Alienware 17 R3 Power Supply 970M

Hey all,

I looked all over the forums and have read a few posts about the 240W power brick. My brand new 17 R3 seems to have came with the 180W.

Should I contact DELL and request the 240W or is that only for the 980M?

Thanks,

 

Only 980m

 

Answering my own post, but I just logged in and looked under my warranty. If you go to parts based on your service tag, then it only lists 240W. Hmmm, think I am going to turn in a ticket.

 

Do so, the 240W PSU will allow you to fully use the 970M.. You'll be able to OC etc..

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

 

I have a 200mhz overclock on core and 300 on memory with a 180watt powersupply. The 970m with a haswell core I7 needs around 160watt under load. The powersupply is 180watt..

 

We only changed those in the Alienware 17 R2. The R3 was optimized to use only the 180W adapter for full functionality. Only the 980m version will ship with the 240W adapter.

 

Oh yea? I guess that is why my battery is now draining while I have it on A/C power after I updated to the latest BIOS?

I also saw on your Facebook page that Alienware stated that ALL R3's would come with a 240W power supply.

 

This means that R3 with Gtx970m uses less power than its predecessor that has about the same hardware. This makes me laugh... An upgraded hybrid bios is the best Dell getting into. Optimized = Updated hybrid bios, Yeees.

 

This is not accurate, only the 980m version comes with a 240W adapter.

It has been proven by an user here on NBR that there's even room for overclocking.

 

So, any benefit to using the 240W or will it hurt to use one?

 

It won't hurt it. The main benefit is the extra V's for overclocking.

 

well..... my AW15 R2 with 980m shipped with the 180w brick, and i bought my own 240w brick from ebay, and i can tell you 'visually' the difference is night and day... number crunching may not show much change but the 240w brick WILL improve your gaming experience (i tested this totally stock too, no OC)

 

Of course it will. Hybrid battery + power adapter delivery is a half assed attempt to cover up the cheapening of the Alienware brand. Really, how much of a difference would it cost Alienware to send a 240W adapter instead of a 180W adapter with all systems? It's this kind of BS that makes me hate them.

 

I thought Dell had learned from all the noise with the first version Aw Echo models and the weak flimsy 180w psu + hybrid bios aka throttle gate. No no... They obviously did not

 

I shouldn't do poor Poras like that.....I baited him bad with that question. I wanted him to admit that the 240W was in fact, an improvement for the 970m version. Yea, I agree, it is total bs.

 

Porras is innocent in this Psu mess. It's not his fault that Dell still will continue in the same way without listening to what their customers say or want.

 

You shouldn't have gotten the 180W adapter in the first place. That's a change that was implemented in the new line of laptops.

As you say, I'm not to blame about this, but I'm here to listen and provide the feedback to the developers. If it wasn't for the listening that we do here and on many other platforms they wouldn't know about these topics.

Any feedback is always appreciated, even when all we can do is to submit what you mention us to the higher levels for review.

 

I'm curious, I have 970m. My stock charger says 0-240v on it, but size wise it definitly looks like a 180v, smaller than both the 180v Asus and msi power adapters I've had even.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

Voltage has nothing with power from the PSU. You must look for Amp. 9.23A x 19.5v = 179.985W

 

Thank you much sir. For someone with a fresh degree in electrical engineering maybe I should apply that knowledge,, hmmmm

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

i bought me a 240w brick a few days ago, i got it today in the mail, been playing the new tomb raider with it and i cant say i noticed much difference vs the 180w brick. maybe im not doing something right, idk. i can say the 240w brick is huge compared to the 180 though.

 

That said. I do have slight cpu over clock, 4k screen, 2xm.2 drives, and 1tb ssd.
According to hw info, brand new 0% wear, like 2 weeks now and I'm at 1.4% battery wear.
Does the Alienware use battery boost or whatever. Because my msi did, main reason for upgrading, and in my 1 year with it I'm legit at 26% battery wear.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

This is really important to me if someone knows, if Alienware uses battery while plugged in if/when needed. I render alot and game quite a bit, and I NEED battery life.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

Read Posts 6/7 a second time
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-17-r3-power-supply-970m.787344/#post-10187256

 

Make sure you turn off express charge in the BIOS. It may be the cause of your battery wear.
Express charge isn't MSI's battery boost. It's just a setting that decreases the amount of time to charge the battery.

 

Turned that off first thing when I got it

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

No offense, but that's sales talk, "optimizated".
By that logic Dell "optimized" their precision 7510 to NOT run full cpu/gpu loads, XPS 15 to not sustain full load?
With the precision, testing is being done to verify full cpu/gpu loads are power delivery issues, with 180w supply, on a identical cpu and a lower tdp quaddro?

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

"Optimization" is just a nicer word from Dell than that bothersome name Hybrid bios aka MSI's battery boost... Dell's engineers created this for newer Aw models after model from Msi. As you probably know ... After Throttle gate early 2015 . Optimize bios / Ec so you don't need more than 180w is not optimal.
Without Throttle gate and all angry customers would Dell still used the weak 180w psu on all their Aw models regardless of hardware. Only the use of a powerful enough PSU is usable in a so-called <highend> laptop. Everything else is a big failure.

Nice way to prevent OC of your hardware/extended charging of an empty battery under heavy use. Genius to have to disable express charge in the BIOS because of excessive load on the battery / charger kill lifespan on both.

Dell is known to cripple performance with a bios / Ec. Not only in Aw laptops. In Throttlestop guide can you also see that Dell's laptop models is frequently repeated when people talk about heavy throttling problems. First Msi then AW.

Dell misunderstood their new slogan for Aw models early in 2015.

 

Call me stupid, but are you saying Dell is using battery and ac then?
As I know that the 180w provided isn't enough to fully power identical/lower hardware, yet aparently Dell 'optomized' the Alienware to work fully on 'only' 180w? According to another post.

I don't know what to fully think. I know using battery and ac with my use just destroyed battery in less than a year. And $2000 later, I've got a new/different laptop, that 'might' be doing the same thing?

I'd just like to know if my Alienware us using both power and battery. It sure seems so by my wear % after just 2 weeks, and judging by p50 being limited performance wise by power, with lesser tdp parts.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

Yes, the way I understand it, the R3 is using both power and battery. In my opinion, that is complete BS.

If I keep this, I will just buy the 240W, which is also BS as it should have came with it.....but I digress.

 

No one here says you're stupid. Rather ask yourself: Why was R3 optimized to use only the 180W adapter for full functionality??? Dellienware have not forgotten Throttle gate early 2015... Hybrid bios should solve the problem because of the flimsy 180w. There is no big difference in hardware power consumption of the hardware between R2 and R3. Almost same hardware... Interpret this as you will.
240W psu = Shorter charging time of battery with maximum load on hardware, headroom for Oc, lifetime increases on PSU under maximum load. There are several things to consider than just be worried about hardware throttling and the lifespan of the battery.

 

Could one buy and use a 240w power supply, and eliminate any possible battery draw issues? Or is 180w a limitation on the on board power delivery?

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

No. You can even use Aw18 its 330W psu.

 

I got the same situation here. But after I contact Dell, they offered my a big brick of 240w without hesitate. After using the 240w rather than 180w brick, the performance seems more stable and the battery seems be full all the time.

 

They have you a 240 and you have the 970M?