Mini Reviews of AMP, AW34" monitor, Keyboard and mouse

Hi all.

I shall start with the good bits:

Alienware 15r3. Latest updates and bios
Latest Nvidia drivers and graphic AMP Drivers
Benchmarks: (All with Gysnc off)

1080ti In Graphics AMP (EVGA Gaming 1080Ti standard blower card default everything)
Firestrike
https://www.3dmark.com/fs/14134198

Fire strike Extreme
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/14134281

TimeSpy
http://www.3dmark.com/spy/2729326

1070 Laptop
Firestrike
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/13835002

Firestrike extreme
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/13834929

Timespy
http://www.3dmark.com/spy/2522615

I will keep the reviews short and add some photos later on.

AMP
Good:
I get a little tray icon of a GPU appear after I installed the Nvidia driver it shows me both GPU's and how many displays are active on each GPU and what programs are running on what GPU.
Works perfectly for me.
Gsync Works fine although I can only run one display
Feels like having a desktop, which you unplug and your gone.
I only have two plugs as I connect everything to my AMP so Power and AMP its docked.
Gaming becomes incredible!

Bad:
It feels cheap, all plastic.
Opening it feels like your breaking it as it gets stuck on something then as you pull it snaps open.
The main fan is so DAMN LOUD!!!! I mean its ridiculous. Like server farm noisy!
The power supply has awful coil whine.
I have to take out my power cable to get to get to the buttons to take out the AMP cable

Quirks:
First setup is weird I suggest you download the latest AMP software first install then restart. Disable GSYNC if you had a laptop with it. Turn laptop off. Plug in AMP, turn back on. Then download Nvidia drivers for your card and install reboot and presto everything works.
To disconnect I always shut down remove cable then power back on.
F1 key which does work my system reboots and the AMP simply becomes a USB hub.
Device Manager shows I have 3 GPU's
My 1070 never actually fully shuts off it just idles pulling 8watts.

Gefore experience won't set my games up for the 1080ti. If you let it do your settings it will set the correct resolution for the external monitor. However all the graphical settings are for the 1070 inside my system.

Monitor
Good:
It is huge!!!!
34" is incredible
120hz is stable and simply one button to click.
the OSD is very easy to use.
once calibrated the colours are incredible.
The curve really does help gaming. It is noticeable in day to day use.
The screen is native 100hz. The panel is made by LG

Bad:
Stand weighs a tonne and makes the display sit to far forward even on my desk which is reasonably wide.
Out of the box it does need some calibration.
I get some bleeding in the corners but its not to bad
Contrast shift from left to right is minor but it is there
Contrast shift up and down is very very minor
IPS Glow is really noticeable on black scenes and it moves if you move your head. but again its IPS!
Plugging things in is really hard work due to the port angles.

Quirks:
The lighting on the back feels pointless As I can't see it and at night I just get a glow as it reflects on my wall.

Keyboard
Good:
Lighting is fantastic.
Really nice typing experience with good key travel says 45g force but it feels like more compared to my older K70 with cherry MX reds.
FN keys are the F keys
Huge volume rocker
Keys are cupped and centre your fingers.
Noticeable bump at actuation point. They are not clicky, however they make a noise when they bottom out.
Software is fantastic.
2 height options

Bad:
Keys feel a bit small compared to most I have used. I make a lot more mistakes due to this.
Says 45g force but it feels like more compared to my older K70 with cherry MX reds.

Quirks:
Can't force the F keys to always be Function keys, each reboot they revert. You can lock them as FN keys
for that session though. This is an issue with plugging it into the AMP into a laptop.
Lighting on the bottom edge is pointless as its under the keyboard.

Your probably thinking I am nuts buying everything from Alienware. I got some good deals so I am happy. I also like all my stuff to match its just one of those things.

 

Great, thanks for the reviews!

 

Okay I do need to add the monitor actually has some more issues I have found in testing today

Bottom left had corner has really noticeable back light bleed in fact you can see it in games.
The left side of the screen is notably brighter when displaying white, like on a web browser. The left side of the screen is actually more warm like a more Yellow colour.

 

Excuse the Set up we are doing up a house so its a bit compressed.





Back light issues:







with adjusted ISO settings to make it look worse:



With Shutter at 1/8 and ISO at 80
#

ISO 100:


Colour shift from left to right:

 

I have had a really good look at an article by GURU 3d and I have found some interesting thoughts:

Article: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_1080_ti_review,11.html

Time Spy scores
1080ti Combined scores
Guru 3d: 9502
ME:7991

Graphics Scores:
Guru 3d: 9521
Me: 9407

Graphics Test 1:
Guru 3D: 61.56
Me: 60.4

Graphics test 2:
Guru 3D: 54.98
Me: 54.66

As you can see the Graphics scores are minimal.

CPU
Guru 3D: 9402 / 31.59FPS
Me: 4314 / 14.49FPS

Massive difference but I have a 7700hq with stock clocks. Guru 3D used a 5960X with all 8 Cores at 4.3ghz.

I was playing BF1 today @3440*1440p Everything Set on Ultra with Gysnc on and I never dropped below 85FPS, most of the time I was nearer 95-100fps. 100FPS being the cap as I had the monitor set to 100hz

 

Yeah, that was guna be my point I'd say for that CPU a 1080Ti was overkill given it will be strangling the graphics card performance! Still, if you got the money then why not

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Nice seeing real word scores from an AMP'd 1080ti with a AW15. As previously mentioned by Pete, definitely exhibiting CPU bottleneck. Those graphics scores are pretty good. I was actually considering a 1080ti for my 6820HK AW15 with maybe a 4k gsync monitor, but when I ran the numbers it wasn't worth it for me.

I actually bought the AW15 thinking I was going to use the AMP too. Played a part in my decision making when going with AW. Then the further I read about it the less I was impressed with external graphics solutions. I mean compared to TB3, AW's proprietary connection does really well. Just not my cup of tea I guess.

Monitor looks amazing.

 

Yeah and note I can hit over 24k with most AW 17 R4 notebook GTX 1080s so not a lot in it to be honest

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What you got a link to your result?

Would help me put it into context

 

Seen my signature? Links are there

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That's a seriously impressive score! Overclocking does help a lot. Mine was all stock clocks. Granted my CPU doesn't help me and I do now wish I had a 7820HK. As you can see you do scoree 4000 points more than me on CPU. Advantage of overclocking.

Mine was all run on stock clocks both CPU and GPU. I could try and push mine a little harder and see what I get.

 

Why not always nice to know the limit of what it's capable of.

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