Review of the Alienware Graphics Amplifier

Laptop VS Desktop? Have both.

What is a "graphics amplifier"?

In essence an external GPU you can plug right into your system. Many companies have tried to release these onto the market, but sadly many haven't gotten past announcement phase.

Users either resort to painstakingly building custom external graphics cards with components purchased all over the web or simply tossing aside their laptop and building a $10000 gaming PC for their graphics power needs.

Both are acceptable, but Alienware and Razor (or any other company to announce one aain) give you another option: a mini-tower outfitted with a build-in PSU and cooling fan for your graphics power needs.

Easier and More Flexible

Wouldn't it be great to bring your laptop to work, coming back to your home office 2 hours later and gaming away as if it were that $10000 desktop? What a versatile workstation!

No stray red, black and yellow cables sticking out of a shoebox or melted GPUs.

Getting It to Work

Setting up the Graphics Amp is easier than a getting a benchmark crash due to a mishap with Afterburner. You open it, plug in your GPU to the PCI-E x16 slot, attach the power cables to the card, close it, plug it in and you're good to go!

Plus, it looks nice; a black, futuristic sideways tower with an illuminated Alienhead, you can of course change the color of in the AlienFX application.

You know that's the only reason we still go with Alienware over the punchier Origin PC.

Bring It Over to Your Desk

It's actually quite large weighing in at about 10 lbs, but would be a neat fit on most desks (provided you clean your space every now and then.)

Like any useful peripheral, the Graphics Amplifier is equipped with 4 USB 3.0 and HDMI ports with a DVI. Also the most important ports, A/C power and the proprietary Alienware Amplifier port.

You can hook up your monitor(s), mouse and keyboard - or gamepad if you're that kind of gamer.

Benchmark proof

Just how much of a difference does it make? I'm going by personal experience here. A lot. Running Rise of the Tomb Raider on Very High settings, I was able to get double the framerate on the GTX 960 vs the 960M laptop GPU.

In most cases (with the NVIDIA Maxwell 900-series or AMD R7 series and above) you get double to triple the framerate on your laptop depending on the game.

I'll throw in some benchmark charts courtesy of PC World:

The Verdict: Turn your R2 into an Area-51 (mostly)

Pros:

- Desktop GPU on a laptop!

- Future-proofing

- Works with most NVIDIA or AMD graphics cards with ease

- Simple set up

- Drastic performance increase

- Now $100 less than its launch price

Cons:

- Costs as much as an enthusiast GPU (US $199)

- No plug-and-play: laptop must be rebooted to operate or disconnect Amplifier

If you happen to be a hardcore desktop user with a substantial rig, you'll probably only be using your Alienware laptop for gaming on the go; and you won't see the worthiness of the Graphics Amplifier, what with your quadruple GPUs and liquid cooling.

Still, the Alienware Graphics Amplifier is imperative for any Alienware laptop user. You're gong to buy it eventually. Why not now? With it's simple set up and increased graphics performance with the plug-in of one simple cable.

If you have a graphics card laying around or want a capable desktop alternative, it's the peripheral of the year for you.