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Notebook PSU capacity

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Hello,
I am here because I'm concerned about how much power my computer consumes under load.

I have an HP DV7 with an i7-2720QM and an AMD Radeon 6770M. But I was only provided a 120W power supply.

Most of the time its sufficient but when gaming it draws as much as 128 Watts. This is with Turbo Boost enabled, it stays at around 3 GHz (the clock speed doesn't scale back down, so it'll get over 90 C and still not throttle back down)

Feel free to advise on the processor.. I'm aware that its way too hot and that its 'supposed' to not use turbo boost when it gets that hot.

I'm primarily concerned with overloading the PSU. It too gets VERY hot but of course has no form of cooling at all. I have it set on a metal lockbox so it doesn't potentially contact the carpet.

Is running at/above notebook PSU capacity a really a dangerous thing, and if so what can I do? I don't believe HP offers PSUs above 120W.
Is this a problem with other notebooks? I know Alienware provides a 240 Watt PSU

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Power supply Master

Time to increase my knowledge. What's with a PSU for a notebook? If you are talking about the battery then am sure HP provided enough for the system to run. Check your battery specifications and upgrade to something with more current rating (of course needs to be declared compatible by HP for that model) to get some more backup time.

www.hplaptopbattery.co.uk/hp-pavilion-dv7-battery-426.h...

Just a small advice, do not game when operating on battery. Better connect it to the wall (power/charging socket) while gaming.

I'm not talking about the battery. I'm talking about the wall power adapter. My entire computer pulls up to 130W but the supply is only rated for 120W. Is this overload? Is this the same critical problem it'd be if it were a desktop.

This has nothing to do with the battery.
(The notebook PSU is the external "brick shaped" black box)
(it has a rated output just like desktop PSUs)
Power supply Expert

Check HPs website for updates and notifications on your system. I know that there were power and cooling issues with the I7 notebooks when they first came out.
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Power supply Master

Wave Fusion said:
I'm not talking about the battery. I'm talking about the wall power adapter. My entire computer pulls up to 130W AC but the supply is only rated for 120W DC @ 19v . Is this overload? No


Interesting. So you're saying just because I'm measuring 130W AC at the outlet; it doesn't mean my computer is pulling that amount DC?

Its actually 18.5v DC but you're right, that 120W rating is for the DC output, which I cannot measure

jockey said:
Check HPs website for updates and notifications on your system. I know that there were power and cooling issues with the I7 notebooks when they first came out.


I had one from both generations of i7 mobile processors (720QM and 2720QM), so I while I can say idle and moderate load temps are dramatically improved, peak heat output is even higher with the 2720QM because it doesn't slow down as it heats up.
While turbo boosted it far exceeds the cooling system's TDP of 45 watts.

the 1st gen i7-720QM would reduce the boosted amount depending on core utilization and temperature.
(ex. it would clock from 1.6 GHz to a max of 1.73 GHz with all 8 threads active; despite its maximum TB clock being 2.8 GHz)

My i7-2720QM however happily boosts up to 3.0 GHz no matter how many cores/threads are active, or how hot it gets.

For a performance enthusiast getting throttled can make you pull your hair out, but on the other hand, I don't believe they're supposed to continue using turbo boost after a set temperature.

Does anyone else have a Sandy Bridge CPU behaving the same way?
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