Gaming Comparison
Our graphics testing for the XPS 15 2-in-1 falls into two categories—notebook and desktop. While it is most appropriate to compare only the notebooks, we also wanted to take a look at the relative comparison of the XPS 15 2-in-1 to the Hades Canyon NUC, which we previously compared to desktop-level hardware due to its relative performance.
Notebook Comparison
First off, we are comparing the Core i5-8250U and NVIDIA MX150-equipped Acer Swift 3, and the Microsoft Surace Book 2 with a Core i7-8600U and NVIDIA GTX 1050 to the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1. We are taking a look at a variety of games, tested at 1080p.
- Dirt Rally
- 1920×1080
- High Settings, 4X AA
- Far Cry 5
- 1920×1080
- Low Settings
- Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
- 1920×1080
- Low Settings
- DX 12 Mode
- Doom (2016)
- 1920×1080
- Vulkan API
- Medium Settings, FXAA
In all of our game testing, the Dell XPS 15 with Vega M GL graphics is neck and neck with the Surface Book 2, slightly beating it in most tests. The biggest performance gap is a 5% advantage in FPS to the XPS 15 2-in-1 in Dirt Rally.
Hades Canyon NUC Comparison
Despite both being in the same "Kaby Lake-G" family, there are a multitude of differences between the Core i7-8705G found in the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 and the Core i7-8809G found in the Hades Canyon NUC.
In addition to the over 50W of TDP difference, the Vega M GL graphics in the i7-8705G contains four fewer compute units than the Vega M GH Graphics in the Core i7-8809G. This, combined with lower clock speeds for both the CPU and GPU on the XPS 15 2-in-1 should provide for a sizable performance gap.
- Assassin's Creed: Origins
- 1920×1080
- Ultra High Preset
- Civilization VI
- 1920×1080
- Ultra Presets
- 8X MSAA
- Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation
- 1920×1080
- DX12
- Extreme Preset
- Far Cry 5
- 1920×1080
- Ultra Preset
- Grand Theft Auto V
- 1920×1080
- Very High graphical settings
- 4X AA
Considering the specification differences between the two processors, the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 manages to still provide impressive graphics performance considering its size. Even with the 30-40% performance gap between the NUC and XPS 15 2-in-1, this testing shows that with some tuning of game settings, you should be able to run almost any modern game with a frame rate of at least 30FPS at 1080p.
Thermal Testing
In order to test thermal throttling in gaming scenarios, we run a 45-minute loop of Dirt Rally. Average FPS is measured during the first and last benchmark runs.
As we can see here, there is no performance degradation caused over time due to thermal constraints while gaming on the Dell XPS 15 2-in-1.
After the 45 minutes of gameplay, we also measured the temperature of the XPS 15 2-in-1 with a thermal camera. Despite the hottest point of the notebook being upwards of 50C, the bottom of the notebook that would potentially make contact with the user's legs was still cool to the touch, which is very unusual for a notebook.
Received mine on Wednesday
Received mine on Wednesday and needed to update the drivers on several items.
The machine could not auto-rotate the screen this was one of several out-of-date Intel drivers that can be updated from Dell support.
The Vega M gpu was reported as Generic VGA, and I didn’t see anything on the Dell support pages to correct this. The ARK page for this CPU however did have the AMD Vega driver though, so I installed them from there.
Now I’m just curious to find out how to ensure the graphics tasks are actually being conducted by the Vega M GPU and hot the Intel HD xxx GPU, which are both active.
Really hate that Dell has
Really hate that Dell has decide to solder RAM and go route of removing SD card slot and full sized USB A port.
So “100% AdobeRGB coverage”
So “100% AdobeRGB coverage” and more graphics software testing please.
“In this case, we have two Thunderbolt 3 ports (providing full x4 throughput), as well as two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports.”
x4 of what? PCIe 2.0 or PCIe 3.0 and the Kaby lage G version gets the Soldered RAM while the non G versions get the upgradable RAM SODIMMS. I’ll bet that the TB3 ports(Type-C) and the USB 3.1 gen 2 ports(Type-C also) are one and the same ports so more adaptor profits for Dell(very Apple Like). And forget that USB Type-C to USB Type-A adaptor as that can be replaced with a Type-C to Gigabit Ethernet adaptor option for those that use wired connections.
This is just more like Apple(not very user upgradable) and less like non Apple laptops(more upgradable). And I can not wait for AMD’s Mobile Vega(Real Vega) to appear in a non Intel(Sort of “Vega” semi-custom) True AMD Zen/Vega option. And no one reviewer appears to have the jewels to see if that Semi-Custom “Vega” in the Kaby Lake G has that working HBCC IP. That Vega HBCC IP that can make use of the HBM2 as High Bandwidth Cache for the GPU with the ability to have more Virtual VRAM swapped out to and from regular system DRAM for non gaming graphics workloads where the user would want very high resolution images that may take up more than only 4GB of VRAM.
I’m Really not liking some reviewers who do not provide close up shots of the Ports on a laptop along with some better all around images of the laptop and those MagLev Butterfly like switches are they exactily like Apple’s Butterfly IP that’s going to get Apple some Class Action Treatment what with the issues they are having with that.
I want a Raven Ridge APU laptop with some Vega Discrete mobile Options with 4GB of HBM2 and that HBCC/HBC IP that actually works for allowing the user to have the HBM2 acting like a GPU Cache to a much larger pool of Virtual VRAM out on regular system DRAM.
The Type-C ports on the left
The Type-C ports on the left are thunderbolt. The rearmost having the power symbol as well. The two on the right are the USB3 ports. The power brick can be plugged into any of the 4.
I would have liked to have one Type-A port so I don’t have to use the dongle to plug in the logitech universal adaptor. (I really don’t like trackpads so a marathon mouse is always in my kit.)
Good news: It’s as fast as a
Good news: It’s as fast as a mobile GTX 1050
Bad news: It have half the mileage than a GTX 1050 system with the same battery, really poor battery life but something which was expected given Vega’s power efficiency
Total no go first off on the
Total no go first off on the cheapest model 128GB SSD only once windows is installed and of coarse the Dell recovery you are left with very little room. The second thing going from 128GB to 256GB is like $200 extra are they on glue. Third thing non expandable memory so you are stuck with whatever the unit came with. I hope this is not a trend but then again if the likes of Del and Apple and MS get away with it then this will become the norm for every company to do in the future.
This is the first time I’ve
This is the first time I’ve seen the review terms and disclosure, I think it’s a great idea.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I am looking at the XPS 15
I am looking at the XPS 15 (9575) and the XPS 15 (9570). do either of these support miracasting with the killer wireless hardware in them? Either the 1535 or the 1435 series? Dell has no support info on these 2 machines and Killer Networks doesn’t either? I find things in forums, but not for these 2 machines? Any help would be great!