DIY eGPU experiences

The limitation will be the bandwidth. SB notebook have PCIe 2.0 5Gb/s (Gen2 - 5Gb/s in each direction, 10Gb/s concurrent) but PE4H/PE4L only support PCIe Gen1 speed (2.5Gb/s in each direction, 5Gb/s concurrent). This is raw PCIe x1 link speed. To overcome this issue, we can do PCIe x2 or x4 link setup but x2/x4 is not possible on SB notebooks due to firmware/hardware limitation. Also, Optimus only engaged at PCIe x1 link.

In your case, eGPU is running in x1.Opt configuration, which means with Nvidia Optimus support. The PCIe data compression provided by Optimus kinda overcome the bandwidth limitation. The Optimus compression improved traffic over PCIe x1 link a lot. When PCIe 2.0/Gen2 compliant kit available from BPlus/HIT, eGPU will be able to run in 5Gb/s speed, basically double the x1.Opt provided - we call this x1. 2Opt.

The Quadro 600 is not strong GPU, you unable to see the performance you can get from x1.Opt. Of course this analysis base on the card raw performance, not the CAD/3D design performance. Unfortunately, no one beside you have use Quadro with eGPU (at least I don't see anyone posted their result). Because of this we don't have enough data for comparison.

Quadro 6000 have similar performance with GTX560 but Quadro 6000 is expensive than GTX560. There are many x220 eGPU implementation you can refer to, to see what kind of performance you will get with more powerful GPU, for example Xav's x220@GTX560Ti eGPU setup.

 

Another quick question.

After installing the ViDock my laptop goes into boot cycles every 4th or 5th boot. It turns on black screen, light flashes bla bla, turns off and keeps going.

If I remove battery and put it back in its good to go.
Any ideas?

(I just updated to bios v1.24)

 

Hi all, my two mPCIe to mini HDMI cards are due for delivery today. I’ve never done the x2 link before so after gleaning from multiple threads I think I have the steps I need to follow to get the x2 link setup. Please let me know if I’m off track with what I plan to do; hopefully this will avoid any issues that set me back for hours.

This is what I plan to do to setup x2 Link on my Acer 8940G. Please let me know if I'm missing something or doing something out of order.

1. Boot to the setup program with only Port 2 connected.
2. Set port 1 to x2.
3. Plug in Port 1.
4. Disable Port 2.
5. Run Chainload.

 

For those who can successfully hot plug their eGPUs, what driver version of Verde are you running?

 

My PE4H has arrived this morning, I will uplod a video soon about it running with EVGA GTX 460 1024MB SE video card on my laptop, specifications:

Lenovo Thinkpad Edge 14
CPU: Intel i3 390m 2.67GHz
RAM: 6GB DDR3
IGP: Intel HD graphics

 

I'm using the newest desktop beta driver.

 

Hi, I'm new here and I was searching for eGPU info. I'd like to ask if anyone knows if/when a Thunderbolt MBP will be able to have an eGPU such as the GTX590. Does this require PE4H v3.0, PE5H or is it possible to use the PE4H v2.4 with EC2C to TH03? all of these products are from hwtools. Is the 590/580 a possibility?

Also, how would it be possible to daisy chain thunderbolt after eGPU, for an external hdd for example?




Thanks

 

I appreciate everyone's help on this thread.

 

Mail from Bplus

Wonder what kind of cabling they will bundle with it for full speed

 

Hard to tell. Look like the device initialization & resources allocation routine in BIOS have bugs, if I'm going to guess.

Step no. 4 is not necessary because when you set x2, the script will disabled Port#2 automatically. I'd suggest at first run, do like this:-

1. Connect eGPU (Port#1 & Port#2) to notebook, power on eGPU & power on notebook.
2. In Setup 1.x, set x2 at Port#1.
3. Chainload

OR

1. Connect eGPU (Port#1 & Port#2) to notebook, power on eGPU & power on notebook.
2. In Setup 1.x, set x2 at Port#1.
3. Reboot
4. Boot into Windows.

 

Ok, in the past days I started looking for a solution about my next notebook and my mind moved multiple times between "commercial product" <-> "DIY product" <-> "OMG Leave all "

Now I found time to read more carefully how these things work, so I came to a conclusion but with some doubts:
- Can we say that Optimus doesn't check which version of "PCI" is?
So, if now we have PCI 1.0 1x + Optimus (called x1.Opt right?), SB chipset support PCI 2.0 and we will have PCI 2.0 1x + Optimus (called x1.2Opt and that should be available before the end of the year). In the near future, (I think just after the launch of Ivy Bridge this spring?) we should have PCI 3.0 support (with performances par on PCI 1.0 4x), so in theory we could have a x1.3Opt.

- If it's true that with the "Opt configuration" we can have 20-333% performance boost if compared to a standard "x1" (and internal Display support at the cost of some bandwidth), in theory if Ivy Bridge supporto PCI 3.0, it could match Thunderbolt in performance. Right?

 

PCI-E 3.0 will likely only go to the x16 link 1st, with the x1s getting it a generation or 2 later. That's what happened with PCI-E 2.0. Optimus link compression has been proven to work under a PCI-E 2.0 5.0 gt/s link.

 

i just bought a pe4h external graphics pack from harmonic inversion and my order status is confirm.. how long does it take for them to ship? and they did not charge my card too..

 

I see, so getting a SB today or a IB "tomorrow" probably won't change the performance speaking about the PCIe bus.
So the choice now is between:

PCIe 2.0 x1.Opt available before the end of 2011

VS

"Not so far" (2012?) Thunderbolt solution (with each channel about the bandwidth of a PCIe 2.0 2x right?)

Furthermore with TB probably we could easily handle the video signal on the internal notebook screen without the need of Optimus.

 

OK, no matter what I try, whenever I boot the laptop with port 1 connected I boot to a black screen. I've tried putting the laptop into sleep, connect port 1 and 2, power on the eGPU and that shows up in AID64 with the GTX460 on port 1, no black screen. However, if I boot with port 1 connected then I get a black screen. If I unplug port 1, boot to Setup 1.x with port 2 connected, the eGPU is not recognized. If I plug in port 1 then the laptop locks up. If I unplug port 1 and boot the laptop I can see the Win 7 and Setup 1.x option screen, however if I then connect port 1, the screen goes black. I have no idea why this is happening.

 

Please try this:-

1. Connected eGPU (Port #1 & #2) to notebook.
2. eGPU remain OFF. Power on notebook.
3. Boot into Setup 1.x
4. Set x2 at Port #1.
5. Power on eGPU. Press F5 to auto-detect eGPU.
6. After eGPU detected, Chainload.

 

TB will offer x4 2.0 bandwidth plus can transmit Displayport back to the internal LCD if the manufacturer has implemented a mux to do it. It is a higher performance link than x1.1Opt/x1.2Opt but (1) TB eGPU enclosures are costlier, approx $400 (2) there are ZERO demonstrations of TB eGPUs atm (3) only 2011 Macbooks have TB ports atm.

imho, the savvy notebook user will hang back until TB has been demonstrated, is affordable and is available on PC notebooks. I see that means ~Q2-2012. No reason why can't buy an inexpensive expresscard-equipped notebook now and enjoy an eGPU today.

1. Disconnected mHDMI cable to port1
2. Power on the eGPU
3. Power on the notebook.
4. Boot Setup 1.x
-set port1 to x2 link width (PCIe ports->Link width)
-attach mHDMI cable to port1
-HIT F5, confirm STATUS window shows your GTX460 on port1 is running a x2 link.
- Optional: perform 32-bit PCI compaction on the eGPU if see an error 12 against it in Device manager if skip this step.
- Chainload your OS

 

Everything works fine until I connect port 1 and power on the eGPU. After that, the laptop lockes up. I can no longer navigate through the Setup 1.x options. From there, I need to disconnect port 1 and power cycle the laptop. Seems to be some sort of conflict. When I was setup with Port 4 (PCI Express to mini HDMI I don't have the black screen issue.

 

Everything works fine until I connect port 1 and power on the eGPU. After that, the laptop lockes up. I can no longer navigate through the Setup 1.x options. From there, I need to disconnect port 1 and power cycle the laptop. Seems to be some sort of conflict. When I was setup with Port 4 (PCI Express to mini HDMI I don't have the black screen issue.

 

Per previous instructions, Boot Setup 1.x, set x2 link on port1, power on the eGPU then connected port1 mHDMI cable. Port2 should already be connected.

 

Try swap the connections. I mean like this:-
- PE4H port x1 <--> PCIe port#2
- PE4H port x2 <--> PCIe port#1

 

I tried this but when I hit F5 to rescan it doesn't detect my eGPU. So port 1 will show x2 but my eGPU is not detected.

 

If both cables already connected, set x2 at Port #1, power on eGPU & press F5 (several time if you have to), does eGPU is detected?

Did you try swap the connections like I suggested in my previous post?

 

Please ensure you can hotplug your GTX460 after boot and get it detected on a x1 link on port1 before trying x2. The Setup 1.x initial menu screen gives some tips on how to get it detected.

 

I now have my laptop up and running with GTX560Ti, and it is working great!

There is however one odd thing that I cant figure out. When I run Starcraft II as a fullscreen game on my external monitor my frame rate drops to 15fps or below, however when I run it on windowed mode I get 30+fps. Anyone have similar experience?

I also had a suggestion for the modified drivers page. It took me forever to figure out I should extract the .exe to C:/NVIDIA then replace the .IFI. It might help people more to add that into the post more clearly! Of course I could just be the odd man out, and be confused all on my own.

 

GTX460 is successfully detected on Port#1 when hotplug after boot:-

 

@wreelsw - just to clarify. Please ensure you can boot to Setup 1.x, hotplug your GTX460 and get it detected as a x1 link on port1 before trying x2.

I just found that your port1 is a mPCIe port<strike>, which means whitelisting might also apply</strike>.

In which case, follow instructions as per initial Setup menu screen:

In the worst case, your GTX460 should be detected if you boot Setup 1.x with wifi in port1, poweron the eGPU and *carefully* hotplug the PM3N in place of the wifi card.

 

I don't think it's whitelisting issue since GTX460 is detected on port#1, when on x1 link only. BTW, both PCIe port#1 & #2 are mPCIe ports.

 

OK for some reason switching the ports seems to work. After hitting F5, the eGPU showed up on port #2. So I ran the x2 setup on port #1. See my AID64 values below. However, I still can't boot the computer with the PE4H port x1 connected; I still get the black screen. Also, I now have the dreaded Error 12 again. I've tried running compaction but that doesn't seen to work. I ran 32bitA with no resolution. The I tried 36 bit with forcing 32bit to the eGPU. That still didn't help. Not sure what else to do. This is killing me...



PCI Express Controller
PCI-E 2.0 x2 port #1 In Use @ x2 (nVIDIA GF104 - High Definition Audio Controller, Zotac GeForce GTX 460 Video Adapter)
PCI-E 2.0 x1 port #2 In Use @ x1
PCI-E 2.0 x1 port #4 Empty
PCI-E 2.0 x1 port #6 In Use @ x1 (Broadcom NetLink BCM5784M PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller)
PCI-E 2.0 x1 port #8 In Use @ x1

 

Somehow, Port #2 is not disabled automatically. Try disabled Port #2 manually after setting x2.

EDIT: Sorry, please ignore the procedure below. It won't work if notebook refused to boot when PE4H port x1 is connected. Does it black screen when it supposed to load windows or you don't see BIOS splash screen at all?

Please try this experimental procedure:-

1. Connect eGPU to notebook using this configuration:-
   - PE4H port x1 <--> PCIe port#2
   - PE4H port x2 <--> PCIe port#1
2. Power on eGPU.
3. Power on notebook.
4. Enter Setup 1.x.
5. Set x2 on port#1.
6. Disabled port#2.
7. Power off eGPU.
8. Chainload.
9. Put notebook to sleep.
10. Power on eGPU.
11. Resume notebook from sleep.

If I'm right, eGPU should work now without Error 12.

 

Hi Nando & Kizwan,

Sorry for the slow reply. I have been looking at options related to egpu hookup and the missing connectors on my eee 1015PEM.

I will definitely do a writeup so that others know that this is possible to do with Optimus support with the Intel 3150. Actually, I think it is as simple as making sure the netbook has Win 7 Home Premium as a minimum and the latest Nvidia drivers. I have not had to use modded drivers. I also don't think Setup 1.x is required but I will do this again from scratch to make sure.

I tried checking the pins on the connectors but they are so small I couldn't make anything out. Today I have taken some quick close-up photos which will help to count the number of traces for the missing connectors. From my tests, I don't believe the mpcie is functional for pcie or usb. I now believe that in order for the card to function in the slot there needs to be another FPC cable from the motherboard to the '3G' connector on the daughterboard. Needless to say the 1015PEM is missing the matching connector on the motherboard. The wifi connector I have been using is fully functional and not white-listed so I'm hoping that if I can solder the connector onto the motherboard and find a cable, the card will be functional in the second slot.

I bought a daugterboard on ebay for a 1015PN (also 1015T I believe) - it has the connectors that my 1015pem daughterboard lacks.

I'm looking forward to doing the benchmarks. It may be a week or two before I can get to them though.

Cheers!

Mark

 

No go... I ran x2 on Port #1... When I went to disable port #2, port #2 was not listed in the options to disable. Also, once I powered off eGPU the laptop locked up. I had to reboot it.

 

So, if you power off eGPU in Setup 1.x, laptop locked up. If you didn't power off eGPU & continue with Chainload, you'll get black screen. Am I got this right?

 

I'm looking at setting up an eGPU for my system and I want to make sure that I have all my bases covered and that my logic is sound before I get started.

I have an Lenovo x220 with an i5-2520M running Win7 HP x64 that I take to class with me. I'm going to hold off buying a PE4H and EC2C until they are PCIe 2.0 compatible (Am I correct that neither of these are currently PCIe 2.0 compatible?), but I am looking into buying a power supply and GPU right now with all the black Friday deals. I'm looking at a GTX 460 and this power supply (420W on the 12V rail for $26), although I've seen some discussion about using a Dell DA-2 220W 12V power supply which I like for being a much smaller and cleaner solution. I'm more than comfortable with any soldering and wiring modifications required. Is the DA-2 powerful enough for a GTX 460 and does the GPU or PE4H need 5V?

I also have an older Dell Inspiron 1420 with a Core 2 Duo T7500 and an Nvidia 8400M GS running Win7 HP x64 that stays in my room and that I'd like to be able to switch the GPU over to. I'm worried that my TOLUD is too large though because someone earlier with a similar 1420 had a TOLUD that was too large, I've attached a screenshot. Would it be possible to reallocate the memory so that it works? Also, unfortunately PCIe ports #1 and #2 are my internal mPCIe ports (#4 being EC and #6 Ethernet card). Is there no way to get anything better than a simple x1 link without removing my internal WiFi card, I would really like to avoid removing it?

Also, has anyone gotten audio working through the HDMI port of an eGPU?

Is there anything I'm missing or are there any recommendations?

Thank you all for the tremendous amount of information available on this forum.

 

That's correct.

 

No way of getting x2 running on an Inspiron 1420 without using the mPCIe slots. There are some Inspiron 1520 x2 examples on the first page that you may want to review.

TOLUD is indeed 3.5GB, however you have a 36-bit "large memory" entry indicating 36-bit support. Suggest use Setup 1.x, perform 36-bit PCI compaction on the dGPU and confirm that the dGPU has moved to above 0x120000000-317FFFFFF. This then indicates that a 256MB window starting at 0xE0000000 will be able to host your eGPU. 36-bit support has been confirmed on Series-4 chipsets, but not as yet on a 965PM.

audio over the HDMI port works without issue. I however disable it in preference to using the internal notebook soundcard so as to maximize bandwidth for graphics.

If happy to solder, suggest getting a XBOX360 203W PSU to drive the GTX460. THey are portable, silent and inexpensive on ebay. There's examples on the first page on how to do that. It would even provide enough power to drive a GTX560Ti and does provide a 5V output. PE4H does 12V->5V->3.3V regulation but it's [email protected], so is slightly less than the max 3.3V@3A of the pci-e spec. So a dedicated 5V input would keep it to spec.

 

Look like getting x2 going is a bit tricky than I expected on your notebook. Right now, we try to get x1 going first using PCIe port#1 & PCIe port#2 (test separately). Please do these set of tests, one by one & report the result.

Set A

1. Connect only one cable to PCIe port #1:-
   - PE4H port x1 <--> PCIe port#1
2. Power on eGPU.
3. Power on notebook.
4. Boot into windows.

Set B

1. Connect only one cable to PCIe port #2:-
   - PE4H port x1 <--> PCIe port#2
2. Power on eGPU.
3. Power on notebook.
4. Boot into windows.

Please let me know the result for both test. If you get "black screen", please be specific, when it happen, e.g. after BIOS splash screen OR no BIOS splash screen at all.

If with the above test you get "black screen", please do these tests. These tests also use only single cable for x1 link.

Set C: PCIe port #1

1. Connect everything (only one cable connected to PE4H) but make sure the PM3N card is not connected to PCIe port #1 (black mPCIe port).
2. Power on notebook.
3. Boot into Setup 1.x
4. Power on eGPU.
5. Carefully plugged in PM3N card to PCIe port #1.
6. Press F5 to refresh.
7. After eGPU is detected (show up in Setup 1.x), run Chainload.

Set D: PCIe port #2

1. Connect everything (only one cable connected to PE4H) but make sure the PM3N card is not connected to PCIe port #2 (white mPCIe port).
2. Power on notebook.
3. Boot into Setup 1.x
4. Power on eGPU.
5. Carefully plugged in PM3N card to PCIe port #2.
6. Press F5 to refresh.
7. After eGPU is detected (show up in Setup 1.x), run Chainload.

For "Set C" & "Set D", we want to know:-

1. Does eGPU is detected after pressing F5?
2. Can you boot into windows (Chainload)?

After we have the result for x1 link, we can try x2 going again.

 

Would switching to a 32-bit OS affect my ability to do this? I've been having some problems with some drivers and am thinking about reverting to 32-bit.

 

32-bit Win7 is OK too, as confirmed by testing of an Inspiron 1440 which also has TOLUD=3.5GB. Win7/32 has PAE support so can do 36-bit addressing.

 

Just to let everyone know, Newegg is selling a 12V48A 80+ PSU for 35AR.
Newegg.com - Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

fyi - it does NOT come with a power cord.

 

Set A - Results
Black Screen and Bios splash never displays.

Set B - Results
Black Screen and Bios splash never displays.

Set C - Results
4. Power on eGPU.
(eGPU on board fan is on full speed)

5. Carefully plugged in PM3N card to PCIe port #1.
(Once once the PM3N plugged into PCIe port #1 I get Black Screen.)

Set D - Results
4. Power on eGPU.
(eGPU on board fan is on full speed and the laptop lockes up.)


Now on to other discoveries:
I managed to get PE4H port x1 <--> PCIe port#1 and PE4H port x2 <--> PCIe port#2 working with x2. See AID64 below. But I still get the Error 12. Now what's interesting is that I did the Chainload Win7 (I had to remove the PE4H port x1 cable), however, when I do Chainload Win7 it invokes an application from Acer named 'eRecovery'. This application gives you options to restore your OS. I click exit on the application, which sends the laptop into a reboot - This would be where the black screen would occur after Chainload (during this reboot) if PE4H port x1 was connected. So I'm wondering now if the Acer eRecovery software is causing the chainload win7 not to work, which would be why my Error 12 still exists? If so, do you know of a way to turn off the Acer eRecovery?

PCI Express Controller
PCI-E 2.0 x2 port #1 In Use @ x2 (nVIDIA GF104 - High Definition Audio Controller, Zotac GeForce GTX 460 Video Adapter)
PCI-E 2.0 x1 port #2 Empty
PCI-E 2.0 x1 port #4 Empty
PCI-E 2.0 x1 port #6 In Use @ x1 (Broadcom NetLink BCM5784M PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller)
PCI-E 2.0 x1 port #8 In Use @ x1

 

Hi, I got a problem here, I got the vidock all working, PE4H 2.4+EC2C+EVGA Geforce GTX460 SE+PSU 600W, but once I plug it in, it doesn't work, my laptop may hangs up sometimes, I tried troubleshooting faq 2, but it didn't work. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Could you provide more information? When does your laptop hang? Do the gfx card fan(s) slow down or do they run full speed all the time? What chipset does your laptop have? What is the current rating of the PSU's 12V rail?

Any info you could provide may be helpful.

 

Windows 7 Professional 32bit
Lenovo Thinkpad Edge 14
Intel i3 core 390M, Chipset: HM-55
6GB RAM DDR3

The GPU's fan runs normal, and the laptop rarely hangs when opening device manager.

 

So is the card detected in say nando's setup program or anything else?

 

No, I haven't tried nando's setup yet. I'll do it and I'll let you know soon.

 

If possible, can you removed the "eRecovery" partition? It is the simplest solution. If you don't want to removed the "eRecovery" partition, please edit MENU.WIN file, located in CONFIG folder in eGPU Setup image. Change the last part to this:-

Code:

[B][COLOR="Red"]#[/COLOR][/B]chainloader /bootmgr

#OR chainload bootmgr off a specific partition, eg:hd0,1
[B]chainloader (hd0,1)/bootmgr[/B]

Assuming Windows is installed in second partition, when you choose Chainload Win7, you should be able to boot into windows.

Now, base on your test, we can concluded:-

1. whenever you connect "PE4H port x1 <--> PCIe port #1 (black mPCIe port)" in Setup 1.x, either hotplugin PM3N card or connect the miniHDMI cable, you'll get "black screen".
2. hotplugin PM3N card on PCIe port#2 "PE4H port x1 <--> PCIe port #2 (white mPCIe port)" in Setup 1.x doesn't work either where it cause system locked up.
3. eGPU is successfully detected (x2 link) but with Error 12 if you connect eGPU in windows.

Please let me know if any of the above statement not accurate.

Can you do two more test? Remember, this is to test x1 link only on PCIe port #1 (black mPCIe port) & port #2 (white mPCIe port). So, for each test, only one cable is use for connecting eGPU to notebook.

Set C: PCIe port #1 (black mPCIe port)

1. eGPU & notebook in power off state.
2. Connect PM3N card to PCIe port #1. Connect miniHDMI cable to PM3N card but do not connect to PE4H yet.
3. Power on notebook.
4. Boot into Setup 1.x
5. Power on eGPU.
6. Connect miniHDMI cable to PE4H port x1.
7. Press F5 to refersh.

Set D: PCIe port #2 (white mPCIe port)

1. eGPU & notebook in power off state.
2. Connect PM3N card to PCIe port #2. Connect miniHDMI cable to PM3N card but do not connect to PE4H yet.
3. Power on notebook.
4. Boot into Setup 1.x
5. Power on eGPU.
6. Connect miniHDMI cable to PE4H port x1.
7. Press F5 to refersh.

Please let me know for each test, whether eGPU is detected or not. Thank you.

 

Can anyone help me, please? look at my last post.

 

Hi!

I got a problem here with my lenovo x220 and PE4H 2.4+EC2C+ENGTX570.

The ENGTX570 is already recognized in the device manager without any error.
If I now want to start the Nvidia-control-panel (to enable optimus) it simply crashes.
If I start the nvidia-control-panel with an external monitor plugged into the ENGTX570 the control-panel starts without any problem.

Is it possible that de ENGTX570 isn't capable to do optimus?

Refering to this post it should work now easily...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...851-diy-egpu-experiences-403.html#post7572285

Any help would be appreciated...

Annotations:

• Bios is on version 1.24.
• Booting with the EC2C plugged in is possible.
• Driver: Official NVidia-driver; Version: 285.58
• I already read this thread from page 1 to this page and there was no solution to my problem

 

I've found the standard desktop driver does provide pci-e compression but doesn't enable Optimus' internal LCD mode. Need the Verde driver + modded nvam.inf for that. So proceed to:

1. Load latest Intel HD3000 driver.

2. Load Verde 285.62 + kallitokaco's nvam.inf, instructions as per the modded_driver area. When you run setup ensure you select the "Clean Install" option.