2015 Alienware 17 R2 - 180W Psu with 980m

I haven't bought this yet and I'm on the fence since I've seen some posts saying the 180W PSU limits the machine. Do higher wattage PSU's work for the laptop? Are benchmarks really that different?

 

I would recommend not purchasing this since they gimped the 980m. It seems like everyone under the sun EXCEPT Alienware is running 8GB vram but Dell in their infinite wisdom decided to gimp it with 4gb vram.

 

Get the Sager NP9772 or Asus G751 or MSI GT72.. All better options IMO..

 

At this point I would suggest waiting until accurate reviews or benchmarks are released for them because I have serious concerns about the 180 watt brick im almost certain it is not enough to power the system and will most defiantly throttle...

 

Actually, it's the opposite. All soldered versions of the GPU have half the VRAM of the MXM versions.

And since almost everybody is (except Clevo) is using soldered...everybody has 4GB of VRAM with the GTX 980M.

 

Aside from the higher-rated 230w+ PSUs, in what way are they all better? The ASUS also has soldered CPU/GPU.

 

Its not like you need 8gbs... I only have 3gb on my 780 ti and I have yet to see an issue. Plus I game at 1400p.

 

Definitely don't need 8GB right now. Having it is better than not!

 

touche.... especially if its around the same price.

 

You don't need 8GB...until GTA5 comes out, then you need 16GB.

 

Well Asus and MSI have better build quality and have been doing BGA for longer so they have more experience lol

And the Sager has desktop CPU+MXM GPU FTW...

 

ASUS and MSI have better build quality than Alienware?

I must say that's the first time I've heard that assertion being made.

 

I went from Alienware --> MSI --> Alienware. I disagree that MSI has better build quality. Don't get me wrong, MSI isn't bad build quality.

To note, I am not particularly impressed with my 17 R2's keyboard, particularly the "tab" key. The tab key feels like a $500, no, $400, dell keyboard - almost no resistance and a cheap "clank" sound. I'm hoping my replacement 17 R2 is better in this respect, too.

 

Same. I feel like I could take an Asus G-series (take your pick) and hulk twist them with ease. My M11/AW14/AW17, no way. Can't speak for MSI but Alienware's magnesium/aluminum chassis are sturdy as can be, which is one of the main reasons I like them.

 

For a single card 4GB will get the job done for some time to come at 1080p.

 

The TDP level of the gx 980m ranges from 110-125 watts. the i7 4710hq that is provided with the alienware system has a TDP of 47 watts. Already with these two components the system uses 172 watts, this means that the other components including the ram, ssd, hardrive,wifi, and other components have to use 8 watts. The other possibility is that alienware throttles the gpu, this would lead to having a throttled gpu which opposes their statement of the alienware 17 runs with a full throttle gpu. Their correct statement should have been, the alienware runs with a throttled Gpu

 

Yep, it does throttle!

 

Yes that's true. new Alienware 2015 180W PSU (it's same for dell computers to cut production costs) does not have sufficient power to work with GTX 980M and i7.

 

Since you are not going to run games on 4K with that card, i dont see a need for 8GB Vram, the Desktop Models are 4GB Vram and a single 980 will not run 4k above 40FPS.

 

That garbage 180w PSU will really keep that Dell warranty at a manageable pace since ppl will not be able to push their cards anymore in the newest of systems. Looks like they are trying to force the Amplifier onto those who want to push their graphics cards... Those sneaky bastards LOL.

 

the desktop cards are also falling behind. Shadow of Mordor stutters every so often for me running Ultra @ 1080p with HD textures due to it having a soft requirement of 6GB VRAM =/

The way things are going 9GB will be required for games within the next few years to run at max textures just at 1080p

 

I'd like to request this thread be closed since the benchmark thread covers this well I believe.
Thanks.

 

I noticed this on Dying Light, i would max out the vRam (1440p)... Not sure why they did not make them 8GB since ppl try to game in 4K on a single GTX 980

 

I have bought the new Alienware 17 2015 model. I then heard about the 180W psu problem and having heard Frank Azors comments that anyone who calls in will get a 240w psu sent out to them, I rang Dell. As I'm in Europe I had to call Dell Europe and they told me that while customers in USA are getting the 240w psu, there has been no official word down the chain of command regarding the issue to them so they would not issue the 240 psu even though I told them that the head of Alienware had stated we are entitled to the 240w.

The agent then took control of my system and installed 3 programs on my computer, Tech Power GPU Z, Core Temp and Heaven Benchmark, after running the benchmark test I emailed him the results.

I have just received an email back stating ''My technical supervisor reviewed the results you sent us and there does not seem to be any fluctuations in the clocking of the GPU or the memories''

Where do I go from here? I thought there were independently verifiable results about the throttling and after what Frank Azor stated I should get a new 240w Psu?

Thanks for your help.

J