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

The only real benefit is less heat inside the laptop in this case.

 

Hello I was wondering if anyone modded there External GPU to take in a EK water block?

I Alienware has a height problem thus the modding.

Also what is the effect of it with the Alienware 17 R4 if it gets water cooled (the external GPU)?

 

It doesnt add anything if you do liquid cooling in the AGA. I modded mine to take the EVGA 1070GTX FTW. Works well, Temps are around 70c under full load. Only can OC it up to 2150mhz stable since after that the GPU becomes unstable. But the temps are still low, just the limit of the chip.

 

I have a water cooled 1080 in my AGA. The only advantage is that it runs quieter. Max temp of 50 C even when OC'd.

 

Could I get a picture of how you did it and the measurement of the AGA (pics of the internal would also be helpful example: where the resorvior is)

 

Am I correct in assuming the Asus turbo gtx 1080 will fit without issue and no mods or dismantling @ 4.4inch by 10.5 inch but that the strix edition will be too tall @ 5.3 inch by 11.7 inch?

 

I posted about it a few pages back.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

 

Hi guys,

Just got an AGA for my 13 R2 and fitted in a Geforce GTX 1060 (supported -> http://www.dell.com/Support/Article/uk/en/ukbsdt1/SLN300946). However, I can't get it working. When I power up the laptop the AGA starts up and the screen blinks black with a white glow around the border. I did a BIOS update to the latest but it still doesn't boot to OS (the blinking stopped though).

So I am in a difficult position of knowing if the AGA, Laptop or Graphics card is not working. Sound familiar to anyone? Looking for some pointers.

Thanks,
Mat

 

I did just see this "Certain video manufacturers may modify their video card VBIOS causing incompatibility with the graphics amplifier." at the bottom of the comparability list. I wonder if it is because I have a "GeForce GTX 1060 Windforce OC 6G"?

 

Useful comparison between 1060 / 1080 native in laptop vs 1060 / 1080 EGPU hosted.

Are external Video Cards worth it?


Anyone done a similar test with AW + GA ? Links?

 

I did and the differences wasnt that big in any way

laptop http://www.3dmark.com/fs/11413715
desktop http://www.3dmark.com/fs/10010898

 

You are answering the wrong question. You are comparing laptop vs desktop 1070 running native on both.

I wasn't asking for laptop GPU performance vs. desktop GPU performance. We are in the AW Amplifier eGPU thread.

The JZ video and his update I'm about to post are comparing eGPU vs native via the laptop internal display on the first video, and on the 2nd video he add's run's using an external monitor connected to the eGPU.

There are no desktop's involved.

Watch the video(s) - I assume you didn't as it's totally obvious your comparison isn't related to this video.

I posted here to see if someone tested a 1080 / 1070 / 1060 native AW laptop performance vs. 1080 / 1070 / 1060 Amplifier (eGPU) performance.

That's the answer I was asking to get.

Here is the first result of JZ's Update testing putting an external display on the *eGPU*, so video doesn't need to be sent back across the TB3 to the laptop display:

eGPU 1080 looped back through the Internal laptop display vs external display on eGPU 1080 vs native GPU inside laptop using internal display.

 

UPDATE: Retesting the External GPU for accuracy
(internal display vs. external monitor)

 

I am using the AGA for the 1070. Please check my signature

Jay is showing the performance loss when using an egpu. My first link is my aw15r2 with aga and a 1070. Second is the same 1070 in my desktop.

 

Yes, I know what you had, I read the details

You should have posted a native 1070 in the laptop vs eGPU 1070 displayed on the laptop for a proper comparison.

Your desktop used a much better CPU which would help the desktop 1070 perform better, even in graphics score, that's why it wasn't the comparison I was looking to get.

That's why JZ's video was new, he was comparing a laptop native 1060 with an eGPU 1060, and a laptop native 1080 and an eGPU 1080.

Then in the Update video JZ added an eGPU 1080 with an external monitor on the eGPU 1080, to give the gradation in loss from native GPU, to eGPU connected display, to eGPU loopback through the laptop display.

eGPU 1080 looped back through the Internal laptop display vs external display on eGPU 1080 vs native GPU inside laptop using internal display.
Pretty bad numbers overall for the eGPU solution vs. native GPU in the laptop.

Has anyone run the same GPU across all 3 elements on an AW laptop / AMP?

An AW 1060 / 1070 / 1080 native vs Amp 1060 / 1070 / 1080 loopback through AW laptop display, and AMP 1060 / 1070 / 1080 with external monitor on the AMP GPU?

No desktops with different CPU's than the laptop, please

 

As you can see in my links the desktop cpu performs less in firestrike physics test because its an overclocked sandy bridge i5 compared to a laptop i7 skylake, the latter is better. The graphics score however are similar with a slight advantage on a desktop (pci x4 vs x16). Its actually a better comparison than jayz video since he doesnt even know if the msi laptop can actually utilize full x4 tb3 speeds which could have hampered his testing.

Also my AGA setup performs on par with 1080gtx laptops such as the aorus and razer with a slight less score but close and better than 1070gtx laptops in general (the 1070laptop vs desktop variants are not identical).

Just take my data and compare it to an aw17r4 or aw15r3 with a 1070 laptop gpu and you have your answer.

But i already showed that the performance loss between the egpu and desktop setup is very small as shown by the graphics score. Actual real life performance is better on my laptop since games nowadays prefer the i7 skylake laptop cpu over a heavy overclocked sandy brdige i5 cpu.

 

The best comparison is a native GPU of the same model integrated into the laptop. That's what prospective buyers want to know.

Can they get a crappy GPU in a laptop with TB3 and end up running a 1080 down the road in a eGPU and get the same performance as a laptop that came with a 1080? - no, now they know they can't.

The question is, can they do this with an AMP output looped through their laptop, and with a monitor directly connected to the AMP vs. native the GPU performance in their laptop - what's the real performance difference? Is it worth the extra cost of the AMP + Desktop Video card?

Please let someone answer with the correct configuration. Why confuse things posting results from a desktop CPU / GPU / motherboard?

That's not the configuration people want results from, they want laptop native GPU vs eGPU.

Aorus and Razer 1080's are underpowered and are more like fast 1070's.

We are in an AW forum, the numbers of interest will come from AW 1060 / 1070 / 1080 native laptop performance vs AMP connected GPU results.

Thanks for the input, but desktop results are not relevant.

 

I get it but you are just ignoring the fact that the graphics score is a good indication of the performance of the card. The score difference is the performance a user loses in this case when using the graphics amp. As is well known by Alienware users to be around 3~5% performance loss when using an external monitor. This is what my score also reflects. It has been checked so many times.

ALl the native built in GPU's will perform differently to begin with anyway since the boost clock is now more thermal based than ever. Laptop with bad thermals or paste will perform less. In this case the exact same GPU with an aftermarket cooler has been used for maximum possible performance. THe score differences of the GPU score show the loss in bandwidth due to the AGA 4X cable used.

What user ever want to test for example a 1080 external card if it works just as well compared to their internal laptop 1080? THats not the use case here. The use case for these units is how much performance does it add to a said laptop and how much performance loss is their to a native unit. The AW15R2 en R3 only differ in used GPU's so you can make a perfect picture of the performance gains and losses. YOu can compare the AGA 18900~ graphcis score with all other 6700HQ with 1070GTX laptops for the perfect comparison of performance gains/losses.

 

Anyone with the AGA have better performance using it other than having a few FPS added??? I know it keep the temps down on the laptop but that's not worth the price for that a few FPS added. I was looking into it with a GTX 1080 in the future but it doesn't look like it's worth spending close to 900 for this.

 

Depends your current laptop. For example in my case laptpp has a 980m so i get quite when using a 1070 in my AGA. Also the laptop runs much cooler in this setup.

 

Just like you are ignoring the fact that I didn't ask for desktop results

I specifically asked for specific results on the AW laptop / AMP platform matching the MSI Laptop / Asus eGPU as tested by JZ so we could make a direct comparison.

Thanks for the data, when someone posts what I am looking for I will look at it again.

 

Hope it's ok if i hop in with something totally irrelevant to Jayz2Cents video.

Today, i was playing For Honor (Setup : AW13 R3 (Oled) + AGA with ASUS GTX 1080 A8G) and noticed something when i ran MSI Afterburner.

Piping the display to an external monitor ASUS VG248QE --- Power Target % was around 94 to 100 and it was Power Limit and Voltage Limit throttling. (Card is rated for 1863, GPU Tweak 2 on OC Modes moves it to 1999ghz - able to retain this figures even with the "throttling" in question)

However, when i tried piping the display to the internal monitor (OLED) --- Power Target % was around 70 to 84 only no Power and Voltage Limit throttling (Card still ran at 1999ghz)

Edit :
Settings for For Honor i tested:
Graphics - Extreme
1080p 144hz for the VG248QE
1080p 60hz (limit) for the VG248QE
2K 60hz on the Internal OLED
1080p 60hz on the internal OLED

Just tested on Heaven Benchmark. Same thing happens

results was consistent with the Power Target and Voltage Limit flippin out.
Any explanation for this?

 

Yes if you have a graphic cards that's not 1060 or higher then there is really no need for this correct ?

How FPS did you gain ?

 

Any explanation for this?[/QUOTE]

yeah pretty much that. I gained 60% more frames with the 1070GTX in general in 3dmark. But more in practice. i run games with 1440 P and the framerate is still often 20fps higher.

 

Currently having a problem with my 17R3 and a GA with EVGA 1080GTX SC where upon boot I receive a message saying: unrecognized device in Alienware graphics amplifier. Plugged in the brown and black power cable (read that the black may not work but neither do) re-seated the Card, nothing seems to work, it doesn't ever detect that the card exists in device manager, upon booting into windows I receive a message saying that to successfully connect my GA that the system needs to do a reboot, performing a reboot results in the same unrecognized device message and windows will boot and get the same GA needs a reboot to connect successfully message.
I've updated the BIOS and AW Command Center, updated to the latest Nvidia mobile driver both through Geforce experience and from Nvidia's site. The card seems to work (powers on the fans and LEDs turn on), I don't have a desktop however to test it in. has anyone else had anything like this in their GA? Could it be the latest BIOS update doesnt work properly with the GA i think it was 1.3.X i installed.

Update: Looks like I was wrong about the card seems to be faulty the fans don't run consistently they alternate between the 2 doing a half rotation and then stop, so I'm thinking the card maybe DoA going to test in another machine to see if it works.
Update 2: Card isn't faulty it was tested and worked in a machine at the local computer shop so im assuming its my GA having issues with the card or the GA itself.

 

Just for comparison's sake, running Unigine with the same settings on my 15 R2 with 6700HQ and Titan XP in the AGA on my internal monitor gave me a score of 3147 and an average 124fps. That was an additional cost of $1450 over the price of my refurb $1000 laptop (and an additional $400 to install a 4k screen). So it seems that getting a refurb 15 R3 with an internal 1070 and internal 4k screen (as cheap as $1400 on ebay) is a hell of a deal.

 

I use the same card in my ga with my x51 r3 and no problems for several months now. I'm not sure what else you can try, maybe update the ga software? seems like I did that at some point when installing mine. also make sure you install the correct driver. I think I remember hearing you need use the regular non mobile driver for it to work properly

 

Maybe your cable is not workign correctly. I didnt conenct the AGA correctly once. Had the same issue at that time.

 

The cable from the GA to the Laptop? I've unplugged and plugged it in several times, tried swapping the way they were plugged in, I can access the lighting effects on the GA through AW command center which suggests to me that the cable is working.

You didn't have to upgrade the PSU in the GA at all did you, I feel like the way the fans on the card are acting its like its not getting enough power, I've updated the GA software to the most recent along with the AW command center software, Alienware tech support are going to test an SC card on their end as they suspect that its the overclocked card causing the issue but if you are using the same card I am unsure whether that is the cause.
Everything else seems to point to GA as being faulty but unfortunately I don't have a spare card to test it in. I also used the 2x 6-Pin power to 8-Pin that came with the card which didn't change anything, i get the same result whether or not the black/brown both or no power cables are plugged into the card. I might just wait until Tech support get back to me, and go from there, thanks for your suggestions though.

 

The cable is a combined usb and pci express cable. The pci express part could be broken. Also the evga fans twitch a bit sometimes when the card is not hot enough for it to use the fans to cool it down. Thats not a psu issue.

 

I've got a 17 R3 with 6820HK and was wondering what would be the most optimal card for my processor. Does the 6820HK have the horsepower to scale up to a GTX 1080?

 

Works perfectly fine. I use a 1070 with a 6700HQ and It performs with not bottlenecks. My CPU usage is never 100% and my framerates are the same with my older desktop (2500K at 5ghz).

 

Yeh I was just reading that the fans only come on when the card gets to about 60C, interesting to know about the cable, I need to try find someone with another card that I can test in the GA may have to take everything down to the local computer shop and see if they can put a card in and test it.
This is what the fans do when I power up the laptop in an endless cycle, not sure if that's normal behavior:
http://i.giphy.com/w4rC7fzWWQ8Ra.gif

 

I know there can be a difference between laptops with same graphics, but......

 

So I've got my AGA now with my GTX 1080 in it. When I turn on the laptop it doesn't do anything for several minutes. Then it shuts off and turns back on. Then I wait several more minutes before the Alienware logo appears on the screen and finally boots into Windows. Is that normal behavior?

Update: Nevermind, I guess it's normal.

 

The HP omen cannot utilize the 1070 fully. It doesnt boost as high. But i have the same framerates in my desktop and laptop with the same card and the cpu is never fully stressed thus causing a bottleneck.

 

Thats normal. Not need to worry about that. My evga does exactly the same and my older msi did that too.

 

Maybe @Mobius 1 can push some numbers with his Omen?

 

Ok thanks, I guess onto getting a replacement GA/Cable for me then.

 

need some help I cant find any reliable information on GTX 1080 branded cards that fit + work in the graphic amplifier. These are the options I have:
ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8GB ROG STRIX Graphics
Gigabyte GeForce GTX GV-N1080G1

 

Use this link AGA Supported GPUs from AMD and NVidia
Try EVGA cards their size is similar to reference cards. You can try Prime ABGB prices are similar.

 

I saw the list, the thing is there are so many brands some folks say Evga works but SC edition doesnt work or Msi works but doesnt fit. I worry because there is no return allowed once I buy the card. Average cost for a GTX 1080 in my currency is $1000 USD which is slightly high but no returns really puts me on edge.

 

But Prime ABGB does show 3 yrs warranty for EVGA. In amazon, your options are limited and no warranty since its imported.

 

The evga sc does work. Its just a founders edition with a custom cooler.

 

For reference, Alienware are telling me that the EVGA GTX1080 SC is not compatible and that you should stick with the non-overclocked cards. I don't believe them as there are others here and on the Alienware Arena forums that have the same card and use it in the GA.

 

Has anyone tried putting anything but a GPU in the graphics Amplifier? I was thinking of putting a Blackmagic PCI-E Playout card or a NVME Raid in it.

Technically it should be 4x Pcie 3.0 and work just fine.

 

It doesnt. The aga is wired to replace the internal geforce cpu. It wont boot with unsupported hardware.

 

Anyone going to try a GTX1080 ti in the AGA? I have an EVGA GTX1080 SC, but I am wondering if it's worth the upgrade. Not sure if the AGA will be big a bottleneck or not.

 

Wondering the same.

 

I've had my AGA for a little over a year and I had to upgrade to a EVGA GTX 1070 Sc..well it wouldn't fit in the case anymore so I decided to make some modifications. On a side note I upgraded the power supply so that I can drop my 1080 ti inside.