReggieDunlap]

According to posts from someone from Dell on another board, the 1645's will be getting a BIOS update around the 14th of Feb or so and this update combined with a 130W AC adaptor will resolve the Throttling and heat issue. As for the 1647's, according to the Dell rep, the engineers maintain that the BIOS update - no date of release yet - would handle the throttling and heat issues and they would not need a 130W adaptor.

The above comes with all the usual and standard disclaimers etc etc etc....Should anyone want the link to the other board, it is one of the three in the OP above.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Looks like they released A07, any updates on this?


Also, anyone know if this is still a problem with recent purchased XPS 16s?