Dell Precision 7540 and 7740 Owner's Thread

So after playing around in a clueless manner with ThrottleStop (TS) and HWinfo64, I found out the following stuff:

- With the most recent bios version, the default power limits are 60W/107W (you can check by removing the .INI file in TS folder, restart, and open HWinfo64)
- The FIRST time TS is opened (after installation), the default values in the TPL box inside TS is 75/107W (God knows where these numbers come from). After opening TS for this first time, open HWinfo64 again and check, the limits are still 60W/107W.

Now I did the following steps subsequently:
- Open FIVR box, uncheck "Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits".
- Open TPL box, modify the limits, press Apply, and press OK (for instance, change to 80W/120W here).
- Then open HWinfo64 - the limits will now be 80W/120W, and if you run CinebenchR20, you'll see the same load reached in TS.

Now the funny part begins :
- Sleep, and turn on my laptop again.
- Check in HWinfo64, the limits are now 60W/107W *despite the settings in TS being untouched.
- The *meaning* of the "Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits" box is now *flipped*!!! So now I *check* the box (as it is already being unchecked), type 80W/120W again in the TPL box, and press Apply, the new limits will be displayed correctly in HWinfo64.

I just tried again and found that: as the "Disable and Lock Turbo Power Limits" is now checked, and as the TPL settings is just recently edited, the power limits remain unchanged from now despite the number of sleeps/turn on.

My most reliable way to change the power limit is now: uncheck the "box", change the limits, sleep, check the "box", and change the limits again. Hope this silly trick help you guys

 

just wanted to check, if you opt for the aluminium lid, does the bottom base also change to aluminium?

i found the built quality of the bottom base with carbon lid not that great...

 

Pretty sure it is the same material but painted a lighter color.

 

@steeevan and @acemanhiflier, do you care to share the part number of your heatsinks? You can find out by going to this site, entering your service tag and then clicking on 'system configuration'.

I'm inclined to believe the first batch of the Precision 7530 heatsinks are defective, and I'm intending to replace the heatsink...

 

you mean, it is not aluminium? arrgh... that will mean that the lid and base will be of different material types if you choose for Aluminium lid!!

good that i opted for the carbon finish lid. plus the carbon finish should have better RF properties. have a WWAN in my config which seems to work very well. the WiFi also seems better than my XPS 15 2-in-1 (which is Aluminium).

 

I checked the system configuration and this is what it says for the graphics card and heatsink: -

 

@acemanhiflier, much obliged. For now, I've repasted the CPU and GPU, and removed the plastic washers, and pressed down the heatsink.

I've experienced a remarkable drop in temperatures: at even full tilt of 4.1 GHz, the CPU does not throttle and temperatures maintain at 90 °C. The weird temperature differential is also gone. Now, to figure out how to get rid of the PL2 power limit, or at least make it longer.

 

Do you also set undervolt? If not, you can try with a first step of -100mV, that is almost the base step for every 8/9th gen i7/i9 and make another good difference in thermal improvement.

 

An undervolt of –125 mV has always been there from the get-go.

I now achieve a score of 1333 in CB R15, which is my highest ever. And this isn't even in an air-conditioned room. Ambient temps 29 °C.

 

Seems a good step.

Overall a good result I think, even because the heatsink performance on the 75X0 maybe is a little less than the one on the 77X0, due to space limits (not sure however, just considering).