Required power supply watts for m17x-r2 single/cf extreme

Hi,
I have a m17x-r2 with i5-520m and single ati 5870m, I bought an 920xm, will be here on wednesday.

My finding is that ati 5870m uses 50w

intel 520m has TDP 35w vs 55w for 920xm and I know TDP doesn't mean much.... and

alienware ships anything with single card as they told me with 150w supply; but what I read here is that 920xm with single requires 240w?

I have 150w psu that works with it, but, I am curious if when I put the 920xm,
will I have throttle problems during gameplay? has anyone had such an experience?

If so, what is the required power supply and where can I buy it the cheapest?

Also in the threads there is no unification of this information, I could find...
Can we note it down here so that everyone would find it immediately?

thanks.

 

If you are nearing the wattage limit of the PSU, it will trip. It is rated for 150 watts, but it will supply more. The 240 watt adapter will supply upwards of 300 watts before tripping. You should be fine with a single GPU and the 920. You can get a Kill-a-watt meter at your local hardware store. That will tell you what you're pulling. If no one else has answered by the time I get home from work, I'll run one card and see what the single card and CPU pull.

 

To my knowledge, if you have an M17x R2 and you have either or both of the following, you would need a 240w psu for the system to run correctly and not throttle.

An extreme cpu (TDP 55w)
Crossfire or Sli gpu's

So, in your instance, you need a 240w psu to suplly the correct "juice" to the system to have things work properly. Using a lower rated psu will only result in things not working properly. I have heard they can be bought via Ebay but make sure it is a Dell one as Dell have proprietory technology in place on the psu which means non-Dell Psu's will NOT work.

The part number for my 240w psu is "Delta DP/N 0J211H" but there a two types avaialble - one made by Flextronics, the other by Delta. I would opt for the Delta as several people )inclusing myself) have experienced issues with the Flextronics verison of the psu.

 

A stock clocked 5870 mobility will use very close to 75 watts under load. Overclocked and overvolted it will use a lot more.

 

So, you mean 35-55w, there is no headroom for 20w? between i5 and i7 xtreme line?
I asked the dell rep, and he said, if you were to buy from us a quad and single, instead of i5 and single, we would still ship with regular. But I will take your advise, there is one in amazon new for 90 bucks, pretty cheap and delta brand, I will go with that. but you guys are saying that I do need 240w. Ok well done, thanks guys.

 

I'm getting my Kill-a-watt out right now. I'll get you some numbers.

 

This is completely stock, no overclock on anything whatsoever. CrossFire is disabled via the Catalyst Control Panel. The other card has got to be drawing some wattage due to the fact that it idles at 39°C. It isn't dead cold. I am positive you'd be fine with the 150 watt brick as long as you do not overclock anything. Like I said earlier, there is headroom on the PSU. Mine runs at about 245 watts playing Crysis Warhead, but I've got both a CPU and GPU overclock going on. Running both Prime95 and FurMark trips the PSU. Your call. For ultimate safety, you'd want to get the 240 watt brick.

66 watts idling
137 watts running Prime95
155 watts running FurMark
203 watts running FurMark and Prime95
145 watts running Crysis Warhead on Enthusiast 1920x1200
159 watts running GTA: IV 1920x1200

 

I will never stress that CPU that far.
I can't thank you enough TurbodTalon.
I am pretty sure there are more people out there needs this information.
i WILL not buy immediately but I will buy soon, since I think running the adapter at its limits is not good either.
Right now, my m17x is in open heart surgery will stay like that overnight, and will have my shiny 920xm oem which i bought for a bargain 425$ in the USA.
I am still reluctant about 920xm, because my i5 was super overclocked at 3GHz- 3.6GHz , which beats 720qm and 820qm stock at cinebench.
If I find buying a new PSU etc makes it more expensive as an upgrade, I may just put 920xm on ebay, back and make some money out of it

Thanks again.

 

I'm positive you'd be fine. The performance gain from your i5 to the 920XM is leaps and bounds. If you've got the computer open, and have the chip, just install it.