Inspiron 5502 CPU running SLOW

(continuing)

My dad happened to buy Inspiron 7506 a couple of months before me, with exactly the same Core i7 processor. On his, the base speed is set at 2.8GHz everywhere as expected, and benchmarks run much better. Not just the ones from Geekbench I linked to earlier, but other ones too.

So I'm quite disappointed with this. I don't get how Dell is selling these systems that are configured to run at only 60% of the expected speed.

For some reason, Intel SpeedStep was disabled in my BIOS.

For anyone else experiencing this issue:

1. Restart your machine
2. When the Dell logo appears, tap F2 repeatedly
3. Go to the Advanced tab -> Intel SpeedStep and change to Enabled.

@AdrianG001  I think you meant F12, not F2 - it's F12 during boot to get into BIOS.

SpeedStep being disabled is not my issue. I have SpeedStep and Turbo Boost both turned on, and they're working properly to increase or reduce speed as needed, but they both work off the base frequency which is fixed at 1.7GHz. In the system description Dell says the processor can run "up to 4.7 GHz" but I've never seen mine go over 4GHz, even though it does speed up to over 3 sometimes.

I now received some DMs from Dell support, and their position appears to be that the processor spec allows them to set the base frequency anywhere from 1.2GHz to 2.8GHz, so they're free to do so anywhere within this range, and don't need to disclose this anywhere. I think this is ridiculous. That's a huge range, and they're basically underclocking the CPU without telling anyone. I feel I'm being shorted by 40% of the performance (guess I should be happy it's not 57% short, as having 1.2GHz base speed would be).

Hello, 

Thank you very much for sharing this. The system is working as designed. The processor can be configured from 1.2GHz to a max of 2.8GHz base clock speed. As long as the TurboBoost is on, the computer will use the necessary power for its tasks exceeding the max base clock speed. The intel website shows the minimum and maximum values the base clock can be set/ configured to by the system manufacturer. 

Regards,

Aniketh S

You make it sound like the base speed doesn't matter, and that just isn't the case. The system is advertised as having the CPU that runs at "up to 4.7GHz", yet I've never seen mine even approach 4, usually maxing out at around 3GHz (Yes, more than the configured base speed, sometimes even more than the expected base. But not even close to the advertised maximum.)  While my dad's one with exactly the same Core i7-1165G7 CPU and base speed of the expected 2.8 goes over 4GHz easily. This also gets reflected in poor benchmarking results on mine.

Yes, Intel allows the base speed to be set as low as 1.2GHz with this processor. That doesn't mean that selling a system with CPU thusly underclocked, without even mentioning it anywhere, is not deceptive.

Some more thoughts on this. I very much doubt that Dell just randomly decided to underclock the CPU. It's probably a mitigation for some other problem. I suspect insufficient cooling. And what's worse than designing a system with insufficient cooling? Silently lowering the CPU clock and not disclosing it anywhere, and then denying the problem when asked about it! If Dell was straight about it, only this line would be suspect. Dell could lower the price to compensate for the lower speed, and people would be able to make an informed choice. With the way Dell is handling this, ALL of Dell's other products are now suspect too. You just can't be sure what corners Dell is going to cut. Don't think I'll be buying another Dell system .

I have two Dell 5502 systems each with the i5 chipset and both are set running at 1.38 ghz.  I am not sure how to go about "overclocking" them as indicated to do so by Dell Tech Support when I called them out on this.  Now after reading all these whacky explanations and evasive excuses from Dell I am wondering if consulting counsel regarding a class action might be the best way to go about dealing with this issue as they are certainly guilty of a the traditional "Bait & Switch" by advertising a performance standard when selling the system and then delivering a system which is incapable of delivering the stated performance, worse so that this action was taken deliberately and without disclosing this to the consumer.  It is essentially the same as selling a car with a v8 motor then delivering the same car but with a 4 cylinder engine instead.  Last I checked, this type of shenanigans was considered a big no no.  

How do I go about getting these  slow systems to perform better besides the obvious of returning them and purchasing a  Lenovo or MSI unit to benefit from a MFR that doesn't think it's consumers are idiots and won't notice that they received something drastically different than they originally ordered!

Ignore the base speed number in Task Manager and look at the speed rating. In your screen shot, your processor is operating at 2.6 GHz, though that number should be higher (in TurboBoost territory) while the CPU usage is constantly pegged at 100%... Unless 2.6 GHz is the TurboBoost and the processor drops below 1.7 GHz while idling, then it would appear that the computer is seeing the rated speed "correctly".

Have you tried resetting the BIOS settings back to their factory defaults? Have you checked for and installed any available BIOS/Firmware updates? Either one may address this issue.

Another thing to check is your power settings. Click on the battery icon down by the clock and make sure the slider isn't set to the far left side. Right click on the battery icon, select power options from the menu and make sure that the Balanced plan is selected. (Some people have reported slow performance with the Dell plan).

While you may state “the system is working as designed”, it seems deceptive to sell and advertise a product at “base 3.0GHz, up to 4.8GHz”, then set its effective base clock speed well below 3.0GHz, to 1.8GHz. 

Nowhere in your advertising does it say the advertised base speed can only be achieved by requiring TurboBoost to be enabled.

While the Intel website shows the manufacturer can set the base clock to be below its stated clock speed, it doesn’t say you can then advertise the product at a higher base than you set it for.

Importantly, you don’t do this across most of your model laptops, and there is no consistency.  You only seem to lower the clock speed on the more poorly designed ones that can’t properly handle the higher heat load of the higher performing and higher priced processors.

If you properly stated the substantially reduced base clock speed you’ve set, and kept the TurboBoost rating the same, many people would look to other computer systems instead, but since you advertise Intel’s base and not yours, it really really seems deceptive. 

@olegos

I also have an Inspiron 5502 with the same problems as yours. It has been faulty since I bought it in 2021. It does not run at the promised 2.8ghz, but only at 1.69ghz. It also throttles very quickly, even for simple tasks. The processing speed drops to 0.39ghz and stays there. I disabled turbo mode from bios, which helped a bit, but throttling still happens all the time. The graphics are also terrible. I blamed the mx330, but it is not the gpu’s fault. It is this laptop model’s fault. My friends with mx330 or worse gpus on other laptops can play games that I can’t. I can’t even record anything with obs. Also there are weird instances where the removing the charger actually results in better performance whenever the cpu is throttled, it makes absolutely no sense to me. I don't think I'll ever buy a dell again. And I think you are spot on with dell underclocking the CPU due to insufficient cooling. Because a friend of mine owned a different model (Inspiron 5501 if i'm not mistaken) which has the exact same specs as the Inspiron 5502 but with a different body. But performance wise it was way better.