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

If you have an Alienware 13, 15 or 17 R2 (2015 and later release) that uses a Graphics Amplifier and you like benchmarks, you've come to the right place. Please use this thread to share your results, ask questions or have general discussion related to the benchmark performance of these machines when using the eGPU (Graphics Amplifier).

Whenever possible, include a screen shot and a hyperlink to the results if they are validated online (i.e. 3DMark Suite, 3DMark 11, 3DMark Vantage, etc.).

Any questions regarding the Graphics Amplifier, how to use it, tweak it, repair it, should also be presented in this thread. Those posting benchmarks here will be our resident experts on the subject and your best resource for the answers you are looking for.

If you would like to share your performance results using the integrated discrete graphics card, please post those results in the corresponding benchmark thread for your specific model.

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Update 01/13/2016

Added table below per @Game7a1 request:

The table has been approved.

Nvidia	AMD
GTX TITAN X	R9 Nano
GTX 980 ti	R9 390x
GTX 980	R9 390
GTX 970	R9 380x
GTX 960	R9 380
GTX TITAN Black	R9 370x
GTX TITAN	R9 370 (OEM)
GTX 780 ti	R7 370
GTX 780	R9 290x
GTX 770	R9 290
GTX 760 ti (OEM)	R9 285
GTX 760 192-bit (OEM)	R9 280x
GTX 750 ti	R9 280
GTX 750	R9 270x
GTX 690	R9 270
GTX 680	HD 8990 (OEM)
GTX 670	HD 8970 (OEM)
GTX 660 ti	HD 8950 (OEM)
GTX 660 1.5 GB / 3 GB (OEM)	HD 8870 (OEM)
GTX 660 (Non-OEM)	HD 8770 (OEM)
GTX 650 ti BOOST	HD 7990
GTX 650 ti	HD 7970
GTX 650	HD 7950
	HD 7870
	HD 7850
	HD 6990
	HD 5970

​

 

For anyone who has the graphics amp, I was wondering what the cable length is. I am surprised that I could not find a single thing online about the cable length. Thanks.

 

i would say about 1.5m, maybe 2m

 

The Graphics Amp Cable Length is 4 1/2 Feet.

 

According to this FAQ ( http://na.alienwarearena.com/forums/thread/83039/general-discussion/alienware-graphics-amplifier-faq ) most med/high end reference cards are supported, but it says nothing about non-reference cards such as ASUS Classified GTX 980 or GALAX HOF GTX 980. Are those cards of any other non-reference design supported?

 

I don't see why they wouldn't be provided the PSU can supply the power to run them. Even then, you might be able to mod in a new PSU to support some crazy stuff like a 295x2 or a titan-z.

 

I mean without modding, even with better PSU if those cards are not supposed software wise by alienware will likely have problems/not work. Also cards like titan z will not fit in the enclosure due to their extended lenght.

 

They will be supported, a non reference card is simply a fancy way of saying OCed

 

Er the factory overclock isn't all. What about custom cooler and PCB design and beefed up power circuitry, maybe even extra VRAM.

 

What about it? The custom cooler is no more than an extra fan, the voltage can be duplicated with a modded vBios, and the VRAM is just more VRAM...

 

The only reason I think the amplifier is cool is for this reason. Buy the cheapest card, sell it, drop in something much more powerful, enjoy. I can honestly see it being practical to buy a nice A15 or A17 and have a beefy amplifier and all your accessories hooked up at home. Set the lappy on a cooling pad and you're ready to go. Now if only my AW17 was compatible...

 

OC makes the card use more power then the PSU has and custom cooler is bigger then on reference so is less likely to fit

 

There's no point in buying a better OCer for your GA since the bandwidth is only x8 (or 4).

 

Yes, they will be supported.

Non-reference cards only differ from the reference design in three areas:

1) Most non-reference cards come with an out-of-the-box overclock
2) Most non-reference cards come with a custom cooler design, intended to give better cooling and/or reduce noise.
3) Some non-reference cards support different amounts of VRAM than the stock reference design, depending on the specific model of the card.

In all of those cases, the core GPU and video card ID in the vBIOS of the card are unmodified. As far as a computer is concerned, you're connecting a nVidia GTX 970 / 980, regardless of those non-reference modifications. This is why you can use a single universal driver from nVidia for any nVidia card. Hypothetically, if the non-reference cards identified as a "custom" card, then you would need to download specific drivers for Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, etc flavors of GTX 970 / 980.


Do keep in mind that when dealing with the external graphics amplifier:

1) Factory overclocks don't matter much, since you're going to be held back by the CPU and PCI connection bandwidth.
2) Reference designs use a blower fan. They are noisier, but exhaust heat out the back of the card. Custom coolers typically use an open-air fan design. They are quieter, but exhaust heat into the case (and rely on case cooling to exhaust the heat). I don't think the graphics amplifier has any case / enclosure exhaust, so you may want to double-check if people have had success using open-air fan designs in a graphics amplifier before buying one.
3) Power connections may differ, depending on the particular model of non-reference card. Be sure that whatever power supply you use can support the power connectors of the video card.

 

So long as the cooler fits in the box you should be good

 

Good Mornin,

Whelp the NEW alienware 15 arrived yesterday, well technically the day before but it was so early i wasnt their to sign. I had a project delivery of feb 23rd but dell guaranteed i would get it on the 6th of feb and it arrived at my door on the 20th of january lol

Ill start with the benchmarks and then move on to the review.

These are out of the box benchmarks, i have done nothing but install 3dmark and run it as such these numbers can easily go up.

With Graphics Amp w/ GTX980: 10,603 ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4710HQ,Alienware Alienware 15)
With Integrated GTX970m: 6,416 ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4710HQ,Alienware Alienware 15)
With Intel Graphics: 729


So will start witht he numbers are a little low. But most importantly it shows that my assumptions are correct about PCI-E lanes. Up until now dell said that the AMP only works on X4. I assumed that it was a limitation of the i5 wich only supported 2x4... With the i7 i suspected atleast i should be able to use 2x8 which we clearly are. The most even alienware could muster out of a 980 at 4 lanes was 6,500 at which point i say why bother. So at 8lanes we are slowing a little, but i suspect the processor and abysmally slow ram had a little more to do with the low score. But all that said its not that low, we are still outperforming the 980m and coming reasonably close to were we need to be.


Review:

Lets start with the screen since that is what struck me first. It is 4k at 60hz, which is good... its also suppose to be 350nits.. and im not quite sure its getting there. When i first turned it on it was very dim, to the point i thought the auto dimming was on... However as it warmed up it did get progressively better. I would classify the brightness as good, i also have my XPS15 which has an amazingly bright screen sadly this one isnt but still good. Color correctness and contrast were also very good. I dont suspect anybody will be dissapointed by the screen. The glass is not the gorilla used on the XPS though

Chasis is well very underwhelming... I set my expectations pretty high so this was a pretty big let down. I go back to the XPS15 which is milled aluminum and carbon fiber. Very Very nice high quality build, in the add it said for the new line they were doing the same for the alienwares. I have to call BS. The lid is plastic.. hell everything is... If their is carbon fiber its on a bracket hidden somewhere in the middle because it sure isnt anwhere on the outside. So when you expect milled aluminum and CF and you get this i was extremely let down. That said you may not care, if you were OK with Alienware laptop builds int he past, this isnt terrible but it is very cheap.

Continuing that thought lets talk about upgradability. They do not want you to service it at all. Yes you can get to the hard drive compartment, their are two screws on the bottom. BUT they use about 30 clips in addtion to the screws that go in every which direction, so no just pushing in on them with something thin from the sides. It takes a bit of luck and strategic bowing and pulling gently to get it to pop off without breaking any of the clips... and getting it back on isnt much easier. You cannot get to the video card. It requires dismantling the front and back plates with he wrist wrest.. you essentially need to take the whole thing apart... and i am certain that is by design... crafty evil little buggers.

Additional upgradability:
There is some good news, their is an additional NGFF slot for a second NGFF drive beyond the one offered on the config page. Their is also a standard sata port used for the 1TB mechanical drive. I replaced the mechanical with a spare ssd(sata) that i had lying around and it works great. Since i do not have a second NGFF lying around i cant test raiding the two drives. Alienware is using Samsung NGFF drive.


The Amp... ow the amp.

This thing is a bit of a pain. Out of the box it does not work... Or it doesnt work for gaming i should say. Connecting it to the laptop does turn off the internal graphics and it does show as connected through the alienware app but everything runs off the intel graphics. Reinstalling the drives finally got the 980 to even show up... but i still couldnt get it to be used by anything. I found out the real test here is to just use the geforce experience app. But it is the only thing that will tell you that the amp is being used for games. See the problem is you connect the amp and everything is just suppose to happen behind the scenes. But nowhere does it say what graphics is being used or an option to switch it so basically you have to start a game or benchmark and see if it only runs at a few frames per second due to integrated. But i found the easiest way is to use the geforce experience and use the games tab and it should give you the appropriate settings, but if the intel is being used it will tell you it is incompatable... even though it says you have a 980 graphics card it still says no lol... Ultimatly after messing with it for a while, completely uninstalling the drives restarting and reinstalling the MOBILE drives did the trick... ofcourse this is were i ran out of time so will see if it still works when i start it up today.

But it does the trick, i was able to game in my recliner at 4k all settings maxed out with a laptop that stayed cool.

The noise... the amp is not quiet... seriously i might change out the fan... its not the graphics card, they use one 80mm fan that sounds like a turbine at the front of the amp.

The cable... I have my doubts about the cables longevity. If you are using it at a desk... no problem... but it just sorta clips in and all that weight hangs on it. one accidental pull and i think my graphics port on the laptop may become unusable. Having actual screw in posts like they used to use for dsub and dvi would have been a much better choice. frankly it all feels flimsy :?


Anywho thoughts questions give me a shout.

 

This is exactly it.

 

Here is the worst case for PCI-E scaling on the 980:

GeForce GTX 980 PCI-Express Scaling | techPowerUp

 

so are u happy with the 4k and hows the scaling in windows and do you regret not going 980m

 

Disappointing to hear about the chassis.

I too assumed it would be carbon fibre and metal.

 

Scaling is actually fine, ofcourse im runnning games at 4k... some of the older ones have issues without you first chainging the desktop resolution for 1080.. and no im happy i went with the 970... with the configuration i went with it ended up about the same i was out the door at 2K... add 500 for the 980... so for 2500 i have 4k touch screen a 970 16gb ram and a graphics amp with a gtx 980... not bad

 

Yah i was pretty upset about it, im sure theres fine print somewhere.. but i call it false advertising myself

 

What brand is the SATA SSD you used? Crucial?

 

I used INTEL drives since i have a ton of 160's just lying around... they are plenty fast

 

No surprise that the driver issue persists here, as with the Alienware 13 + GA. Who knows when nvidia will or even if they release a driver fix.

Your 3dmark scores seem correct. A desktop with i7 3770k & a non-OC gtx 980 get about ~11500 score / 13500 gpu score. I would expect the 4710HQ to yield noticeable less performance to a desktop i7. So the 4x pci-e isn't bottlenecking 3dmark performance, but on other games it may.

 

So murlocsofanarchy... where did you get the driver from? The retail driver from NVidia's website says it can't find compatible hardware with my 15's 970m. Sure enough, checked there INF files and can't find the ID referenced but I don't really feel like spending a lot of time messing with it right now as Dell hasn't even published a driver yet. I have already had to use a System Restore Point to get it back once and don't really want to do it again.

 

What specific Samsung SSD model does the Alienware 15 come with?? Also does the m2 slots support PCI?

 

Man, that GTX 980 desktop GPU Fire Strike score using the eGPU is pretty disappointing. It's about what one can expect with a GTX 980 M backed by a good CPU without having to be tethered to a desk.

That wimpy CPU really messes things up. This similar score was with significant GPU throttling taking place... http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3711027

 

murlocsofanarchy can you post a few photos of the bottom of the laptop without the cover on? I'd like to know if you can tell if the Gpu gtx970m is soldered/embed into the motherboard. I'd love to know whats upgradeable.

 

That we already know : CPU and GPU are soldered (you can look at the service manual to find out)

And just for some of you who are skeptical about carbon fiber in use ? Carbon fibre doesn't mean you'll see it. I guess its carbon fiber composites in use (in simple terms : carbon fiber reinforced plastics). So basically, it looks like plastics, but it is way more solid, and durable...and also lighter...
I may be wrong though....

 

The photo you are looking for requires disassembling the entire laptop. There is only the small area around the hard drives that is accessible. The rest of the bottom plate requires removing the top plate with the wriest wrests... You litterally have to strip it down to just the MB.

 

Yah i get its most likely CF composite... even still it would be the cheapest possible option. And metal is just not their at all... Look at the XPS15
... they know how to do this the right way its just a shame they instead chose to use CF as a marketing plot without any payoff...

 

Very true, but i suspect alot of driver issues are at play here. That said i am able to play BF4 maxxed out at 4k... so i guess i can wait while they work out the kinks

 

Go to the nvidia website and download the latest mobile drivers... and install doing a clean install with the GA attached... It will start using the GA... but it is still super glitchy after you shutdown as to weather it works again... After restarting without GA... if i want GA to work again i have to reinstall again everytime... annoying but it works for now.. Alienware says its Nvidia's problem...

After going over any and all forums extensivly.. nobody and i mean nobody has this working correctly when switching between GA and integrated GTX. Right now you can have one or the other... its frustrating... but clearly a driver issue.... its a shame AMD managed to figure it out so much quicker than Nvidia.

 

thats why i am holding back on the GA, i just dont want a massive paperweight or having to go through a 30 minute process of re installing before playing a game.

 

Damn... that kinda sucks. I did try the "hacked INF file" method as well but ended up with a completely black screen (sigh). Guess it's either "park it at my desk" or "wait until Dell/NVidia come out with a driver" deal.

Unfortunately I do already have the GA and a GTX980 that's going to waste. Still, the 970m is still a damned good performer... better than my old gaming machine anyway so I've got that going for me. Which is nice.

I do sometimes dislike being on the bleeding edge, but this time I'll let it go so long as there's some hope on the horizon. So far I'm well impressed with the 15, just not the GA part yet.

 

do you have the 4k screen?

 

I think for my GA. I'll order an amd card!

 

I think the support so far in terms of drivers is better from AMD. Also can you just purchase any card of the market or is there any specifications?

 

yes you can buy any card on the market. see this, http://na.alienwarearena.com/forums/thread/83039/hardware-software/alienware-graphics-amplifier-faq

 

Well guys its going to have to go back to Alienware. Ive had it less than two days and the speakers have already started dying... the cooling fan is out of balance and sounds like a turbine... and after another day of trying to get GA to work correctly... im over it. I did get confirmation that dell is now saying its just plain nvidias problem and we should just wait. I believe you shouldnt sell it as a finished product if it clearly isnt. Its nice to run BF4 in 4k on the laptop, but its all so buggy... even when it does work every once in a while it just craps out... So i have hardware issues with the laptop and software issues with the GA... im just over it

 

AMD currently has a whole different driver set just for people with GA

 

I think I have the same fan problem. Is yours fine at low RPM and then it starts vibrating as the RPMs increase?

 

quite nervous of my order now hearing a number of RMAs in this forum

has anyone's AW 15 been behaving recently? ie no need to RMA?

 

Me too! That's no good

 

Mine's perfect. No problems at all that I didn't cause myself (trying to get the GA to work... I've decided just to wait to get that working even as disappointing as that's been). It's quiet, fast and works like a champ.

The surface is a bit annoying as it shows up every spot of grease from your hands, but it's easily cleaned. It's a heavy laptop but not horribly so... heavier than my Macbook Pro was, but still a manageable amount of weight.

There are some things I wish were better; the GA has been a huge disappointment, but the 970m is a damned fine performer for most games. So far I've also not seen any problems with throttling due to the CPU... should be interesting when the GA is working and I can use my GTX 980. It doesn't run horribly hot either... a bit warm at the top of the keyboard when under load, but definitely not obnoxious. The keyboard is fantastic and the trackpad is better than I expected from a Windows machine. The screen is just brilliant; very clear and true colour (1080p screen). I do also wish I could do some cool stuff with AlienFX like have the hard drive light flash a different colour depending on the drive being accessed... but that's just me being picky

 

You should add that to the specs on Alienware's website.

 

happy to hear that! cant wait for my AW to arrive - 2/10

 

Just ordered mine today I just purchased 256gb samsung 850 pro was wondering if I could setup raid 0 in this will it fit 2 full sized ssd's or will one have to be msata. If msata is the port easy to get to?

 

The Alienware 15 has one 2.5 inch SATA slot and two M.2 2280 slots.