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

Nice, hope you don't have any driver issues with it. Thanks for the information, yea I dont think there needs to be any concern about the cpu bottleneck but I just want to be sure.. This laptop replaced my aged gaming machine earlier this year... I am used to upgrading the parts whenever they get old but I wanted something I could travel with, take less place etc which is why I ended up buying one... I have considered buying a new laptop next year, but ideally I would like to make this one last at least 2 years, preferable 3 before the next upgrade... If a nice video card + GA can supply me with enough power then ill be content...

 

lol "hope" not to have driver issues....

the newest nvidia drivers are the same for everyone so you will not be any different, only solution is that you order the alienware with amd card and put nvidia in amp, or nvidia in laptop and amd in amp, or old dell nvidia drivers.

What i dont like is that even though i am running nvidia card in amp i am still counted as an optimus solution so I have no DSR etc, i dont understand why and i think we should have the option to completely disable intel and discrete gpu in order to get full fledged desktop driver support, dont care if i cant use internal screen.

 

I don't have all my stuff yet (everything is on its way though) but I have read around that some people don't have the driver issues and there stuff switches back and forth fine using nvidia mobile gpu and nvidia GA gpu with latest drivers.... so yea I "hope" LOL. I can't imagine that Alienware/Nvidia won't get the issues sorted at some point if problems are still present. Is it possible there have been changes in the new laptops/R51's that could help with the GA problems?

 

Doubtful if they use the same GA software. If they don't, it may be possible for us to use such software on our older revisions.

 

Dell has told me direct internal nvidia with external nvidia will bsod with any driver past 353.54 so if some owners say otherwise we need to investigate it before believing, and if true we should be able to find the difference

 

does the amplifier support hot-swapping the pcie connector? Also what happens on power outage?

 

No. It functions like any other desktop GPU. You shouldn't disconnect it while it's running.

You can disconnect the GA itself, but not remove the PCIe Card while it's in use.

 

if your using a screen connected to GA and you unplug without shutting down first laptop will just sit there with a blank screen and needs to be powered off, power outage to ga is the same effect.

theres no way getting around shutting down for disconnect or on reconnect.

But.. the newer alienware laptops come with thunderbolt 3, and msi is bringing into the market a thunderbolt 3 eGPU dock which i am told is plug and play and hotswap support, sooooo the alienware amp may not be the best solution down the track.

 

I'm guessing Alienware will redesign GA as time goes like anything else. I like where the laptop gaming is headed though as the external graphic solutions is what made me decide to go the laptop route over a gaming desktop.

 

i totally agree, i rarely game when im on the road, and if i did mid range gpu is fine,

I doubt that software will change egpu functionality (other than fixing bsod's) i believe this will definitely need a whole hardware design overhaul for it to fight against thunderbolt 3 solutions

 

The Alienware has thunderbolt 3, but does it support pcie mode? do all thunderbolt 3 ports support pcie mode?

 

Pretty sure they do, but time will tell

 

well... something is different... :-D

 

Now that's a cool idea.

 

Ok guide and more photos requested, looks like a great job

 

hehe... thanks. I'm afraid I can't give you all the details because you guys would think I'm completely mad and it really wasn't easy to put all that stuff in the AGA.

Following stuff is installed:
bequiet 630W PSU,
EVGA 980ti SC+ equipped with an EK waterblock,
Magicool pump and reservoir,
Lian Li fan controller
2x 120mm bequiet silent wings fans,
240mm Alphacool radiator.

I'll take more photos tomorrow and load them up.
So far I'm more than satisfied with the modification. It is absolutely silent, the GPU temperature had it's peak at 43 degrees while benchmarking @1500MHz (also overvolted). So far it is absolutely stable, so tomorrow I'm going to push it a little further. While playing it reaches approx. 40 - 41 degrees.

 

holy crap, i just ordered my 980ti, i need some photos, this is amazing..

I will be quiet now

 

have you done much benchmarking?

I'd worry about diminishing returns on the GPU overclock, what with the PCIe bandwidth issue.
I'd like to know how the overclock affects framerate.

This is totally the sort of thing i'd do, so don't consider yourself crazy. Watercooling is it's own reward.

 

I can confirm that overclocking yields same results as in desktop 16x. I get 15500 gpu score with my 980 with a conservative overclock and my overclock puts me more ahead the higher the resolution so that score is at 1080p which yields the worst results

 

I would like to know about maintenance requirements and how future proof it is if new cards come out

 

I would expect it is like any other WC setup in that regard. New card will likely require a new GPU block. Switching them over can be a *****, but you expect that when you get into the WC game.

 

my problem is the most watercooling i have ever done is a h110i install on a desktop, and thats nothing compared to this, i will do my homework on maintenance, but yeah probably an issue if there's a card swap needed

 

Yeah, it absolutely isn't easy or convenient. If you're doing it for the direct benefits, it's not worth it. Watercooling is the height of 'doing crazy stuff for little return'.
It's about the fun of the task iteself.
Swapping the GPU would require you to complete drain the loop (not especially easy in itself, lots of jiggling) disconnect the hoses, remove the block, install a new one, reconnect the hoses, then go through an 8 hour fill/purge cycle to cleanse air bubbles.
I've done water cooling before, but i'm not sure I ever really want to go back.

 

wow sounds annoying, maybe a better solution is to get the card with its own factory installed closed loop water cooling like the evga hybrid 980ti or the fury x

 

If you want just performance, yeah.
Like i say though, water cooling is about more than that. It can be super fun just designing and building a loop. regardless of the returns.

 

That water cooled setup is nicely done, looks great!

I just hooked up my GA with a 980ti and ran firestrike 1.1 with stock clocks on card, everything look normal to you guys? This is on a 17r3
14405
Graphics score 17130
Physics score 12548
Combined 7304

 

what's the specification of your setup?

 

6820hk with a 980ti at stock clocks, ran firestrike 1.1 at default settings and 1920x1080, Score looks normal to me based on what I see but this is my first go at a laptop setup and then running the GPU externally so was just curious if my numbers were in the ballpark or if something looks out of place.

 

Looks very similar to the graphics score I was getting in my 980 ti on my desktop. More so than I expected.

 

Sounds good, Thanks. And yea it doesn't seem to be loosing much running in the AMP best I can tell from looking at other "normal" setups.

 

So just shutdown the PC and unplugged the GA to test the switching and its a no go. I have 355.82 installed and once I rebooted the internal 980m doesn't show and its running on the intel gpu. I shutdown again and reconnected the GA and powered up, now the 980ti in the GA shows up and works as it should.
My question is this, being I pretty much only game on my external monitor and with the GA hooked up and pretty much just do normal web surfing etc with the PC when the amp isnt hooked up do I even need to worry about this until Alienware/nvidia gets it sorted? I guess what I'm getting at is the igpu is fine for me when I'm not gaming so for now if it works in this fashion I assume it isn't a big deal for "me".and my needs.

 

Sounds like you don't need to worry about it. It's not going to have any negative impact other than the dGPU not working. Though you may be annoyed if you do need it at some point.

Out of curiosity, what made you buy the alienware if you have no intention of using the GPU? Seems like something like an MSI GS30 would make more sense?

 

I can't see any bandwith limitation when you push the signal to an external display. I reached 27330 graphic score on 3dmark11 Performance yesterday. I also tried pushing the signal back to the internal screen ans the Overall score was 10-12% lower. So in this case there definately is some limitation.

 

I considered the Gs30 but its so small and thin I thought it may be more apt to have heat issues, Also there will be times when I take it with me and that internal 980m will come in handy and hopefully this switching stuff is doing what its supposed to do by then.

 

Oh ok.

 

Ok, so here are some more photos of the GA. As you can see, the EK Waterblock with 90 degree fittings fit perfectly, which was the most critical point for the modification. If there wouldn't have been enough room, I would have had to cut out large pieces of one side of the amp which would have caused a lot of instability for installing the radiator and the fans to the top. Luckily everything worked fine. For the PSU some modifications were necessary as it is a bit longer than the stock PSU.
In the next few weeks I'll add an fan grill on top and I'll try to shorten some of the cables inside. I still would have an 92mm silent wings II fan for the case, but until now I don't think it is necessary to install it. The whole GA stays pretty cool, compared to the air cooling, so I guess I'll return it.
The loudest part of the whole amp is the PSU now... but compared to before it is virtually silent (around 17dB). I'd say it is the same noise level as the AW15 in idle mode. The best part is, that it keeps the same noise level under full load, so I'm very very satisfied with the result.
As most of you compare firestrike scores, I also did a run (GPU and CPU overclocked) : Score

Ok, I don't want to spam this thread any more, so if you have any questions, please write a PM.

 

Wow... 358.50 works flawlessly!!
No more BSODs - perfect switching between the 980m and the 980ti - even pushing the 980ti signal back to the internal screen works.
holy crap, that's almost too good to be true!!

 

Wait, including no frame drop when using the internal screen?

 

Wait a minute, I'll try with exactly the same settings:

980ti to external screen: Score
980ti to internal screen: Score

 

This is amazing news.

 

980ti to internal screen: Score

So the difference is 9,5 percent with exactly the same settings. Not too much of limitation for my understandings.

 

Damn, less fantastic.

Still not terrible though. I thought the performance impact was larger previously? Like somewhere in the region of 20 percent?

 

No, I tried it a few months ago as well, and at that time I had between 10-12 percent difference. Don't ask me why it is now a little bit better.

 

not far off that now, so probably minor driver improvement.

Hey, at least the switching works though. I really didn't want to buy an AMD card.

 

The only interesting AMD card wouldn't fit in the GA, from what I learned while modifying as the water hoses are lead sideways off the card.

 

I can confirm that 358.50 is working great for me as well switching between 980m and 980ti in the GA.

 

Well, WTH?

Switching still leads me to a BSOD when pulling off the AGA and rebooting.

I used DDU when going from 355.82 to 358.50.

Any ideas?

 

no need to worry about bandwith limitation
i read on nvidia forums even 980ti paired with desktop still not fully utilize x8 lanes
still need alienware to release an adapter? because i want to full utilize my whole machine.
i dont really like fact that x4 lanes still being idle, make aga x8 or utilize it for cpu-based computing.

 

Question for Windows 10 users. Have you used ShutUp10 (thread goes into detail of what it is)? Just to prevent the automatic graphics drivers updates.

 

I've just had a thought. Could Alien ware potentially release a model with one of these new 980 desktop cards in it, and then allow the GA to have a 980 installed so that both can work in SLI?

I would pay obscene money for that functionality.