Dell Pro Max 16/18 Plus (2025 model) pre-release discussion — MB16250, MB18250

[1610ftw]

Interesting discussion, can somebody please update me on max CPU, GPU and CPU-GPU combined load for these?

175W to the GPU of course seems nice but not really that much of a benefit when total power for GPU and CPU combined is 200W which I recall was the number given by Dell for the Pro Max Plus 18?

 

@win32asmguy I will be interested to hear about your impressions of the Pro Max 18" compared to the Clevo X580 when it comes to the output you can achieve at a a fan noise that is acceptable for you. Having been able to go from an essentially empty bios where you cannot do anything (Clevo) to one where you can adjust it all (Uniwill) must have been great and I assume that the Dell may be not as bad but still closer to the Clevo when it comes to adjustment options. I am still stunned how bad the Clevo bios is - it essentially gives no advanced adjustment options at all except for memory when oveclocking is enabled. That is not worth it however as it messes up the CPU performance that is worse with overclocking enabled than out of the box without it.

 

@AL123 Congratulations on your 18", it seems like a logical choice this year unless more than 128GB memory is needed on a given budget - 256GB memory at CAMM 2 prices will really drive up the price!

Same old story it seems with HP - impressive hardware hampered by crappy automated fan control and stupid decisions when it comes to sustained power levels. It is quite an achievement to reduce the max CPU power uptake to 85W with a vapor chamber and the 18" form factor but count on HP to get it done and at the same time annoy customers with stupid "AI" fan logic that cannot be bypassed.

[Easa]

4 hours ago, AL123 said:

the HP Fury 16 G1i is definately better looking than the Dell Pro Max 16 or 18 Plus, but the fan noise under heavy multithreaded or GPU load is very loud, distracting for others in an office environment I’d have to put noise cancellling headphones on at home it’s that bad! 

 

 

Back when I tested the Fury G11 I remember the fans were really loud, especially ramping up and down with no apparent reason. It was really, really annoying. If the new Fury acts in a similar way, then that is a hard pass from me. 

[AL123]

12 hours ago, 1610ftw said:

Interesting discussion, can somebody please update me on max CPU, GPU and CPU-GPU combined load for these?

175W to the GPU of course seems nice but not really that much of a benefit when total power for GPU and CPU combined is 200W which I recall was the number given by Dell for the Pro Max Plus 18?

 

@win32asmguy I will be interested to hear about your impressions of the Pro Max 18" compared to the Clevo X580 when it comes to the output you can achieve at a a fan noise that is acceptable for you. Having been able to go from an essentially empty bios where you cannot do anything (Clevo) to one where you can adjust it all (Uniwill) must have been great and I assume that the Dell may be not as bad but still closer to the Clevo when it comes to adjustment options. I am still stunned how bad the Clevo bios is - it essentially gives no advanced adjustment options at all except for memory when oveclocking is enabled. That is not worth it however as it messes up the CPU performance that is worse with overclocking enabled than out of the box without it.

 

@AL123

On the Pro Max 18 Plus I ran Cinebench 2024 10 Min multithreaded CPU test at the same time as a real 100% GPU compute workload (rendering) as a bit of a torture test. the  Ultra 9 285HX CPU hovered around 60-65W and NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell around 140-150W 

 

overall system power was around 250-260W with brief spike to over 300W 

 

really impressive although it would be nice to be able to fine tune the CPU dynamic PL1 in BIOS/ Dell software, but this seems like Dell struck a decent a balance for such an intense workload. The GPUs can take more power than the CPUs without overheating it seems 

 

Fan noise remained tolerable for me and the chassis of the laptop remained remarkably cool compared to previous generations. 

[AL123]

11 hours ago, Easa said:

 

Back when I tested the Fury G11 I remember the fans were really loud, especially ramping up and down with no apparent reason. It was really, really annoying. If the new Fury acts in a similar way, then that is a hard pass from me. 

I didn’t spend long enough using it to see if they ramped up and down sensibly in day to day work but certainly if you do any heavy multi threaded CPU or intense GPU workload it gets loud! The sort of loud where all your colleagues turn their heads! 

[win32asmguy]

17 minutes ago, AL123 said:

 

Fan noise remained tolerable for me and the chassis of the laptop remained remarkably cool compared to previous generations. 

 

How is fan noise at idle? Does the profile have greater hysteresis so fans do not spin up/down quickly as load spikes occur? I would hope that now we have a very large vapor chamber and cooling capacity it can absorb these much better than the precision 7780 did.

[Easa]

40 minutes ago, AL123 said:

On the Pro Max 18 Plus I ran Cinebench 2024 10 Min multithreaded CPU test at the same time as a real 100% GPU compute workload (rendering) as a bit of a torture test. the  Ultra 9 285HX CPU hovered around 60-65W and NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell around 140-150W 

 

overall system power was around 250-260W with brief spike to over 300W 

 

 

What was the CPU temperature during the first seconds of heavy load (PL2) ? 

[1610ftw]

9 hours ago, AL123 said:

On the Pro Max 18 Plus I ran Cinebench 2024 10 Min multithreaded CPU test at the same time as a real 100% GPU compute workload (rendering) as a bit of a torture test. the  Ultra 9 285HX CPU hovered around 60-65W and NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell around 140-150W 

 

overall system power was around 250-260W with brief spike to over 300W 

 

really impressive although it would be nice to be able to fine tune the CPU dynamic PL1 in BIOS/ Dell software, but this seems like Dell struck a decent a balance for such an intense workload. The GPUs can take more power than the CPUs without overheating it seems 

 

Fan noise remained tolerable for me and the chassis of the laptop remained remarkably cool compared to previous generations. 

 

200 to 215W combined seems pretty good given that you still deem system noise acceptable and that it can be sustained for some time.

 

Best implementation for power limits this gen may come from Lenovo from what I have seen in a 9i review, looks like they have a couple of sliders to dial that in from within Windows which is pretty cool as it also allows to use less than the combined maximum power limit to go below the manufacturer defaults.