Current AGA ( 452-BBQN) for AW15 R2 or 17 R3?

Hi guys,

Apologies if this is a trivial question, but will the currently shipping AGA work with AW15 R2?

Dell UK here

http://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/acce...kdhs1&sku=452-BBQN&ref=gaming-page#polaris-pd

claim it's only for AW 15 R3... has anyone successfully used that with AW 15 R2 / 17 R3?

Many thanks in advance.

BTW Not impressed with the comment below product description - hopefully it's not that bad?

 

If your laptop has the AGA port on the back, then yes.

This review says it's compatible: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Alienware-15-R2-Notebook-Review.153808.0.html

As for the comment in the review...

My suggestion is do your research. There's some (limited) guidance on Dell/AW websites too around which models of GPUs are supported, how to get it to work, etc. There's also plenty of Youtube videos describing the performance haircut you can expect with an AGA and under which circumstances (eg video back to laptop vs external monitor).

That being said, the comment is from 2015 and initially Dell/AW were a bit shaky with limited GPU support and Nvidia drivers which had issues with the eGPU - but now that the driver package for laptop and desktop graphics cards are all in one, it shouldn't be an issue like it once was. Also make sure you pick a card which will fit (i.e. blower style/founders edition rather than custom cooler - unless someone has confirmed a specific model fits).

 

Thanks a lot - great tips. AW 15R2 def has the connector, I was just wondering whether the AGA itself really changed compared to the model which was shipping 1-2 years ago (such that it's incompatible with the previous gen laptops). Of course it's just Dell only bothering to refer to the current laptop models..

 

I am using it for 18 months and zeronissues with a 1070gtx. As far as i know only when the 10XX just released there where some driver issues.

 

There are some extremely minor revisions which aren't really described publicly anywhere... I ran into this when researching AGA but AFAIK no real difference to end user. This is more prevalent if you are looking on eBay/Craigslist/etc (even for 'brand new' ones).

If you do want to go Googling, here's at least two of the models, and I think there may be more :

https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&...323/page-106&usg=AOvVaw2jyOzozO3kun34kV4vTyIa

 

Thanks guys. Now the trick may be to pick a compatible card... Indeed Google and the galaxy thread to the rescue. Not seeing too many founders edition cards on Amazon for instance.

 

Yeah thats the hard part. the Asus and MSI cards are all too tall. All blower cooler versions work, some EVGA's based on the reference boards but with after market coolers too. The FTW editions are too tall though.

 

Thanks. Another thing is that for the more powerful cards people recommend modding the PSU and even the fan. For instance for 1080Ti a Corsair 750W and a Noctua 92mm fan came recommended. Any thoughts? No 1080Ti card actually requires 750W?

 

Nah 750 watt is way too much. Ah good 500 watt is more than sufficient. 300 for the GPU and 150 for the usb periphals. The fan that comes with it sounds like a vacuum cleaner though so thats why it would be nice to mod it.

The psu is good enough for any gpu out there but the quality isnt the best.