Powerbrick overloaded?

I have a question. When I do a torture test with prime95 and MSI Kombustor my laptop consumes about 120 W with my cpu @ 3,2 ghz. When I put it to 3,46 Ghz the total power amount reaches 140 Watt with a 90 Watt power brick. The same with my 120 watt power brick, but it's a bad one, because the connector of the power brick isn't made for my laptop->bad connection,sometimes no connection.

Is 120-140 W still OK for the 90 W power brick?

 

Yes, you are overloading it.

At this point, you are a test pilot.

Will the brick work for a week or for years? Who knows?

Where are you getting your power readings? Software or a Kill-O-Watt device?

 

It's a Kill-O-Watt device. So the 120 W is better for playing games and doing intensive work with the laptop.

 

If you are using the wall readings with a Kill-O-Watt you need to know your power supplies efficiency. Most modern laptop power bricks are 85% efficient or greater. If you are in the US there is actually a law that requires them to be at least 85% efficient and I would assume a similar law in the EU.

This means when you see 120W at the wall you PSU is actually sending 90W to your laptop due to the loss of 15% in the conversion from AC to DC. Your laptop power supply ratings are typically expressed in how much power they can deliver to your laptop. Most reputable power supplies are conservative in their safety margins so don't worry to much if your pushing the limit at peak as you typically won't be drawing that much for a continuous period of time. Most laptop power bricks have a peak limit about 33% higher then the continuous limit. The limit typically given for a laptop PSU is the continuous one.

Now if you are getting these readings during games and not when torture testing then you may want to look into getting a PSU with a 120W output but most games do not draw 100% CPU and GPU at the same time for more then a minute or two.

 

So if my power consumption is 120 W for example my brick
provides only 102 W for the laptop(~85% efficiency)? Is the real usage of the laptop 102 W not 120 W?

 

Actually > 87%.

Also keep in mind with power supplies to look at the Voltage rating, since it theoretically should match exactly to what it specs, but systems can usually tolerate a +/- ~2% voltage. Then current draw should be minimum what your stock brick is. So you can have a 19V 20A brick to power a machine only requiring 90W @ 19V since it will draw current it needs. Just don't opt for a 24V 5A brick or something.

Look at the bottom of your power supply and there should be an "Efficiency Level" noted. Most laptop ones are rated "V" (that's Roman Numeral 5).

Look at the ratings by energstar: http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partne...International_Efficiency_Marking_Protocol.pdf

V states: "Power supplies with greater than or equal to 100 watts input power must have a true power factor of 0.9 or greater at 100% of rated load when tested at 115 volts @ 60Hz."

So in other words, 90% efficiency.

 

Yes, there is a "V" on the original Acer 90 W power supply, but not on my 120 W. It's from a brand called "Leike".

 

Why are we talking about power efficiency? The best advice is to STOP using the power adapter NOW before it destroys your notebook!

Just cut off the plug from your 90 watt adapter and splice it to your 120 watt. Test polarity on the plug side before you plug it in.

 

Question of efficiency came up, that's why it's posted, so 140W @ 87% efficiency ~ 120W which is still significantly more than the rated 90W, so either efficiency is dropping like a rock or the PSU is able to provide more power than rated, but will likely burn it out.

 

Technically, you can operate a PSU above it's rated wattage, but the efficiency will decrease and the heat dissipation will also increase which will eventually kill the PSU prematurely and can even be dangerous depending on how much you go over specs.

 

I tested it yesterday. The usage with the 120 W power brick in BF3 was about 118-121 W. With the 90 W and also 3,46 ghz about 111-114 W and at 3,33 ghz 105 W. So in Bf3 it's not overloaded that much what I expected.

 

If you overload your PSU, my experience is that mine melted (cables/insides) when I overclocked the hell out of my Macbook.

Ended up getting a 85W PSU so that it doesn't happen again, still was a bad experience ._.

I really do believe that it's worth it to buy a new 150w/180w power adaptor

Motherboard may reject custom charger device ID, maybe (not sure)

 

Ok,thanks. I will use the 120 W for gaming,rendering and other intensive stuff. The other one for travelling without OC. I thought about buying a 150 W, but I haven't found one for my Acer yet. It has to be 19 V and 230 V input voltage, because I'm from germany.

 

New chargers support universal input, I have used my Magsafe and ASUS charger with standard 220/230V (Asia) and 110V (Japanese) outlets and they charge fine.

I can't say for sure about European power delivery standards but I think they're the same as standard 220/230V's

 

Yes almost every power brick is compatible for both the us and eu (i say almost because there is always the odd case), they can do 120V 60Hz or 230V 50Hz if i'm not mistaken.

 

Most AC adapters are built to for the worst scenario like: charging a battery that's almost dead while running an intensive process that heats up both GPU and CPU. But if you change the process priority from Below Normal to Normal or anything above Normal then you're asking for a new AC adapter but think about the internal components and keep an eye on temps. If you reached 90-100 degrees on your CPU you stop the test if you care about the laptop.

 

Yes,that's the problem with my X9100 45 W. A E0 with 35 W would be better for OCing. In games I take the 3,33 GHz and it is still undervoltet @ 1,1750 V. Temps about 80-85. For browsing 3,2 GHz @ 1,1125 V (stock 1,1875 V)