Radeon RX 6900 XT incompatibility with new m15 R4 released a month ago

[wildonrio]

Hello! First of all, thank you so much for creating this. In anticipation of using your software, I bought a $4500 m15 R4 with specs maxed out and the best AMD card available. I was very sad to learn that it does not yet work with a 6900 XT, but I am hopeful you are willing to work with me until it does. I have 21 days left to take back this computer.

The main issue seems to be that the new m15's do NOT allow you to install the Graphics Amplifier software. "This installation package is not compatible with this computer" is the error message I get when trying to install the latest version (3.0.13.0). After calling Dell support, I found out that the latest laptops have the drivers for the AGA built in so they no longer allow you to install the software manually. This means that there is no way to have anything installed under C:\Program Files\Alienware\Graphics Amplifier\GraphicsAmplifier.exe. Instead, the driver files appear to be located under C:\Program Files\Alienware\Alienware Command Center. The relevant files appear to be:

AWCC.GraphicsAmplifier.AgentPlugin.dll GraphicsAmplifier.Domain.dll GraphicsAmplifierServiceController.exe

I tested with a 980 Ti and sure enough the AGA works just fine with that card, but does not recognize the 6900 XT. When I run OpenCaldera.exe, this is the error message I get:

Unhandled Exception: System.TypeLoadException: Could not load type 'AlienLabs.GraphicsAmplifier.Domain.GraphicsAmplifierBIOSProvider' from assembly 'GraphicsAmplifier.Domain, Version=1.6.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=bebb3c8816410241'. at OpenCaldera.Program.ReadAGABIOSProperties() at OpenCaldera.Program.Main(String[] args)

Given that your software appears to require the AGA software to be installed, and that that is impossible with the new laptops, my suspicion is that your software will not work with even the RTX 3000 cards.

Please let me know what I can do to help. I am happy to have a phone call if needed. Thanks again.

[Shidell]

@ThoKris Is the second screenshot of a connection to your 6900 XT in the TB3 enclosure or in your AGA?

For reference, my 6900 XT in the AGA is being reported as "Resizable BAR: Enabled":

[Shidell]

@rjensen26 Did you get things working?

[rjensen26]

@Shidell , Yes I did end up getting it working after re-doing the regedit I ended up doing the wrong folder. I did a time spy test ended up around 17253 graphics score.

[Shidell]

@rjensen26 Glad to hear it! 👍

[ThoKris]

@Shidell i am running Windows 11 since 2 days with a working AGA and RX 6900 XT. I am already using the HackFlag entry in my registry.

[Shidell]

@ThoKris Thanks for the report; I too am running Windows 11, and after re-enabling the HackFlags (200) setting, am working fine as well.

[StevenLyo]

Hello guys, first sorry for my poor English. And thanks for the help from Shidell and ThoKris, I've tried to use the method and succeeded in dealing with the issue on my M17R4. But there's a question: As expected the question is in BIOS and PCIE resource management. How to solve this problem completely on other OS? For example Monterey or Linux :)

[Shidell]

@StevenLyo As far as I understand, the HackFlags settings are only necessary on Windows. I believe other OSes (Linux/Unix-based) work fine without issue, but no-one running *nix has confirmed.

[Mihail5412]

Hi! Just want to say BIG THANK YOU @Shidell and all of you in this thread, my Alienware m17 R3 (2020) runs great with MSI RX 6900 XT Gaming Z Trio even though I had to replace Dell power supply with Corsair TX 650M.

Can someone tell me if there is a way to get this card to work on my laptop display (I have an RTX 2070 Super graphics card, and it seems to be linked directly to my display), if so, what performance loss should I expect? I have a TV, but it's in another part of the house and I constantly have to go to it, plug in my laptop and reboot every time I want to play a game.

[Shidell]

@Mihail5412 You're welcome, I'm glad it's working for you! :)

If you plug-in the AGA with a GPU, without connecting a monitor to the AGA, it should route video back to the laptop. I don't know exact figures for performance loss this way; I'd expect it's variable, depending on how much bandwidth is being used by any given game—but 10-20% is probably a good rough estimate.

[Mihail5412]

@Shidell Thanks for the reply, but for some reason I can not run an external graphics card on the laptop monitor, it always runs RTX 2070 Super. I'm thinking about buying VR, but not sure if it's the external card that will work when running games in VR, maybe you know something about that?

[Shidell]

@Mihail5412 Yeah, it could be that the 2070S is directly connected to the internal display, so there's no way to provide display without it; e.g. even if you can tell Windows to use a different GPU for rendering, it still has to copy the framebuffer to the 2070S, so the 2070S can actually display it onto the screen.

It could also be that it simply isn't able to render from another GPU and copy it to the 2070S for display; I don't know enough on the subject to say with any certainty, just some ideas that would explain what you're seeing.

[Mihail5412]

anyway, thanks for this project and for your help! I will buy another card - RTX 3090Ti and see how it will work in the AGA, in theory, there should be no problems

[Mihail5412]

@Shidell Miracle happened, I ran the MSI RTX 3090Ti on my Alienware 17 R3

I should clarify that because the card is huge, its bottom metal leg does not fit in the case, and I had to bend it with pliers.

Also it's worth mentioning that I took a Corsair TX650M power supply for RX 6900 XT and there is no 12VHPWR cable which is able to connect to 16pin connector on graphics card, but I bought CORSAIR 12VHPWR PCI-E black adapter which has 2xType4 connectors to power supply and back end with 16pin connector. When I connected all the cables the graphics card didn't start, I thought maybe I should run OpenCaldera.exe and it would work, but the program gave me the error code which is in the first post in this thread. When I turn on my laptop, I could clearly hear the power supply turn on, but the card was not lit and gave no signs of life, I thought maybe the card is defective or the chip in the AGA simply can not see it, becouse that the card is not powered, so I thought about buying another power supply with 12VHPWR out of the box. I was in a tilt and went to YouTube to watch meme videos to calm down, but after an HOUR the card suddenly turned on! For me it was some kind of miracle, I can not explain it any logic. After it turned on, I immediately found it in Device Manager as a driverless device, after installing the driver through GeForce Experience I was happy because I saw it:

P.S. here are my results in blender benchmark: https://opendata.blender.org/benchmarks/0921d973-45b6-48d1-9c3f-d4764c9bd019/

[Shidell]

@Mihail5412 I can't explain why your GPU wasn't working initially, but then seemed to—but I'm glad it did, and happy that it's working as expected for you now. :)