Alienware 17 R2 970M 4720HQ 180W vs 240W Test Results with A00 Bios

I just got an Alienware 17 R2 with the 970M and 4720HQ. Although there are many post regarding the 180W power supply being inadequate when the laptop had the 980M, I noticed mixed comments for laptops with the 970M. I was able to borrow a 240W PSU from another Dell laptop, so I benchmarked using both the 180W PSU that the laptop came with and the 240W PSU using 3DMark06 and also 3DMark Fire Strike.

The benchmark results were virtually identical with either the 180W or 240W PSU.

The laptop came with the A04 BIOS. I first updated to the A05 BIOS but downgraded to A00 based on reading other posts. I did not want being using the battery to augment the PSU if not necessary and the A05 bios made the CPU run significantly hotter than the A00 BIOS under heavy loads. The A05 BIOS gave temperatures in the high 90's and the A00 BIOS give temperatures in the 80's.

For reference, the average Fire Strike results with either PSU were about:
Graphics: 7550
Physics: 9350
Combined: 2750
Score: 6600

Since the 180W power supply does not seem to be a problem with the A00 BIOS with the 970M configured laptops, I would recommend using it until Dell releases a new BIOS which fixes the fan speeds unless you like quieter but hotter.

I basically did this to figure out whether or not to try to deal with Dell to try to get a 240W PSU from them. Hope the above help others with the 970M.

Perhaps you might need the 240W PSU if you were to overclock. With that in mind has anybody been able to get a free 240W PSU lately for a 970M equipped laptop?

 

Good to know, but would a 4k screen draw more power than a 1080p screen? Enough to justify a 240W PSU for a 970m machine?

Also haven't noticed any throttling yet, still going to test further.

 

Hello i have the same machine, arrived 12 days ago, I don't know if it is a Bios problem,i m running A05, but my fans are not working , even with temps 80+ C° they are silent, i heard it maybe the fans 2 times working randomly in idle at max speed for some secs than stopping.Also i tryed using HWinfo , disabling EC support but it doesn't detect the fans!
I'll try to set bios A00 and see what happens.

 

Ok, i just downgraded to bios A00 and finally i can hear fans even if they are running slow, they start to run a bit loud at about 65-70 C°. I'd like to know how to make HWinfo fans detect and work, anyone pls?

 

hi i dont know if your still around. lol.. just hoping to get an answer. have you every tried the desktop mode on battery on your Alienware 17 r2 970m gpu? i did try it and then i noticed my fps on dota 2 drop to 30 and im getting spike lags and when i checked hwinfo64. i saw gpu clock went down to 200mhz plus then move back up to 1k plus.. it seems its throttling down when on desktop mode and battery level was 75%.. is this because im not using a hybrid bios and 180 PSU is not enough for the laptop? help please.

 

Yes, I did the same test months ago, no difference between 180w vs 240w.

This has been known for a while.

 

Meaning the power supply is noT enough and causing the throttle down of gpu?

 

The op says that 180w is enought for the 970m , and Ramzay is talking about the same i think, i also have the 970m and seems like no throttling issue for me with this gpu, but the only issue i've found is with fans not working properly with latest bios versions causing heating issue, so i downgraded it to A00 that is better fan profile, not perfect, but better.