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

I am not sure because the only thing I have done is undervolted the CPU to -125mv. I have 7700HQ

 

Ok. pretty excited that i finally figured it out after months of never seen turbo boost numbers. Disabling CPU Performance Mode in BiOS gave me consistent turbo boost numbers across the board ! Before it had me locked at a specific Ghz.

 

So I've been sitting on my AW 17 R4 (specs in sig) for 1.5 years now and it's been a solid machine though, like so many others, on really heavy GPU load it gets too hot and I see occasional throttling freezes. Anyway it's been bearable but now I'm ready to just bypass that issue entirely and use the AGA I bought some time ago that's just been sitting in the closet. Thing is, I want to get an RTX 2080 to put in there so has anyone had any experience with that yet?

 

It’ll work- just make sure you got one that will physically fit unless, of course, you are okay making modifications.


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Thanks, yes I definitely want one that fits without cutting or leaving the case hanging open. I think the Ti is going to be pointless from a value perspective for this type of setup but the base 2080 should be a fine upgrade over this mobile 1080 and alleviate the freezes. I'm sure it won't be long until folks on here start experimenting but if I take the plunge first I'll be sure to post my experience.

 

If you’re independently wealthy get the 2080ti but otherwise I don’t see it as worth the cost for the AGA.


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The Nivdia RTX 2080 dimensions seem to be identical to the GTX 1080. That looks like the logical one to get for the AGA with no modifications needed. I wanted to try it out but there were none to be found at Best Buy.

 

Anyone here planning on playing the new Call of Duty 4 Blackout? If so, Can users with a 1080 or up provide some fps intel ?, Trying to see if you guys won't have issues reaching the 120fps cap. Thanks.

 

Hi guys, thank you for your help. I sold my laptop and th AGA and got PC instead. Everything now is smooth and much much better.

 

On high setting sunlikely to reach the 120fps cap. With decent settings I am way off the 120fps mark with the 1070. The 1080 is about 10/15% faster. But it is lready hard enough to stay around de 75fps range.

 

Thats why i am only asking users who have 1080 or above . With a i5-7500 and gtx 1060 you get a solid 60 (maxed out @1080p) . Not sure how you cant hold 75+ frames with a 1070 something is up there. Judging by your Monitor I am guessing you tried playing at 1440p with a 1070? In that case your numbers would make sense.

 

Good to hear from a AGA user that things PC perform much better.

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I'm really happy with my 1080ti but do we have any 2080ti performance metrics in AGA?

 

frist of all, liquid metal thermal paste is going to be a BIG upgrade and improvement to your pc, due that you are having frezze thermal throlling. also why dont you think on buying a second hand 1080ti and put a water block on it. inside the AGA is enough space for that.
you can change the PSU for a better one too.
you should think about this psu and you will have extra space for any mod https://www.pcgamer.com/evgas-latest-power-supplies-are-so-small-they-can-fit-in-your-hand/

 

Wow major price gouging going on eBay for the RTX 2080ti cards. All reputable vendors are sold out and only place to find them is on eBay. Prices are 500-700 over the actual cost.

Performance the 2080 FE is comparable to the 1080ti but with Turing. I was thinking about returning the 1080 for the 2080 FE. Anyone have the 2080 card?

 

Hello All,

I have been using the AGA with a 13 r3 for the past 2 years. Its been working great, but I recently upgraded to a 15 R4. Now I'm having an issue. With turning it on.

With the 13 r3, the power button was on the side and easy to push without having the laptop fully open. But with the 15 R4, it's in the middle under the screen. The laptop itself sits under one of my monitors, so it's a pain to turn on once I plug it it.

My question is, has anybody figured out a way to have the AGA tell the laptop to power up? Or any other methods that may work without physically pushing the power button on the laptop?

I have tried Wake on Lan, but there is no setting for it in the bios. I also tried USB wakeup with powershare enabled, but nothing will turn it on from a powered down state.

I find it unfortunate that Dell would not allow us to use the Wake on Lan feature, as that would make it super simple to power on the laptop once plugged into the AGA.

Anyway, any advice, or ideas that others have used or tried would be helpful.

Thanks!

 

Sorry mate, you’re S-O-L. The power button must be pressed- the only option I can think of would be to hack in a secondary power button that you can wire to the outside of the laptop.


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Very annoying considering that the USB-C/TB3 docks from Dell have power buttons built into them that can wake my Precision 5520 I use for work.

 

That's sad. I would have figured something would have worked. I only hope in the future the release a new AGA that has a power button. And I don't know, maybe provides power to the laptop as well?

Anyway, I guess I will have to think about adding a button. Possibly in a recessed hole so it can't accidentally be pushed.Maybe next to the power plug on the rear shroud. Or, I guess I could get a bigger desk and re arrange everything.

Thanks!

 

I originally wanted the GTX 1080ti but they were out of stock at Best Buys but they had the GTX1080 in stock so I bought it. I felt little buyers remorse after because I could have ordered it from another vendor the GTX1080ti but I didn’t! I started digging into pricing and the GTX1080ti which I originally wanted is only 150 dollars cheaper than the RTX2080. The RTX 2080 FE performs a drop better than the GTX1080ti and has the new turring technology so I think I am going to exchange for it and forfeit additional cost to buy it. I am going this evening to pick it up. The RTX 2080ti is not in stock with any reputable vendor, plus it is beyond my budget. The only way to get today is through resellers looking to capitalize on the demand for it on eBay.

 

Tell me about it. It's stupid to not have such a feature with a laptop that's designed to run with an external graphics card with USB ports which is, in essence, a docking station.

I'm actually surprised they haven't revised the AGA yet. Its...what? going on 6 years old now? No...5? I'd hope the next version (if there is one) would have some design improvements such as: more PCI lanes, ability to power the laptop, TB3 and/or USB 3.1gen2 port(s), taller design to allow usage with all graphics cards, and maybe even an extra PCI slot for PCIe SSDs / 10gig NIC cards, and so on. The HP external GPU chassis has a hard drive bay inside which is genius - it would be great if the next revision had room for up to a 3.5" drive and a 2.5" bay.

The 2080ti probably isn't worth the extra cost in the AGA - but I haven't seen any definitive testing to be sure.

 

Honestly, 4x lanes is enough. I wouldn't want a super thick cable for the thing. If they did upgrade it, I think they would go 8x, and that would be perfect. It would only be around a 2-3% reduction. I don't feel I need an additional PCI slot in it tho. A hard drive would be novel but not really neccesary, I would prefer they keep them cheap and continue to dominate Razer in perfomance, and price on the External graphics department.

In regards to 2080ti performance, there won't be much of a reduction. 4x is barely fully used by even new generation cards.
Here is a website that tested a bunch of different PCI express configurations and versions. Look at the PCI 4x 3.0.
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_RTX_2080_Ti_PCI-Express_Scaling/6.html

 

The AGA wont be updated any time soon. Alienware is already testing and validating it for PCIe 4.0 (which it is able to handle apparently when PCIe 4.0 is out). They said they only reason they would update would be for that and it is not needed.

 

Thanks for the reply and I did consider many times taking the thing apart and just reapplying the entire CPU/GPU cooling system since Dell's QA is so shoddy with these 'high end' laptops but alas, I'm so lazy. Interestingly, on a whim I used that downgrade process from way back to put the original mobile 1080 vBIOS on there and damn, problem ENTIRELY solved. I was climbing above 83C easily with Titanfall 2 maxed out in all graphics options but now it's in the low 70's with no noticeable loss of performance. This nifty solution will get me by until the 2080 comes down a bit, 800 US on Amazon is a big pill to swallow.

 

So guys, Just wanted to say I'm SUPER happy with my setup now - but the noise of the Amplifier is starting to piss me off, without case modding can any of you recommend a replacement (quiet) PSU and replacement (quiet) fan that'd fit please?

Thank you.

 

The AGA shouldn't be noisy. Even under load mine is quite quiet - slightly louder than laptop but not at all annoying. If your is noisy you need to identify if it's PSU fan or front intake fan (also should be under warranty if you bought it new.)

The power supply is SFX form factor - you will not find an exact replacement as this is a unique item to AGA but the best you can do is a modular PSU so you won't have a lot of unnecessary cables blocking airflow.

 

Yeah I mean it's not THAT annoying, but if there's a way to make it quieter still that'd be great.....

 

I am a new user of the AGA and I don’t hear the fans at all. I was surprised how quiet it is. It can be the graphics card you have in there that is not properly getting air flow and graphic card is getting heated up. Dual system fans on the card helps a lot. You should also undervolt the GPU also as it will lower temps and induce hopefully the fans to kick on at higher RPMs

 

The stock fan is quit hot, and there are a lot of results in the search engine of what can be used to replace it.

 

Check my sig for some parts that work in the AGA. I actually just have my fan unplugged as currently it just adds a lot of noise and not much cooling. My GPU is a blower style so the fan doesn't really help it much at all.

Also, if you ARE going to upgrade the fan, you are either cutting and splicing wires, or getting a new PSU as well so you plug in the fan. For reasons that will forever escape me, Dell went with a little proprietary connector instead of a standard 3-pin like every motherboard in existence uses.

 

My graphic card has a two fan setup and with the AGA stock fan it cools the card pretty well. Max temps is about 70 degrees on full load on maxed out ultra settings. I barely hear the fans spinning from the AGA area as well as the fans from the graphic card. I don’t even notice sometimes that I am using a AGA, it’s so quiet and I wouldn’t need to change the fan.

 

Did you replace the PSU?

EDIT: Yes, yes you did doh!

 

I did, the Corsair CXm line is a drop in replacement, the 120v AC is in the same spot as the OEM one. Just make sure you leave the switch in the On position before installing. Get some zip ties handy for bundling up all the excess cabling. Unfortunately, there is not a fully modular PSU that fits without modification that I am aware of.

 

That's perfect mate thank you. Parts ordered ready for the mod. Thanks again for the info!

 

What is the reason to replace PSU? For the sole purpose of installing a new fan?

 

Hi guys, I have AW 17 R3 with 6700 hq 970m.
Which are some cards I use in graphics amplifier?
Both from AMD and Nvidia. Please also mention prices.
Is it possible to do 4K gaming?
I am going to purchase a monitor too based on what the graphics amplifier with my laptop can output.

Thanks

 

A new PSU will also likely be higher quality and will most likely offer a higher output. There is a difference between the electrical output quality across different PSUs, safe bet Dell didn't splurge on a high end one. Better quality will lead to more stable GPU operation, better overclock stability, longer life span, quieter and cooler operation, etc. Lot's of benefits. And yes, more flexibility for other mods such as fans, lights, watercooling.

In my perfect world, I would be able to throw in a Corsair SF fully modular PSU but that would require a decent amount of modding/work to get fitted and negate its benefits.

 

Well I'm no expert but from the brief research I've done it doesn't seem that far off the system I'm using in terms of CPU performance at base settings - I'd imagine a 1070 would be a significant upgrade, but it's all relative to resolution and framerate you're targetting...?

I just think have as good parts as possible can only be a good thing, plus if I'm already opening the thing I might as well change the PSU....

 

4K gaming you would need GTX1080ti period or get the newest card RTX2080ti

Anything 1080p resolution GTX1070 or GTX1080 would be fine.

 

Oops I didn't read the 4k part, but yeah this man is right on the money.

 

Not really, I have a Hybrid 1080Ti SC2 and SF600 in my Amplifier and both fit without too much effort on my part.

 

Can you share some pics? My main concern was lining up with the hole for the AC power cord and the screw holes.

Thanks!

 

Hey there,

I have had my own 17R3 for a couple of years now with a 6700HQ CPU and 32GB 2133HZ RAM. I currently run a GTX1080 in my Alienware Graphics Amplifier and it gives me rock solid 1440p/60 performance in almost every game on max settings except very heavy CPU bound titles such as Assassin's Creed Syndicate that gives me around 50 FPS on max settings 1440p.

Honestly, you are better going for a 1440p monitor 144Hz/HDR by Samsung as they are excellent value right now. With a 32 incher curved screen 16:9 its very difficult indeed to see the difference between 1440p and 4k unless you are right up against the monitor. However, the difference visually between 1080p and 1440p is very noticeable even 1 metre away from the screen.

For 4K you need a GTX1080Ti or RTX2080 and even then you won't always get 60FPS because the Alienware 17R3 has limited CPU's (mainly mid range such as 6700HQ or 7700HQ for the R4). For 4k/60 you need something like an 8700).

I am very happy with my 1440p set up for the moment given my budget. For 4k/60 you will spend thousands of dollars.

 

Looking for advice on RTX2070 cards. Which ones fit in the AGA?

 

All the founders edition ones / single fan blower style, standard double width cards that are normal height, and anything that’s not more than an inch taller from the top of the pci mounting. BRacket.


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MSI Geforce RTX 2070 GAMING Z 8G Graphics Card

I wonder if this would fit in an AGA

 

No. See how that isn significantly taller than the PCI bracket? That would require cutting a hole or removing the lid


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FYI. Nivdia website has all RTX graphics cards available to order. If you want one get on the site now. They are in quite demand especially the RTX 2080ti model. Best Buys had them available on website for only 30 minutes and were sold out.

 

Well, opened my AGA to take a peak today while rearranging my office and the 4 metal threadings for the center hinge ALL broke loose of the plastic - yay for minimum cost design!

Have not decided if I will seek a replacement lid or just go for an open bench AGA when I mod in the liquid cooling.