E6540 Owners Thread

FWIW, I'm gaming just fine with my e6540, but have created CPU profiles capping speed at either 2.7Ghz (FSX) or 2.4Ghz (all others).

I agree though, the thermal design of this machine appears to be rather inadequate. The underside of the fan should at least be vented. if this machine fails due to a design flaw, I'd have to say I'm done with Dell. Already been burnt by an M1530 failure.

 

Do you think that throttling will be an issue with this machine for non-gaming use?

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Actually, I guess since I have this machine in my possession for another couple of weeks I'm going to put it through its paces with some of my real world use and see how it fares. Given the most processor-intensive tasks I do involves creating archives, I just copied 40GB of video files and I'm compressing it with WinRAR while monitoring with CPU-Z for processor speed and HWMonitor for temps.

If it stays at max for an hour (I'm going to create progressively larger archives to achieve this, it should be more than enough for me.

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but have created CPU profiles capping speed at either 2.7Ghz (FSX) or 2.4Ghz (all others).

Turnbull2000,

How do you "create CPU profiles capping speed" ?

... Is this done, in the dell power management software, in win 7 - control panel - power management applet, --or-- with some other software utility pgm ? ... Is there an option on a power management software screen where you specify the "capping speed" ?

 

Installed Dell Power Manager to provide further control, then created new power profiles with the CPU minimum and maximum locked at desired percentages.

 

And that was fast.

Stepped away from my archiving job which was clocking along pretty well for the first 10 minutes. When I returned at 29 minutes in, the speed had dropped down to 795MHz.

Temps per HWMonitor are 81C for the processor.

Needless to say, I'm disappointed. This is the machine I'd prefer to keep based on the screen. As it is, I think I'm going to return both. The screen on the M4800 will bother me now that I know it's there and the throttled processor on this machine is a deal-breaker.

I'm going to hang on to my Studio 1537 with its broken hinges that I've glued together for a while longer until I see what comes out later in the year. At that time, if the M4800 drops in price so I can afford the QHD+ display, I'll likely get that. For now, if I need to be mobile (since I can't close my Studio due to gluing the hinges open) I'll rely on my tablet and bluetooth keyboard. I have a desktop and 24" monitor if needs be.

It's a pity. I quite like the E6540 otherwise.

 

Turnbull2000,

Sorry to be a novice at this, but what "CPU Min. Percentage" and "CPU Max. Percentage" would translate to lets say your cap of 2.7Ghz ?

... Also, would it be possible for you to attach a snapshot of the Dell Power Mgmt Screen with a cap of 2.7Ghz, so that I could follow the concept completely ?

Thanks in advance.

 

Surprised at that mind. I experimented with some rendering in Autodesk Revit with no CPU cap, and it maintained 3Ghz for the 15 minutes it took to render without trouble. Temps peaked at 88c.

Will do that when I get back to mine tmrw.

 

I like Throttle Stop for limiting CPU. Gives you updated info on temps, speed, core usage, etc.. I have it set to run at start and you can choose different profiles to auto select based on battery or AC power. I keep the windows/dell power profile on max/ultra (whatever they call it) just so I know none of those settings are messing anything else up.

I use MSI Afterburner to track gpu usage and temps. Can't get overclocking/underclocking to work atm but it I have it set to show gpu temps and fps in the upper left hand corner while gaming..

 

Running the test again. At 22 minutes now. It's fluctuating between 2900 and 3400MHz.

 

Have you repasted or are you still using the stock paste job? Stock paste jobs tend to be crappy. Even when the Dell tech had to replace my mobo (before they replaced the whole machine), she did an awful job.. Might not make a huge difference, but when I did it on my first machine I noticed and average of a 5C drop iirc