I posted this in a thread reporting on the same issues, but was requested to post it as a new question instead.
Ever since I got my Dell XPS 15 9550 (almost 2 years ago), I have noticed Windows 10 animations lag (minimize/maximize animations, resize, task view, ...) and Google Chrome runs even slower, becoming unusable at times. As per the thread linked above, I was hopeful to read about the Falls Creator's update resolving this issue for some. Unfortunately, I notice no difference on my computer. I have had a motherboard replacement, a screen replacement, and a full laptop replacement by Dell, followed up most recently now with an audio card replacement. Nothing has changed.
Judging from the information you can find online and the feedback from Intel and Dell support, this seems either to be a rare problem or people generally don't care. For example, in none of the XPS 15 reviews this problem is mentioned, although I have seen it firsthand on 4 laptops of the same model (my original laptop, the one with the motherboard replaced, the full replacement, and a similar model from a friend). However, this is definitely not an isolated issue!
Some sources mentioning this issue:
- Dell XPS 15 9550 4k Intel 530 UI performance Windows 10 - Super User
- Intel HD Graphics 530 - Poor performance 4K
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/5iqaid/dell_xps_9550_4k_poor_ui_performance_do_i_have_a/
- Maximizing window animation of 4k windows has a severly reduced - Microsoft Community
- 4k laptop lag in Windows 10 UI animations
- I've posted this resize issue also on Microsoft Feedback Hub: https://aka.ms/Fjuwtk Probably most important observation here is: "It is only windows which near about 3/4th of the full 4k size (3840x2160) which stutter when maximizing."
- ... There might be more sources I can try to dig up based on my searches in the past, if this could be of any help.
What always has been reproducible for me so far:
- Resizing windows lags immensely, in particular in Chrome where black bands show up while resizing.
- Stutter when maximizing windows which are larger than a certain resolution.
- Bringing up the task view is slow, which is extremely noticeable when pressing it repeatedly, as in this video where I compare the Dell XPS 15 9550 to another computer.
- Some games (such as Teslagrad, possibly all games running on Unity?) run smooth in windowed mode (using the dedicated GPU), but when rendered full screen performance drops drastically. It seems as if there is a bottleneck in simply copying frames to 4k, similar to how 'big' windows lag and small windows run smoother on Windows.
I found the answer on the Super User post interesting:
I've since added a second ram module, to have the ram operate in dual channel mode now. The animations have improved on the 4k laptop monitor so much so that the choppiness is virtually gone!
He has since reported in the end the problems still occur, but perhaps Intel support can provide more insights into whether/how much of a difference this could make?
I currently have 1X16GB. Is there any chance buying another 16GB stick would make any difference? By now, is it known where the bottleneck is coming from? To me (judging on the maximize animation only stuttering above a certain resolution), it could be related to memory size where no big enough buffers are available (or allocated) in the operating system. Using hWinfo, I can tell the Intel HD 530 card currently is allocated 1GB of RAM, which unfortunately I can not change to be more from the Dell BIOS to try out this theory.
Above all, I am interested in hearing whether these issues can be replicated. Are they related to my specific hardware, and have I perhaps been unlucky with all the computers I have gotten so far? Or, am I doing things which most people don't or are not bothered by?
