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

Good call on the fan! The 2 predominant GPU cooling methods have VERY DIFFERENT airflow needs. The traditional blower style with rear exhaust will favor the front fan blowing air into the case to feed that blower. The open air design pushes air down onto the card and it then exhausts out into the space around the GPU. As such, with the original case fan direction you are actually trapping that hot air in and around the card rather than providing the needed exhaust to remove it from the case.

 

Hey everyone,

Something happened to my AGA w/ 1080ti and I don't know what's wrong. It's suddenly performing slower than my onboard 1080 with my 17R4. I've tried a fresh partition with a fresh install and I get the same results: Over 140fps in Rocket League using the onboard 1080 and UNDER 100fps up to a max of about 110fps when using the 1080ti. Up until recently the AGA w/ 1080ti out performed the 1080 by far (as it should).

Any ideas?

 

Check GPU-Z and make sure the AGA installed card is being recognized properly - may be something as simple as a driver issue. Sometimes I need to reboot my laptop an additional time for the AGA to register properly also.

 

Hey Zerpy. . What's your card model? Any Aga mods? Any overclocking history? External monitor? USB devices attached to the Aga? GPU temps?

 

Has anyone gotten their AGA to work properly with Windows Mixed Reality?

Mine with a gtx 1080 ti FE works fine for ~15 minutes then I start to get a few white flashes through my Dell MR headset. A few more minutes and they black out. My 17 R4 laptop monitor continues to work fine (no flashes).

Fortunately when I disconnect the AGA and go back to my internal gtx 1060 everything works fine again.

I have been working with Dell Support for almost 2 weeks now, but so far no solution. Thanks.

 

Hmm maybe the Intel GPU drivers have something to do with it. I noticed that various intel GPU drivers affect AGA performance, there is some sort of memory leak which makes for example the windows interface sluggish. Even though you use the AGA, it is still being affected by Intel GPU drivers. Try it with the Intel GPU disabled when using the AGA and VR headset.

 

I already have my Nvidia control panel set to default to the Nvidia. Are you suggesting I go into device manager and disable the integrated intel display? Thanks

 

Yes, even when you rmonitor is not connected to the laptop itself (in your case VR setup) it still interferes.

 

Have you have needed to disable the integrated graphics in order for your AGA to work properly?

With non-vr use mine w/ 1080ti works fine and gives very good furmark scores. The only issue I am having is when I use run Windows Mixed Reality with my Dell MR headset. I runs this perfectly, with higher framerates than my internal 1060, but runs out of puff (white flashes, then blank) after ~15 minutes.

I really do not know what would cause this. If it were a driver or some igpu conflict, I would think that this would show up a lot earlier and also affect non-vr use. The only other thing I can think of is that the AGA power supply may not be supplying enough clean power. I may swap the stock psu for a better, higher rated one and see if this helps.

Thanks for the advice but I think I'd rather hear from someone who has actually used the AGA with Windows Mixed Reality and a MR headset. Thanks again though.

 

Just i now from experience tbat the AGA has issues with multi monitor setups which are caused by intel gpu drivers (various versions, older ones dont have this).

Your VR headset is basically an extra monitor so yeah those issues might affect you. It doesnt hurt to test it right? You can always enable it afterwards again if it doesnt help. And yeah i encountered those issues with certain drivers.

I doubt there are many users with mixed reality headsets to begin with.