*OFFICIAL* Alienware "Graphics Amplifier" Owner's Lounge and Benchmark Thread (All 13, 15 and 17)

The SC would fit. The FTW however is too tall. There plastic clips in the way. Which I am thinking to cut out. But bit worried I ruin the case.

The MSI doesnt fit, The Asus Strix also doesnt. It sucks a bit. Because apart from the case size it works really well. Tested it yesterday and the boost from a 980M to a 1070GTX is enormous.

 

The seller should be able to give you the dimensions. The Width (or height depending on orientation) is the important one (second largest dimension). About 4.5 Inches max fits in AW amplifier. EVGA GTX 1070 SC comes in about 4.38 inches.

EVGA GTX 1080 SC should be the exact same size

Just be careful to distinguish if the seller is giving the card dimensions or the Package/Box dimensions. If the length dimension is over 12 inches, or the thickness is over 2 inches, they are giving Box dimensions.

 

True and the mobile gpus are also closing the gap so that the aga might because useless in the future anyway. I forgot that 1080s can come in a full mobile package now. Although the heat distrubution the aga allows is way better than a laptop running CPU and GPU.

 

I have a Titan X Pascel, running with a hybrid cooler without any permeant mods to case. I do have a 1/4 inch gap in front of amplifier due to the extra height of the radiator on the hybrid cooler. I achieved this by removing one of the three hinges on the front of amplifier. The hinge and 12 screws can easily be reattached. Also I flipped front fan around so the hybrid cooler has fans on both sides pushing all the unwanted heat out. The back of amplifier is still locked in place and you can barely notice the gap, which is also letting some extra heat out due to the 120mm fan on cooler. The radiator it self will stay perfectly in place due to the size of the amplifier and the pressure from the tubing. I liked this because I can still return the amplifier to its original state if I wanted to. Few side notes. I did have to modify a EVGA 1080 hybrid cooler to fit the Titan XP. Very easy mod, But Forever modified. This is just the COOLER, no mods to card or amp so can still be returned to original state. If you use 1080 or 1070 hybrid cooler no modifying needed. Now for the why. Idle temps 28c, no overclock gaming 52c, +200 gpu +450 mem and 75%-100% volt 59c-61c. Sound is the same as the basic cooling fan on amplifier under idle, normal and heavy load. Pure paradise for Titan XP owners. Thx for all the info everyone and hope this peaks.

 

I have tried to find a low profile PCIe 8 pin without success. So I made my own. This is how I fit the GTX 1080 FTW into the AGA. I hope this helps answer some of the questions.

 

Thanks for the pictures. I ordered 2 low profile cables which are a bit of a similar concept. But didnt these clips collide with your card?

 

Great news any chance of a few pictures of what u have done?

Thanks

 

I just cut those side tabs off. They come off easily. The horizontal part does not need to be cut.

 

Thanks for your insights!

Now i am confident it can be done. I was measuring everything but still had my doubts because of the cables.

Going to mod it this week with a dremel to cut those tabs off.

 

I noticed that disabling fastboot (in power options) will NOT allow my machine to shut down properly. It just makes the screen blank while the keyboard lights and fans are still on. This is why every time I have my AGA connected, it won't shutdown properly. The AGA disables hibernation thus turning the fastboot off.

Badly need your help guys.

 

Few little hiccups I've been running into lately... Any insight?

It seems that whenever I get a Windows Update (Windows 10), I have to reinstall the nVidia drivers from scratch. (Running a 970 GTX in my GA with my AW15) - in addition, when I am using the device off of the GA, I have to reboot after the initial boot in order for it to send appropriate display resolution to an external display hooked up via Mini-DP. After the reboot, works great!

Another weird note (I will try to describe this one to the best of my ability and I have no clue what is causing it, but it started after the most recent Windows Update that forced me to install drivers AGAIN):
I purchased a Xbox One S recently and was Xbox Streaming to my AW15 without any issues on Monday. When I shut down on Tuesday (while on the GA), it 'Updated and Shut Down'. When I arrived at work and powered it up, I had to reinstall drivers as per the norm after these updates. Now, when I try to Xbox stream, I am able to successfully connect, but I am not getting any video on screen. What's weird is if I fire up Xsplit Broadcaster on my second monitor and target the Xbox11App.exe, it will render the video and audio in the Xsplit window (albeit choppy).

So confusing.

 

@deftrance,

have you tried disabling auto driver updates in control panel. If not here's how:

To access this option, open the Control Panel by right-clicking the Start button and selecting Control Panel. Navigate to System and Security > System > Advanced system settings. Click the Hardware tab, click Device Installation Settings, and select the “No, let me choose what to do option

 

Update: ok so I realized that I need to force enable fastboot or something similar to solve my shutdown issues.
Here's what I did:
1. Boot laptop with AGA disconnected
2. Install Samsung magician for my SSD (Samsung 850 evo ssd)
3. Under Optimize OS, I selected Maximum Performance - this has the option to enable hibernate and stuff that are similar to what fastboot does.
4. Apply Settings then restart.
5. Boot laptop with AGA connected.
6. Check if this fixes the shutdown issue - voila success!

 

Thanks - will give this a try. I cannot disable auto Windows Updates due to work requirements, but this seems perfectly OKAY to me. Just did a DDU and reinstall of Nvidia drivers and will retry the Xbox streaming tonight.

 

disable automatic driver updates instead.

 

I have the AW 17r3 4k with 970m. I have to use only the internal monitor. Is there any point of getting a Radeon rx480 with the graphics amplifier? Or will I only see any benefit from a 1070 and up?

 

Hi there i have an alienware 13 r2 gtx 960m i76500u 4k touch screen i am considering getting an aga with the

EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 CLASSIFIED GAMING ACX 3.0
Is this card too much for the i7 6500u would it be better to get a titan x or 1080 founders edition. Basically what is the best graphics card i can get that works best for games like bo3 and isnt going to be throttled by the cpu. Thanks for the input guys.

 

You will still see a nice benefit from either a RX480 or a 1060 even. As you are only running the 970M emphasis being an "M" you cant compare a 970m to a 970 desktop, Obviously there will be a much better benefit from a 1070 and higher.

basically 970m = Desktop 960 or 770 just....

Plus you will get the added benefit of a much cooler set up with whatever you use in the AGA

 

This card wont fit the aga. Its too high.

 

Just a note the "classy" card wont fit in the AGA without modding / cutting it btw.

Get a founders as the cooler is marginally better in the case of the AGA as the blower coolers are regarded as being better in a tiny space like the AGA or a mini ITX scenario.

I've got an EVGA 1080 FE in mine and its great it boosts as high as many Classy's or FTW's (2114)

 

WIll the EVGA SC 1070 fit in? Is there any issues with the RX 480 fitting?

 

The 1070 EVGA SC will fit perfectly. All cards around that height fit. But some custom cards are 3cm taller. Which becomes problematic and thus requires modding the AGA slightly. I am going to do a mod tomorrow so I can close the lid on mine. I will post pictures after the results.

 

Does anyone know what 1080 cards fit from EVGA?

 

I'm using the RX 480 with a 4K 17 R3 right now. I'd recommend it.

The 970M still holds up very well for a two-year-old mobile GPU, but it's basically a GTX 960 in desktop terms. if you're particular about hitting 60FPS at Ultra* on newer games, the 480 is a great step up.

Obviously the 1070 will be even better, but any of this year's desktop models are a clear upgrade on the 970M.

* playing at 1080p, naturally

 

Dont buy a 480 though if you got a 980M because the 480 is hardly any faster than that gpu.

 

Without modding you got ;

EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING ACX 3.0
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC GAMING
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC GAMING ACX 3.0
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FOUNDERS EDITION

Reference;
http://www.evga.com/Products/Produc...ily=GeForce+10+Series+Family&chipset=GTX+1080

 

I modded my case yesterday, Worked out pretty well. I used a dremel to cut out those tabs and after that using the small Dremel grinder to make it look there was nothing at those spots at all. Maybe someday I will give it a new coat of paint on the inside to make it complete.

Now waiting for my low profile cablesthat I ordered at moddiy and a new PSU to make it even more reliable.

 

Those 8 pin PCIe cables may still be too tall. Just make sure there is no tension when you close the case. You don't want to bend the pc-board where the graphic card sits.

 

I got these https://www.moddiy.com/products/Spe...o-8%2dPin-PCI%2dE-Extension-Cable-(15cm).html

 

Still haven't managed to fix this dumb "won't shut down" issue. No clue what's causing it, either.

Don't have a samsung SSD, so I can't try a previous poster's solution. I'm surprised this isn't a widespread issue, maybe the mobo is broken.

 

http://www.overclock3d.net/news/gpu_displays/evga_reveal_gpu_power_adapter_and_hb_sli_bridge/1

 

I come across 2 small issies with my AGA.

First one is when i connect the AGA when the laptop is powered down. It starts, shuts down and start again within a few seconds. What is causing this?

And sometimes i have an occasional stuttering while moving windows etc on my external screen. It seems to be linked to the intel driver.

 

I've always assumed this is normal. Just the system powering on and recognizing the Amplifier is connected, and restarting to switch over to the external GPU while disabling the laptop's own.

 

Hey @HorizonShadow ,

don't give up just yet. Let me help you out. I want to know if we have the same problem.
Try to disable fast boot when AGA is disconnected and see if the laptop won't shutdown completely.

If YES - then we have the same problem. try install the Samsung Magician software even if you don't have an SSD. then set the Optimize OS option to maximum (or any of the settings that replicate fast boot). Shutdown and see if it works.

If NO - try this
https://eu.alienwarearena.com/forum...hut-down-when-graphics-amplifier-is-connected

 

@rinneh this happens to me as well, like 10% of the time. I noticed that before it restarts (again - instead of shutting down completely), I'm directed to the Bios menu under a new tab that says Flashing....
I've learned that I should not select "Save then Restart" but do a "Discard then exit" instead. If you have somewhat selected the former, then go to your Bios and do a reset or back to factory setting.

Also what bios are you in? A00 or A06?

 

Oh the PC shuts down in my case. But when I have connected or dicsonnected the AGA before booting then it turns on, shuts down again before fully turning on within a few seconds.

I have an AW15R2 by the way with bios 1.3.6.

 

Okay, so here's some findings I have for sleep mode and the GA for AMD and Nvidia GPUs. Tested on the latest GA software and BIOS 1.3.7 for 13 R2 (might be a similar story for the 1.3.6 BIOS for the Skylake laptops).
Nvidia: GPU stays on at idle. Fan may spin, depending on the vBIOS of the card. Nothing special.
AMD: Will actually turn off, but if laptop is asleep for too long, it will disconnect (and a few other programs will quit out as well if the AMD GPU runs them). Also, fan goes into full blast. Have to restart or shut down to fix. Not sure why this happens.

 

Hey guys, I've been browsing the forums incognito for a very long time and am greatly impressed by the level of support you guys render to each other. I've recently purchased the AGA and installed an EVGA 1070 SC into it. Now, before I ask my question bear in mind that this is my first real foray into PC gaming and as such, my questions might seem extremely noob-ish.

So, I was expecting a substantial jump in performance with the 1070 installed over my stock 980m. However, I tested both dota 2 and overwatch on the highest possible settings @1080p and the FPS displayed by the in-game counters remained the same more or less. Is that a normal phenomenon?
My specs are as follows: AW 17 R3, i7 6700HQ, 16 gigs of ram and a 980m. I'm on bios 1.2.8 according to suggestions made by various people in the forums and have downloaded the latest nVidia drivers (375.57). I would like to also mention that I just plugged in the card into my amp and booted up the computer. I didn't download any drivers after installing the GPU in the AGA. Any help and clarification would greatly be appreciated guys. I'd also like to mention that I was using the AGA on the Laptops's internal screen.

 

Don't use the latest drivers or the one previous to it. Use a slightly older driver (from 372.xx and before). Use DDU to uninstall the Nvidia drivers. And make sure you don't have V-Sync enabled.
As well, I would make sure you have the latest AGA software. If you want, you can flash to the latest BIOS as well (1.3.6).

 

I have the 980m and a 1070 and have found the 1070 to have a substantial gain in fps over the 980m. I will agree with everything the previous guy said, but if you still have issues try to benchmark the 1070 with 3d mark and post your results on here.

 

That last one is actually me. Can't sign in, so never updated that it wasn't fixed.

That samsung magician program won't let me do OS optimization without a samsung SSD.

 

I really appreciate your advice man. One question, I should unplug the AGA before updating the Nvidia drivers correct? Also, I don't have V sync enabled in any game and have downloaded the latest AGA software version from the dell website. I ran a benchmark and here are my results:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/15603693?

Are these numbers what I should be expecting? Also, which Nvidia driver version should I specifically install? Again, thank you so much for your help guys.

 

I really appreciate your advice man. One question, I should unplug the AGA before updating the Nvidia drivers correct? Also, I don't have V sync enabled in any game and have downloaded the latest AGA software version from the dell website. I ran a benchmark and here are my results:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/15603693?

Are these numbers what I should be expecting? Also, which Nvidia driver version should I specifically install? Again, thank you so much for your help guys.

Sorry for the double post. Can't seem to find a way to delete this comment.

 

Thee are mine experiences as well.

In bf1 I go from a mix of ultra and high settings on 1080P with a 980M to 1440P with everything on ultra and around the 80fps on the 1070.

 

I have yet to try out bf1 as it's currently downloading. Would you mind posting the results of your benchmark so that I could compare them with mine?

 

For some reason 3dmark refuses to start on my installation. Still have to find out why.

 

I'd like to ask another question. I came across posts where people have stated that they've found a work around to forcing higher resolutions on their monitors. When I try to do it with the inbuilt monitor the Intel control panel gives the error of "resolution exceeds bandwidth". My question is, are custom resolutions only available on external monitors or is there something else I need to do? . I realize that we can't enable DSR owing to Nvidia optimus right?

 

You can't increase the resolution or the refresh rate on the laptop panel because the Intel GPU doesn't support such a thing, but if you're connect to an external monitor with an Nvidia or AMD GPU, you can create custom resolutions and refresh rates, so long as the monitor can handle it.

 

Yea the graphics score is what you need to look at and it is around the same I get without overclocking. No you do not need to unplug the aga. I haven't had any problems with installing recent driver updates from nvidia. Some updates have been better then others but I still get a substantial gain. You should be using an external monitor though. I get 70-80fps constant on ultra at 1440p with the 1070.

 

Is it worth to buy a graphics amplifier for my alienware 13? or should i sell it and get something without the ULV cpu?