Using a m18x 330W PSU with a m17x R3: What's the worst that could happen?

Just recently, my standard 240W PSU keeps tripping (i.e. stops working and the blue light on the power chord goes out) when gaming on my m17x r3. I've turned off all overclocking, but it still happens. Skyrim barely lasts a couple of minutes until the frame rate drops dramatically because the PSU has tripped and the laptop is running on battery. My m17x r3 has been upgraded to a 2960XM CPU and a 4GB 680M GPU (both power hungry). The PSU works again if I unplug it from the mains electricity for about 10-15 minutes.

Not only do m18x PSUs output 330W, but they are actually cheaper than 240W m17x r3 PSUs on eBay at the moment.

I've read about ID chips in PSUs when searching other threads on this, but nothing conclusive on specifically the m17x r3. I even read that the m17x r3 might not check PSU IDs (whereas the r2 does). But assuming it does:

1. Would I be left with a 330W PSU from which my laptop would only draw a maximum of 240W?
2. Would my 680M run at full speed when the PSU is plugged in?
3. Would the spare capacity mean the PSU wouldn't keep tripping? (because it's working well within it's limits)
4. Would my m17x charge normally? (I'm assuming I would get the BIOS PSU warning, but I can disable that).

I guess I could have just worn out my current PSU, I've been running everything overclocked as per my signature for a few months without this problem.

Any answers gratefully received!

Steve.

 

It should be ok, but check with someone who has done it, might complain with the ID chip in it. Might be worth getting a new 240W PSU from amazon (around £40). Sounds like PSU is getting tired. A new one might be better. Personally never thought to use the 330W because its bigger.

The R4 I have checks for ID chips so I wouldn't see why the R3 wouldn't.

 

Same here, the PSU needs to be replaced anyway so you could move to the next gen one. But it would be better to check if anybody else has done this without issues.

 

It shouldn't be a problem. It will allow you to overclock even more.

 

This has already been done without issues and it works extremely well.

This was very elegantly executed by Nospheratu. Look at his guide if you haven't already done so: [GUIDE] Dell 330W Power Adapter Mod for the M17X

This should work equally well with the M17xR3/R4 and I would suspect the new Alienware 17 as well. The nice thing about this is that you don't need to mod the original equipment 330W AC adapter once you have made your custom dongle adapter.

 

Thanks for the very useful answers, guys.

I'm going to go ahead and get the m18x 330W PSU and try it.

I'll make the mod from the Tech Inferno link if it's required. In fact, I quite fancy making it anyway as I love these kinds of mini projects!

 

I got the 330W m18x PSU a couple of days ago.

All I did was plug it in (no modifications) and it works fine. No BIOS power supply warning. My laptop charges fine, my 680M runs at full speed, and most importantly I'm now back to running my 680M overclocked and Skyrim doesn't trip the power supply after a couple of minutes. Everything seems fine now.

The only question I can't work out the answer to is how much power my m17x r3 is drawing from it, whether it's 330W or capped at 240W. Any suggestions how to measure this?

Steve.

 

Yea, overclock that extreme CPU until you would reasonably power trip any 240W PSU and keep the overclocked gpu running something heavy as well. If it trips, you're probably running 240W.

 

I too have the same issue. Only when I am gaming (high demand) the AC adapter 'trips' and turns off. The AC adapter feels very hot. I suspect this is because I made some modifications to the laptop (added a newer/better GPU) that requires more power. However if I recall I was having this problem before I upgraded. Since this laptop is old, there is nothing but for me to do my own technical support.

sjgore, can you give us a status update since your last post mentioned it worked, I am curious if your issue was resolved after over a year. Where did you get yours? Amazon?

 

I think your problem is that you have a 780M and the minute you OC these buggers, they guzzle power... You should get a 330W PSU honestly.. Also seems your PSU just can't take the load.... Amazon here in the UK has them.. US should have them too..

 

The 330w is bigger so if you can afford it maybe a home 330w and a travel 240w might be ideal. Yeah the 780m can easily double in power consumption when properly clocked almost eating the entire 240w brick by itself.

 

Guys - I want to do the same trick - but I am not sure what is the correct product number (SKU) of the 330W power brick that is compatible with M17x R3 - can you please provide some pointers

thanks in advance.

 

this is how much power it consumes (no overclocking) ... when I overclock is scary goes to 400+

 

What specs are u using? Also are you sure your power meter is showing the power usage correctly? Seems a bit high IMO..

 

17x R3 / 2960 @ 4 GHz / 32 GB / 1x2 TB / 1x256 GB SSD / DVD RW / 7970m / non-3d screen

Considering the details I was a bit concerned myself ... whenever I bump the grfx card/CPU speeds up .. the system becomes unstable/or dies (not CPU throttling temp is reached more like a power limitation motherboard or power brick)

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm03/6521589 - CPU overclock /Gfx default
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm03/6521585 - some CPU overclock / Gfx max overclock (anything above is crashing the test)

 

ok - got today the 330 brick ... I am currently discharging the battery - will let you know how it works (as a first test - it is working with my R3 out of the box without any modification)

 

Could you test your GPU and CPU using Firestrike in 3D Mark or use 3D Mark 11? And then run the same tests with both power supply adapters and see if 330W PSU helps with keeping the system stable with max OC.

 

Bump for results of 330w AC adapter. Wondering if 17" R2 2015 4980HQ / 980M laptop would benefit from a 330w AC adapter versus 240w. Can't believe 180w is standard and CPU overclocking is supposedly locked unless you have the Graphics Amplifier , cheapos.

 

That is what the PSU is drawing from the wall. These are not 100% efficient in converting A/C power to D/C power, so the input power must be higher or it would never reach the expected output power. I am guessing that there is some head room with these things as well.

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

Couldn't you just buy a right angle adapter and break the center pin?

 

That can cause some issues on certain models. The way Dell builds these, they need to "shake hands" with the stupid chip in the AC adapter for everything to work correctly.

Glad to hear the 330W AC adapter is doing a nice job for the single GPU machine.

Yes, should work fine for you, too. 180W is a joke with 980M. 240W is barely even enough, but 330W would be just about right. It is always better to have more PSU capacity than needed rather than not enough, so there is no downside to going with 330W AC adapter.