DIY eGPU experiences

Much appreciated for the assistance.

A few weeks ago I was looking for a laptop that's capable of gaming/school stuff. I ended up waiting for Tax-free day, then found out it was canceled. I started looking around, and it was really annoying me that most of the laptops for a decent price didn't have anything that could outperform my fairly old PC's HD 3850. But, after seeing this thread I'm probably just going to go the ViDock option (DIY of course).

Basically I just need that kit, the PSU from my current rig (Corsair 520HX), the video card (I'll decide that later on), and a laptop with an ExpressCard slot that has a good CPU, decent amount of RAM, and a good HD size, correct?

 

Yea thats what you need - i would browse around and check up on laptops on this current thread that are simply Plug and play and do not require any PCI reallocation/scripting.

 

Does anyone know of a way to change Dell bios A15's TOLUD? Is there a bios editor around that can do this? It would make it much better than having to pull out 1gb of ram..

Anyway - still hoping mine with plug and play.. Ordering all the parts soon

 

It's a bit more complex than just changing TOLUD. You'd need to relocate the ACPI tables as they sit just below TOLUD. Work for an advanced bios hacker.

I'm hopeful 36-bit PCI allocation of your GTX460 works with your 8400M+965PM chipset to can use 4GB of RAM. Technically it should work but the 2GB->1GB RAM module swap is the contigency plan "just in case".

 

First, Nando, this is an epic thread and undertaking...thank you for all the information. I have searched and read this thread for information on previous m1330 applications so I am familiar with others' situations.

I am attempting to DIY ViDock my Dell m1330, 2.2ghz with 3gb ram, windows 7 32bit.

• Am only looking to use my PCIexpress port for now, so its a x1 setup.
• REALLY want this to be plug and play, boot scripts sound like a pain long-term for me (not as smart as others on here when it comes to scripting)
• At the very least, I want to push dual 22 inch monitors (each at 1680 x 1050) to make working (writing academic papers) easier, my onboard GPU is going to melt trying to render that many pixels.
• playing some gta4 would definitely be an added bonus, but won't break my heart if x1 won't allow that to happen.

I went ahead and ordered this kit from hwtools.net:

PE4H (PCIe passive adapter ver1.0) x1
EC2C (Express card to the converted port adaptor) x1
PCIEMM-030 (Custom PCIe Male to Male cable 30cm) x1
SWEX (ATX Power Supply Power-On Switch ver1.1) x1
External 5V/12V power supply cable x1

I was wondering if I could get a thumbs up/down on if a x1 diy vidock could do what I'm asking with the above kit, and what card would be a good choice? I'm not that well versed in GPU's.

Thank you again for your time on this thread!

 

@ fusion

I am also running an XPS M1330 -- I have not set mine up yet - however with your 3gb of ram - the solution should definately work - as far as plug in play - the chances are high, but not for sure unless you try it.

As far as cards - the BEST card to run at x1 is the GTX 4XX series. If you are simply looking for a cost effective/cheap solution, the ATI radeon 5770 will run you about 70 dollars cheaper, and will be able to do all you desire including GTA 4 (according to what I have researched so far anyways)

 

So, from what I can tell I can pick up a card like the ASUS GTX 460 and the previously recommended 400 W Corsair PSU, put everything together, plug-in, install drivers, shut lid and enjoy dual screens w/o melting onboard GPU? At least theoretically?

That would be most excellent news.

 

Thats Correct! Good luck on your setup, post back your results if you get the chance!

 

Question. Is there a point in waiting for "PE4H ver 2.0a"?

 

Hi there. I do not have an express card slot - only cardbus. There are some adapters (pcmcia to expresscard) out there - they are supposed to support bandwidth up to 1 Gbs - would it be sufficient for DIY ViDock or shoud I go for the miniPCI solution?

 

It would be best to go for the mini pcie solution as 1 Gbps is not enough. It would seriously cause a lot loss of frames rate as it is less than half the speed of the standard express card slot.

 

Thanks. Now i just have to figure out how to leave the wireless card in (buying a wifi usb stick and mounting it internally?)

 

Hey I was just wondering, I saw one person had SLI setup, just wondering how this was done. (9800 GTX SLI)

 

@JuiCe_pl how many mini pcie slots do you have? if you have 2 then there should be no problem. if you have one then a usb wifi is the best solution.

@ualwayslose if you are referring to the X9000-3.2 Dell_M1730 at the first page then that is actually his built in gpu not an external one. it would be pointless to sli with an 2 x1 setup as the loss in performance is quite large and it would be not practical. would suggest an x2 with one card for the best performance if you can do a x2 connection.

 

@ flaunt

Thanks, ordered the stuff today...will report back after it all arrives and I get things built.

 

Hey guys

Does a half mpcie works on normal length mpcie? ,because i swapped my intel advanced n6200 wifi adaptor(half mpcie, from port 1) onto a different mpcie which could be port 4 or 5 but it doesn't work and everest shows port 1, 4, 5 empty? strange

 

Three reasons why swapping into another mPCIe slot would show no device:

1. it's a WWAN mPCIe port using usb only pins -> most likely the reason.

2. it's a whitelisted mPCie port (eg: Lenovo/HP) -> unlikely as your wifi would be in the whitelist.

3. the physical port has not as yet been enabled to show the device attached to ie -> use Setup 1.x to enable ALL ports and then see what comes up.

Since port1 is the root port, it is usually enabled with nothing connected to it. So then you'd have port4+5 as mPCIe and expresscard slots. Likely then your 'other' mPCIe slot is a WWAN usb-only slot.

 

Can I check if there is any way to hook up a power switch instead of using the small one on the SWEX? Cos I was thinking of DIYing a casing to house the card + ATX PSU.

 

why not use the power switch of your psu?

 

hello, I just discovered this section of notereview lol.

anyways, nando, if I want two U2711(2560x1440) and one U2411 (1920x1600). What setup would you recommend?

 

Any thoughts on the eVGA GTX 460 SC 768 MB vs the MSI GTX 460 1 gb?

I have a coupon making the eVGA one 165 bucks, but the MSI GTX is 230 bucks.

is the extra ram really worth 65 bucks? In the guru 3d reviews the superclock eVGA matches or outperforms the MSI GTX 1gb.

I am gonna be running 1x, but im wondering what difference the lower ram would make --> anyone have any experience with a 768 vs 1 gb card yet?

 

Cos i would like to house the gfx card and the PSU in a ITX casing below my table, out of sight. Therefore, the PSU switch might be hard to reach.

 

Just put in my order for:

Corsair 400W ATX PSU
MSI Geforce GTX460 1GB OC
PE4L

--Hopefully all this stuff works out!

Also does anyone know if you can run the Laptop LCD off the internal GFX card at the same time as running the external with the external GFX? or does the laptop LCD not work at all - I see all these pictures with people haveing dual monitors with one of them being the internal LCD

-- I will post back with my results this weekend!

 

1GB card will be faster but not 39% ($65). Can you share the coupon? Can make a US$250 GTX460-768MB setup possible.

Just need to wire up to your custom switch the green and black ATX PSU wires as shown by the paperclip trick.

Yes. Internal LCD works with the external LCD. I make it the secondary and the LCD connected to the desktop gfx the primary so games start on the accelerated graphics. Can also clone to the internal LCD only bypassing the need for an external LCD.

US$296 Vidock4 available: 150W PSU + chassis to accept a gpu with 1x6-pin pci-e connector.

Opinion: add a US$160 HD5770 and you're looking at a US$456 HD5770 setup. That's pricey. ViDock4's 150W being insufficient to power a GTX4xx or HD58xx setup since they offical require 225W or more. Poor bang-per-buck imho since can do a US$300 GTX460-768MB setup where the GTX460 is a better performer than a HD57xx. See benchmark results below:

HD5750 versus GTX460, HD5750 versus GTX465 , HD5750 versus GTX470.

Also consider a US$240 12V/80W HD5750 setup if really want an ATI solution.

Granted, the ViDock4 does provide an enclosure if you require one.

Villagetronic ViDock software to do PCI allocation?

Villagetronic have also modified slightly the first DIY ViDock bootdisk which their support staff use do the IGP/PCI allocation analysis and provide a setpci-based script. References to my 2510P are still included.

 

I got the coupon as part of the starcraft 2 Boostpack for midnight launch - as far as I know - its a 1 time use, and it expires august 2nd.

its 20% off eVGA graphics card 400 series - I gave it to my friend to buy his, but if it works for multiple people I would be happy to share it.

I already bought the 1gb MSI version - thinking that with overclocking + 1gb it would be worth the extra money... its already ordered.. so oh well

 

Request: someone to write a VBS/installer script to do the DIY ViDock Setup 1.x image install

I have DIY ViDock Setup 1.0f almost ready to release but would like automate the disk image installation steps described here via scripts. Incomplete batch files to do some of these are already included in 1.0e1 here. That is:

1. extract files

2. run contig over the Disk Image file

3. install imdisk if it's not already installed

4. mount disk image as V: with imdisk. Add option to add that to Startup Folder.

5. run appropriate devcon (32-bit or 64-bit) capturing output to disk image directory. This can fail if UAC is turned on.

6. check devcon.txt has a "PCI BUS" entry (English) that compact ignores MEM/IO ranges from. If not ask user to edit the the devcon.txt file to remove the equivalent PCI BUS entry as otherwise it will be used to as a prohibit range.

7. edit boot.ini or bcd tables to create bootitem entry if it already doesn't exist.

Can anyone with Windows installer/script experience PM me to work on a nice installer to do this?

 

Any decent laptop deals that people have used with great success?

 

The cheapest i-core based deals atm with HD-graphics that you could do a (recommended) US$300 GTX460-768MB DIY ViDock would be:

US$432(after BCB) 15.6" Asus U50F i3-330M 2.1 4GB 500GB W7/64HP *expresscard slot*
US$490 14" Lenovo G460 i3-330M 2.13 4GB 320GB W7/64HP *expresscard slot*

Lenovo Y460/Y560 and Toshiba M645/A665 are also great 14/15" candidate multimedia notebooks. 15.6" Dell Studio 1558 even x2 1.0 link capable using it's two mPCIe slots, though they tend to be more pricey.

 

When do ExpressCard 2.0 laptops come out? I've not been able to find anything!

 

Looks great! I'll definitely look into those for sure.

 

It might be a silly experiment but I wonder if Optimus would work with ViDock with the proper Nvidia card and Intel GPU built in to the notebook. I have to assume it would based on how Optimus works.

The hardware that is required for Optimus is

and the rest pretty much works through software (the drivers).

With ViDock are both GPUs are present in Windows 7?

Optimus of course would enable the display of both GPUs through the notebook LCD.

I can mod up an INF if needed.

 

I have only one mini-pci. It's not an elegant solution...

I was dreaming of an easily pluggable dock. Well - I just have to get to work now.

 

NVidia Optimus for use with NVidia DIY ViDock?

Optimus is an advanced form of DIY ViDock's internal-LCD only mode. The NVidia gpu renders the image then it is cloned to the IGP for display on the LCD. The driver handles the cloning.

So then it means if the Optimus driver had support for a GTX470 then it should work on my test 4500MHD+GTX470 system. Unfortunately the Supported Platforms listing for the Optimus driver only goes up to a GT335M. On the IGP side the driver supports both 4500MHD and Intel-HD.

I wonder if an INF update would do the trick? A GT335M is not a Fermi gpu.

 

Yeah Optimus is something that needs to be enabled using proper settings in the INF. I would assume the GTX470 would be capable, lets see. I will mod up a 258.96 INF with Optimus for you.

Here is an example of us getting Optimus functioning (not fully) on a non native Optimus notebooks.

 

Anyone with a working DIY vidock running Starcraft 2 with it?! If so - what settings can you play it at, and what framerates are you getting!

Mine should come in by this weekend! Ill do some tests and report all my results back!

 

I bought an EVGA 460 768 mb, a Corsair 400w PSU, PE4H with EC2C, and connected it through 1x expresscard on an Asus X83vm-x2. All I can say is that this is amazing! I got 3x the score on the Final Fantasy 14 benchmark compared to my 9600m gs. Starcraft 2 runs a lot smoother too.

Everything was plug and play. My 4gb of system memory works fine. There were no errors whatsoever and I didn't have to use the CD.

In Everest, however, it says that my PCI-E 1.0 x1 port #1 is empty (that is where the videocard is hooked up). Is this normal?

Unfortunately I have to unhook everything because I am moving. Once I get settled in i want to try a 2x connection by using the wireless card's connection (port 2).

Thank you for the awesome discovery, advice, and great guide!

 

Hey - congrats on your setup! I was wondering what settings of starcraft 2 you can play at, and what the framerates are like!

I ordered a VERY similar system that will be in soon, and I would just like to know what I can expect

 

Thanks! I didn't have time to play or do some real research, but it looked pretty nice and smooth with everything on high. You should have no problems with your setup.

 

Hi all,

Been lurking this thread for a few months now, finally getting the parts to try this out. I've got a PE4L and a HD5670 on the way (college student on a budget), but was wondering about the power supply. The first post says that a 5670 can run on a 12V/72W adapter. It looks a lot like a regular notebook adapter, although my current one is reading 20V/90W. Can I use this power supply? Or must I purchase an exactly 12V/72W adapter?

Excited to get this working!

 

I want to run three U2711 monitors, each at 2560x1440. Which video card should I get?

And in Nando's first post, the 4th picture, when it shows the bottom of the laptop opened, why is that necessary? I thought the PCI-e slot is on the side of the laptop not at the bottom.

 

Congratulations on your setup. I got FF14 benchmark of 1729 with my 2007 [email protected]+GTX470 HP 2510P at 1920x1080 here. Very impressive graphics in that game. Would like to try SC2 as well, but no benchmark/demo version is available.

PE4L can't use your 20V adapter. It must be 12V. Can get a US$9-delivered 12V/72W adapter with correct 2.5mm/5.5mm end.

You'll need an ATI card since they can output to 3 LCDs at the same time. You'll need to do some reading on ATI Eyefinity and which cards support it.

The 2510P is shown using the mPCIe slot. You'd only need that if you don't have an expresscard slot OR your looking to do a x2 1.0 setup.

 

Hey nando

For the Vidock usb Bootdisk , do we need to input any command because mine one said " window 98 is starting " then give me this " c:/" , there is no menu option.

 

@flaunt, nando

Unfortunately I am unable to get my 1330 to recognize the 460. The fan is on, everything is hooked up...I get no love even with a reboot....hmmmmm

Should mention again I've got the same setup as Stewed Tomato above, except for a different PC. Win 7 32bit with 3 gigs ram.

 

1. Power off everything.
2. Power on the DIY ViDock.
3. Power on the system.
3. Boot to DIY ViDock Setup 1.x
4. Check the PCI Config Space->PCI Device Tree, look under the 0:1c.3 (port4) for a NVidia (10DE:xxxx) device.

 

Does the card appear in the windows device manager? any error codes?
-Also what sequence did you use to plug it in and start it?
Are you running the latest nvidia drivers?

You can also post everest screen shots with it plugged in, and screenshots of your device manager where you sort resources by connection and expand everything under memory while the card is plugged in.

I hope you can get it to work! mine should be in tomorrow.

 

This is all my ports available
with port5=expresscard
Is there any chance I can do a x2 1.0?
And why the number is not sequential ?
Thanks.

 

@ nando
I spent this evening trying to follow the steps outlined in your guide for installing diy vidock setup, imdisk isn't installing (I only see the command prompt flash for a split second), and PowerISO won't mount the .img file for DIY vidock setup. I also ended up running a 1.5 hour chkdsk to ensure the img file was tidy. It seems the world is against me in this.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

@ flaunt

I booted it in about every combination you could think of, shutting down, hibernating, and sleep mode all with the card plugged in, on, and off...its not recognizing it any way I boot it.

As far as drivers go, the CD won't load (see screen shot) because it doesn't detect a card installed. I have the latest drivers for my onboard GPU...I could DL the ones for the 460 I guess....

Screen Shot is below



thanks for any advice...i'm stumped.

 

OK so try the newest drivers from the nvidia website..

Though it strange that the card doesnt even show up -

are you plugging the video card into the power supply right? -it may not be properly plugged - also we need to see resources by connection under device manager - go to view - resources by connection- and expand everything under memory.

 

You have some connectivity issue. If the card isn't registering on the PCI bus, ie: not showing up in Everest pci-e port list, then there's no point in trying to load drivers.

Either the expresscard is faulty or the mini HDMI cable or some other component. Worth plugging your setup in another notebook to see if Everest picks up the GTX460. That way can see if the problem is follows the DIY ViDock components or stays with the notebook.

 

My bad, flaunt, I misread your post. About to try the drivers.

Here's an updated screen cap: