DIY eGPU experiences

One notebook have ExpressCard slot while another don't. So, you can connect eGPU to ExpressCard on the first rig & for the second rig, you'll need to use mPCIe port. Unless you can do x2 link setup (using two PCIe ports), you will not get fun. You'll experience stuttering & lagging while playing games. Since, your notebooks doesn't have any of the iGPU (Intel GMA 4500MHD or Intel HD Graphics or Intel HD 3000), you also can't do x1.Opt setup. You also did mention that you don't want to use external monitor. x1.Opt setup is needed if you want to get eGPU acceleration on internal LCD. As I mention earlier, without x1.Opt setup, you can only run games on windowed mode on internal LCD (if want to use eGPU processing power) & you still need external monitor.

Unplugin & plugin x2 link setup eGPU also not fun.

 

first post and im having some problems, but i'll try to be as detailed as I can.

Problem description
1. Laptop doesn't seem to recognize the egpu, and when I boot with it on My laptop doesn't boot and just sits on a black screen until i turn off the PSU to the GPU
2. I checked the FAQs and they stated to try and hotplug the eGPU while your in standyby. that does not work for me. the laptop doesn't boot when i attempt that but once i switch off the PSU it will boot

Platform Description
1. windows 7 ultimate, 64bit
2. toshiba satellite l655-s5071, intel HD graphics, series 5 chipset (IIRC)
3. 4gb ddr3 (have tried removing 1 stick and running 2gb as well with not change in results)
4. gtx550 ti

from what i know the card needs a 116w, my PSU is 300w total with single rail. 12v+ max current of 16A meaning it gives out 192w. If im doing the correctly)

also im running this via mPCIe in the location that my old wireless adapter is. (only one available on the board)

i have the HIT express card adapter ver 2.4a and the mpci adapter and psu switch they supply.

i have also tried to install the verde drivers (with modded INF file) as im planning on doing this as an internal LCD setup. but when i run the setup it says that it can't find a compatible device.

any assistance you could give would be great

 

Use Setup 1.x to confirm your GTX550Ti gets detected and/or apply mPCIe anti-whitelisting. Also test the PCI Reset Delay switch on the PE4H and CLKRUN switch on PM3N to help you along as well.

 

I have not found the thickness of the PCB of both PE4H and PE4L on HWTools schematics, can anyone tell me how thick is it? I'm making a 3D model in sketchup for the whole setup, but i need to have the exact thickness without any connector.

Thanks in advance

 

Hello, i'm french guy, i have a Dell E6420 and i'm interesting by eGPU system, and i would like to know if it's possible to work with my Dell.

E6420
Bios A07
i7 2620qm
6Go Ram (8go soon)
250Go HDD (120Go ssd soon)
NVIDIA NVS4200M
Win 7 Ultimate 64

screenshot memory
Imageshack - sanstitreqwtn.jpg

Thank's

 

Hi Guys. I have X220T, GTX 560, p4EH, but can't launch any game, and connect extLCD, because Nvidia mod. 285.62 + kallitokaco's nvam.inf driver falls without errors. Below some screnshots.
As i understand my card work with PCIE 2.0x (1.2Opt), because i install setup 1.x. I booted with working p4EH and videocard. I have not any idea thats wrong with it.

 

Hello french guy,

According to Review Dell Latitude E6420 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews , your notebook have ExpressCard slot & Intel HD 3000. So, you can use eGPU on this notebook. You can do x1.Opt setup with Nvidia Fermi desktop graphic card. Opt=Optimus provide PCIe data compression which boost performance over PCIe x1 link. You might want to wait for PCIe 2.0 compliant kit from BPlus/HWTools. With PCIe 2.0 compliant kit you can get more performance because eGPU will be able to operate at 5Gb/s speed at each direction.

 

Hi,

What is the PSU specification? What is the max current at +12V?

 

ok thank you, have you a link for PCIe 2.0 compliant kit ??

 

The PCIe 2.0 compliant kit not available yet. If they available later, it will be announced at first post of this thread (or here for PCIe 2.0 kit update). They might be available this January/February.

 

Thank you. I'm dl'ing setup1.x right now. Can you help me in understanding what exactly the PCI reset delay and clkrun switches do? I noticed them but haven't a clue what I should change them to. After whitelisting should I just try all the different configurations until the eGpu is detected/works?

 

PCI reset delay and clkrun are basically delay the eGPU detection. This is useful if your notebook unable to boot with eGPU connected.

 

Chieftec GP 550 12V 20+20+20A 498W at 12V line. Problem with driver, it falls with error! No any error code as 12, 14 and ecs.

 

Insufficient power doesn't give error code 12 or 42 or 43.

 

Thank you sir!

 

Come on Thickness of the PE4H and PE4L PCBs shouldn't be hard to be measured

 

Thickness of a plain PE4L PCB with black insulation sheet and bottom dummy plastic PCB, without any component, screw nor connector is 6.2mm. The actual electric PCB without the rest is 1.7mm thick.

Measured in room ambient conditions.

 

Perfect, so considering that the kit is done by all the layer i'll keep 6.2mm for thickness (i've already measured all the highest onboard connectors taking the schematics from Molex site

Thanks again!

 

Hello guys,

I have a Acer 5742G, i5-460M, geforce gt 420m, 4gb ddr3 ( AS5742G-5464G64Mnkk | Product Model)

I'm considering eGPU so i can play SW:TOR with good framerate.

How can i do it?
What card do you think it's better for me to get?

I'm a complete noob, never tried something like this.

Thanks in advance.

 

I think problem with drivers because on Desktop this card+power supply work perfectly. Please read my last post with question about steps. May be i lost something?

1) Swith on VGA with Power Sypply
2) Connect P4EH to laptop
3) Boot win 7
4) instal mod drivers Verde 285.62 + kallitokaco's nvam.inf (64-bit)
5) install setup 1.x
6) reboot, and try to start the games and connecting to CRT.

 

Need to set Gen1 link speed if using current PE4L/PE4H

Your X220T needs to set Gen1 link speed on the port using either Setup 1.x or in the bios if using current PE4L 1.5 or PE4H 2.4 or lower. If not then you'll get NVidia driver BSODs/errors/black screens. PE4H 3.0 will allow Gen2 speed and is scheduled for release in Jan 2012.

See my DIY eGPU implementation: i5-2540M 2.6 12.5" HP 2560P + NVidia GTX560Ti @x1.2Opt for an example.

 

Hello,

Aspire 5742G doesn't have ExpressCard slot & only have one mPCIe port which currently use by WLAN card. So, the only way you can use eGPU is by using the mPCIe port. You will not be able to use WLAN when using eGPU. Aspire 5742G is Nvidia Optimus notebook which mean it have Intel HD Graphics enabled. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) You can do x1.Opt eGPU setup with Nvidia Fermi desktop graphic card. Opt=Optimus provide PCIe data compression which boost performance over PCIe x1 link. This also means you can get acceleration on internal LCD.

 

ok so i tried this, Idk what exaclty im doing wrong but I get the bootmenu option for the setup1.0f when i select it it boot loops back and gives me the options again. i used the faq's but im getting alittle lost. i also tried to hotplug the egpu set-up with the win7 sleep method but as soon as i attempt to resume the laptop craps out and won't boot again until i turn the setup off. any suggestions?

 

Set PCI Reset Delay switch on the PE4H and CLKRUN switch on PM3N. OR at Windows/Setup 1.x boot menu, connect eGPU & then boot into windows.

 

I set them at 16seconds and turn it on at the windows/setup 1.x boot menu and it will boot to windows but it doesn't detect the eGPU. i believe it is because i need to whitelist the egpu in setup 1.x but it will not allow me to boot to that POST. or am I assuming wrong to think it will boot into a POST when i select setup 1.x at the boot menu?

 

There is "OR" in the statement. There are two ways:-

• Set PCI Reset Delay switch on the PE4H and CLKRUN switch on PM3N
• connect eGPU to notebook
• power ON eGPU & notebook
• boot into windows.

OR

• Power ON notebook.
• At Windows boot menu, connect eGPU to notebook
• Resume boot into windows.

I believe PCI Reset Delay set to 7s is more than enough.

 

Sorry, but i can't instal this setup 1.x properly.
1)I started RMPrepUSB, made usb bootable flash as writen
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/3632/rmprepegpu.png
but this RMPrepUSB trying to download all 200gb files from C:/ not only bootable 5 files. It's make free V:/ usb disk.

2)I make directrory C/ IYViDock with files
30/09/2008 08:33 PM 198,184 Contig.exe
01/01/2011 06:06 PM 45 diyvidock-mount.bat
01/01/2011 09:39 PM 5,898,240 DIYViDock-Setup-10e8.img
16/10/2009 04:43 PM 220,921 grldr
16/10/2009 04:43 PM 9,216 grldr.mbr
24/12/2010 12:52 PM 407 menu.lst
01/01/2011 06:06 PM 3,568 setup-disk-image.bat
7 File(s) 6,330,581 bytes

3) Run diyvidock-mount.bat, but can.t create boot disk because have an Error: Disk V not imDisk device.

It's too much problems to run setup 1x in DOS, but in win7 this bat files don't work. Explain please, how i can install this without so much steps and errors? Anybody can write a youtube video to make boot disk and running DOS and making neccesary permissions for 1.2x? It's to dificult to me trying makes so steps with unthinkable errors.

 

Start by downloading DIYeGPU-Setup-10f-pre28 here rather than the 1.0e you are using.

 

Ok. Installed setup 1.x

1) Change port link to 5Gb
2) Perform 32bit compaction
3) Run config.bat
4) reboot
5) driver nvidia fals with error and recovery
6) CRT cant connected, driver fals. if i run any game i see BSOD.

Thats the problem with driver? 1.2x 5GB connected, power suffcient 60A 12v, lastest mod driver installed.

May be i must boot without Egpu, and in win connect expresscard? But driver still fals(

I saw once more problem:
1) if i use 1.0x i see driver properties.
2) if i swithed to 1.2x i can see driver properties as chose monitor\3d\Physix and ecs.

 

Hello notebookreview forums, i've been reading these forums for the past few days and i've decided that am interested in buying and setting up the DIY vidock set ups.

A few things i need to know, is which one do i buy? the PE4L or the PE4H?, i understand PE4H is faster\better but would it work on my laptop?.

Heres my spec:

-Computer: Lenovo G530.
-Cpu:2.16GHZ Duo CPu.
-Mobile Intel 4 (Intel 4500M) internal video card.
-GL40 - Intel ICH9M - Chipset.
-Bios version Lenovo 6GET19WW(For NON-HDMI) 1-28/2010.
-54mm (or whatever it is) ExpressCard Slot.
-I have an external monitor.

I have two main questions:

1-which External EpCi should i buy(PE4L or PE4H) - that would work/fit my laptop accordingly.
2-And which video card is most fitting my laptop?.

Pardon my ignorance regarding this subject, i really tried to read all the posts and go over as many pages as possible but i don't quiet understand it, so please respond to me.

I am selling to spend the 105 or 120$ on the EPCI, and am willing to spend 50-80$ on a video card, maximum 100$. And also i am getting this so i can actually play video games, weather its lowest or mid or high or whatever it may be, i want to be able to play, with my Moible intel 4 i can't even run games at the lowest detail possible, so a standered video card that runs games at high detail (doesn't have to ultra high) would work just fine, but not something to bad!.

Please help,
Thanks!.

 

You should set the link to Gen1 (2.5Gb/s), not Gen2 (5Gb/s).

Why do you downgrade the graphic card? Anyway, did you try connect the graphic card while in Setup 1.x & press F5 (refresh)?

Hello,

You can use either PE4L-EC2C or PE4H-EC2C. Both deliver same job & same performance. The only difference are PE4L only have one PCIe port while PE4H have four PCIe ports & PE4L cheaper than PE4H. Also, PE4H have sturdier base.

Your notebook have Intel GMA 4500MHD which means you can do x1.Opt setup using Nvidia Fermi desktop graphic card. Opt=Optimus provide PCIe data compression which boost performance over PCIe x1 link. The performance is equivalent to PCIe x2 link setup, sometime better. You also can use internal LCD with eGPU, meaning you'll get acceleration on internal LCD. Base on your budget, you can get either GT430 or GT440 or GTS450. With these graphic card I don't think you can play games comfortably on "high" settings, especially latest games. Don't forget PSU in your equation. Don't buy cheap & not reputable brand. Buy reputable brand like Corsair or Seasonic or FSP. They also have cheaper & reliable PSUs too, e.g. Corsair CX-430 or CX-500, FSP ( & & & &). You also can use 12V/120W AC adapter for these graphic cards if you like compact setup, for example here & here.

 

Hi
thank you
I still have that great GPU
I borrowed this from my office desktop to reduce the power consumption. trying to resolve the power issue.
Yes I did! . I've tried verity of methods doing this.
devcon.txt problem is now resolved but...
when I power on the GPU, fan works too noisy but once connect the port to laptop it will be silent.
here is 32bit compaction result.




any idea?

 

@kazem.gh,

Did you press F5 after connecting eGPU to notebook? After press F5, did eGPU detected & listed in Setup 1.x main screen? You need to get your eGPU detected first before you can proceed with compaction or other steps. This is not compaction or devcon problem. Try set the jumper: JP3 close, JP4 open.

 

I pressed F5 after every changes!
eGPU is not listed anywhere!
I tried J4 open (if it means "witout J4")
result was nothing
I now the compaction must be done after detection, but instruction screen says (last method) "do compaction" and "assign resources manually"
I'm wondering if this assignment could help me!
Q: can this issue be because of my first setup on 7300GT? I mean some past configuration on Setup1X that conflict my new ATI GPUs?

 

I'm having issues stopping my eGPU from being disabled by the OS. I have the 270.61 Optimus Drivers with the overwritten nvam.inf. Since I only seem to get a code 43 error standby/resume or booting with the PE4H delay set to 7 or 15, I set up Setup 1.x as a bootmenu item. I've been following this to allow the eGPU card to be recognized as working in the device manager. The eGPU initially loads as unconfigured in Setup 1.x, but looks okay after compaction.


If i'm following the right path, then my problem is this; 32-bit and 32-bitA give me a "no solution available" error in all combinations of compaction. The 36-bit combinations are giving me no errors, but chainloading Vista still doesn't work. When booted with the delay, I get a Code 10 error, on standby/resume I get a code 43 or Code 14.

I'm starting to run out of ideas and could really use some advice on a combination of settings to try.



Here's my setup;
Dell Inspiron 1440 (Intel series 4 family 4500MHD iGpu)
Vista 64 + 4Gb RAM
PE4H + EC2C + 350W ATX PSU
Asus GTX 550Ti

 

Like I said, you need to get eGPU detected first before you can do compaction or assign resources to it. Your first setup doesn't cause this problem. I don't know what's wrong though. Can you test both graphic card & PSU in desktop computer?

This show you need to boot with PCI Reset Delay. When you get Error Code 10, install/reinstall Nvidia Verde driver.

 

Both eGPUs are tested but PSU is not. Although I think PSU is OK.
could you please help me doing the last try "assigning resources manually with iport bridge"?
can this help or I should forget everything!!?
I spent over 400$ on this!! and the result was nothing till now!! :'(

 

Hi all,

Crazy question. I'm in the market for a used HP 8510w. Would this work via the expresscard port on the HP advanced dock? Or should i just hold out for a Lenova T61p?

 

Upgrade to Win7 for it to work. Vista doesn't support two GPUs from different families.

No reason why it wouldn't work with a 8510w's expresscard slot. However if you want best performance then recommend a 8530p with a 4500MHD iGPU to get x1.Opt's pci-e compression and internal LCD mode. Same goes for the T61p -> suggest a T400 instead.

 

Yah!
Its working now!
I detach all the ports and cables, reattach!
and eGPU is detected!
Im downloading the drivers now!
thank you!

 

hello

have anyone a nvam.inf for a windows 7 32 bit system and the Verde 285.62 driver please?

i cant install a older driver from here http://forum.notebookreview.com/6542661-post1222.html because my geforce gtx560 is too new.

 

So I went out and replaced my 4GB stick with a 1 GB stick to make my memory total 3 GB. Come to find out... I get Code 12 again with 3 GB. Are there any other tests I can run or am I pretty much stuck with this great card and a laptop that only makes this setup more difficult?

Edit: Also tried to recompact with no success.

 

Hello Everyone

I've been reading into this a lot lately, and I was hoping I could get some help with my current set up. I have a Gateway p7805u FX gaming series notebook. I ugraded the CPU to t9900 and the ram to 8gb, all of which has been working great. I recently purchased the pe4h 2.4a setup and have a PCI-e x1 1.0 setup successfully working with a Geforce Nvidia 560 gtx 2gb desktop gpu through my Expresscard/54, overtop my onboard nvidia 9800m gts, 1gb. *takes big breath* I'm also running Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I'm benchmarking much higher than I was with my onboard card, and I would now like to optimize the 560 card. I'm running the video through the HDMI output on the card, into my HDTV, and I don't have any interest in running the video through my internal LCD.

First and foremost, after much reading, I'm not certain if having the 560 desktop card is of any use to me. I've been reading about using the 460 with optimus drivers on the mPCI-e x1 1.0 setup, being as good as mPCI-e x2 1.0 setup, but I'm not sure if that information is accurate.

Secondly, I'm trying to update the 560 nvidia drivers to the current version, but the installation keeps failing. I've read some workarounds online, but it requires using driversweeper, and deleting all traces of the drivers on my harddrive and starting from a fresh install. I'm worried about doing that, because it took some serious tinkering to get my current set up working on my TV. I've also tried some of the other workarounds, such as changing permissions on certain folders that the drivers need to install into. After failing several times, I disconnected everything, and was able to update my 9800m gts drivers to the current without any issues. On another note in regard to this subject, does having both cards with drivers installed interfere with each other?

Thirdly, I have no idea how the optimus drivers work. I've been pouring through the pages and can't seem to find the information I'm looking for on that subject. I've also been to the nvidia website looking for where to download the drivers, and I can't find that either. Any help, or useful information, on that would be greatly appreciated!

Fourth, after researching, I'm fairly certain my system is capable of PCI-e x2 1.0 set up, either through the Expresscard/54 + miniPCIe slot where my wifi is connected, or through two internal miniPCIe slots. I think the Expresscard/54 is port 5 and the minPCIe slot with the wifi is port 4, but I'm not certain of that, and I'm not sure if I can couple those two ports together. I also have no idea how to work the setup 1.x software, or how to couple the ports together to get the PCI-e x2 1.0 setup working. It may also be that the two internal mini ports are ports 4 and 3.

Lastly, I read that disabling HIGH DEF nvidia audio drivers will free up some bandwidth and cause the card to work better, but I currently run my set up through my surround sound system - and I would like to keep that optimized as well. Will disabling those allow me to still use my onboard drivers and get full surround sound, and are the nvidia drivers good for surround sound? I've used the onboard before I started all this upgrading and it sounded good - I was able to produce good surround. I've also been running the surround sound with my currenty set up using the nvidia sound drivers, and that also sounds really good. I'm not sure which is better, or even if I will notice a difference using one or the other. Any thoughts on this??

Any advice, tips, useful information or otherwise help on any of these subjects would be greatly appreciated. And please forgive my lack of knowledge on these subjects, I'm still new to all of this and still learning. Sorry for the longwinded post!

Thanks so much!

 

hello again

a german board told me that i can use the nvam.inf (64 bit) for a 32 bit driver without problems. when i'm installing the problem the system check abort with the message that it cant find required Files.

what is the problem and how can i solve this?

 

I suggested Aaron Yang to create a Facebook page to publish announcements and grant visibility to the solution provided by BPlus (PE4H and PE4L mainly for us). And so it has come

Bplus Technology Co., Ltd. | Facebook

Join and spread the word!

 

Re-run v:\devcon\mkdevcon in Windows to create a new v:\config\devcon.txt file based on your 3GB configuration. Then re-try 32-bit compaction on the eGPU only. It should find a solution. If not then select Setup 1.x's Save Diags->compact_fails and follow instructions.

The p7805u doesn't have an Intel 4500MHD or newer iGPU so the Verde driver will not engage pci-e compression. The way then to get better performance is to see if you have a port layout to be able to do x2 or x4. x2 requires accessible [port1+2], [port3+4] or [port5+6]. A [port4+5] layout will not work. See kizwan's comments on x2 on a p7805u here.

 

Ran the compaction on the eGPU and it fails. DIAG folder is posted below.

DIAG.rar

 

You can get nvam.inf file for 32-bit Verde driver here.

If we refer to your Device Manager (see here), the first PCI bus with 8 digits memory address is 0xC0000000 which means TOLM is 3GB. If we applied TOLUD rule, TOLM=3GB already low enough (<3.25GB) & you should be able to use 4GB++ RAM. I don't know why you can't though. I think the max memory you can use with eGPU is 2GB RAM only. Unless HP fixed this issue in next BIOS update or someone fixed the BIOS for you, there's nothing you can do.

I want to try fixed your notebook ACPI but I don't think it will successful though.

 

Is thunderbolt standard on Ivy Bridge? Might be another reason to see if I can upgrade my W520 without too big a deficit