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

Very interesting, but inconclusive. Could have been a watercooled TB3 enclosure with a shunt-modded card etc. Do we know for sure that AGA is much faster than TB3 in TimeSpy when an external monitor is connected?

 

All of the TB3 eGPU TimeSpy scores that I have seen with the 3080 are below 15K graphics score. Here is an XPS 17 with a 3080 and only scored ~13K... https://www.3dmark.com/spy/14140402

 

I don't you can fit 3080 in an Intel NUC9i9QNB https://www.3dmark.com/spy/15374897

 

AGA should have only a small performance hit and the Graphics score (17609) seems to reflect that here, so would be interesting to know more..

 

Sample size 1, countered by @Papusan 's example below.

That would also be my assumption about TB3 - only a small performance hit when used with an external monitor, unless there is significant amount of I/O involved in this benchmark. Hence the question to someone who actually knows: is there a well known performance delta in TimeSpy scores between AGA and TB3, let's say using previous gen GPUs like 2080Ti?

 

Here's someone posting TB3 results with 2080Ti, but no photos so not sure if its graphics or performance score:

"Just stumbled across this, but just ran benchmarks on my 2080Ti FE and figured I could share. A "general" rule of thumb, is you will lose anywhere from 10-30% of the total performance of the card by using Thunderbolt 3, as opposed to it being setup in an actual desktop. Ran benchmarks, and the 2080ti connected to an external display, gives me roughly 2080 performance.

• 9086 TimeSpy3DMark ~10% Loss - When the card is hooked up to an external display
• 7328 TimeSpy3DMark ~20% Loss - When the card's display is piped back to your internal display."

https://amp.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/98w90s/worth_getting_gtx_2080ti_for_egpu/

Here's Alienware AGA with 2080Ti on 17R4:

https://imgur.com/4ndqP49

So, since the TB3 owner says it's roughly 2080 performance (which seems to have around 10k of Graphics score anyway), it might indicate that it's 13k vs 10k Graphics score in TimeSpy for AGA vs TB3 which would roughly align with the expected 20-25% performance hit for the TB3 eGPU.

 

That's a kind of plausible, but still not perfect analysis. Other factors could be at play, such as TB3 implementation issues (e.g. just 2 PCie lanes used), or differences due to overclocking.
Actually, it's not even clear what system was driving the eGPU above - surely that's a factor too.

The best way to test this would be to have both AGA and TB3 eGPU connected to the same AW system (not at the same time, but running the same video card).

 

Sure, but that's not that easy to find.

https://egpu.io/forums/builds/2017-...-xg-station-pro-win10-1803-itsage/#post-57290

 

Nice. Bad news for AGA & Dirt Rally fans I guess
Well, hopefully Dell will resurrect AGA or it will be TB or desktops going forward - very low likelihood of profit for Dellienware in those two cases, as people will be free to pick other laptop brands and build their own desktops....

 

And the 3080 suffer as well in the same small chassis that have cooling issues.

My disappointment is immeasurable

"I waited over a month for my 3600$ (CAN) Aurora r11 with rtx 3080. I turned it on and the graphics card fried, tried to self diagnose for a day and decided I would have to call support".

Yeah, I'm sure Dell is very happy they stopped the AGA to support 3000 series cards.

 

AGA, RTX 3000, news about compatibility? Dell.com


Maybe a smart move Bad for the business push you all over on Ampere desktop cards due possible late release of new gaming-books. Boost sales of current noteboooks has 1th priority.

"We have been told that the RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 mobility GPUs will be fast-tracked to land in January 2021, however, the GPUs will initially only be available in ASUS and MSI flavors. HP, Dell, and Lenovo have reportedly decided to wait until April to support these new GPUs"

 

So they discussed their AGA will not support the 3000 series. They have not discussed anything about a new AGA. I guess all their discussing is going towards making the AMD 6000 series compatible, because if not that's gonna look really ****ty.

Also, he never responded to my PM when I asked about a new AGA or questioned their choice. I knew he'd hide soon as anything was asked.

 

Seems like the role of that particular Dell mod is to shoo people away from Alienware. Given what's apparently going on, I guess a lot of people will have zero internal discussion about supporting them with their cash in the future.

Broken dreams for a lot of fans of the brand.

 

It's a mess. I'm going to take the surprisingly hard decision to unsubscribe from this depressing legacy thread. See you guys elsewhere.

#%*@ % Dell!

 

The flashy lighs and blinking scull will always drag people to the brand. Have always been. But not so sure about the brand loyality will be equal good as in the old days. No upgrade path + soldered ram and soldered wifi doesn't fits all. With no AGA it won't be so much better.

 

Don’t know this Chris guy at all, but he’s not being very engaging nor customer friendly from what I’ve seen shared here.

 

At least he post sometimes answers in the Dell support forum. Most of Dell support team will instead drag you into PM. This doesn't exactly help all the others who try search answers on same/similar problems.

https://www.dell.com/community/Alie...blem-new-speakers-still-no-sound/td-p/7745415

 

lol at the very least this Chris M dude is better than Umar or Frank, he goes straight to the point:
1- The current AGA is gonna dead soon
2- There is no new AGA in development

 

Just sad the confirmation won't help all Again, how many will be lured into the AGA trap? Damn sad if they wait buying a card or use it after the 30 days return window.

Spot on Graphics Amplifier and RTX Series

 

It went from 'disappointing' to 'humorous' imo. Like it was good for knowledge and help, but now its good for laughing at Dell. Better that we wasted our money in the past and learned than to waste more money on something expensive like a Area 51M

 

lol, well, I’m a 51M R1 owner, so I’m pretty disappointed!!!

 

13 R3 owner, for me I dont care that much but its not as though Im blind to other model systems that have the CPU grunt to take advantage of higher end GPU solutions

 

This is a solid example of why putting your eggs into a proprietary basket isn't a good plan. They're always going to do what is best for them... period. What matters to customers is of secondary and lower importance once they have your money. You're a former customer, not someone whose money they're looking to take. Unless you're looking to buy again, they're done with you and have bigger fish to fry. And, honestly... being a former customer is the best kind to be for this brand (and many others with similar rubbish on sale).

 

Most people here are repeat customers, and as such are more likely to buy Dell in the future than, say, Razer or MSI fans. I don't quite see why listening to our needs and wishes is not in Dell's interest, assuming Dell is a rational and well-managed company.

 

From the looks of it, I'll have to make use of my AGA for a glorious sound card then.

 

I don't disagree with you conceptually. But, that is a big assumption to make, especially when their actions suggest the exact opposite (irrational and poorly managed) seems to be true.

I guess that is better than throwing it away. Why not just sell it since it can no longer be useful for the purpose it was created to serve? Is it because the used market for AGA is too soft and limited to get enough money for it? Seems like a lot of desk real estate to sacrifice for a sound card.

 

Or set it up as a storage box?

 

Raises my hand...

Just bought an AGA 3 months ago! lol

 

I bought one like, last week (used) lol

Though I have intentions to give it to a friend of mine at some point in the near future as a birthday gift

 

I went from a old ASUS Xonar DX, to a Sound Blaster Z to just using HDMI-out over like 10-12years. Honestly, idk why sound card exist (not to be confused with mixamps). To me, they are like some super cool fancy KBM that once you no longer have it, you feel empty and underperforming. Not only that, idk about sound cards nowadays, but SPDIF compressed audio. And any kind of special 'mode' (codec) is also compressing sound, meaning the quality is technically lesser, even if you enjoy the compressed DolbyDigital or other modes.

Maybe for headphones without an amp it helps (why not buy a 100$ amp over a 100$ sound card), but imo you'd be better off saving sound-card money for even a cheap home theater setup with HDMI input or a headphone + mixamp combo if speakers aren't your thing. But that's my opinion, sound is really subjective

 

My Xonar STX was bliss compared to onboard audio and it was with some crappy plantronics headset. Would've been better with my Fidelios, not sure how much good it would do for my SHP9500's though.

 

Looks like they updated that.


It's as we all thought. There will be a new one with the new legend design. The real question is if it will be compatible with the old port or require a new one released alongside the laptops in April time?

 

Already posted this info in the thread They only added in the date of the product.

Edit. I wonder when they will edit again and add in 6000 series AMD cards.

You can't trust anyone from this company. They all follow same philosophy as the Company founder


http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ll-13-15-and-17.770323/page-481#post-11060779

 

How are you certain that by the nov 2014 AGA being EOL, there will be a legend redesign? What’s your source?

The Chris community guy says there has been zero discussion about a new AGA, hence my question to you.

 

I reckon the only way to definitely infer a confirmation of a new AGA from that sentence would be to pop some hallucinogen and flush it down with Dell Kool Aid - although I'm not sure since I've never tried.

They could have added the year just to point out that the product was so old it had to be EOLed ("Dude, that AGA was so 2014!"). They could also be planning to replace AGA with TB3 to eliminate the design overhead, free up space, and cut software costs, etc. Remember, the best way for Dell (and resellers like yourself) for people to upgrade their graphics is to drop 5k on a new laptop.

 

Going to TB3 is a possibility, like the Razer Core...

Surely they don’t give a crap that PCI lanes would be shared... and you’re most likely right on integration/development of the port & compatibility. They can cut a lot of costs by just removing the AGA port (let alone saving the cost of producing another AGA itself that also needs to handle the AGA port, vs a TB3 port).

We’ll know soon enough what Dell is up to, but it most likely won’t be good for us.

 

I don't know, I loved my X-Fi Notebook which I've used with my Precision laptop. Now I'm using X-Fi USB with my Alienware, but it's pretty bland.

Always wanted to get the Xonar Essence STX II cards, though, so if it turns out the new Radeons won't work with AGA either, I guess that's my next upgrade to at least use this thing for something.

If they do make a new one, I hope they add an extra PCI-E x1 slot above the GPU slot.

 

I supposed you're right I don't know. It seems it would be a missed opportunity if they didn't though?

 

It's basically a 300$ amp. But why buy a PCIE amp when you can buy a amp made in America for 100$ and not have to deal with the AGA at all, won't have to deal with drivers and won't have to deal with ASUS support most importantly https://jdslabs.com/product/atom-amp/

It doesn't have a analog mic port, but considering the good mics are mostly USB you won't need extra power to it. Of course its your money, I just think its a waste of space and money to not only keep the AGA but to put a expensive sound card in it

 

Right. The writing has been appearing on the wall for Alienware since mid 2019. Either they ended up without someone talented to drive this brand, or they are purpusefuly working toward scaling, dumbing and/or winding it down.

 

2019? Try 2013/2014

 

Different strokes, I guess. It's not a big waste as I bought a used AMP and I'll buy a used Xonar STX II if these new graphics cards won't work in it. I wouldn't pay $300 for it.

Come to think of it, maybe I'll try my old X-Fi Extreme Music first when I have time to search for it to see if it'll give me a noticeable improvement over this USB card I remember having with X-FI Notebook.

 

You could also probably solder some of those USB leads so you can have a clean look while adding additional mass storage (spin-up drives)

Also I wouldnt be surprised if someone in the community adds further support, just depends on the demand I suppose and if someone capable is willing to put in the effort.

 

That would be cool, like a giant NAS you have to do-it-yourself but this one has a alien logo and a bigger cable with no bays lol. Don't ask Dell if they are looking into that, they will say they haven't talked at all about it .
Ok but could you imagine starting a rumor they were doing this. That dude Chris would be all in my DM playing Dell-interrogator again.

 

Would 370W be enough to implement Alien Toaster on the basis of the abandoned AGA?

 

THeRe HaS bEeN zErO iNtErNaL dIsCusSiOn AbOuT tHiS "tOaStEr" FeAtUrE.

Probably could have wrote it normal and it still be funny. 10/10 wasn't worth the effort.

 

That is not enough power for a typical toaster. Maybe for a (power and thermal limited) max-q version. Though that is probably the idea

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/k31mmy/alienware_graphics_amplifier_works_with_amd/

Apparently the RX6800 works fine, so at least there is that.

 

Excellent. Now for someone to try the 6800XT. Even though I have a G-Sync monitor, I don't mind switching to AMD. It's 60Hz only anyway and 6800XT should cover that, even if its 4K.

 

I would love to see the 6800XT work, and then it suddenly 'become incompatible'. I mean if the 6800 works, the XT should work. And if the XT works, then the 3080 and below should work.