Have you got your 240w PSU from Dell?

I recently bought a kill-a-watt device to test the wattage my 17 R2 actually uses and was fairly surprised at the results. I have both the 180w and 240w power supplies.

With the 180w adapter whilst playing Witcher 3 at ultra settings it pulls between 155 - 175w of power,
With the 240w adapter whilst playing Witcher 3 at ultra it also pulls between 155 - 177w of power.

Virtually no difference. I have also restarted the machine between tests to check if the supply is registered correctly in the BIOS. I've even checked with other devices to see if the kill-a-watt is working as it should be, which it is.

I have noticed that my CPU will throttle back to 2.8GHz and disable its turbo when the GPU is stressed regardless of what power supply its using. This tends to happen after about 5 minutes of gaming even though the temperatures are still good.

It seems like the motherboard is limited to only draw 180w on the 17R2

This is tested on BIOS A00 and A04

 

Thanks for that! Maybe there are inconsistent parts throughout all manufactured laptops and some use more than others. I mean Dell acknowledges the issue

My msi gs70 had the same problem but very few customers shared my experience.

 

Yep, 10-15 minutes of holding, and my 240W Replacement PSU should be shipped out shortly. Hopefully this helps with the throttling that I'm getting. The temps are running pretty high too. Hopefully A00 and the 240W and I'll have everything remedied.

 

Something I found interesting was with out hitting a load. First off I used WoW as a bench.
I stayed in the same spot in Wow.. a very low demanding location. I first had the 240W psu plugged in. It was around 70-80 FPS
Then unplugged it and it went to battery. It was then at around 15-25 FPS.
I then plugged in the 180w PSU. It was at around 40-60 FPS. Again this not under full load. I found this very interesting.... Perhaps there is some code that is actually coming into play here as well.

 

That's very interesting. Something definitely wasn't right with mine on the 180W. I'm hoping the 240W fixes it.

 

Ok, so I bought a 330w AC adapter for my AW17R2 and I got the free replacement 240w in exchange for the 180w.

My AW17R2 came with BIOS A04. Do I need to roll back to A00?

 

So I just received my 240w charger and its made by Flextronics and I do not see any dell logo on the battery itself. Is this what im supposed to get?

 

I got mine today as well. It's Dell. Made by Delco? But it says Dell right on the top of it.

 

can you give me the model number of your charger?

thanks

 

Looks like GA240PE1-00

 

That is probably why i got more throttling under oc than under stock clocks even with bios aoo...

Can it be resolved by a bios update or are we screwed?

 

I received my 17 R2 Friday and called AW tech support Monday and requested the 240w PSU. The rep asked a few times why I wanted it so I had to tell him I have a laptop with high end specs and I would like a power adapter that can power it properly. He eventually told me it was approved.

Now before this my friend had let me borrow his 240w and now that I got the Dell unit today you can see that this new one is not a Flextronics unit and instead a Dell (Delta) branded one, with a rev A03, compared to rev A02.

I'm wondering if this is another instance of Dell fixing things their way and going with a cheaper solution.

The new unit is on the left and the one I'm using on right.

 

Dell use both Flextronics and Delta branded PSU's - no need to be overly concerned, as long as it is working as it should.

 

I just wondering..although they have me send back the 180 psu, could I keep it though lol

 

Oh they over night the 240w, and it said if I do not return the replace part they will terminate the product warranty -.-

 

Generally speaking, you need to return the replaced component.

 

Right I know this is the wrong place but I have no sold my AW15 and I have a 4 month old 240 Watt PSU I bought directly from Dell.

I am UK based so its a standard 3 Pin adaptor. Also it is a 'flextronics A02' I thought I would offer to you guys as its cheaper than buying it direct from dell. Plus everyone here would actually know its purpose.

Either that or I give it to the flees over in the bay.

 

No I don't think so. Dell must continues with the "modern" crippled hybrid bios because of all people who have the weak 180w psu. Maybe the next update hybrid bios only fetch power from the battery a very short time after 180w is maxed out from the psu. This way can the battery last longer and not wear out.

 

At some point they acknowledged that the 180W can be replaced for free by a 240W but it should have been done in a proactive fashion to be sure that everybody have one.
They still can code a bios with hybrid power for the 180W and another one for the 240W. But they might have this sort of too big company syndrome characterized by a lack of communication between services, a lack of reactivity and a supremacy of the marketing department over the R&D... I cannot believe that this 180W story came from the engineer side... and I cannot believe that 6 months after the launch we still do not have a proper solution...

 

So, here's a video corroborating my own video regarding the inadequacy of a 180W AC adapter. They really need to stop shipping it with 180W.

 

It has been shown that the processor in new Aw 17r2 throttling down from 47w to 35w after 30 seconds when the processor and graphics run benchmark tests simultaneously whether the laptop is connected 180w or 240W psu and processor peaks at 82 degrees. The processor throttles down no matter if the laptop has not used up all the wattage from a 240W PSU with gpu under maximum load. Possible it is because of a rotten processor but I do not think so.

 

So for those that received the 240W PSU, did that resolve your issues?

I've been sent a 240W adapter for my AW 15 i7 & 970M which has thermal throttling issues. I just received it and won't get a chance to test it till later on.

Has the 240W PSU solved thermal throttling for anyone in here?

 

How did you receive the 240W, i got my 17r2 970m yesterday (monday the 29th) and when i called today the 30th i was told only 980m owners can receive the free upgrade.

 

I didn't call up looking for it really. I called up about a thermal throttling issue I have while gaming. After 2 hours of remote diagnosis where I was able to show them the thermal throttling, they sent me out the 240W adapter to try. I wasn't expecting it and I don't know if a bigger PSU can solve thermal throttling, but I just got it and I'm gonna test it for a while.

It's a big beast of a thing, I'm not sure I really want an adapter this size, but I have to return my 180W to them.

I'll just see how testing goes.......

 

Cool, looking forward to seeing how testing goes. I know i have a bad paste job (CPU hits 78 ~ 80 under load) so hoping that the 240w will solve the thermal throttle.

 

The question is stated in the topic
Constructive responses only , Thank you

 

It might be adequate for 970M. I'm not sure. It's definitely inadequate for 980M, and even 240W is just barely good enough. If the BGA CPUs were higher TDP, a 330W AC adapter would be more appropriate with 980M.

There is no downside to having a 240W AC adapter. Ample is always better than adequate. Even considering a 180W AC adapter was an engineering blunder. Just get Alienware to send you a 240W AC adapter and you won't have to worry about it.

 

I've been sent out a 240W adapter for my AW 15 with 970M to see if it resolves a thermal throttling issue.

I'm not sure if my throttling issue is the same throttling as others with the 980M are talking about.

So far I haven't experienced any thermal throttling when using the 240W, but I'm still testing and trying to understand what's going on.

If I were you, I would just start monitoring your system when doing your norml tasks and gaming. If you have any slow downs or stuttering you can use programs like XTU and GPU-Z to see the cause of this.

One thing to note is that the 240W is pretty big, so if you're not having any issues, then it might not be worth it!

 

Better and get a 240w. You never know what Dell can cripple in newer bios updates.

 

I think the problems relate back to engineering and design mistakes. They took steps to intentionally cripple the 15 and 17R2 when they are not connected to their eGPU, and they moved to a hybrid power system where the battery contributes to system power and performance even when these units are connect to AC power. Both are flawed designs. The system should behave exactly the same with no battery installed at all, running solely from the AC adapter. The battery should do nothing but serve as a built-in UPS and recharge itself when connected to AC power, and the CPU performance should be exactly the same with or without an eGPU connected.

 

It is not everyone who replaces an exhausted battery immediately with a new. Such batteries are quite expensive so many wait a while before they purchase a new one. There are also some people who disconnects the battery when they use the laptop on a permanent place at home. Not everyone understands that a modern battery has a very long lifespan if they only use Ac power on the laptop and not the battery.

 

Got my 240 watt adapter today. btw could you guys help with the other issue i am now having
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...core-temperatures-are-pretty-high-now.778326/

 

Hello. I recently purchased the Alienware M17R2 with the GTX970m (3GB) and it comes with a 180W Power Supply. Should I replace the 180W power supply for a 24oW one?
Or that is the case with only the ones that have the GTX980M?
Thanks.

 

No

 

Im sorry, but this is friggin hilarious. You know how many of us have had even worse experiences ? Almost everyone on this forum who buys Alienware.lol. But I laughed, because its so typical of their service. I don't get how they manage to be so successful.
I will give you this example, last year we were missing 400 desktops for a project and I found it in a parking lot, all wrapped up with a quick tarp. These were delivered by some private shipping company (no names) and they were from DELL. The company had been wondering where these were delivered for nearly a month.
Sound scrazy right ? But its the truth. The workers at this branch, honestly knew the computers were being stored outside, in a parking lot too. There were printers, and even 2 servers, T110's I think.

 

Dell Sales and Support seems to live in its own little world. I don't know that I would classify having sociopathic or psychopathic tendencies, however, they seem to deviate from some of the norms and let's leave it at that. And by norms, I mean what customers expect and receive from other computer vendors (HP, Lenovo, etc).

Leaving product in a parking lot! WTH! The odd thing is, I completely believe it is possible with them.