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

Hey guys, a little background and then a few quick questions...

First off, I just purchased a AW 17 R3. It was listed as new and everything about it seems like it is except for the fact the guy selling it replaced the MVNe SSD with a Toshiba SATA model and the 1TB Hitachi 7200rpm HDD with a 5400rpm WD Blue. Other than that it is a i7-6700HQ with a 4GB GTX980m, 16gb RAM and a FHD (1080p) display. Great laptop. I may end up swapping out the FHD display for a 4k UHD so I can do some drone video editing in the field.

As fate would have it, I lucked out and found a Graphics Amplifier locally for a deal (guys wife bought it thinking it was audio equipment, which it obviously wasn't), so once I got the new 17R3 up and running I went and grabbed a GTX980 out of one of my kids rigs and popped it into the AGA to do some testing.

Overall it runs well, best 3dMark Time Spy test at defaults without the AGA was 3052, best with the AGA and GTX980 was 4385 or thereabouts (this is all with 388.71 nVidia drivers). This was the best I could do benchmark-wise and it was both the first runs. The OS setup was an original 102xx Win10 Home that I did the in-place upgrade to 10699 to. I then installed all the drivers, things ran well. I did notice that when I press Fn + F1 nothing happens. If I press the button on the AGA cable, I shutdown (as per the ACC AGA screen). I am on BIOS 1.3.12 (latest).

Me being somewhat concerned that I didn't do a fresh install of the OS on a laptop I bought from someone else might end up leave malware on it, I decided to play around a little driver/OS wise before I did a reset. I recovered back to 102xx OS, installed all the drivers there, then upgraded to 10699. My scores dropped to a best of 980m @ 3022 and 980 @ 4298. Now one thing I noticed is the system runs better with the power options at balanced as I get higher scores on both runs like that. On High Performance I get about a 30-40 score drop on both runs. I do notice that the AGA screen under ACC is not showing GPU statuses, it basically is acting like I don't have (or ever had) an AGA plugged in with just links to dell.

So, I take that as a sign that I should stop messing around and just set the damn thing up correctly. So I kick off a OS Reset. It fully reinstalls, I log in, I start installing all the latest drivers (basically latest Dell stuff for everything except for RST, used the latest Intel download of 15.9.x.x, and the Killer NIC/Wifi/Bluetooth, as I used the latest from the manufacturer website for those).

I did install the AGA driver before the ACC and I also made sure this time to update the Thunderbolt firmware and the TI Power Thunderbolt firmware as well, along with the latest Intel Dynamic Platform stuff.

Nice part is I have the gpu status available under the AGA section of ACC again. Everything runs smooth. But, my scores are still on the lower side compared to when I did my first runs. I can hit about 3020 on the 980m and about 4265 on the 980 in the AGA.

Now besides the small performance hit, I still get nothing happening when I press Fn+F1 at anytime (either at the desktop or even with the ACC up). Did they remove the Fn+F1 functionality in the latest BIOS or drivers/app?

Lastly, I did some stress testing. With Prime95 the CPU gets to about 78-80c. With Furmark on the 980m I get about 64c at most. With both Prime95 and with Furmark together I get a max around 90c on the CPU and 71c on the GPU. I notice that the CPU at around the time I get to 90c, XTU shows that the processor starts power throttling and drops speed from 3.1Ghz down to around 2.8-2.9Ghz. Once I kill off Furmark temps drop back down to around 80-81c with Prime95 still humming away.

Can I assume my thermal past is in good shape with temps like that?

Is there any way to really increase my 3dMark scores back to where they were maxed out on the first runs?

I do have Performance mode in the BIOS set to enabled, just not on the fans (too loud). Is this the best all-around configuration?

Lastly, did Dell shut-off Fn+F1 to initiate shutdown to disconnect the AGA?

Thanks guys, did some searching and really didn't find much on all this.

 

Have been having some issues recently... Boot loops on the Alienware Logo, which I can only resolve by unplugging the AGA for 5-10 seconds, plugging it back in and then booting up once more. And today... two of my USB ports on the AGA kept malfunctioning (mouse and keyboard) - the wonderful DONG of Windows recognizing a new USB device or disconnecting one. I am thinking it's time to replace the PSU with a Corsair. Thoughts?

 

First year after marriage. Let's see how we go next year

Back on topic it all works nicely now but I can't get both internal 1060 and external 1080Ti to work simultaneously like I could on my AW15R3.

 

Hi Zim415,
Last week I purchaded an AGA and a Asus gtx1080 land basicly made the same modifications to make the card fit and to keep it cool.
Thanks for your detailed post, it helped me a lot.

 

Good call on the fan! The 2 predominant GPU cooling methods have VERY DIFFERENT airflow needs. The traditional blower style with rear exhaust will favor the front fan blowing air into the case to feed that blower. The open air design pushes air down onto the card and it then exhausts out into the space around the GPU. As such, with the original case fan direction you are actually trapping that hot air in and around the card rather than providing the needed exhaust to remove it from the case.

 

Hey everyone,

Something happened to my AGA w/ 1080ti and I don't know what's wrong. It's suddenly performing slower than my onboard 1080 with my 17R4. I've tried a fresh partition with a fresh install and I get the same results: Over 140fps in Rocket League using the onboard 1080 and UNDER 100fps up to a max of about 110fps when using the 1080ti. Up until recently the AGA w/ 1080ti out performed the 1080 by far (as it should).

Any ideas?

 

Check GPU-Z and make sure the AGA installed card is being recognized properly - may be something as simple as a driver issue. Sometimes I need to reboot my laptop an additional time for the AGA to register properly also.

 

Hey Zerpy. . What's your card model? Any Aga mods? Any overclocking history? External monitor? USB devices attached to the Aga? GPU temps?

 

Has anyone gotten their AGA to work properly with Windows Mixed Reality?

Mine with a gtx 1080 ti FE works fine for ~15 minutes then I start to get a few white flashes through my Dell MR headset. A few more minutes and they black out. My 17 R4 laptop monitor continues to work fine (no flashes).

Fortunately when I disconnect the AGA and go back to my internal gtx 1060 everything works fine again.

I have been working with Dell Support for almost 2 weeks now, but so far no solution. Thanks.

 

Hmm maybe the Intel GPU drivers have something to do with it. I noticed that various intel GPU drivers affect AGA performance, there is some sort of memory leak which makes for example the windows interface sluggish. Even though you use the AGA, it is still being affected by Intel GPU drivers. Try it with the Intel GPU disabled when using the AGA and VR headset.

 

I already have my Nvidia control panel set to default to the Nvidia. Are you suggesting I go into device manager and disable the integrated intel display? Thanks

 

Yes, even when you rmonitor is not connected to the laptop itself (in your case VR setup) it still interferes.

 

Have you have needed to disable the integrated graphics in order for your AGA to work properly?

With non-vr use mine w/ 1080ti works fine and gives very good furmark scores. The only issue I am having is when I use run Windows Mixed Reality with my Dell MR headset. I runs this perfectly, with higher framerates than my internal 1060, but runs out of puff (white flashes, then blank) after ~15 minutes.

I really do not know what would cause this. If it were a driver or some igpu conflict, I would think that this would show up a lot earlier and also affect non-vr use. The only other thing I can think of is that the AGA power supply may not be supplying enough clean power. I may swap the stock psu for a better, higher rated one and see if this helps.

Thanks for the advice but I think I'd rather hear from someone who has actually used the AGA with Windows Mixed Reality and a MR headset. Thanks again though.

 

Just i now from experience tbat the AGA has issues with multi monitor setups which are caused by intel gpu drivers (various versions, older ones dont have this).

Your VR headset is basically an extra monitor so yeah those issues might affect you. It doesnt hurt to test it right? You can always enable it afterwards again if it doesnt help. And yeah i encountered those issues with certain drivers.

I doubt there are many users with mixed reality headsets to begin with.

 

Thanks but the problem is that the Windows Mixed Reality requires the integrated graphics for features within the WMR Cliff House. So, I'm just going to park my AGA and 1080ti under the pool table and wait until Dell and MS sort this problem out.

In the meantime all my VR apps (WMR and Steam), with the right settings, work great with my 17 R4's internal gtx 1060. I only bought the AGA and 1080ti for some future x-Plane simulator VR requirements. I probably should have just waited until some other WMR guinea pig tried all this, lol!

Thanks for your replies.

 

I just tried a better power supply (corsair cs750m) and this did not solve my WMR issues. My Dell MR headset display still starts to white flash after ~10-15 minutes, then goes black. Again, when I disconnect my AGA and go back to my internal gtx 1060 thankfully everything works fine again. So, there must be a problem with the AGA and/or WMR drivers imho.

 

Been using the graphics amp for almost 2 years now. I have found the fan has really started to bother me. I replaced it with a fan that makes less noise but still find it makes far more noise then the 1070 under load. I saw some guys near the start of the thread unplugged the fan with temps staying near what they were with all the noise. Has there been any new testing since then? I am considering getting my self a small fan controller to reduce the speed of the fan but would like to check in with everyone prior to doing this if just disconnecting the fan will work well enough.

Many times I have looked towards getting my self a new desktop but with the exception of the noise I can't really get past the fact the 17r3 with a 1070 in a amplifier plays the games I want at the settings I want.

 

It heavy depends the card, If you have a blow style card it does help to deliver fresh air for that card. But in general there are enough openings where air can get through.

The downside is, if you only use your GPU fan to bring in cold air into the AGA, you have negative air pressure which causes more dust build up through all hole in the AGA. If you replaced the PSU you could use one of the power cables to use a fancontroller instead.

 

HDR troubles. I have an alienware 15 r2 with a 1080 in the aga. My HDR capable tv is hooked up to the HDMI out on the video card. I have the display set to just output on the HDMI ( internal laptop screen is off). I cannot enable hdr in the display options. Anybody have this issue? Anyway to force HDR on?

 

Hello,
Just bought a graphics amplifier for my 17 r3 (technically its the second, but who's counting). When the laptop powers down/starts up with amplifier connected, the hard drive clicks like the power is being cut prematurely. It does this pretty consistently, especially when starting up. When I press the power button, the laptop power light will flash, and the fans in the GA spin up briefly. Then it all cuts out, and I hear an audible click from the HD (the sound they make when power is abruptly cut while they are spun up). The laptop and GA will fire up again right after that, post, and boot as normal. The same thing happens when I disconnect the GA. When shutting down, the HD clicks, and does so again when powering up (without the GA). After this, the laptop performs normally, without making funny noises, until I reconnect the GA. Then it all starts again...

I've used two different GA's, two different graphics cards, and even two different MOBOs (that's another, painful, story). The long and the short of it is that even with hardware changes, this behavior still persists.

I've looked around, but I haven't found any reports of this, other than people who seem to get stuck in boot loops when using the GA, but that isn't happening to me. Only the behavior described above.

Anyone know what I'm talking about? Is this normal behavior for the GA+laptop boot sequence? Thanks in advance.

 

Alienware GA make reboot loops two times and then boot Windows OS.
it's happened if system was unplugged from AC or was unplugged data cable.
It's looks normal for AGA. All latest PC systems have the same behavier if was installed or reinstalled a Video Cards, i mean loop reboot before run OS.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

My primary concern is the extra wear that this might cause to my system, the HD in particular. Is this a non-issue?

 

Its normal. On the newer models the process is shortened. But in general , once you connect the GA, during boot it gets detected. It turns off and on again to disconnect the internal GPU and start using the external one.

 

When the laptop reboot twice it's means completely on/off power(it's not regular reset function).
Frequent main power on/off it's not good for most of electronics components, especially for HDD,
any way it's decrease life span. As I know, one on/off equivalent approximately six hours of continuous work.

 

Where do you base this off?

 

What exactly you mean?

 

That each shutdown sould equal y hours of service life.

 

I read about it long time ago it was publication in book about repair and computer science.
I don't remember what exactly it was, because it was some years ago.
Nothing serious has changed in the components of computers at this moment
and I think this formula can work on this moment too.

 

As far as i know it hardly matters as long if the harddisk reading "heads" are parked correctly which does happen.

 

Sounds like one of those silly myths which gets repeated every now and then.

 

How long myth about spherical earth was in past, few centuries ago most of people think our planet is flat don't believed to scientists...

 

how is it possible for amplifier to recognize both of internal and external gpu?
like this guy mining out of his 1070 and rx vega at the sametime?!

 

I have and have been happy with my AGA but just ordered a Razer Core V2 and am curious to compare the two through my AW 15 R3 - both have 4x PCIe 3.0 lanes directly off of the CPU. The big add for me would be hot plugging, not having to shut down every time I want to "dock" or "undock" the laptop.

Stay tuned

 

You sure that the TB3 controller in tehr AW15R3 is directly connected to the CPU and not PCH? That would be great. Because currently my AGA cable is dying, its acting funny (sometimes the GPU is only running at 1X instead of 4X speeds and it made my AlienFX light glitch a few times).

 

It’s been tested and th Alienware graphics amp beats the tb3 in performance by a good bit.

 

Positive Linus Tech Tips actually compared both and looks like they should perform similarly due to similar PCIe routing. I also like that with the internal architecture of the Core V2, the other peripherals get a lower priority due to being further down the chain on a separate TB controller so wont impact graphics performance when in use.

The x16 off the CPU are divided into x8 for 1070m, x4 for AGA, x4 for TB3 it is awesome that they really got this right for once. Theoretically, all 3 could be in use at once but they disable the internal 1070m when the AGA is in use.

 

That video is kinda what i mean. There is a huge performance drop with TB3 vs the AGA connection. It seems that with the AW laptops released these days the TB3 controller is also connected through the PC thus has to share resources.

 

Watch from 6:45 through about 8:30. I interpreted that as the AGA and Core via TB3 performed within the margin of error of each other when both connected over comparable PCIe to the host CPU on the Alienware 13 R3 they used for testing..

 

They should in theory but benchmarks show otherwise. Both laptops did show identical scores over TB3. But I have no clue if the 15R3 and 17R4 perform better in this situation. In theory if the TB3 power is truly connected directly to the CPU it should perform on par.

 

Well, mine should arrive on Wednesday from HK (crazy fast free shipping!) and I will let you guys know

I did order directly from Razer as it seems everyone else on the internet is out of stock. I started out looking at the Akitio Node Pro with a USB hub hanging off the second port but that is kind of a compromised design I think without the architectural benefit that the Core V2 has and not as big of a price gap between those 2.

 

Well I got the Core on Tuesday and promptly proceeded to test it out. I will start with saying that its build quality and finish utterly embarrasses the AGA. No contest there, but at 3x the price it better! Unfortunately that was the high point of the experience. It took a while for my laptop to "stabilize" getting everything mapped and drivers installed (although I already had the GPU driver from the AGA - same GPU). I was able to get an initial run off and had similar performance between the AGA and Core V2 but that was it. Following that initial run the whole laptop started acting up badly. Pretty much the system would hang for 4 seconds, work for 2, hang for 4, work for 2 and just repeat that. It was easy to see in 3dmark because the clock and frame counter would freeze, then the clock would jump forward and frames would start counting from where they left off, obviously this resulted in horrendous scores and user experience. This would happen as soon as any program that uses the GPU was fired up - was fine in 2D use cases. I tried this with and without any peripherals plugged into the core (made no difference) although ultimately my goal was to have everything plugged in for convenience there. I was using external monitors connected through the eGPU.

I cannot imagine there is much "magic" Razer is doing besides plugging everything together on the PCB so unless proven otherwise I would expect similar experience with any TB3-based eGPU until Dell builds in some logic to make it all work better together (like not having driver conflicts or anything similar). The pieces can all work together as Razer has shown with their own laptops - but Dell obviously has a competing solution so they may only be of limited help to us. I would be interested to see them adapt a more standards-friendly approach such as TB3 in the future (the AGA connector is garbage and obviously proprietary - it was just lazy not incorporating laptop power into that massive cable/connector as well).

It was interesting to note that unlike the AGA, the 1070m stays active while the Core V2 is plugged in, not sure if that caused some issue with 3D loads maybe since 2 different nvidia drivers had to be working at the same time. I still have the Core and may do another round of testing soon but other than that I am pretty much set on returning it for refund unless a breakthrough is made. Found next to nothing online for people who have tried the same setup.

I can confirm that hot-plugging worked properly though so some day we may get a good overall working solution. As best as I could tell my TB software was all up-to-date

 

Try it with the AGA software uninstalled. It gives conflicts in use.

Also they could not put power in the AGA plug because 240 watts would melt the wires pretty much. TB3 also cannot give the laptop sufficient power.

 

I thought I had it turned off but will try a proper uninstall and give it a second try.

On the power stuff, they could have made 240W work across that cable, just run some dedicated low gauge cables in the sleeve to carry the power. I know TB has a 100W ceiling but since the AGA is already proprietary anyways they should at least give it as much functionality as they can. Also, since the 1070m is disabled, the laptop cant pull more than about 100W anyways even with an overclocked CPU when it is docked.

 

Its not just the cable, but the plug needs to handle it, now it would have too much resistance and would heat up and burn, need a second powercircuit etc.

Just not really realistic. The power/charging circuits in gaming laptops are already quite big and take about 4x4 to 5x5cm on the PCB

 

There is a way I am sure it could be done, HP had a docking station that was a one cable for everything connection similar to the AGA that also included power back in 2008! Also docking stations for work laptops from Dell, HP, Lenovo have all had this ability for decades without a heavy duty connection. I am an electrical engineer, I understand it is not necessarily "easy" but that in no way means it is "hard" or impossible. Will probably be able to test the Core some more tonight or Sunday - tomorrow is slammed already.

 

Ran some more tests with all Alienware software uninstalled. For some reason the mouse and keyboard were super flaky when running off a hub plugged into the Core, moved them to directly plugged in and they seem better that way. After removing all AW software, I was able to repeatedly run 3dmark over a few hours with decent consistency and performance. I was seeing runs ranging from 6900-7200 in Time Spy with the Core V2 where on the AGA I would range from about 7300-7600. I can easily attribute the difference to TB overhead and shared bandwidth (also had my Gigabit Ethernet coming through the core). I can hot-add the core and everything seems to work right but currently unplugging the Core doesn't seem to ever switch back to the 1070m and I have to hard reset the computer (hold down the power button). I will play around with what AW software installed allows this to switch back properly. Fingers crossed I can get everything running the way I want

 

Test games such as assassins creed origins, and other DX12 titels too. Firestrike score are often comparable with both the AGA and Core but it can tank in order games. Extremely curious about how it holds up then.

 

I have to confess, my game library is woefully out of date. I think the newest games I have are Crysis 3 and Titanfall. I have the Gears of War Ultimate Edition and Gears of War 4, think that is DX12 but would be it from my current collection. Do those have benchmarks built in? I am a lazy gamer and play the same stuff over and over for a decade haha - just enjoyed replaying Unreal Tournament 3.....

Also, I was running Time Spy as I believe it is DX12 vs the older Fire Strike that is DX11?

 

Ok, ran the built-in Gears of War 4 (DX12) benchmark to get some numbers. Did 3x runs on internal 1070m (expect it to be a lot more consistent) then 5x runs on Core and 5x runs on AGA. Averaged it all together and made a chart in excel.

Sadly, as sexy as it is on the outside, the Core just is NOT delivering for me I already mentioned the phenomenal build quality but functionality is lacking for whatever reason. The keyboard and mouse were super flaky unless plugged into the Core directly, preferably I would use my Anker USB 3 hub for all that stuff. Hot-plugging was a mixed bag, got it to not lock up the laptop but when I try to plug the Core back in after an unplug, the 1080 Ti would not load drivers (therefore useless) until a reboot. Ultimately I just plugged everything into the hub, and the hub directly into the laptop, the runs with the Core were with ONLY the GPU in the Core over TB3 - best case scenario. If all that worked or if the performance were on parity, maybe one or the other could be forgiven, but I had all those head aches AND the performance was not really as close as I would like.







It seemed like everything just ran better on the AGA. The performance seemed to be pretty consistent on the Core but that was with NO peripherals attached, not my ideal use-case. The benchmark said it was pretty much 100% GPU Bound for all runs at 4k, not a shock but should help to exaggerate any GPU related bottlenecks. Curiously, the runs on the Core required a fair amount more vRAM than the runs on the AGA. I have all 13 screen shots of the benchmark results but didn't save them into images - too lazy. Can produce on request if anyone really cares. Included the last run in the AGA just to show all the settings. All 1070 runs done on laptop UHD screen at 4k, all 1080 Ti runs done on Dell U2515h (2560x1440) attached directly to 1080 Ti. I scaled up the resolution to 3840x2160 in the benchmark (150%) to match the UHD runs of the 1070

Other niggles, the TB3 cable with the Core is SHORT, like 18 inches - compare that to 4.5 feet on the AGA. Kind of limiting and I would probably buy a longer active cable if I kept it. The fans were NOT quiet on the Core, found where they could be unplugged but no clue if that would make it angry - didn't try as they are small non-standard connectors coming off of the flimsy board the LEDs are all on. I currently put my laptop on top of the AGA, would not be able to do that with core, not wide enough to be stable, so would have to rearrange desk. Installed Razer Synapse in hopes of controlling Core lights, never detected so they would just fade in and out all over the RGB spectrum randomly (default behavior).

Unless anyone else has any other ideas I am pretty much ready to wrap up this experiment and get my $500 back.

 

Hmm still quite an extra performance drop and thats with a not so demanding game. I think Hitman, Witcher 3, Assassins Creed origins etc will show worse numbers.

Would still consider it if it wouldnt be so flaky. Will skip it as well.

Aliewnare seems to be working on a new version of the AGA, will be curious about how that one will turn out.