C90S Benchmark for 120w Power Adapter - Do you need it?

I got my new 120w Power Adapter from Ken at Gentech PC, a few people have upgraded to it when it was found that the 90w adapter may not provide enough power in certain setups and cause a system crash.

Its worth noting that your system should not crash from lack of AC power if you have a charged battery installed because the battery will pick up the slack, but you may notice that your battery will drain while in use if you did some kind of very extended heavy use.


First of all, all my test were performed using the following piece of equipment.

http://www.xoxide.com/p3-kill-a-watt.html

Its accurate down to a .2% variance so its very accurate.

All measurements were taken in Watts.


My C90S:

Core 2 Duo E6600
2gb Ram
Geforce 8600GT DDR2 (stock clock 500 core 450memory)

For the 3dmark06 testing I ran the first 2 graphics test and the 1st CPU Test I saw the peaks in the CPU test I did not run the entire 3dmark06 loop, its definitely clear that most of the power draw is from the CPU and not the GPU.

First test runs with the 120w adapter in use.

CPU Mode: Normal GPU Clocks: Normal
System Idle - 51-52w power draw
Max CPU Load using WPrime - 81-82w
Max Peak Load During 3dmark06 95-96w


Next I changed the cpu mode to the highest overclock mode.


CPU Mode: Overclock GPU Clocks: Normal
System Idle - 54w
Max CPU Load using WPrime - 90-91w
Max Peak Load During 3dmark06 avg 95-98w Max 106w


Next I then left the cpu in Overclock mode and then did an overclock on the GPU.


CPU Mode: Overclock GPU Clocks: Overclocked 500/512
System Idle - 54w
Max CPU Load using WPrime - 90-91w
Max Peak Load During 3dmark06 avg 97-100w Max 106w



Lastly just for reference I ran the same set of test again (the last set Overclocked CPU/GPU) with the stock 90w adapter to see what happens.


90w Stock Adapter
CPU Mode: Overclock GPU Clocks: Overclocked 500/512
System Idle - 54w
Max CPU Load using WPrime - 90-91w
Max Peak Load During 3dmark06 avg 95-96w Max 101w


Using that data since you know the draw from the system is going to be the same you can pretty safely conclude that there is a lack of power from the 90w adapter, also unknown to anybody before is the fact that the 90w adapter is quite capable of delivering more than 90w of power. This explanes why it was probably hit and miss with the crashes.

You can see it was in the mid 90's constantly but could not hit that 106w peak that the 120w adapter was able to deliver.


So the conclusion:

Do you need the 120w adapter? Yes and No, its totally up to you.

Like I stated before I didnt crash, if my 90w adapter was not good enough during the hardest test (3dmark06) my battery must have picked up the slack or it would have crashed.

Then thats at max load in a game benchmark, if your just web browsing or word processing you wont ever go into that 90w+ area. So if your just taking it to work/school there is no reason to lug that extra large 120w adapter around. However if you plan on playing a game that can push your system to the same limits as 3dmark06 you may want that bigger power brick.

As of right now those of us who have upgraded got to keep the old brick and have the new one. So I personally will keep the 90w at work and the 120w at home.

Now the data is in your hands you can draw your own conclusions on what you need but we definitely know for sure that the C90S with my configuration can draw more than 90w of power.

 

Great Info.

I was also wondering if i should exchange to 120W, but i have never had problems, and i honestly like to play games, but very rarely so im not much of a player,

This is why the 90w adapter overheats, that's the only thing im not sure about, because all that heat will probably lead to a faster electrolytes draining from the adapter, causing it to have a shorter "lifespan".

 

Good info vicious. i was gonna buy a guage like that I saw but it was $50 and looked really cheap. i didnt know if 50 was the right price and I didnt get one. Ive sense changed my mind about it for now.

I say go for the 120W. I mean why not get a spare power adapter for FREE with ultra fast shipping. Also, whos to say you wont need it down the road for upgrades or if your 90w suddenly aint enough. EVERYONE SHOULD ORDER ONE NOW!!!!

 

Revival good info here, but had somebody ask about it so want to pass word on how power adapters work and the amount of rated power they can pass.