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[Tutorial] Dual 330W AC Adapter Mod


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Hi Mr Fox. I have a question to ask. A 330w worked great for my m17x R4 as I've mentioned before. Now I want to make 600w instead of 660w PSU for my m18x R2. The reason that I am not making 660w PSU is it seems a little bit difficult technically, however 600w is already out there in stock for p570wm. It runs in same 19.5v so I think it would work if I can only mod the "jack"part.

What do you think of using 600w (300+300) of p570wm for m18x R2? If it works, it would make things alot easier actually.

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Damn that is a real bummer about the AW 18. I have my Clevo but was going to buy the AW 18 more for just gaming and stuff but i also wanted to be able to have a serious play with it and seems like that margin is going to be very limited. @Mr. Fox do you think it is a circuit in the board responsible? Im guessing an unlocked bios chip as been installed and then dual power brick current draw test has still failed?? Hmm dunno what to do now, im waiting for the 880m,s first of all. My Clevo is getting outdated now so i wanna get something new and the Clevo can never compete with AW in terms of Looks and aesthetics and since im not into hardcore benching or records much anymore id rather not get the latest new P570WM, kinda wanna go back to AW. lol

** I might just get the older M18x at its highest spec and install the new latest graphics cards in it. What do you reckon?? How does the overclocked 3940mx compare to the new 4930mx at fairly stock speeds.. Thoughts?

Umm, Mr. Fox could you send me one of those units so i can use dual power bricks for the m18x ? I will pay you for your troubles!! lol :17_002:

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Hi Mr Fox. I have a question to ask. A 330w worked great for my m17x R4 as I've mentioned before. Now I want to make 600w instead of 660w PSU for my m18x R2. The reason that I am not making 660w PSU is it seems a little bit difficult technically, however 600w is already out there in stock for p570wm. It runs in same 19.5v so I think it would work if I can only mod the "jack"part.What do you think of using 600w (300+300) of p570wm for m18x R2? If it works, it would make things alot easier actually.

Dell/Alienware uses a proprietary "ID chip" in their AC adapter and unless the Clevo AC adapter has that same chip (not being utilized) on the PCB, an unutilized lead in the cords, and the chip is already pre-programmed with code needed for the Alienware it will not work. The Alienware motherboard has to identify it as an "approved" AC adapter so you need to use the right part. I don't see where modding the adapter part of a Clevo dual PSU setup would be any more or less complex that building your own following simple instructions, and you would not really be accomplishing anything by using the Clevo parts. Both mods are going to involve similar work. The other thing is, I have not studied the specs on power output for the Clevo adapter is any different. I know they refer to it as "300W" instead of "330W" but I don't know how accurate that is. They used to refer to it as 330W instead of 300W and it may actually be the same base product. In addition all of the above, I haven't seen the Clevo AC adapters being sold at a reasonable price like the Alienware AC adapters, so it might end up costing a lot more in the long run.

Damn that is a real bummer about the AW 18. I have my Clevo but was going to buy the AW 18 more for just gaming and stuff but i also wanted to be able to have a serious play with it and seems like that margin is going to be very limited. @Mr. Fox do you think it is a circuit in the board responsible? Im guessing an unlocked bios chip as been installed and then dual power brick current draw test has still failed?? Hmm dunno what to do now, im waiting for the 880m,s first of all. My Clevo is getting outdated now so i wanna get something new and the Clevo can never compete with AW in terms of Looks and aesthetics and since im not into hardcore benching or records much anymore id rather not get the latest new P570WM, kinda wanna go back to AW. lol** I might just get the older M18x at its highest spec and install the new latest graphics cards in it. What do you reckon?? How does the overclocked 3940mx compare to the new 4930mx at fairly stock speeds.. Thoughts? Umm, Mr. Fox could you send me one of those units so i can use dual power bricks for the m18x ? I will pay you for your troubles!! lol

If you are only going to do mild to moderate overclocking, just buy a new Alienware 18 with 880M, which will most likely be available soon. It can handle mild to moderate overclocking without tripping the AC adapters. The Alienware 18 is incapable to performing as well as an M18xR2 because of functional/design limitations. I really hate Haswell processors. They run extremely hot, they seem to be extremely inconsistent from one CPU to the next in terms of overclocking abilities. Up to a point (about 4.3GHz) the 4930MX runs as well or slightly better than the Ivy XM (if you can cool it well enough to avoid thermal shutdown), but in an Alienware product the 3920/3940XM steals the show at higher overclocks because of the limitations the 18 carries. Essentially, you can't do anything fancy with the CPU and GPUs at the same time because it doesn't have the power it needs to support it and it does have the ability to use the dual AC adapter. If not for those limitations the Alienware 18 would probably outperform the M18xR2. If you're curious what I would do, it would definitely be the M18xR2 with 780M/880M and XM CPU over the Aleinware 18, hands down. That's more of a tribute to what a truly phenomenal machine the M18xR2 is rather than it is a slam against the Alienware 18 that stands in its shadow. It's a fantastic gaming laptop, but not an extreme performance system.

While I appreciate being asked because of the trust that it conveys, I don't really have enough spare time (or an appetite for creating a liability) to venture into building them for everyone that wants one. I have had numerous requests. I shared the instructions so people can build their own setup and assume all of the risk associated with errors in construction or misuse, etc.

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Yeah no problem, i can understand that. I appreciate the fact that you have posted such a detailed instruction set and information to do build it which is really awesome!

Yeah i don't really like the new AW 18 design and shape tbh, plus in light of all this information and what people have found with them, i really don't wanna go that route. As in many things in this world, when someone has a really great product they make it worse and stuff things up in the newer models, classic history repeating itself.

Anyways, so i have gone and purchased a fully loaded M18x R2 already for a really good price only thing is it has dual 675M,s in SLI currently which will be coming out soon and i will be selling them cheap if anyone is interested.. Dunno if im allowed to say that here but oh well.

So back on topic, going to install dual 780M,s as have seen to many bugs / issues with 880M,s so far and couldn't be bothered tbh. So i will be needing this awesome dual power brick Mod of yours for sure! :14_002:

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Hey Brother @Clevorr, can that P570WM of yours take the latest and greatest BIOS update with a Prema mod to run a 4930K CPU or does it require a newer motherboard revision for that?

Until now there are no CPU upgrades that require a new board revision (only BIOS).

Though the GTX780M required a minimum of v2.2a motherboard (up from 2.1a).

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Until now there are no CPU upgrades that require a new board revision (only BIOS).

Though the GTX780M required a minimum of v2.2a motherboard (up from 2.1a).

Thank you, Prema... that's very useful knowledge. I'm still kicking around the idea of grabbing one of these beasts to play with. It would be tragic to buy a used one only to discover that functional limitation later on.

So, if Clevorr has a P570WM with 2.1a he cannot upgrade to 780M SLI? Is that mobo revision number clearly marked and easy to find on the motherboard, or is it noted on one of the BIOS information screens?

Do you know what the physical differences are? Power delivery to the PCI-e slots or something critical such as that?

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Yeah i called Metabox a little while ago and asked them about this and with the CPU they said no problem at all and they even provide you with the new bios for it! As for the Newer GPU,s i think it will be problem as pretty sure mine is the original revision 2.1a or whatever as i bought it just after it was released. I will have to check that though to confirm although not sure where to look..

P570WM certainly is a powerhouse but not the best machine i have ever used. The sound quality is horrid compared to AW and of coarse it is super chunky and very bland basic plastic looking not to mention crazy heavy. With the CPU and regarding 6 core desktop chips in everyday conditions and situations such as gaming on a desk at room temperature the CPU gets extremely hot and your lucky if you can even run it at 4ghz which is only a tad over stock boost and then which you can match performance on an extreme mobile CPU OC,d. So for everyday normal conditions there is no advantage or benefit in having this Chip IMO. The only reason for it would be to stick it on top of an A/C unit and bench the hell out of it and get some big numbers really.

So for what i do i prefer the AW m18x hands down and wish i never sold my original one because i just bought one again. hahaaha

*Oh thanks Prema, i will go check!! :friendly_wink:

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Thanks to both of you for the information. Extremely good feedback and food for thought on my part. It's easy to get "number struck" when you love benching, but there is a lot to sacrifice for 2 extra CPU cores coming from an M18xR2 with XM and 680M SLI or 780M SLI. I will now have to think a lot harder on this decision before I can reconcile whether or not pulling the trigger is a good idea.

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Thanks to both of you for the information. Extremely good feedback and food for thought on my part. It's easy to get "number struck" when you love benching, but there is a lot to sacrifice for 2 extra CPU cores coming from an M18xR2 with XM and 680M SLI or 780M SLI. I will now have to think a lot harder on this decision before I can reconcile whether or not pulling the trigger is a good idea.

Yeah both are good machines obviously and its each to there own and very much personal preference but in all honesty after having both of them here, i think it would be very hard for someone to get rid of a top spec AW out of the two machines when you own both, you would be mad to do it unless you keep the two of them. LOL There are so many more plus points for the AW and one reason for the Clevo which is Big bench numbers so that is what one should consider i guess. I Sold my AW back then not knowing what the Clevo would be like but if had them both at the time i would have never in a 1000 years sold my AW and now owning both machines i could happily sell off the Clevo with no regret.

BTW: I just checked the Mobo on my P570WM and its 2.1 :upset:

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