Dell XPS Studio Desktop 8GB Tri-channel DDR3 Question

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i've just received my Studio and boy does the fan make the noise! is it the CPU fan or the Chassis fan?
Also i want to upgrade the video card to ATI 4870. But that puppy needs a heap of juice. Atleast 500w PSU. Did anyone have to go thru this yet? which PSU would you recommend? any additional cooling needed one its in?
 
i've just received my Studio and boy does the fan make the noise! is it the CPU fan or the Chassis fan?
Also i want to upgrade the video card to ATI 4870. But that puppy needs a heap of juice. Atleast 500w PSU. Did anyone have to go thru this yet? which PSU would you recommend? any additional cooling needed one its in?

Here is a good place to start:

http://www.voidware.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=2

He used a 500 Antec earthwatts PSU. I have seen the Earthwatts EA650 and it will fit in there too if you want a little more boost.

The case fan is mostly the problem with noise. It only takes a short usage spike from any one of the 4 cores to send it into overdrive.
 
And now everything is a moot point, perhaps.

Meet the NEW Dell Studio XPS 435T... More room, 24GB of potential RAM, more cooling potential, more expansion slots, more HD space, a larger PSU (475w), and one depressed current owner. Looks like the stock CPU cooling solution that comes with the i7 now. Notice better air flow with front fan directly on GPU. And even though they are using the stock CPU cooling solution, it's got a direct air duct to outside.

Im typing this on my new laptop, an HP Pavilion DV3510nr. It's a great machine...really impressed and a fitting partner to the 435MT. Seriously, this is the Best Buy "Blue Label" version (they co-developed this with HP with customer feedback) and I'm really impressed with the quality, having always avoided HP computers. Always had Dell laptops, too. This is the best laptop I've used besides the Mac Books. Great in travel although the battery is a bit so-so. The backlit keyboard is a huge boon for night work. Cant believe this took so long to come around. Highly recommended so far.

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BTW I gave up on the case fan in the front because there was no easy way to mount it. The HD light and the CPU reset button got in the way.
Im a thousand miles from my Dell Studio XPS 435, but I was pretty sure there was plenty of room to mount a case fan inside the case on the front. I dont remember the HD light or resent button being even visible. I need to look again but this was my impression based on a look from the inside.
 
I think that is actually the 435T not MT

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/435T/en/SM/techov.htm#wp1194395

I'm going to add a pci slot fan but I need a 15pin sata to 4 pin molex and the only adapter on newegg is not on hand and they don't have a place to backorder it. So I'm keeping my eyes out. I could use the y cable and power it from the fan slot on the motherboard, but I'm afraid that would cause both fans to go into leaf blower mode. I just want the pci fan running at a constant speed to help minimize how often the case fan revs up.

I'm actually pretty happy with the Studio XPS. I think I would rather just buy a case/power supply combo for ~$100 than to return the 435MT and get a new 435T if I wanted more cooling than the pci slot fan will add.
 
Yeah, I guess they are keeping the regular Studio XPS, too. That's pretty surprising, actually. The real upgrade is not only the case and PSU, it's actually the MOTHERBOARD which has far more potential with more slots and 24GB of RAM vs 12GB (and it's more spread out, too with more distance between GPU and CPU). I'm actually a bit disappointed except for the amazing deal I got.

Again, on the original 435MT, it appears you can add a front case fan, right? This could be powered by one of the molex plugs from the stock PSU to inexpensive unit that provides taps for 2-4 fans (they have these at various spots online, including newegg). I would even rate this a better performing option than the slot fan in many ways.

I dont know...I'm still a bit meloncholy about this new motherboard and the fact this case is always going to be rather hot.

At least Dell was aware this time around; the new motherboard has provisions for more fans, including a dedicated front fan connection.
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Yeah, I guess they are keeping the regular Studio XPS, too. That's pretty surprising, actually. The real upgrade is not only the case and PSU, it's actually the MOTHERBOARD which has far more potential with more slots and 24GB of RAM vs 12GB (and it's more spread out, too with more distance between GPU and CPU). I'm actually a bit disappointed except for the amazing deal I got.

Again, on the original 435MT, it appears you can add a front case fan, right? This could be powered by one of the molex plugs from the stock PSU to inexpensive unit that provides taps for 2-4 fans (they have these at various spots online, including newegg). I would even rate this a better performing option than the slot fan in many ways.

Yes you could mount a front fan, but you would have to fabricate a mounting adaptor plate. So its not worth the effort.

There are no molex plugs on the stock PSU. There are 2 spare 15pin sata plugs and one 6pin video plug on mine. A second hard drive and a second dvd/Blueray drive would wipe out the 2 spare 15 pin sata plugs I have.

On the new 435T, does the bios allow OCing devices? That would be worth the upgrade. However,12 versus 24gig of RAM is different. I'm not seeing that benefit especially now. Crucial and Corsair don't even make 4gig sticks at this time. Does anyone? I'm using 9gig in my machine and I have never used more than 4 and I do gaming. It is my opinion that by the time you would need more than 12gig, the rest of the components in the 435mt will be obsolete as well anyhow.

It is just my luck that they would come out with the next newest and greatest only 10 days after my system comes in, but I still think I would have gone with the one I picked now. It would have been nice to take advantage of the extra $200 they knocked off it. I did get a better deal from the sales guy than if I would have bought it off the website though so I'm not sure I would have saved much.
 
Yes you could mount a front fan, but you would have to fabricate a mounting adaptor plate. So its not worth the effort....There are no molex plugs on the stock PSU. There are 2 spare 15pin sata plugs and one 6pin video plug on mine. A second hard drive and a second dvd/Blueray drive would wipe out the 2 spare 15 pin sata plugs I have.
Are you sure? The reason I say this is because when I looked at the front within my case, there were four fan screw holes right there, which is the reason I mentioned this as an option pages back. In addition, if not powering extra HDs or optical drives, cant you just use the Power connectors (which are Molex 4 Pin)? I have two opticals and two HD being powered by the stock 350w supply. Most people would have an extra power plug. I'm assuming you do as well. Adding a fan would be inexpensive and pretty easy. My HDs and optical drives use the standard four pin plug, easily converted with an adapter wire or fan control unit(very inexpensive). Does the EU machine not have the same connectors powering the drives??

On the new 435T, does the bios allow OCing devices? That would be worth the upgrade. However,12 versus 24gig of RAM is different. I'm not seeing that benefit especially now. Crucial and Corsair don't even make 4gig sticks at this time. Does anyone? I'm using 9gig in my machine and I have never used more than 4 and I do gaming. It is my opinion that by the time you would need more than 12gig, the rest of the components in the 435mt will be obsolete as well anyhow.
I dont think anything but the top end gaming machines have OC ability in bios. On everything else, I see what you're saying. Does make sense on a certain level. But the fact is, just a few years ago, having over 2GB of RAM seemed like plenty and with the sub 4GB limit by 32bit Windows, you were at the end anyway. Now, 6 and 9GB seems like no big deal. I'm thinking the 24GB option might end up being more useful than imagined. In addition, that board has much better expansion room in general, not only with RAM, but with the slots.

Still, as you point out, the 435MT was a good deal, especially at Outlet prices/offerings (or with a discount). I would have probably waited a bit if I knew this board was so close, though.
 
Are you sure? The reason I say this is because when I looked at the front within my case, there were four fan screw holes right there, which is the reason I mentioned this as an option pages back. In addition, if not powering extra HDs or optical drives, cant you just use the Power connectors (which are Molex 4 Pin)? I have two opticals and two HD being powered by the stock 350w supply. Most people would have an extra power plug. I'm assuming you do as well. Adding a fan would be inexpensive and pretty easy. My HDs and optical drives use the standard four pin plug, easily converted with an adapter wire or fan control unit(very inexpensive). Does the EU machine not have the same connectors powering the drives??

Everything in my machine is 15pin sata:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812201002

Check out the black side. I need this cable with oposite genders to plug in the 4 pin molex pci slot fans. The only solution I have found is this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816038

Which is not in stock.

There are 4 screw places but they are not in a square. One screw hole is off. Also light I mentioned, the HD light and the reset buttons are in the middle of the 4 screw holes anyhow.
 
Yeah, I had no idea all your connections were 15pin. You know, you might be able to run that slot fan you've been interested in via the 3 pin case fan connector with y cable as the extra light bit of cooling it would provide would bring down the overall temps just enough to never bring that rear case fan into action.

The front would bring a bit of a quandary mounting a fan but it's probably doable but harder than the slot fan for sure. Seems the easiest is the slot fan from the Y, especially if it brings temps down enough to keep other fans from activating.

Based on Dell forum 435MT users, it seems many of the lower decibel fan solutions simply dont provide enough cooling power. All the guys that tried the quieter fan solution that also downloaded the Real and Core temp programs saw the temps RISE with the extra quiet.
 
Yeah, I had no idea all your connections were 15pin. You know, you might be able to run that slot fan you've been interested in via the 3 pin case fan connector with y cable as the extra light bit of cooling it would provide would bring down the overall temps just enough to never bring that rear case fan into action.

The front would bring a bit of a quandary mounting a fan but it's probably doable but harder than the slot fan for sure. Seems the easiest is the slot fan from the Y, especially if it brings temps down enough to keep other fans from activating.

Based on Dell forum 435MT users, it seems many of the lower decibel fan solutions simply dont provide enough cooling power. All the guys that tried the quieter fan solution that also downloaded the Real and Core temp programs saw the temps RISE with the extra quiet.

So you have 4 pin devices in yours?

I just ordered a PCI fan and cable. I'm going to have to splice the sata male with a molex female I have already. I'm tired of waiting for the correct adapter to come in. Also I don't want to have the motherboard try to control this fan's speed so I don't want to connect it through the case fan slot via a y connection. The fan I chose has a speed control that I can control from the back of the computer. It also has a second fan to help with circulation. This is the one I picked:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835114024

Your last statement there is why I want to add this fan. The stock dell fan is rated at 70CFM where the one I have is only 41CFM
 
Oops....

Lord. My Mistake. Take back all the 4 pin Molex references in relation to our stock PSU and PS connections for the HDs and Optical drives. They ARE indeed 15 pin SATA power connectors. I had been working with the standard 4 pin for so long, and when I kept glancing at the plugs, they looked for all the world like new versions of the same. That is, until I finally broke down and was moving some cabling, trying to clean up the wiring. Yep, no standard 4 pin molex nor did I find extras. Guess that's another positive for upgrading a PSU, especially if going with the ultra clean Modular cable approach. For some reason, I just refused to believe those beasts were the 15pin.

On another note, I think that 70cfm rating is probably when that beast is on full, leaf blower mode. Hopefully, with some other cooling solutions added, it wont need to hit that. Cant imagine any other way it could possibly reach anywhere near 70 unless cycled up to roar status.
 
Hey guys, I haven't been on here for a few weeks but good to catch up on whats been said and information that found out. Seems like the heat issue in light of the fan noise is the main topic then? It is annoying having a fan that alters its speed but I suppose its due to smaller case having a half decent graphics card. Personally I am probably not goin to even fiddle with my 435 until the yrs warranty is up, a front fan may be in order but I wouldn't see the value other than a slight improvement to overall temps but that rear fan would still alter speed and go crazy loud for something as trivial as installing a java update I mean come on! it basically sounds like its having a breakdown over the slightest thing sometimes as if its got some sort of attitude problem! Im just rambling now but I am sure you all know what I mean!
 
I much prefer the cheap case on the 435MT that we are all getting to know. Even though its just the same as lower down models in dells desktop range it looks better, it may not be as advanced for cooling and space (leading probably to the fan noise problem) but at least they fitted a half decent cpu cooler not the stock intel one with that stupid black drainpipe to isolate the cpu from the rest of the case!

But overall in my opinion big cases look the balls and generally in desktop pc's the bigger they are the better they are! So in the future this may be an upgrade for me then maybe an ATX motherboard instead of the mATX one.
 
wow this thread got big.

Okay, I have 2 things to mention.

1. Dell gave me a refund today. Enough money to buy a 2gig stick of ddr3 off the website so I can replace a 1gig stick and have 9 gig triple channel - 3x2 and 3x1. Awesome. Happy with that.

I pointed out that the american website had the 8gig at dual channel and kept going after 3 or 4 emails which basically told me they couldnt do anything, then they passed it to technical support after I wrote that "If you check the US site to see how they advertise exactly the same hardware you will see they state that 8GB is only dual channel while 6gb is tri-channel.
If you do not understand the difference please refer this to someone who does."

That did the trick and the technical guy refunded me the money.

2. I upgraded my case fan - I made a bit of a balls up and bought an arctic cooler which wouldnt fit in the case but that doesnt really matter - the sound reduction with the alternative case fan is amazing. I got rubber connectors for the fan and its so much better its pretty unreal.

Now I havent read this whole thread but I had to post my result today. Time to check the rest out :)
 
I upgraded my case fan - I made a bit of a balls up and bought an arctic cooler which wouldnt fit in the case but that doesnt really matter - the sound reduction with the alternative case fan is amazing. I got rubber connectors for the fan and its so much better its pretty unreal.
I knew they would resolve that RAM issue if you kept at it. There was no doubt in my mind on this as Dell usually comes through if you find the right person.

Second, have you tested your temps after the fan swap? Because most of the people I've talked to said the quiet fans simply dont move enough air to keep the temps down. I know you have CPU-Z. But did you download the temp programs to test the core temps? Ditto for the GPU temp.

  • CPU-Z (Total System Info Report)
  • GPU-Z (Graphics Card Total Report)
  • Real Temp (CPU Report and Core Temp Monitioring)
  • Core Temp (CPU Report and Core Temp Monitoring)
 
Well GPU-Z says that the gpu temp is at 62, dispio is 62, memio is at 67 and shadercore is at 61.5

temps are 48/49/46/45 for my cores in real temp but it does say they are running at 1596mhz. When I do the XS bench in "real temp", the "core temp" program states they go as high as 58. It also says the speed increases to 2.8ghz

What program would you recommend to investigate further? I am downloading 3dmark vantage right now. wont be able to run any tests till tomorrow night now since its late here in the uk.

I was wondering if has anyone tried the original leaf blower case fan with rubber mounts - although i really dont want to put that thing back in. it was monstrous. i bought the XILENCE Red Wing 92mm Quiet Fan which is in there now and the Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo for the 4850 although the arctic cooler wont actually fit in the case. I might still keep it and stick it on the 4850 when i move it into a new machine or change the case later.

One feature of the i7 is that it is designed to overclock - a single core can be pushed much higher while others are lowered to keep the temperatures even. This is probably why it occasionally registers as 2.8ghz?


**************tested using 3dmark vantage******************

my cores go up to 72 degrees during the tests. my graphics card wasnt logging during the test but it is 70-75 after the tests have finished running, cooling to 60-65 afterwards.

***************tested using prime 95***************************

my cores dont go any higher than 72 degrees - currently running prime 95 for 10 minutes at a constant 2.8ghz with all cores maxed out
 
Well, I got the PCI slot fan in. Here is the one I picked:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835114024

The first pain is that it is a standard PCI slot. The two tabs on the bottom are made so it will fit securely in the motherboard on a PCI slot. This doesn't help much when you only have PCI express X1 slots. This thing sits in there quite loosely, which is kind of a bummer. I set the manual fan speed control at about 2/3 span. This is a good mix of noise from the fans and performance based on Core temp and GPU-z readings

Performance wise my core temps stayed fairly constant at about 49C, but my graphics card dropped from 60F down to 48C so it helped there a lot.

However, the leaf blower mode on the main case fan hasn't really changed much. It goes into overdrive just as much. When it does, it doesn't go into turbo mode as long, but it is still annoying. I think I may need to try a more silent case fan than the one I picked out:

This is my case fan for reference:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119034
 
In my machine there was no method behind the leaf blowers outbursts. I could play really intensive games without it going off then it would go crazy while I was web browsing.

It was so loud I could hear it through my headphones - it made my xbox 360 sound quiet.
 
Well GPU-Z says that the gpu temp is at 62, dispio is 62, memio is at 67 and shadercore is at 61.5

temps are 48/49/46/45 for my cores in real temp but it does say they are running at 1596mhz. When I do the XS bench in "real temp", the "core temp" program states they go as high as 58. It also says the speed increases to 2.8ghz

What program would you recommend to investigate further? I am downloading 3dmark vantage right now. wont be able to run any tests till tomorrow night now since its late here in the uk.

I was wondering if has anyone tried the original leaf blower case fan with rubber mounts - although i really dont want to put that thing back in. it was monstrous. i bought the XILENCE Red Wing 92mm Quiet Fan which is in there now and the Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo for the 4850 although the arctic cooler wont actually fit in the case. I might still keep it and stick it on the 4850 when i move it into a new machine or change the case later.

One feature of the i7 is that it is designed to overclock - a single core can be pushed much higher while others are lowered to keep the temperatures even. This is probably why it occasionally registers as 2.8ghz?


**************tested using 3dmark vantage******************

my cores go up to 72 degrees during the tests. my graphics card wasnt logging during the test but it is 70-75 after the tests have finished running, cooling to 60-65 afterwards.

***************tested using prime 95***************************

my cores dont go any higher than 72 degrees - currently running prime 95 for 10 minutes at a constant 2.8ghz with all cores maxed out


Your speed will change cause your multiplier is constantly going up and down when you need the power. As long as your power monitoring options are set to balance and you leave the multiplier set to "auto" in the bios this will happen. Its to conserve energy so that you're not always drawing max power for simple task like web browsing.

72C on a core i7 isnt uncommon on just air. I"m running idle at 45C, but I'm on w ater cooling and oc'd to 4.2Ghz.

None of the things you mentioned above are uncommon.
 
There are a few things I am concerned about having been part of this thread for the past month or so.

1 - Having thought that the RAM inside my 8gb studio xps was actually tri channel but running in dual channel due to the configuration is baffling me beyond belief. Having thought about this but not investigating a lot further and having seen dual channel ddr3 RAM on overclockers website and also being told by a guy that does our computers at work that dual channel ddr3 RAM is used in some Servers has made me think this is why dell offered it in the first place because on the face of it (and I cant remember if it said it was dual channel when I placed my order with Dell) it looks better but in reality you would be better just going for the 6gb tri channel RAM so you know for definate its all tri channel!!! I am starting to believe now that my 8gb RAM is all Dual Channel!

How can I check this? is there a program that can list all the hardware I have so I can check if my RAM is tri channel capable or not?

2 - Is the fan issue, I am going to put up with the fan I think until my years warranty runs out then I will have an overhaul probably into a new very quiet case. But why is it so random? I think mine normally is doing something and it is quieter than my xbox 360 on tickover but I hate how much it fluctuates! I havnt done anythin that stressful on it yet looking forward to doin some 3ds Max rendering on it when I get the time just to see how much leafblowing actually goes on!

Oh yeah any thought on this would be appreciated!

ps. supersmashbrada nice setup!!!!! I want it!!! think I might aim for that in december! I love the Asus MBs, Rampage all the way, and a 30" screen woh! what do you use it for?
 
The ram you have is DDR3. Thats it. Thats all the actual ram is. Its DDR3.

Whether it is placed in a triple channel enabled motherboard or a dual channel motherboard, that does not change what sort of ram it is. Its DDR3.

The Dual channel DDR3 you can buy on overclockers is a kit? A couple of sticks of matching ram designed to go into a dual channel motherboard - probably a newer AMD enabled board for the Phenom X4 Processors - I think they use dual channel DDR3.

The motherboard you have (and I have) is Triple Channel enabled but only if the slots have matching dimms. So you need to have 3 of the same type and speed DDR3 ram in the three slots of the first bank and 3 more matching (but not necessarily the same size as the first bank) in the second bank of 3. It is possible to ignore one of the banks and leave it empty as well.

There is no way your 8GB is operating in Tri-channel mode. That is the basis on which I received a refund to purchase a new stick of 2GB DDR3 so I could take a 1GB stick out of the bank with 2x2GB in it already and add the new stick, thus having 3x2GB and 3x1GB. Both banks with matching dimms/sticks and therefore running properly in Tri-channel.

There is no mystery concerning this anymore. No reason to be confused. You need to pursue for a refund to get a replacement stick added to your configuration as I did.

Go to dell support and click "unresolved issues" once you have a case reference (which you gain by calling their customer support team). If you are really lucky, the customer support team may already be aware of the issue and will sort you out. If not, its a case of writing emails to the unresolved issues team.

Hope this helps/makes sense.

No idea about the random fans, it did my head in. Hense I dont care right now that my quiet fan is raising temps a bit.
 
thanks for the prompt reply yukka. I will look into this just not sure whether I will get anywhere with dell but suppose its worth a try.
 
Hi Guys,

I've had one of these PCs with 6GB RAM and the ATI 4850 graphics card and I'm highly delighted with mine.

Apart from a quick roar when I first switch it on, I can't really complain about the noise and I'm very picky about that sort of thing.

I read something very interesting on the Dell forum. Someone is suggesting that the reason for the load bursts of fan noise is to do with the driver for the ATI graphics cards. Apparently, if you download (not via Dell), and install the latest drivers, it reduces the noise.
 
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