Alienware 13 R2 and 15 R2 with AGA

finally got both my laptops some AGA time, and just thought i'd share my findings.

here are the specs for each:

13 R2: core i7 6500u, GTX 960M 2GB, 16GB DDR3L GSkill Ripjaw 2133mhz ram (running at around 1600mhz)
15 R2: core i7 6820HK, GTX 980M 8GB, 16 GB DDR4 2133 ram
AGA: EVGA GTX 980 Ti Hybrid

the only benchmark tool i have is 3D Mark

what i've learned

using the graphics amplifier with the 13 R2 ( http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7575623) , i'm getting a little higher performance than a 15 R2 using its 980M ( http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7461769).

as far as bottle necks are concerned, the i7 6500u is such a significant bottleneck. granted, the graphics amplifier significantly increased the graphics performance of the 13 R2 from its 960M graphics card, im not sure its even worth investing in a 980 Ti in a graphics amplifier if the performance will still be degraded by the processor. sure these are just the firestrike scores and this is a synthetic benchmark, but I've gotten the same results through Heaven and Valley.

Just something to consider to anyone who's thinking about their setup.

13 R2 using the 960M: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7485365
13 R2 using the 980Ti: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7575623
15 R2 using the 980M: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7461769
15 R2 using the 980Ti: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/7553902

no overclocks were applied to the 980 Ti in all tests, the 15 R2 was using OC LVL1 from the BIOS Performance options.

hope this helps anyone who's on the fence about which system and what setup to go with.

 

aga definitely limited by cpu thats why you should get the quad core chip non u cpu.
the bandwith itself isnt problem just point out that graphic score

 

I think the 13 with GA sweet spot is a 970 for price to performance with the cpu limitations.

 

honestly, i knew there would be a degradation in performance, but wasn't expecting it to be that much.

 

Question. Were you not able to get the RAM to run at 2133 MHz? Even when trying to modify the RAM settings in the BIOS?

 

i tried, but often times, the thing just beeps at me and breaks my setup. i'd have to take off the stick of ram so it can re-discover it.

in the bios, it cant even read the speed properly (it shows 0)

what i am noticing is that instead of running the ram at 2133, it runs it in low latency (9-9-9-28)

 

next gen mobile chipset from Nvidia with 8gb will basically be able to pull off VR without the amp..

good to know