Alienware graphics Amplifier- budget cards

[Josiah Grace]

So a friend of mine had bought himself a alienware graphics amplifier and is looking for budget graphics card that are compatible and can run a up coming game sea of thieves on medium to high settings, Yet we're confused on what to buy, We can't seem to understand what cards are compatible exactly, we're looking for something around 200 -300 price range, We were looking up used good cards, But found that risky of course. So we ran out of ideas and came here for the brains on this confusing matter, If anyone can give lists of links to cards that are compatible and are pretty decent on budget and can run sea of thieves 1080p 60fps medium low graphics i'd appreciate all the help i can get. Thanks

Alienware graphics amplifier was bought on 8/3/2017 reg model z01g001


Laptop Alienware 13 r2

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6500U (Dual-Core, 4MB Cache, up to 3.1GHz w/ Turbo Boost)

8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz (4GBx2)

English Keyboard

NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 960M with 2GB GDDR5

Intel 8260 Wireless Driver
500GB 5400 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive + 8GB Embedded Flash Cache

Windows 10 Home (64bit) English

Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 8620 2x2 + Bluetooth 4.2

US Power Cord

Safety/Environment and Regulatory Guide (English/French)

Onsite/In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, 1 Year

13.3 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS Anti-Glare 220-nits Display
62 WHr, 4-Cell Battery
No Option Included
130 W A/C Adapter

 

[Corwin65]

Can you provide full system specs?

 

[Math Geek]

specifically the model of the gpu dock you bought. they are usually not able to fit full sized cards so need to be very clear what you are trying to fit where.

 

[Josiah Grace]

specifically the model of the gpu dock you bought. they are usually not able to fit full sized cards so need to be very clear what you are trying to fit where.

So all i know is that the alienware amplifier was bought 8/3/2017 was there a new model in 2018?

and here are the laptop specs if needed

Laptop Alienware 13 r2

8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz (4GBx2)

English Keyboard

NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 960M with 2GB GDDR5

Intel 8260 Wireless Driver
500GB 5400 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive + 8GB Embedded Flash Cache

Windows 10 Home (64bit) English

Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 8620 2x2 + Bluetooth 4.2

US Power Cord

Safety/Environment and Regulatory Guide (English/French)

Onsite/In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, 1 Year

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6500U (Dual-Core, 4MB Cache, up to 3.1GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
13.3 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS Anti-Glare 220-nits Display
62 WHr, 4-Cell Battery
No Option Included
130 W A/C Adapter

 

[Josiah Grace]

Can you provide full system specs?

So all i know is that the alienware amplifier was bought 8/3/2017 was there a new model?

and here are the laptop specs if needed

Laptop Alienware 13 r2

8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz (4GBx2)

English Keyboard

NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) GTX 960M with 2GB GDDR5

Intel 8260 Wireless Driver
500GB 5400 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive + 8GB Embedded Flash Cache

Windows 10 Home (64bit) English

Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 8620 2x2 + Bluetooth 4.2

US Power Cord

Safety/Environment and Regulatory Guide (English/French)

Onsite/In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis, 1 Year

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6500U (Dual-Core, 4MB Cache, up to 3.1GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
13.3 inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS Anti-Glare 220-nits Display
62 WHr, 4-Cell Battery
No Option Included
130 W A/C Adapter

 

[Josiah Grace]

specifically the model of the gpu dock you bought. they are usually not able to fit full sized cards so need to be very clear what you are trying to fit where.

reg model z01g001

 

[Math Geek]

looking at the manual and a few reviews of it, looks like most cards will easily fit. though i did not find anyone who did any measurements inside, pictures show that an average dual slot card should fit no problem. looks like only a few of those high end super sized cards would not fit.

looking at new cards from partpicker, it looks like the best you can do for the budget is roughly a 1050 ti or a 1060 3 gb depending on how close to $300 you wanna go.

best i can find at the moment is from evga directly. the 1050ti SC gaming is $240 and in stock for the moment https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-6253-KR

or the MSI 1050 ti Gaming x for $240 is a good card as well. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137054&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

edit: if you don't mind living on the edge a bit. newegg also has an open box and a refurb 1050 ti that's pretty cheap as well.

open box GB windforce $205 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125914R
refurb GB G1 Gaming for $228 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814932044 (these are great cards)

 

[Josiah Grace]

looking at the manual and a few reviews of it, looks like most cards will easily fit. though i did not find anyone who did any measurements inside, pictures show that an average dual slot card should fit no problem. looks like only a few of those high end super sized cards would not fit.

looking at new cards from partpicker, it looks like the best you can do for the budget is roughly a 1050 ti or a 1060 3 gb depending on how close to $300 you wanna go.

best i can find at the moment is from evga directly. the 1050ti SC gaming is $240 and in stock for the moment https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-6253-KR

or the MSI 1050 ti Gaming x for $240 is a good card as well. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137054&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

edit: if you don't mind living on the edge a bit. newegg also has an open box and a refurb 1050 ti that's pretty cheap as well.

open box GB windforce $205 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125914R
refurb GB G1 Gaming for $228 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814932044 (these are great cards)

So you think the 1050's or anything that has 50 in the name is fine? I was looking at the compatibility listing and i couldn't find the 1050's or anything 50's on the list

 

[Math Geek]

i did not see any compatibility listings. it's not a new product so it's possible they have not updated the list for newer gen cards.

can you link the list so i can check it out some?

edit: found this on dell's site https://blog.dell.com/en-us/a-high-performance-card-trick-new-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080/

talks about pairing a 1080 with the dock. so i'd say a 1050ti would be supported as well. can't get much more from the horse's mouth than dell's blog.

 

[Josiah Grace]

i did not see any compatibility listings. it's not a new product so it's possible they have not updated the list for newer gen cards.

can you link the list so i can check it out some?

edit: found this on dell's site https://blog.dell.com/en-us/a-high-performance-card-trick-new-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080/

talks about pairing a 1080 with the dock. so i'd say a 1050ti would be supported as well. can't get much more from the horse's mouth than dell's blog.

Here's that website i found gtx 1050 issue idk if u find that interesting or not

https://www.reddit.com/r/Alienware/comments/6tqdkf/1050_ti_on_the_amplifier/

 

[Josiah Grace]

specifically the model of the gpu dock you bought. they are usually not able to fit full sized cards so need to be very clear what you are trying to fit where.

Yeah a lot of graphics cards have heat sinks or things sticking out on top, so this the specific Alienware Graphics Amplifier has trouble with a lot of them like MSI and Asus cards, But Reference and Founders Edition full size cards will not have a issue.

 

[Math Geek]

from what i read seems like there was some issues early on that were taken care of with driver updates.

seems alienware puts out some drivers themselves to fix issues before they make it to the regular amd/nvidia update sites. that's what i read on a few reviews i saw. so i can't say for 100% certainty that the card will work, but i've seen enough to suggest to me that they should work. but be prepared to troubleshoot if need be.

you can of course see if you can find a used 900 series card to put in it if you wish. might still be able to find a refurb 970/80 in the wild. but you'll have to keep doing your homework to find those deals. a 980 is roughly the same as a 6 gb 1060 for reference. so it's not like it's a bad card to have. but considering this and how scarce the new gen carda are, prices are not much better for these older used cards either.

 

[Josiah Grace]

from what i read seems like there was some issues early on that were taken care of with driver updates.

seems alienware puts out some drivers themselves to fix issues before they make it to the regular amd/nvidia update sites. that's what i read on a few reviews i saw. so i can't say for 100% certainty that the card will work, but i've seen enough to suggest to me that they should work. but be prepared to troubleshoot if need be.

you can of course see if you can find a used 900 series card to put in it if you wish. might still be able to find a refurb 970/80 in the wild. but you'll have to keep doing your homework to find those deals. a 980 is roughly the same as a 6 gb 1060 for reference. so it's not like it's a bad card to have. but considering this and how scarce the new gen carda are, prices are not much better for these older used cards either.

So i'm probably gonna go with the one you mentioned the evga 1050 ti https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487291&cm_re=evga_6253-_-14-487-291-_-Product

 

[Math Geek]

a good solid card with a nice small footprint.

i think you'll be happy with it compared to the laptop's built in igp.