Dell XPS 15 9570
This page is a work in progress by Diogenes (talk | contribs) and Maffblaster (talk | contribs). Treat its contents with caution.
The Dell XPS 15 9570 is considered a "MacBook Pro killer". It has amazing performance for around half the cost. As with many laptops, there is some configuration require to make all the components work with Gentoo.
This page is far from complete. More information will be added soon. Please be patient. The best thing to do is refer to this page in the ArchWiki.
Status
| Device/Functionality | Status | |
| Suspend | Works | |
| Hbernate | Works | |
| Intel Integrated Graphics | Works | |
| Discrete NVIDIA Graphics | Works | |
| Hybrid Graphics/NVIDIA Optimus | Works | |
| Wifi | Works | |
| Bluetooth | Works | |
| rfkill | Works | |
| Audio | Works | |
| Touchpad | Works | |
| Touchscreen | Works | |
| Webcam | Works | |
| Card Reader | Works | |
| Function/Multimedia Keys | Works | |
| Power management | Works (Remember to update BIOS) | |
| EFI Firmware Updates | Works | |
| Fingerprint Reader | Not working |
History
The Dell XPS 15 9570 is the updated version of the 9560 models. Released in May 2018, this model supports several choices in hardware configurations. Namely,
- The CPU can be one of the new Coffee Lake quad-core Core i5, hexa-core Core i7, or Core i9 processors.
- The graphics subsystem can consist of solely an Intel Integrated GPU or both an Intel Integrated GPU and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050Ti GPU.
- An optional fingerprint scanner integrated into the power button.
- There is a choice of touch FHD (1920x1080 @ 60.00 Hz), non-touch FHD (1920x1080 @ 60.00 Hz), touch UHD (3840x2160 @ 60.00 Hz), or non-touch UHD (3840x2160 @ 60.00 Hz) for the screen.
- The choice of a 2.5 SATA SSD or M.@ PCIe NVME SSD.
Additionally, the 9570's Thunderbolt 3 port now supports all four PCIe lanes, unlike the previous models, which only had support for two lanes.
Hardware
Standard
| Device | Make/model | Status | Kernel driver(s) | Kernel version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 4.10 GHz | Works | 4.20.0 | |
| Memory | 16GB DDR4-2400MHz | Works | ||
| Hard disk | 512GB PCIe NVME Solid State Drive | Works | nvme | |
| Video card | NVIDIA Corporation GP107M GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Mobile (4GB GDDR5) | Works | nvidia, fbsimple (or efifb on a UEFI setup) | 4.20.0 |
| Video card | Intel UHD Graphics 630 (Mobile) | Works | i915 (i965 in your portage.conf - I'll explain later) | 4.20.0 |
| Wireless | Killer 1535 802.11ac 2x2 WiFi (Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174) (Can be switched out for Intel Wireless AC 9260 - more details later) | Works | ath10k_core ath10k_pci linux-firmware | |
| Touchscreen | ELAN Touchscreen | Works | usbhid hid_multitouch | 4.15.4 |
| Touchpad | Synaptics TouchPad | Works | mouse_ps2_synaptics_smbus | 4.13.0 |
| Bluetooth | Killer 1535 Bluetooth | Works | bluetooth btrtl btintel bnep btbcm rfcomm btusb linux-firmware | 4.15.4 |
| USB 3.0 | Works | xhci_hcd | ||
| Thunderbolt 3 | 4 lanes of PCI Express Gen 3. Supports: Power In / Charging, PowerShare, 40Gbps Bi-Directional, 3.1 USB Gen 2 (10Gbps), VGA, HDMI, Ethernet and USB-A via Dell Adapter (Sold Separately) | Works | 4.20.0 | |
| SD Card Reader | SD, SDHC, SDXC | Works | ? | |
| Webcam | Widescreen HD (720p) | Works | uvc | 4.14.8 |
| Microphone | Dual array digital microphones | Works | 4.20.0 | |
| Fingerprint reader | 138a:0091 Validity Sensors, Inc. | No | None |
LSPCI
Printout of lspci:
root #lspci -nnkAccessories
Discussions, considerations, tips, and tricks
Hybrid graphics/NVIDIA Optimus
No acpi_osi hackery should be necessary anymore (tested with BIOS version 1.17.1 - BIOS can be updated through fwupd).
You have to use bbswitch to turn off the discrete card when not in use, GTX 1050Ti is not new enough to support runtime D3 power management (that needs at least a Turing based GPU - GTX 1650 or newer).
Power management
Physical modifications
Wireless card
Remove the Killer Wireless-AC 1535 card and replace it with the Intel Wireless-AC 9260. According to this forums discussion, the Intel card is vastly superior to the Killer card in every way.
The Intel Wireless-AC 9260 can be purchased on Amazon.
A tutorial on replacing the WiFi card can be found here.
Heat and CPU throttling
The 9570 has a serious issue with dissipating heat which sometimes leads to throttling [1][2][3].
In most cases, this can be solved by updating the motherboard firmware with the latest images from Dell's 9570 support page. However, if the issue still persists, following this tutorial may produce better results.
Troubleshooting
See also
- Xorg/Guide — explains what Xorg is, how to install it, and the various configuration options.
- Hprofile — an application that can be used to manage multiple profiles be it hardware or software.
- NVIDIA — a popular graphical chipset manufacturer.
- NVIDIA/nvidia-drivers — The x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers package contains the proprietary graphics driver for NVIDIA graphic cards.
- NVIDIA/Optimus — a proprietary technology that seamlessly switches between two GPUs.
- NVIDIA/Bumblebee — an open source implementation of NVIDIA Optimus.
- Nouveau — the open source driver for NVIDIA graphic cards.
- Nouveau & nvidia-drivers switching — describes how to switch between NVIDIA's binary driver and the open source nouveau driver.
External Resources
- ArchWiki: Dell XPS 15 9570 - The arch wiki page on the Dell XPS 15 9570. For the time being this is the best place to look for general information.