DIY eGPU experiences

apac had a pretty good tutorial, but I believe it can change for every computer.

But apac described it as:
1. Computer off, connect and power on card
2. Power on computer, let vga drivers install.
3. Restart computer, install card firmware (Check to see if there is modded firmware for your card that you should install)
4. Restart, check for errors. If you have errors, then there is endless possibilities.
5. For me, I install the 1.x and chainload.

Note: I haven't gotten it to work yet, but I'm almost there. I had the computer recognize the monitors that were attached to the graphics card, but it wouldn't output to them. Gotta retry some stuff.

Good Luck!

 

I've been reading around and looking at people's builds, and it seems like one of the most popular card is the GTX460.

When I impulse bought my setup (I'll admit, I was a little on the drunk side) I didn't really research the graphics card all too well and bought a GTX465. As I understand, this is not nearly as good as the 460 (from what the 'GTX460 vs GTX465' google search tells me.

But my worry is that as each failed attempt at setting up my card, I get a little more nervous that this card won't work with the eGPU stuff.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

what are the specs/name of your psu and notebook and what adapter you using?

 

PSU: (Probably a little over the top, but I wanted to leave my options open so I could build a computer off this later on)
COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RS600-PCARE3-US 600W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply.

Notebook: Lenovo E420 i5 4gb RAM

Adapter: PE4H

 

If you do a build up guide, i've love to post it in my blog. Let me know if you do decide to, PM me or something.

 

Will do! Once I get everything running I'll do it.

 

nando4

Re: Yuuma's internal screen point in their google doc

'Couldn’t get the output of the external graphic card on the internal screen. Means Optimus is somehow only partially working?!'

What could have caused this? How would one rectify it?

thanks

 

I got my E6520 today and unfortunately it requires compaction. The bad part about that is that compaction causes the system to hang, even with a devcon.txt. If I select "compact all devices", the system hangs immediately. If I say to just compact the GPU, windows hangs on startup.

Below is my devcon file:

Spoiler

ACPI\PNP0000\4&18351974&0
Name: Programmable interrupt controller
Device has the following resources reserved:
IO : 0020-0021
IO : 0024-0025
IO : 0028-0029
IO : 002c-002d
IO : 0030-0031
IO : 0034-0035
IO : 0038-0039
IO : 003c-003d
IO : 00a0-00a1
IO : 00a4-00a5
IO : 00a8-00a9
IO : 00ac-00ad
IO : 00b0-00b1
IO : 00b4-00b5
IO : 00b8-00b9
IO : 00bc-00bd
IO : 04d0-04d1
ACPI\PNP0100\4&18351974&0
Name: System timer
Device has the following resources reserved:
IO : 0040-0043
IO : 0050-0053
IRQ : 0
ACPI\PNP0103\4&18351974&0
Name: High precision event timer
Device has the following resources reserved:
MEM : fed00000-fed003ff
ACPI\PNP0200\4&18351974&0
Name: Direct memory access controller
Device has the following resources reserved:
IO : 0000-001f
IO : 0081-0091
IO : 0093-009f
IO : 00c0-00df
DMA : 4
ACPI\PNP0303\4&18351974&0
Name: Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Device is currently using the following resources:
IO : 0060-0060
IO : 0064-0064
IRQ : 1
ACPI\PNP0401\5
Name: ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
Device is currently using the following resources:
IO : 0378-037b
ACPI\PNP0A08\0
Name: PCI bus
Device is currently using the following resources:
MEM : 000a0000-000bffff
MEM : cfa00000-feafffff
MEM : fed40000-fed44fff
IO : 0000-0cf7
IO : 0d00-ffff
ACPI\PNP0B00\4&18351974&0
Name: System CMOS/real time clock
Device is currently using the following resources:
IO : 0070-0077
IRQ : 8
ACPI\PNP0C01\2
Name: System board
Device has the following resources reserved:
MEM : 20000000-201fffff
MEM : 40000000-401fffff
ACPI\PNP0C02\1
Name: Motherboard resources
Device has the following resources reserved:
MEM : fed1c000-fed1ffff
MEM : fed10000-fed17fff
MEM : fed18000-fed18fff
MEM : fed19000-fed19fff
MEM : f8000000-fbffffff
MEM : fed20000-fed3ffff
MEM : fed90000-fed93fff
MEM : fed45000-fed8ffff
MEM : ff000000-ffffffff
MEM : fee00000-feefffff
ACPI\PNP0C02\2
Name: Motherboard resources
Device has the following resources reserved:
IO : 002e-002f
IO : 004e-004f
IO : 0061-0061
IO : 0063-0063
IO : 0065-0065
IO : 0067-0067
IO : 0070-0070
IO : 0080-0080
IO : 0092-0092
IO : 00b2-00b3
IO : 0680-069f
IO : 1000-100f
IO : ffff-ffff
IO : ffff-ffff
IO : 0400-047f
IO : 0500-057f
IO : 164e-164f
ACPI\PNP0C04\4&18351974&0
Name: Numeric data processor
Device has the following resources reserved:
IO : 00f0-00f0
IRQ : 13
ACPI\PNP0C09\0
Name: Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Embedded Controller
Device is currently using the following resources:
IO : 0930-0930
IO : 0934-0934
ACPI\PNP0C0A\1
Name: Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
Device is not using any resources.
ACPI\PNP0C0A\2
Name: Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
Device is not using any resources.
ACPI\PNP0C0A\3
Name: Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery
Device is not using any resources.
ACPI\PNP0C0C\2&DABA3FF&1
Name: ACPI Power Button
Device is not using any resources.
ACPI\PNP0C0D\2&DABA3FF&1
Name: ACPI Lid
Device is not using any resources.
ACPI\PNP0C0E\2&DABA3FF&1
Name: ACPI Sleep Button
Device is not using any resources.
ACPI\PNP0C14\0
Name: Microsoft Windows Management Interface for ACPI
Device is not using any resources.
20 matching device(s) found.

The good news is the 2920xm ES is working.

 

What exactly is WWAN used for? Can I take it out and use that slot with a PM3N so I don't have to sacrifice built in Wifi?

 

WWAN = Wireless Wide Area Network, so basically the same as WLAN except intended for a 'Wide' rather than a 'Local' network.
So if you take that out you lose the ability to use the internet over cellular networks.. which doesn't seem too bad as you most likely use the eGPU when at home/on a normal network.

 

gtx460 or gtx560Ti would require how much power?

 

Looking at my device manager and the pci.bat, it looks like I only have to move my integrated graphics, while the pci.bat tries to move everything. Does anyone know setpci well enough to just move the graphics and leave everything else?

 

Hi Khenglish,
Congrats on your new powerful pc.

Here's Nando4's Brilliant magic that helped disable my dGPU allowing light/mid notebooks to be the fastest and best of all world ;-)


Please perform a 32-bit iGPU+eGPU compaction, then 'edit pci.bat' and add the following two lines *BEFORE* the 'setpci @setpci.arg' line near the end of the file.

Code:
@echo -s 1:0.0 BASE_ADDRESS_5=5001 >> setpci.arg
@echo -s 0:1c.0 1c.b=50 1d.b=50 >> setpci.arg

After doing that, choose 'Apply Config.run startup.bat' to write that PCI data, then select your 'chainload win7' or 'chainload mbr'

(whichever works).

If you do any subsequent "Run compaction" then it will overwrite that change in pci.bat so will need you to edit it in manually again until it's fixed in a new version of compact.

What's the 3Dmark06 CPU score.

Good luck. Looking forward to your new success
Thanks,

 

CPU score was 5570. I think what you wrote does not apply because my system doesn't have a dGPU. The integrated sits right in the middle of my free allocation space. If I can move it up or down by 128MB then it would work. I currently cannot run compaction at all since it results in a crash. I can disable the iGPU, but then performance is horrid with no optimus.

 

I'm trying to set up the 5770 with my ProBook 4530s and keep getting black screens when I wake the computer from sleep mode. (Win 7 doesn't have a Standby option)


The first post says

But that didn't work so I followed the instructions here and installed the DIY ViDock Setup.

Still getting black screens, so I looked at the FAQ which says:

Well, that didn't help.

I even tried using the boot option and manually compacting the memory until it freed 512mb but then the "Microsoft Windows" screen starts to appear and the system freezes.


Any idea what I'm messing up?
Thanks

Edit:
Update - I decided to just turn the eGPU on while the system was working (=without Sleep) and it got detected.
I installed the drivers and after a reboot tried to do the same and simply turn it on.
Now I get "error 12: cannot allocate resources". I'll try one of the first 2 options suggested in the FAQ

 

Have you tried w/ 2GB RAM, so you don't need Setup.1x?

Thanks.

 

Will do as soon as I get the graphics driver working. Drivers later than 270.61 have problems with my monitor.

UPDATE:

I tried one stick with my monitor not connected. The graphics driver will crash and reload around every 10 seconds. It did last long enough for me to see that optimus was indeed enabled before it had an unrecoverable crash.

UPDATE2:

Turns out the graphics driver crashes were due to the driver trying to set 5.0gt/s. I set the port to pci-e 1.1 and crashes were resolved. 20099 3dmark06. I can do much better than that. only had the gpu at 890/4240 and single channel memory.

 

I'm trying to uninstall the disk image for the DIY eGPU 1.0f

For some reason, when I run the uninstall disk image file in c\egpu, it doesn't do it. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

Whoah.. we have a wave of Series-6 installs (Probook 4530s, Dell E6420, Lenovo E420) all on the one day.

It only removes the BCD entry. If not, check then with 'bcdedit' followed by 'bcdedit /delete [identifier]'. If you want to remove the actual files then delete \eGPU.

Try powering on your system, halting the boot process with F8, power on the eGPU, plug in the mini HDMI cable into the EC2C (video card fan makes a slightly different noise when successfully attached), then boot Win7. If still get an error 12 then use Setup 1.x's 32-bit iGPU+eGPU compaction followed by 'chainload mbr'.

PM sent RE: compaction, ie: try iGPU+eGPU compaction, manually edit out closed bridges on the resultant pci.bat. send "Save diags->compact_fails" output if no success.

It's been noted by some Series-6 owner's that they had to set the expresscard slot to Gen1 speed in the bios (or Setup 1.x) to prevent instability.

 

Turns out compaction wasn't needed. The setup program reports 128MB free regardless of whether or not the 460 is plugged in. Mislead me into thinking I needed to run compaction.

Lots of dual channel benchmarks coming:

Vantage: 13233
3dmark06: 20420
dmc4s4: 106.27
re5: 141.3
FF14 1080p: 3559

optimus beats the hell out of x2 in 3dmark06. In the 1st graphics test in vantage this new system was much faster than my old one, but in the 2nd test it was actually slightly slower. I ran dmc4s4 twice, getting 108 and 106 fps. I got back luck in the runs in that the hero guy was almost always on the screen, while in my insane 138fps run on my x2 system he was almost always off the screen. Even if I got good luck, I doubt I could get much higher than 120fps, and certainly could not get 130 on this system without overclocking or pci-e 2.0. RE5 was almost always over 100fps. At one point it hit 290.

This system could definitely benefit big time from pci-e 2.0, but I tried my 2 best cables and neither worked. Wicked, I hope you have good luck with that active cable.

I'll add on more games and tests over time.

UPDATE:
I've now run WoW, SC2, and TF2. TF2 runs great. Never below 60fps on max settings. SC2 and WoW both perform slightly worse than they did on my x2 system. I ordered an active HDMI cable to try pci-e 2.0.

 

Tried that, and even after disabling a bunch of stuff I was still getting the error
http://i53.tinypic.com/6ifuc6.jpg

If I turn on the system with the eGPU turned on it just hangs. So I turn it on before selection the DIY Setup from the boot menu.
32bit allocation does not free up enough space. (36Bit allocation seems to work)
Chainload mbr returns: Missing operating system




Edit:
Here's a picture of my disk manager
http://i52.tinypic.com/10crxuh.jpg

Edit 2:
Success!
I used 36 bit allocation for the igpu and forced 32bit on the egpu. That freed 256mb and I was able to chainload win 7.

Now I need to get this to work without doing it every time I want to play (ie use the sleep-> turn on-> wake up solution)


Edit 3:
SFIV bench results
SCORE: 7720
AVERAGE: 59.30FPS
OS: Windows 7 Enterprise
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2310M CPU @ 2.10GHz
Memory: 4096MB
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series
Display Setting: 1920x1200 60Hz

Once I get everything working I'll create a new post with screens


Thanks for helping nando4

 

You can find this information at Nvidia website. Anyway, GTX 460 required 160W & more if you get overclock version. GTX 560 Ti require 170W & it can go up to 205W when high load. GTX 560 Ti overclock version required 260W when high load.

EDIT: You also can refer to this: Graphics Cards Thermal Design Power (TDP) Database - 3D Tech News, Pixel Hacking, Data Visualization and 3D Programming - Geeks3D.com

 

Hi nando4,

I have moved my eGPU experience & benchmarks to Dell Studio 1557 thread.

 

Here are the results of my HP ProBook 4530s:

OS: Windows 7 Enterprise
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2310M CPU @ 2.10GHz
Memory: 4096MB
Graphics Card: HD 3000
eGPU: ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series
Please note that this card is running at x1 speeds which affects the benchmarks. When I'll upgrade to a Fermi card, I'll post updated results.

I used the 5770 with my XPS M1530; follow this link to see the results I had with that system.

Initial setup:
1. Plug in the Express card, connect all the wires while the computer is turned off
2. Turn on the computer
3. Boot DIY eGPU Setup 1.x
4. Turn on the eGPU
5. Select "menu-based".
6. Do PCI compaction->32A on all devices
7. 'Chainload mbr' to chainload to Win7.

Regular use how-to steps:
1. Plug in the Express card, connect all the wires while the computer is turned off
2. Turn on the computer
3. Select eGPU from the boot menu
4. Wait for the eGPU menu to appear, turn on the eGPU, and then select the first menu option
5. Select your operating system once the boot menu shows up again
6. You're done!



Settings used:
RE5: All settings high, no AA, no blur
SFIV: All settings high, no AA, no AF

11569 3DMarks


5770 Results
RE5 DX9


RE5 DX9 (screen 2)


RE5 DX10


RE5 dx9 1280x800


RE5 dx10 1280x800



HD 3000 results

RE5 dx9 1280x800


RE5 dx9 1680x1050


SFIV dx9


I don't have a screenshot of SFIV with the 5770, but the results were:
SCORE: 7720
AVERAGE: 59.30FPS
Display Setting: 1920x1200 60Hz

I won't test the iGPU anymore, it's so pathetic I don't see a point in wasting time on it.


Thanks to nando and everyone else that works hard to keep this project going

 

@Khenglish,

Hey,

I want to thank you first for posting your result of your e6520 eGPU.

After reading your success story, I'm ready to jump on it and buy a refurbished e6520 from Dell Outlet.

I just have three quick questions if you don't mind.

1. I rarely play games when I'm on the go. Then getting rid of the dGPU of e6520 is perfectly fine right? As far as I understand, it is even better to have only iGPU. Is it true?

2. I'm seriously considering to purchase i3 model first then upgrade it with 2920xm as you did. Did you notice any significant increase in heat and/or noise level?

3. Did you get a special deal when you purchased it? I'm looking for some Dell coupon code but it is hard to find for latitude, let alone Dell Business Outlet.

Thank you.

 

The biggest problem I had with not getting the nvs 4200 is that the cooler for just the cpu is a bit uneven. Even with the crooked cooler prime95 only gets up to 91C on the hottest core. If I could even it out I'd probably only see the low 80s. Performance out of the HD 3000 isn't that bad. I got 4906 in 3dmark06 , and 32 fps in RE5 out of it. The fans only get loud if the iGPU is being used and there is a heavy cpu load, or prime95.

There were no coupons when I bought my system. Just makes sure you get all upgrades outside of Dell to save money. BTW the 1080p screen is amazing.

Soon I'll make a long post on the E6520 owner's thread.

 

Ughh, this is getting very frustrating, I can't seem to get rid of Error 12.

I'm running a Lenovo E420, Galaxy Geforce GTX465, 600 watt power supply.

I have installed all the drivers, and the computer recognizes the GPU, but still error 12's.

I boot into 1.0f, go to menu based setup

PCI Compaction>Run Compact>perform 32-bit compaction on iGPU, eGPU

Chainloader> win7

Chainloade.

After i do that, it brings me to the boot menu again, and I select Win7 and boot up.

Please let me know if i'm doing something wrong.

 

Cons of NVS4200M/Optimus equipped E6520

- if there isn't a bios option to disable the NVS4200M then would need to use Setup 1.x to disable it to get x1.Opt eGPU functionality.

- more heat

- more cost: some vendors like Lenovo charging more for the dGPU than the ~$210 a GTX460 DIY eGPU costs. The GTX460 will seriously outbench a NVS4200M.

Pros

- slightly better gaming-in-the go ability than the Intel HD3000

Try 32-bit A compaction, ensure you have devcon.txt created and that it finds a solution.

If still no go, do a clean boot and run "Save Diags->compact_fails" followed by "Save Diags->Windows_fails". Reboot to Windows, mount the Setup 1.x disk image, archive the \diag folder, upload to mediafire.com and link here.

If you have a HD6630M E420 then it will probably be a more complex installation.

 

Let me walk you through the E420 steps. I re-did my eGPU setup 1.0f and took some pics of the process.

INITIAL STATUS - this is what I see in my Status window when dropping into eGPU setup, no additional steps taken.



STEP 1 - Initialize the eGPU video card



NEW STATUS (after STEP 1)



STEP 2 - Run 32-bit PCI compaction



NEW STATUS (after STEP 2)



STEP 3 - change chainloader to boot Win7. *Note* I don't understand why booting mbr does not work, but I get an error (IIRC it indicated that there was no OS found).



NEW STATUS (after STEP 3)



If your eGPU setup startup.bat looks like this, you should have no further error 12 issues.

 

Thanks, Khenglish for taking time to respond. So are you suggesting that having an NVS would have a better cooling?

Hey, Nando4, thanks for the reply. I'm learning a lot from your posts here. Thank you again.

Right now, in the Dell outlet, the E6520 barely has no price difference between many different setups. And according to Khenglish, having the NVS might result in better cooling. I did more research on their BIOS and it looks like Dell offers an option to turn off the Optimus. In such case, I don't have to worry about the Setup 1.x right?

 

My understand is the E6520 has the rare ability to switch off Optimus in the bios where the NVS4200M will run as a dGPU and the iGPU is completely disabled.

If you intend to run a Optimus eGPU, then you want to do the opposite - disable the dGPU but leave the iGPU active. If the bios hasn't got an option to do that (likely) then you'd need to boot via Setup 1.x with a 'call dGPU off' entry in your startup.bat to disable the NVS4200M so the NVidia eGPU can function in Optimus capacity. If don't want to do that then consider the iGPU only version of the E6520.

 

I see. Thank you. I'll try to look for the iGPU option. By the way, there's Dell Business Coupon right now! LQ3S565GMCP9T0 Amazing Deal if you ask me.

 

I put some wire between the cooler screw springs and base to tighten up the one side. I checked the paste and it's now level, but it didn't make a difference in temps. It turns out that I didn't run p95 long enough, and when running it longer I get up to 98C. Hot, but still below throttle point. Despite the unevenness, going with the iGPU seems to be the way to go as far as heat is concerned. The 2920xm is a 55W cpu after all, so high temps are to be expected.

 

Do You have any news of thunderbolt-pcie adapter for macbook pro early 2011??

 

Well just purchased e6520.

After 20% discount, got it for $670.

It features
i7-2620m
4gb
250gb (5200rpm) --> will be replacing with an SSD
FHD
intel 3000

I think it's a steal for the price.

I can't wait to receive it!

 

Hi again. I found one source of error.

The mPCIe-card PM3N can loosen a litte bit out of the slot. Resulting in bsod or no detection of the egpu.

 

Would it be possible to get an adapter that turns USB (3.0 preferably so that there is more bandwidth) to expresscard so that I don't need to fiddle with the bottom of my computer every time I need to take my laptop on the go?

Maybe something like this?

USB to ExpressCard Adapter Ideal for Wireless Broadband Cards | StarTech.com

 

Has anyone found any framegrabbing software for usb? I can get an adapter for 3.0 and would love to use my internal monitor without a performance loss.

Also wicked, how long until you get the active cable?

 

guys ... you have been using express card for long time. does it get warm for you or should it stay cold like memory card. is there any heat dissipation technique for expresscards.

thanks.

 

Does anyone know if you can use an eGPU with the new X121e? I really get confused by all of the different porst and things. The tech files says that the laptop has:

I/O (Input/Output)
1 x VGA, 1 x HDMI 1.4, 1 x Gigabit Ethernet
1 x Mic (microphone)/speaker combo jack
3 x USB 2.0 (including 1 powered USB)
4-in-1 media card reader (SD/SDHC/SDXC/
MMC)

WLAN
ThinkPad BGN (Realtek) 1x1 GN
ThinkPad ABGN (Broadcom) 2x2 AGN
Intel® Centrino Wireless-N 1000
Intel® Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250
(2x2 AGN)

I also found this in a review - "2x2 a/b/g/n WLAN PCI-e half mini adapter "

Thanks for any help

 

See eGPU PCIe 2.0 and Thunderbolt update in the NEWS section on the first page.

No, those adapters simply wire through the USB 2.0 to the USB 2.0 component of the expresscard slot. No pci-e signals are wired through.

What would be required is a USB 3.0 to pci-e bridge which will be released in Nov 2011. Even once they're released it's going to be questionable how the driver maps a pci-e device as a USB device, especially one that requires a 256MB pci-e window to operate.

There are USB 3.0 to HDMI adapters like this $58 or Sunix VGA2788 which I believe use the Displaylink 3000 chip. Looks like the E6520 needs to swap out the ODD for a USB 3.0 media module.

The EC2C is a passive adapter passing through the signals. It doesn't generate any heat.

It has no expresscard slot, so would need to evaluate the accessibility of the mPCIe (wifi) slot and you'd lose concurrent wifi. I'd suggest look at a X220 instead since it has an expresscard slot.

 

Thanks for the help but in the UK the X220 is almost the price of a good gaming laptop

 

In Australia too, the local X220 price can be anywhere from double to triple the US price. Quite a few interested users are therefore ordering them from the US via forwarding agents.

Perhaps consider other cheaper systems in the Thin-and-light link in my sig? eg: 13" HP 4330s and Dell Vostro 3350 both have expresscard slots and are available for a reasonable price in the UK:

£500 13" Dell Vostro 3350 i5-2410M *refurb* 2.0kgs
£556 13" HP Probook 4330s i3-2310M 2.0kgs
£759 15.6" MSI GE620 i7-2630QM + GT540M 2.4kgs

 

On mine, the ExpressCard doesn't get warm at all.

 

Thanks for the help but the price differential is still abit too much for me. Is there no possibility to use one of those wireless setups in the 1st post of your great thread?

 

Those are designed to go the other way, as in have your laptop output to an additional screen. The hardware should still work for what we want, but we still need some sort of driver that no one seems to have made.

 

The solution presented at http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-new-hdmi-input-express-card.html#post7693279 would work but you'd need the expresscard slot to provide the HDMI input, so your DIY eGPU would need to be relocated as a mPCIe solution. The card apparently costs $100 in CN but can cost over $200 when purchased by foreigners.

Your modular bay might have pci-e signals on it as well, with the USB 3.0 module housing a NEC pci-e to USB 3.0 chip. If it does then could consider modding in another expresscard cage?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding the main problem for getting pci-e 2.0 compliant EC2C/PE4L is the cabling, it just can't handle the data transfer, correct? And the main issue for the PE3A which uses no cabling, from what I understand, is that it can't supply sufficient power across the 12v rail to be viable for graphics cards, as well as it being positioned right next to your laptop? (please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm trying to understand all of this) However, what would happen if one were to use something like this in conjunction with the PE3A? It allows you to move your graphics card behind your laptop and there is an option for powering the 1x line with a standard atx power supply, successfully dealing with both of the PE3A's drawbacks without worry of having enough bandwidth in the cabling. I don't know the price though, but it doesn't seem like it should be cost prohibitive.

 

bplus tell us the cable is the problem. What's odd is the Villagetronic claim their cable is pci-e 2.0 capable but their setup has also been unable to negotiate a x1 2.0 link on a Lenovo X220 and T420.

Unfortunately your idea of using a amfeltec riser will not work. It introduces pci-e 1.0 specced cabling (as confirmed by amfeltec), so might as well stick with a PE4L/PE4H + EC2C instead which also uses pci-e 1.0 spec cable.

The PE3A was presented to folks as a way to avoid the non-compliant cable. Required would be modding 12V power to drive the slot as shown at PE3A v3.1a unrecommended modification for external 12V DC power supply. - YouTube. So you'd be in effect testing the EC2C + PE3A [~PE4L/PE4H] to confirm those components are pci-e 2.0 compliant.

 

Sadly, with this cable PC won't even recognized the eGPU. I'm trying to see if somehow we can solder the 5V pin to the pin18, maybe at the P4H usb?