Dell XPS running hot?

sierraguy

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I have a brand new Dell Studio XPS 16 with 8gb RAM, ATI 1gb, I7-820QM. It idles at about 55-60 degree C. At 30% utilization it jumps to about 70%. The fan runs constantly.... The Studio 1558 which this replaced (by Delll) idled at 50-55 degrees C but the case goot too hot to touch (130 degrees C).

a) Is the idle temp safe or too hot?
b) when does the CPU throttle itself down, shut down turboboost, etc?
c) Is this heat normal, others with same experience with similar configs?
d) Do all Dells run this hot? The XPS seems to run hotter than others.
The Inspiron 15s (at Bestbuy) with I7-720QM run rather cool. No heat to the chassis so I assume cooler cpu... No difference
in cooling, one fan, one exhast port.
c) Does the heat imply accelerated depreciation of internal components? MB. memory, CPU, GPU?

If you were in my situation, would you keep it? Dell replaced a $1200 Studio 15 with a maxed out XPS (no extra cost) 16 as they couldn't get a Studio 15 to run cool...
 
The only difference between the 720 and 820 is the clock speed, i.e.e the 820 is clocked a bit higher. Otherwise than that, they are the exact same chip. What sort of temperatures are you seeing under load? Laptop CPU's are designed to take more heat than desktop CPU's, which generally means that they can take up to around 90C if necessary. If I remember correctly, the tjuntion of the 820 is 100C. To me, it seems to be running a bit hot though, which is why I am curious about the load temps.
 

sierraguy

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Can you recommend a load test utility? One that accurately operates the CPU cores at a predetermined load?




 

sierraguy

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Using OCCT Linpack test at 100% utilization (90% free mem, 64 bit wiith hyperthreading), after 35 minutes I'm getting 71 degrees C across all cores. But this is with a belkin single fan cooling pad. The pad, since it is curved, does allow for more space under the laptop. Therefore the bottom of the chassis was cool to the touch.

I use CoreTemp as a secondary monitoring utility to confirm the OCCT readings.

About a minute later and the readings return to about 52 degrees C.

On a flat surface with no cooling pad: At 100% utilization, I'm getting 75 to 77 degrees C and hotter with the fan running at full speed. As with the Studio 1558, the unit is dispersing a lot of the extra heat through the chassis which effects the physical user experience. i.e. too damn hot!!!
The bottom of the chassis is reading 120 degrees F and is tooo hot to touch. This rules out placing the machine on my lap...... Even the palm resting area on top of the chassis is at 100 degrees C. These external readings are basically the same readings I got with the Studio 1558s.

On the XPS, it takes approximately 5 minutes too return to base idle temps of 52 to 55 degrees C.

At 100% utilization the Studio 1558 was running well over 85 degrees C on all 4 cores and OCCT shut down the test as the temp reached the utilities safety threshold.
Dell hated the fact that I didn't just call in too say it was running too hot but that I had actual internal and external temperature readings.

Anyone calling into Dell with a heat issue on the Studio line running an I7 HAS to have taken temp readings, with multiple utilities, including external case readings in order for Dell to take them serious.

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The question still remains, are these temps safe for this processor. In the short term? In the long term? Are these temps going too shorten the life of the processor? I can't get answers anywhere and am going too call Intel support on Monday.

I've seen mention of a Intel Desktop utility that measures both core and VR temps. If I find that these temps are too hot, readings from an actual Intel utility combined with Intel support input should carry more weight with Dell. They've replaced 3 Stdio 1558s based on OCCT and Coretemp readings but always include in theiir emails that they 'don't recognize third party utilities as valid input to their decisions". Odd, they replaced 3 machines based on those utiliities but don't recognize them as valid"...
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I still have the previous Studio 1558 as Delll hasn't sent me a return label yet. I live about 60 miles from San Francisco, mentioned the heat problem to CNet. Told them the machine could burn a user and got no response from them. Consumer Reports may respond differently.. This issue has to stop and be fixed before machines start failing and people get burned by the Studio 1558. On a side note, Bestbuy won't sell the Dell Studio line.... Heat and quality issues.