A Dumb PSU Question

I have an alienware 13 R3 incoming. I'm worried if 180w PSU is going to power it sufficiently when under heavy gaming load. Would it be a wise move to get the 240w PSU found on the 1070-powered laptops just to give myself some extra headroom?

Jason

 

The 1060 can't really push the 180W adapter past its limits. A 240W PSU would be redundant.

 

A simple no would have sufficed rather than that condescending video, THANK YOU. I didn't know because I haven't used anything since a 780m and my logic was "big PSU means more headroom for heavier stuff"

 

I'm sorry if you took it as an insult. In truth, I am simply a fan of Yahtzee and have been giving that video as an answer for years. I figured most people would find it funny as well ._.

Anyhow, a 1070/1080 would indeed require 240/330W respectively so as to achieve full power but a 1060 is not really that much of a power hog. It draws between 80 and 100W at most.

 

I thought you'd want a smaller PSU. Many AW13 owners have opted for the smaller 130Wh PSU (for the R2), and it delivered extremely good results. (The 1060 performed within the 90th percentile of the normal usage, while the temperatures dropped by a whooping 15+ degrees.

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

 

I didn't get the reference and I found it to be condescending. Sorta like when you speak to a noob about computers and go slowly in the hopes that something will sink into their thick heads.

I'm more into having headroom than smaller / portable. Not so much for "ooh I can OC!" but rather just to have headroom. I dont like running my PSU on my desktop anywhere near heavy load (i have a 1080 classy and a 4790K with a 1050w 80 Platinum Seasonic for reference of how my mind works). If the 240w is doable and it won't hurt the 13R3, i may just get that for home use.

 

A 4790K + 1080's power draw is about 300-350W
A 7700HQ + 1060's power draw is about 140W

Don't worry so much about it - the 180W is plenty.

Some people I know have been running 1070 + Ryzen (albeit Ryzen IS more efficient than recent i7s) on a 430W PSU

 

so the 1060 has less of a power issue than the infamous 980m / 180w power issue? I just don't want to be losing out on possible power / performance, and if the 240w and 180w PSUs are the same size, why not just get the 240w PSU and have less stress on the PSU?

 

Without hard modding the vBios the GTX 1060 will not draw more watts than its max boost. And this is a delicate procedure that hasn't been attempted on AW systems as far as I know ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/mobile-pascal-tdp-tweaker-update-and-feedback-thread.806161/)

Unless you are planning to run your Laptop at full load for majority of time, you won't be stressing the PSU (even then the 180w gives something like 40w of headroom). Simply no reason for bigger heavier PSU

 

I have pre routed 330watt psu's at my desk at work and at home. So mine just stays plugged in generally to a 330. i just use the smaller when traveling since the the loose one I have floating around.

I'm not a Dan ofnuseing a less than required PSU as it puts a strain on the smaller adapter and the laptop, specifically battery charging and maintaining proper battery usage and power while under heavy load.

I don't know why I care because I usually sell them within a few months of buying them anyway lol.

 

I think you would gain some efficiency if you had a PSU with less output. With that PSU, in idle, you will probably have an efficiency bellow 80%.
In desktops is not a very good ideia to have a overpowered PSU. Efficency works in curves, so havin a 20% load on a 1Kw PSU can be worse than having 40% in a 700W one.

Because the 180w is cheaper The difference here is way smaller than desktop PCs, so buying a 240W probably won't have the same side effects as stated above.

 

I believe charge rate is determined by the laptop EC firmware and not the charger.
If you use a larger than required charger (good besides weight) but the laptop is hardwired to use the default charger settings, a larger charger won't do anything except run cooler.
Now if you had a modded Bios which allows you to draw as much power as available, or a non cancer Bios which does the same thing, that's different.

 

Yeah my point to the OP is a larger one will not hurt. It wont help either unless the machine is unlocked to utilize it.

 

You use a 330w PSU with an Alienware 13?!

 

My desk at work is not easy to fish power cable up and through. So I just perminantley mounted one in place. So doesn't matter if i use my 13, 14,17 or 18 I am covered in power needs.

 

The 180w gets a bit warm for me. If the 240w or 330w are capable of being plugged without any modding, I may get a 240w one (esp. since the 240w is still slim; the 330w looks HUGE)

 

240W will be more than enough.