Graphics Amplifier VS RAZER CORE

Can i have some info to compare em pls ?

- GA has proprietary connection ( - )
- GA is uglier and bigger ( - )
- GA is Cheaper (+)
- GA works with Alienware laptopts that are cheaper (+)



- Both are working perfectly (=)

 

GA has more bandwidth too from what I've heard

 

-GA has better ventilation/cooling ( + )
-GA is super cheap used or refurbished where it is hard to find core at all ( + )
-GA cannot fit every card ( - )
-GA can change alien head logo color while razer core can change internal light glow color(big woop on both)
-GA does not tie up any USB type C ports ( + )

 

GA has proprietary connection ( - )
It's both a (+) and a (-),
(+) because this proprietary port is only dedicated to the GA so it won't disturb your routine because you never plug your mouse in the amplifier port for instance, and of course because the proprietary port is faster than TB3 for the external GPUs according to feedbacks
and let me quote you this from a reviewer ( ultrabookreview)

The GA port, driver, and bandwitdth are better.

(-) Because you can only use it on AW laptops of course.

 

The blade also has the same card height problem.

 

i couldn t find this important info

 

the bandwidth and the faster connection than TB3 is something important.

but i can t see proof of it in this review : this is simply pointing out that TB3 is a bottleneck, but i can t deduce that GA is better

 

Dave2D has a review of it on youtube. Where he compares the Razer Core performance in a benchmark between the Stealth and Blade. Next to it he benchmarks the AGA for comparison. The thing is. The AGA is actually nothing more than an external PCI express port running through a cable with a separate USB bus. You get the exact PCI express 4x 3.0 speeds on an external monitor. The Core over TB3 has similar bandwidth on paper but it has to translate the PCI express signal from the GPU first to TB3 in the core>send the signal back to the laptop>translate the TB3 data back to PCI express data again to run the GPU. This overhead causes extra reduction in performance. Also if you connect USB peripherals on the Core it will run over the same TB3 bandwidth pool. Using an external harddisk while gaming on the Razer Core is not a fun experience. Everything slows down.

The AGA also has less driver problems, for the most part when a new card is released you dont need to wait for specific software to make it compatible. The Razer Core however took a longer time for it to support the Nvidia 10xx series. But the Razer core does support hotswapping outside of games. The Alienware needs to be rebooted.

 

tnx, i prefer GA from what you say, compatibility over all for me.
when i buy GA i don t look only for performance, the thing i want is max upgrade capabilities (and i think that ' s what all we want back after the BGA switch)
also if it s an ugly thing!

 

PCIe x4 is higher bandwidth than TB3. You would have to connect the Razer core to a M.2 slot to get the bandwidth like Alienware's eGPU.

Look at the thead linked below... @bloodhawk tested his eGPU with TB3 and M.2 (PCIe) and got a nice bump in performance using PCIe.

https://www.techinferno.com/index.p...tx108032gbps-ngffm2-pe4c-v41-win10-bloodhawk/

 

The TB3 INTERFACE has Tb3 to pcie conversion overheads. The GA interface is basically a powered m.2 ngff extension cable with a proprietary connector.

 

So better perf with ga?

 

Yeap.
But once you start pushing 1440p or above ,the gap becomes less.

 

Its an actual pci express 3.0 4x slot with a cable attached. Because there are not enough lanes available the internal gpu is operating at 8x speeds.

 

So with the GA it reduces the internal GPU bandwidth to x8 from x16?

 

Well it is reduced by 8X anyway with or without the GA connected. THey just have split the lanes hardware wise. Not that it matters a lot. The 980M is not bottlenecked in my cased by 8X but it cant go higher than 8X with the AGA disconnected.

The config is 4x for the AGA, 8X for the GPU, 4x for the first M2 slot, 2X for the second M2 slot. Unsure what the TB3 can utilize.

 

That's what the m.2 port also gets.
But if it was an actual port, then people wouldn't be having issues with the latest drivers.

 

The possible driver problems is because of the software control that disables the internal GPU when the AGA is connected with a supported GPU.

I can make photo for your of the AGA PCB later if you want. The patch suggest it is a fairly straightforward solution.

 

If possible PM me with the info. But people have been getting code 43 issues with the 1070 . Same as other mPCIe / m.2 eGPU users. For others with the cards over MXM , things are fine.
Do you have images of the motherboard with the port by any chance?

 

I can make some later tonight when I am back home.

I knwo with the latest Nvidia drivers there are som eproblems using the 1070 externally. Might that be why the code 43 issue appears?

 

Yep