DIY eGPU experiences

thank you
i try this old card only for test
if i buy new card it will be work? i want buy msi gtx560ti 2gb

 

That does sound like the direction I should take. However, I can't do that right away. Would the kit here be able to function the same as the one you linked to?
As it is now I might just buy that one anyway and then use it with my current system until I can upgrade a month or two down the line when I am in a position to consider ditching the acer.

I REALLY like the Idea of using the internal display and being able to be a bit more portable if absolutely necessary.

can someone recommend me a reliable laptop on the cheaper side that would support those features? Also I need something with a really good cooling system.

Thanks for the help so far!

*edit* it sure would be nice if someone came up with a way to plug directly into my acer's mxm type II card slot and run a eGPU off of that. The only downside is I would use a lot of thermal paste if I had to go on the road every couple of days. Still worth it though because that's the fastest slot on this motherboard.

I guess its time to let the old hardware go *sniff* they don't make them like they did back in '08 but here is to the as6920g, most reliable laptop I have owned!

 

For some reasons i'm curious about this mod to drive PE4H by 12V jack powering :

http://forum.notebookreview.com/7912207-post5613.html

Is the yellow 12V molex cable (+ ground black) enough to completely supply the 75W of the pci-e port ?

Pci-e specs are 75W (3.3V/3A + 12V/5.5A). So i wonder if in this mod we lost the 3,3V/3A to totalize 75W. I don't know if the PE4H uses the 5V of the floppy connector and regulates it to supply 3,3V to the pci-e port.

Also, i'm not sure that DC 19V on the new PE4L 2.1 is a good choice ? It does prevent to use light < 120W gpu by jack powering like the ones i saw with GTS 450 and HD 5750, doesn't it ?

 

Also i'm trying to make a strong setup by jack powering only, i'd like to go for this kind of powerfull AC DC adapter 12V 192W :

192W Netzteil / power supply for picoPSU, mini-ITX | eBay

Then i will mod/split the P4 connector supplied with the adapter to two molex connectors (one black and one yellow 12V cable for each one). Then first molex will be split to one floppy connector (for the PE4H) and molex (for pci-e connector via adapter). Second one will go to pci-e connectors of the gpu via adapters.

Is this fanless setup seems viable to you or i'm missing something ?

 

That mod converts a DC jack to a molex so can then plug it into the floppy 12V molex jack using a floppy-molex adapter. A PE4H does it's own 12V to 3.3V/3A so can satisfy the 3.3V/10A (max) rail without auxilery 5V or 3.3V input.

The "DC 19V" statement on the PE4L 2.1 page is a mistake. I figure they copy and pasted info from a PE4H and buggered it up as they were on their way out the door to celebrate the Water Dragon Chinese New Year holiday.

The only regulator on the PE4L 2.1 is a AME1085 (a 5V to 3.3V voltage regulator) as confirmd by the 1-19 Masaharu update:

So if you use a 12V DC input only on a PE4L 2.1 then you'd technically need to plug the USB lead into a USB port to meet the 3.3V/3A max requirement of a pci-e slot. if you are supply 12V with 5V via say an ATX PSU then you don't need to plug in the USB cable.

Worth noting that quite a few prior implementations have been running a eGPU using only 12V DC input (no 5V) so draw only from the expresscard slot's 3.3V/1.3A. So we can say that many video cards have considerably lower 3.3V real-world input power requirements than the 3.3V/3A pci-e spec maximum.

 

Hi guys, first I'd like to say great work on figuring this out and helping everybody.

I bought a PE4H last month along with the optional AC power adapter from this site: http://www.harmonicinversion.com/pr...details&flypage=&product_id=191&category_id=1
I have an ATI Radeon HD5670 that I was using with it, which only draws power from the pcie slot, so I have no power supply hooked up. It was working perfectly fine until yesterday. When working normally, the PE4H had 3 green lights on it.

Yesterday, after about 30 minutes of use or so, the entire eGPU system just shut off and my GPU's fan stopped spinning. I unplugged it all and let it sit for a while and tried it again, no luck. I removed the GPU from the slot and tested to see what lights came on if I just powered the PE4H. When I plugged the adapter in I got one green light, but it also seemed to be making a whining sound from where the adapter connects to the card. I then tried it again with the GPU and all I got was a faintly blinking light on the PE4H, and no activity on the GPU.

I have two questions: 1) is it normal for the card to make a whining sound when used with the power adapter (normally I would just assume no, but I am not sure if I remember it making that sound during past use or not). 2)Do you think the problem is that the PE4H is bad, or the GPU died?

I am assuming it is a problem with the GPU, but I don't like the whining sound it is making either...

 

You probably blew out the 12V converter. It's only rated for 36W and that card draws 61W from the slot. Only by using the floppy connector can you fully power the PCI-E slot to the full 75W spec.

 

It's written 15-20V/4,5A on my PE4H but you're probably right the 12V converter has probably fried. Voltage converters on small PCBs seem to be tricky when highly loaded for a long time.

I was reading 12V picopsu manual and they specify that as soon as the 3,3V and 5V lines are higly loaded, it requires ventilation. Same kind of matter.

Thank you for your response Nando. You're right about the PE4L 2.1 it necessarily has 12V DC on board. It would fry with a 19V DC input.

As for the 192W AC DC adapter i think i will rather go for this small fortron flex atx psu :

New Flex ATX 1U 250W PSU power supply (mini ITX) | eBay

It is 80+ and has 17A on the 12V line. Should be sufficient to drive a GTX 560 ti without OCing. In addition, fortron psus are deemed for being pretty silent.

I will put that with the gpu in a pretty small plexiglass enclosure i think.

 

alright so I finally hit a game that my setup has hard time running at 1024x768 due to graphics (Oblivion), so I thought I'd pop up here to see what can be done

I got ExpressCard 1 - 54mm slot, ICH8M chipset, 4GB RAM of which I use only 3 due to XP Pro 32bit OS, nVidia 140m that I run overclocked by 55% that has 128MB dedicated memory and uses 512MB total for video memory.

with my old CPU (T7500) I had 3DMark06 score of 2400 or so. With the current T9500 I can not run the test for some error that pops up, but I assume it would be more than that but not by much.

I think I got some 150W desktop PS around here somewhere, and I'm using external monitor.

here's my PCI memory map

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/1650/pcimemorybus.jpg

so what can I do with this thing, and would it be worth doing at all ?

thanks

P.S. I got ExpressCard SATA card in the slot right now so that would be out obviously.

EDIT: I think there's that advanced dock that I can buy for my T61 that has PCIe slot in it but I dont know if that would be better way to go.

 

Thanks for the response. That makes more sense than anything else I could come up with. So just to clarify, the GPU should be salvageable, but the PE4H needs replacement and an additional psu if I still want an egpu?

 

Yes. You could stil run a 12V AC adapter in via the floppy molex lead by attaching a 5.5 x 2.1mm CCTV DC Power Female Jack Connectors (10-Pack) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme to a molex ended cable. This would be your DC-to-molex lead. Using the floppy molex bypasses the 15~19V to 12V voltage regulator.

Could even use a higher power 120W adapter via a 1-to-2 Power Splitter Cable for CCTV Security System Camera (DC 12V) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme to drive a GTX550Ti/GTS450. Would need a second DC-to-molex lead to which you could attach a molex-to-pci-e lead going to the pci-e power on the video card.

 

Those DC splitter are interesting. I saw them a few days ago. I wonder though if they're meant to carry high current. A seller on ebay seemed to mean that those CCTV power cables were fused to 12V/2A max.

But maybe i misunderstood. It should probably work.

 

Good point.

EDIT: a 1-4 CCTV DC splitter uses 24AWG (3.5A/42W) + 26AWG cable (2.2A/26W) so indeed that cable is underspecced for the level of power we require.

 

It was too simple to be true

Also I've been looking for some sort of AC power adapter with two barrel type outputs like the one included in the vidock 4 package.

Villagetronic ViDock4 Plus Product Review

Never been able to find one.

 

Villagetronic users: pls photo the product label on your 150W AC adapter

There's a couple of Villagetronic users that visit this thread. If you are one and have a 150W ViDock4 or 225 ViDock4+ (150W+75W), then can you please take a detailed photo of the top cover of the AC adapter. We'd like to see who makes it so could source it for those users that want the DC jack to be able to power between the two outputs.

It would be easy to then use a 5.5 x 2.1mm CCTV DC Power Male Jack Connector (10-Pack) to create a DC-jack-to-molex adapter for mating back to the floppy molex PE4L/PE4H and/or pci-e power connectors on the video card.

 

Quick question.

If I was able to obtain a usb 3.0 external expresscard 54 slot would I be able to use that with an eGPU? The speed is as fast as a expresscard 2.0 anyway, so I see no reason why it wouldn't work.

If so, does anyone know a company who makes a usb 3.0 external expresscard 54 slot?


*edit* oops, sorry for this post. I just found nando4's post here about the usb 3.0 interface. Any idea when it will be available?

 

USB3 to ExpressCard only have USB connection. It missing PCIe connection which is required for eGPU to work. Unless someone rewriting the drivers, it will not work.

 

Hello,
Well today my pe4h arrived and I am having some issues.

First off if I boot computer, sleep and plug in egpu (power on) and resume I loose all functionality of any USB devices. In GPU-Z it shows as DDR2 and no VRAM
Then after playing around in setup 1x I try to boot and now have no soundcard or wifi card?
So as you can tell I am having some issues. I tried pci-e compaction at 36bit on egpu but did not force it to 32 bit. That showed I had 256mb free. But when I chainload mbr it totally goes spastic and says my internal screen has a resolution lower than 600px and in a high contrast mode. I am not sure what I am doing wrong. I also tried booting with egpu on and it stays on a black screen for ages then also reverts to less than 600px on internal screen in high contrast.

Also trying to boot normally and I still have no wifi or soundcard even though I haven't touched them

Specs:
Dell inspiron 1545
C2D T9400 @2.53ghz
4GB RAM
dgpu ati mobility radeon hd 4330
PE4H 2.4
PSU Corsair CX-430
egpu Gigabyte Radeon HD 4890 1GB DDR5

One other question; Do I have to have the egpu plugged in to my monitor or my laptop plugged into my monitor?

 

Nando4,
Will you receive a sample of PE4L v2.1 before 20th of February? I hope yes, and we can have a real test from you before we order it.

 

I don't think the performances will differ from the already released tests (at least if bPlus hasn't found problems on the cable). Anyway would be nice to have further photos of the kit ^^

 

Hey nando,

it seems that the problem still exist even after recieving a new PE4H, got a new mHDMI, maybe it is from PSU, but it delivers enough power to run the graphics card (12V/34A), so I think the problem is from expresscard adapter, any suggestions?

 

what is the difference between pe4l 2.1 vs pe4h 3.0?

 

Has anyone got any idea as to why my egpu will not work. Other people here have the same laptop as mine and don't have any problems? (dell inspiron 1545)

EDIT: I think I got it working now hopefully it will stay that way

 

Hi all,

I need some help from those that already had their eGPU working 100%.
I'm helping gf to choose a laptop that can work with an eGPU without having to do any compaction like x220. She will be located quite far away from me and i wont be able to help her with setting up and doing troubleshooting with compaction problems.. Thus i need a fuss free setup.

Can anyone who has successfully gotten their eGPU to work without compaction needed leave a post here with your laptop model?

Thanks all!

 

(03-19-2012) Some users need to rework their PE4L 2.1a to get it to detect a video card. Problem is solved in PE4L 2.1b that BPlus have been supplying as of March 22nd 2012.

(01-25-2012) EXCLUSIVE!! The first public US$92-shipped PE4L 2.1 engineering sample was tested below to achieve rock solid x1 2.0 link benchmark results. A 9800GT was used as it's the only card I have handy at the moment and is not recommended with an Optimus-capable notebook like a HP 2560P. Instead consider a NVidia Fermi, eg: [email protected] benchmarked here on the same system. Those results obtained using a modified PE3A to achieve pci-e 2.0 link speed prior to the availability of the PE4L 2.1.

DIY eGPU implementation: i5-2540M 2.6 12.5" HP 2560P + NVidia 9800GT @x1.2 using a PE4L 2.1

Notebook US$700 12.5" HP 2560P i5-2540M 2.6 HD3000 8GB DDR3 320GB HDD + DVD (F.21 bios) Series-6 QM67 expresscard 2.0 slot (5GT/s) Windows 7/64 and Ubuntu 11.10/64 ​	DIY eGPU parts US$92-shipped PE4L-EC025A engineering sample old Gigabyte 9800GT Silent Cell I had lying around US$5 salvaged 12V/17A "550W" ATX PSU ​
Config​ RAM​ GPU​ DX9​ DX10​ Ports​ OS​ 3dmk6​ RE5 var​ 3dmk vant.g​ dmcv4 scene4​
External LCD 8.0GB [email protected] 6974 75.6 4214 52.7 QM67 Win7 64b [email protected] 4150 55.1 3372 34.6 QM67
US$92-shipped PE4L 2.1 includes SWEX and floppy-to-molex cable (not shown) 2560P: [email protected]

The pci-e 1.0 results were obtained by forcing the expresscard slot to Gen1 in the bios or using Setup 1.x.

Observations

• the PE4L 2.1 measures 640mm x 460mm. A book acted as a lean to allowing the PE4L+9800GT to remain self-standing. The 25cm flat cable was OK but I would definitely prefer a little more length. 40cm would be perfect for my needs. The engineering samples available on Feb 20th will have a 60cm cable.
  
  
• A PE4L 2.1 differs to the previous PE4L 1.5 by offering pci-e 2.0 compliance, a 500ms PCI Reset delay option, the cable is soldered on both ends, extra 3.3V@2A obtained by wiring up a USB cable to your notebook (not required if using ATX PSU with it's own 5V input).
  
  
• Worth noting the heatshrink over the cable has bulb area approx 7mm in from the visible cable strands soldered onto the PE4L. Looks like they've hooked the heatshrink at that point so any pulling force is asserted there rather than the weak soldered cable strands. A nice touch to ensure longevity of the device even in the hands of noob gamers.
  
  
• the pci-e 2.0 link speed gaining 40-50% more FPS over pci-e 1.0 in the two game benchmarks making for a lot smoother gameplay. A tasty treat particularly for users with Sandy Bridge notebooks that have dedicated dGPUs with no iGPU for Optimus capability. They'll gain similar performance to x1.1Opt. x1.2Opt capable notebooks will thoroughly enjoy the top performance their platform gives.

 

glad you got yours up and running. I too have the 1545 with a T9400.

fyi: you can get the cpu to run at 2.66ghz by using ThrottleStop
---------

can someone explain what the two sliders/switches are for on the PE4L 1.5? didnt see anything in the troubleshooting/set up pages

 

Ah cool, I might just do that!

 

you can also under-volt it at the same time which will lower the temps. mine's running completely stable at 1.1375V (down from 1.162V. not a huge decrease, but it helps). I have my battery saver mode at .9500V combined with the "super low frequency" and power saving settings gives a fair amount more battery life. I dont have numbers, but it's enough to be noticable..

Combine the 2.66ghz with the 8gb ram I picked up, my gtx460 setup, and the M4 ssd, and I consider my aging 1545 to an adequate desktop replacement

btw, what temp is your T9400 running at? while idle, browsing, max with prime95 test, etc.. I think mine's running kinda warm (47C-50C while browsing with chrome.. approx 20C ambient) and I've re-pasted twice. going to try a different thermal past this weekend probably.

 

My Dell Studio 1557 don't need any compaction for eGPU to work. This notebook is gifted with flexible/dynamic TOLUD/TOLM. If eGPU is connected prior to system power ON, TOLUD/TOLM is reduced automatically from 0xC8000000 to 0xA8000000.

However, I don't recommend this notebook since it is first gen Intel Core notebook & it doesn't have Intel HD Graphics to support x1.Opt setup. Regarding x220, I have nothing against it but even though some x220 doesn't have problem getting eGPU to work without compaction, several other x220 owner still have problem getting eGPU to work smoothly (with strange problem). So, I personally advice stay away from x220.

 

Nah I think those temps are fine, mine runs around the same as yours while browsing, and around 41-44C while idle. At max load it has never gone past 75C and almost always around 60C while at max load during heavy gaming (BF3)

 

Not mine
I had to try multiple scenarios of pci compaction to finally make it work.
But now it is ok, i just have to plug the egpu in windows sleeping mode and there it goes.

Don't know if the Vostro 3750 with discrete gpu GT 525M on board is less laborious to setup.

Anyways with PE4L 2.1 coming, which will almost double internal screen performance, i can say i'm glad that i choose a 17,3" model since i only play on internal screen.

 

Very nice
On their website the schematics are not yet available, so could i ask you to measure the rear part of the kit from the end of the PCIe connector to the edge of the pcb? Seems longer than v1.5.

Does it come with the insulation layer like the 1.5 or is it "as is" ?
I'm always more than convinced that at least 60cm is the minimum cable length to manage the kit confortably in an enclosure.

 

Nando4, you asked them to build the PCB a little bit higher in order to have enough room for the video cards metal panel (the one that is normally attached to the pc house). Is it ok now? From the pictures it looks like it is even thinner...

 

i was one of the lucky ones for x220 not requiring compaction. anyway my gf doesnt like the touch pad and touch point(oh girls.. )..so its out..thanks anyway!

 

Thanks alot.. i was looking at that list too but didnt notice the setup column

 

Hello!

Can i use eGPU and with what PCI-E Express speeds?

 

Do you have some more information about these problems ? I was under the impression that some recent BIOS update (1.24 ?) had solved the TOLUD issue. I was just about to buy one, but now I'm not so sure (trouble-free egpu is a strong requirement for me).

 

Nando4,

Would you recommend getting the 2560p or wait on some upcoming development?

Thanks!

 

Has anyone tried to get a DIY egpu working with the sonnet thunderbolt/expresscard adapter to work on a macbook? Yes, macs can't game... But pairing an eGPU with a sandy bridge processor and windows 7 wouldn't be too bad in my book.

But I do feel like if this worked, lots of people would buy it. So if you have this set up or was thinking of trying it out, I wouldn't mind a reply.

 

The pricier PE4H gets a makeover with a raised platform so the pci-e card's faceplate will no longer press down on the table/desk. The PE4L is their no-frills product without such features.

If you can get one at a good price then go for it. I most certainly wouldn't pay the RRP. It's the smallest i7-quad capable notebook available with an optical drive.

In June you'll see some Ivy Bridge notebooks using 22nm CPUs, some with Thunderbolt ports like the Lenovo S430 and T430u.

Rumors also suggest a 28nm Keplar GTX560Ti replacement will ship in March (GTX6xx). So yeah, there are developments are on the way.

If you're after a budget solution now then consider the Dell Outlet has been selling 12.5" i5-2520M E6220 for $560 after coupon. See DellOutletTwitter.

No reason why it wouldn't work. Could consider using the BPlus THunderbolt to expresscard adapter: TH03 ( ExpressCard 54 Thunderbolt Adapter) . Notice there's no buy-it-now. Looks to be a dummy product they intend to make once they can get Thunderbolt chips from Intel/Apple to demux the TB signal to pci-e.

Apple users with Thunderbolt ports are waiting for a proper Thunderbolt eGPU product that will deliver 4 times the bandwidth (SB EC=x1 2.0, TB=x4 2.0). See the Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, PCIe 2.0 eGPU update for a listing of whose making them.

 

Nando4,

What is your predicted time frame before DIY eGPU solutions will be available for the thunderbolt setup. Also, do you think it will be worthwhile to wait (performance wise)?

I also noticed that you wrote that the 2560p could have it's CPU swapped and was compatible with the new Ivy Bridge series.

Thanks!

 

I second the E6220, I got mine for $430. Absolutely beautiful.

 

@kevmanw4301

Does it have an unsoldered CPU, like the 2560p?

 

Performancewise, Thunderbolt is superior. Is it worth the wait? You decide. A IB Lenovo S430 with a TB port be available in May/June for $779 RRP. Probably scared the market into lowering it's SB prices in anticipation.

So as suggested, if you can get a budget system like a 12.5" Dell E6220 then I'd I'd just jump in on a PE4L 2.1 + GTX460, then look to upgrade to IB notebook + TB + Keplar once it becomes a proven working solution and affordable.

Yes, the 2560P can upgrade to a SB i7-quad. It's yet to be seen whether Intel will make their Ivy Bridge CPUs backward compatible with Series-6 mobile chipsets. They tend to not do that therefore encouraging system updates rather than upgrades.

 

I don't know about thunderbolt tech. I mean pci 1x 2.0 optimus pci compression gives near 4x performance without compression i guess.

And also, internal lcd gaming is only possible if optimus is engaged, right ? And Optimus only engages on 1x link if i understood right ? So no internal lcd gaming with thunderbolt ?

 

From my point of view, we're not going to see a mass production release of a TB adapter before 8-10 months due the timings to receive intel schematics and work on them (ViDock already asked for those, 3 months ago and got no answer probably because Intel wants to favor biggest partners first). So anyway getting a SB Quad notebook + a Kepler GPU via PCIe 2.0 1x could be a more than good solution for now (check the performance in my videos, you won't be disappointed with the newer kit ). I hope only that with the release of commercial eGPU solutions, nVidia will open their Optimus compression also on larger bandwidth, to boost the performances even more.

 

Thunderbolt = x4 2.0 + Displayport input
Expresscard 2.0 = x1 2.0 (approximates to x2 2.0 with Optimus' pci-compression)

So TB could allow the desktop video card's Displayport output to be fed directly in to drive the internal LCD, much in the same was as muxed switchable dGPUs do. That feature will depend on whether the notebook manufacturer adds a mux for that facility.

If not, then NVidia Optimus can drive the internal LCD so long as there is an active Intel 4500MHD, HD, HD3000 or X3150 iGPU in the system. There is no link width condition for it to work. It's the pci-e compression that engages only when it detects a x1 link. The compression won't activate on x2/x4/x8/x16 link widths.

 

Thanks for clearing this up. Thunderbolt is promising then. But either way, it's not for tomorrow. Not to mention that it will be far less underground than actual egpu solutions

 

You can use eGPU but your notebook have 6970M. At the moment, eGPU can run at PCIe x1/x2/x4 link, depend on the PCIe ports arrangement.

You can go back several pages. You'll find one or two post regarding this.

The issue regarding Optimus only engaged at x1 link is only true for eGPU. Native Optimus notebook work just fine at x16 link. mPCIe ports, including ExpressCard slot, are only x1 link. So, to get let say x2 link, we need to ganged together two PCIe ports to form one x2 port. It seems Optimus incompatible with this kind of configuration. With Thunderbolt, you don't have to worry since it's single connection. Optimus shouldn't have problem with it.

 

I do not know if it is soldered or not, but I won't be replacing the CPU. Maybe try searching or asking Dell. I'll probably try putting a quad in it eventually.