DIY eGPU experiences

@ nando

Thats where my mind is starting to go with this. Will try on an inspiron 1420 asap and update after.

 

Hopefully my experience might help you.

For some reason, my 460 wasn't showing up in everest either. However, I had a hunch that my computer detected the hardware because I got a Windows 7 warning message basically saying that my windows may not be genuine (even though it is).

I thought that was weird, but I think my computer detected new hardware and glitched somehow. I installed the videocard drivers, restarted, and from the Nvidia menu I chose setup multiple displays, picked my external monitor and the 460 and everything worked.

The weird part was that the 460 still didn't show up in everest. Any ideas?

 

I was hopeful the drivers would work, but they won't even install because the install package can't detect a compatible product connected to my system.

The test on the inspiron didn't go well, everest complained about not being familiar with the chipset so I was unable to look at what would have been relevant. However, the computer didn't even bat an eye when I rebooted with the expresscard in, no glitches, no warnings, no hardware wizard. I will ask my business partner if we can plug this rig into his comptuer (HP something or other) later today.

I think I remembered reading that some of the mini-HDMI cables from harmonic inversion were bunk....my only other thing to test would be the expresscard slot on my machine, but I don't have any other expresscards to try on it. Is there a way within everest to at least see if the hardware is detected and drivers are installed for the card slot? Poking around on everest and device manager didn't produce anything that I could easily identify as the expresscard reader, but perhaps its buried deeper.

Thanks for all the ideas....I just want this thing to work! At least the card looks good on my desk.....

UPDATE:

Its got to be the expresscard or hdmi cable, not even a blip on my buddy's HP.

 

@nando4
Have you tried GRUB2 for IGP/PCI relocating instead of ViDock Setup?

 

hey i finally have my gtx 460 setup with the pe4h but im not getting that great of performance in apb im getting like 7-14 fps in game play the re5 bench mark game play around 30ish

when i got it i didn't do anything to the software i just put it together and installed the drivers and it started to work

toshiba l305-s5921
Intel Pentium Processor T3400
Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M 2gig mem

 

All, problem seems to be solved, installing drivers now. Bad HDMI cord, needed to get the longer one from fry's anyway.

will update once actually installed.

 

Maybe because of weak processor (1mb cache, 667mhz fsb). Look at tables: most of these processors are c2d with 800mhz and more fsb, cache the same.

 

@fusion - did you test out a different cord and it worked?

im glad it worked out! my card got delayed till monday, but everything else is here.

 

Yes, i confirmed it was the cord that was bunk. Like I said I wanted a longer one anyway to make docking my 1330 easier.

The boost in performance is great, i can run the dual screens and watch HD video again without this thing bogging down. I'm glad I found this solution, i was starting to pull my hair out wondering why my laptop was having so much trouble pushing an external monitor while watching video.

I have gotten a BSOD a couple of times, once while trying to play GTA4 and once on a restart. You only get a few seconds to read the BSOD message, but I gleaned that it was something to do with the computer not being able to power cycle the graphics card. I did it manually, rebooted and its beet working fine since.

I plugged it in hot, and windows immediately gave me the "something is new" sound, had to install drivers and do a couple of reboots during the install to get everything working. Very happy with the install, just wish there was a decent enclosure solution around.

Interestingly, I can run my laptop screen in tandem with these two 22 inch monitors, so win7 can use both vid cards at the same time..don't know if that was already known or not.

Let us know how it works out for you, flaunt, I'm not sure what I should do to provide the forum some useful frame rate info...is there a program I can DL that will provide interesting data?

 

Extremely happy for you!

there are a few programs people have been using to benchmark - the main one seems to be the resident evil 5 benchmark. There is also 3dmark, Final fantasy 14 benchmark and a couple of games in general - you can google any of these and download them if you want to post your results!

BTW - im worried my cord may not work either - which cord did you buy from frys? do they had a mini to mini HDMI cord?

 

Hi, I just purchased the ExpressCard External Graphics x1 from Harmonic Inversion but nothing is being detected by Windows. When I connect it, one green LED comes on so I assume it is getting power. But nothing in the Device Manager is detected. I have also tried a 12v/5a (60w) DC adapter but still only one of the LEDs comes on and nothing in Windows. I can connect a USB 3.0 expresscard and it gets detected, so I assume its not a faulty expresscard slot. Any help would be appreciated.

 

@matthewrulz it wont detect the pe4l or pe4h it will only detect the video card u put in it if it lighting up green working just fine from what i know

 

Card is connected but still nothing. Not sure if I am using the correct jumper settings though, JP4 open/JP3 closed.

 

Might be a stupid reminder, but be sure you have ALL of the power cables attached to the card, my 460 had 3 connections I had to make (2 on the card, one on the PE4H)

 

@mathewrulz

So a similar problem happened with fusion, in that it did not detect his card.. it turned out to be his hdmi cable - is perhaps your hdmi cable is messed up as well.

@fusion
Hey man - can you tell me which HDMI cable you bought from frys to replace yours?

 

The card seems flimsy inside the slot, is this normal? It looks as though there is some room to go down further but i don't want to force it too hard.

 

Hey flaunt, here is the link. The frys near me had 1 in stock.

FRYS.com | PPA

 

Wanted to report that my setup (m1330, x1 link to a GTX 460 via expresscard) is running dual screens great, but is lackluster long-term for gaming. The cpu ends up getting really hot and bogging things down. It looks great for a bit, though.

I've had it open and removed the dust about 6 months ago, so I don't think its my computer.

Still, pleased with the results for work.

 

Interesting, no one else has really reported this type of thing - what happens exactly, does your computer get hot? or are you watching an actual temperature readout?
Does it start skipping/dropping frames?

 

Modded drivers​

ATI / AMD modded drivers at DNA-drivers | Do Not Argue. These provide a single unified mobile+desktop driver, necessary if your system has an existing ATi/AMD dGPU.

NVIDIA Verde modded drivers are below. These accelerate eGPU x1 1.0/2.0 performance via PCIe data compression if you have a Fermi desktop notebook and a Intel 4500MHD, HD or HD3000 iGPU as bootup primary video.

NOTE: Khenglish confirms 295.xx beta desktop driver drives the internal LCD in additional to providing the x1 pci-e compression making it unnecessary to use the modded Verde driver below.. If you don't want the pci-e compression (who wouldn't?) then obtain desktop drivers older than 275.xx. Desktop drivers b/w 275.xx and 295.xx provide pci-e compression but not internal LCD mode.

---

x1.Opt: NVIDIA Optimus using Fermi desktop eGPUs for performance & Internal LCD mobile use

Available NVidia Optimus desktop drivers >>>

Begin by installing the NVIDIA Verde (Mobile) drivers, then overwrite the [install dir]\Display.Driver\nvam.inf with the modded one below containing Fermi desktop video cards. Then run [install dir]\setup.

Want newer drivers then the ones below? Then mod them yourself. Here's how. (source: kizwan)

Spoiler

Yes you can mod the nvam.inf yourself. I think better do not use older nvam.inf with newer driver because Nvidia usually change the content of the nvam.inf file.

When you mod nvam.inf file, you'll need to add three lines in three different sections (one line for each section). This is how you do it:-

1. Identify your eGPU PCI ID, e.g. GTX560Ti: PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1082
2. Download Nvidia Verde drivers.
3. Extract the driver using Winrar.
4. Open Display.Driver\nvam.inf with text editor.
5. Go to [NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.0] section & add this (example):-
   (* NVIDIA_DEV.XXXX, where XXXX is DEV ID, e.g. PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_XXXX)
   
   Code:

   %[B][COLOR="Blue"]NVIDIA_DEV.1082[/COLOR][/B]% = Section099, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1082

6. Go to [NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.1] section & add this (example):-
   
   Code:

   %[B][COLOR="Blue"]NVIDIA_DEV.1082[/COLOR][/B]% = Section099, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1082

7. Go to [Strings] section (located at the end of the file) & add this (example):-
   
   Code:

   [B][COLOR="Blue"]NVIDIA_DEV.1082[/COLOR][/B] = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti"

8. Save the file & run setup.exe to install the driver.

• Verde 295.73 + kizwan's nvam.inf (32/64-bit)
• Verde 285.62 + kizwan's nvam.inf (32/64-bit)
• Verde 285.27 (retrofit by Nautis).
• Verde 275.33 + nando's nvam.inf (64-bit). Updated 6-28 with more Fermis like GTX550Ti
• Verde 270.61 + nando's nvam.inf (64-bit). [for ALL current desktop Fermis] (5-24 fix)
• Verde 270.61 + MikjoA's nvam.inf (32-bit). [for ALL current desktop Ferms]
• Verde 266.58+ nando's nvam.inf(64bit). [for ALL current desktop Fermis]
• Avlan's 266.35 64-bit
• Docusyn's 260.99
• Nautis' 258.96
• OR make-your-own

NOTE: The Optimus driver will only activate the Optimus enhanced performance if you have 4500MHD, Intel HD or x3150 (Pine Trail) primary adapter. A request has been made to NVIDIA here to unlock this for users with other primary video cards. Driver version 270.61 or newer corrects error43 and removes the internal LCD confidential overlay as described.

Pre-requisities for Optimus functionality >>>

NVIDIA's Optimus can engate on your your eGPU setup if you have:

• Intel IGP: Intel GMA 4500MHD, HD, HD3000 or x3150 (Pine Trail)
• NVIDIA Fermi desktop card: GT4xx, GTS4xx, GTX4xx, GTX5xx, or GTS240. A GTS250 or older will not work.

This gives two benefits:

1. An internal-LCD only setup which is transparently managed by NVIDIA Optimus. The NVIDIA card renders the image and Optimus does it's cloning for display on the Internal LCD using the IGP. That's for fullscreen or windowed apps. No need for the fiddly Ultramon internal-LCD setup requiring a DVI dummy.
   
   
2. When attached to an external monitor, the internal-LCD cloning mode is disengaged. Instead, the Optimus driver now gives an impressive performance boost from 20-333% as shown below. This article tells us we are likely using the Pine Trail (x3150) x1 tweak:
   Spoiler

   The one aspect of the technology that NVIDIA wouldn't discuss extensively is how Optimus works within the bandwidth constraints imposed by the NM10 chipset. Just to clarify, NM10 provides just four PCI Express 1.1 lanes, and while a manufacturer could choose to use all of those for the ION GPU NVIDIA says most will use a single link, leaving the other lanes open for additional devices. PCIe 1.1 provides 250MB/s of bidirectional bandwidth on each link, so that means Optimus will have to work within that constraint. Optimus copies content from the GPU memory to the system memory directly, to avoid any issues with flickering displays, but that means NG-ION will need to transmit a lot of data over a relatively narrow link.
   
   Driving a low resolution 1024x600 LCD at 60FPS isn't a problem, but even at 1366x768 we are at the limits of x1 bandwidth (such a display would require 251.78MB/s to be exact). NVIDIA says that NG-ION won't have any trouble driving up to 1080p displays, so naturally we were curious how they manage to get 1920x1080x32-bit @ 60FPS (497.66MB/s) over a 250MB/s link. For now, unfortunately, they aren't saying, other than that there's some "intelligent work" going on in the drivers. Real-time compression is one option, and if you only transmit the meaningful 24-bits of color you can save 33% of the total bandwidth. All we know is that NVIDIA says it works, that the content isn't compressed (presumably that means no lossy compression, as clearly there has to be some form of compression happening), and that they're not overclocking the PCIe bus. In short, Optimus has some "special sauce" that NVIDIA doesn't want to disclose (yet?).
   The first post shows x1.Opt performance improves with faster CPUs. Meaning then it is highly likely that x1.Opt has setup a compressed data stream across the x1 link. It was found here that this performance tweak only applies to x1 links. Now how to get that performance boost on a systems without IntelHD/4500MHD primary graphics or use a x2 link?

​

Tested configurations >>>

• T6600-2.2 Inspiron 1440 with Intel 4500MHD IGP
• GTX470 desktop card
• A Optimus modded driver from drivers section above.
• MSI Afterburner for GPU overclocking

System	RAM	GPU	3DMark		RE5 dx9|dx10		dmcv4.scene4		FFXIV		Ports	OS
			06	vant.g	var	fixed	dx9	dx10	high	low
T6600-2.2 Dell Inspiron_1440	4.0	GTX470@x1^1 External LCD	5236	7781	60.5|61.4	30.9|30.9	58.6	73.0	2080	2242	ICH9M	Win7/32
		[email protected]^2 External LCD	10264	10972	58.4|61.8	-	90.0	96.5	2242	2252
		[email protected]^2 Internal LCD	8294	7055	|39.6	-	43.2	40.5	-	1170^3

^1: (non-Optimus mode) Using 2.57.71 desktop driver. Brief test of 258.96 desktop driver giving the same results.
^2: (Optimus enabled). Using 258.96 mobile driver with Optimus enabled and active. Manage 3D panel giving Preferred Graphics processor option as shown.
^3: Renders OK. Likely a lot lower due to vsync limit by driver affecting benchmarks.

Results >>>

3DMark Vantage - details

Performance test - DirectX 10 - 1280x1024 - Default settings - Feature tests

Setup	Main score	GPU score	Scene1	Scene2	Texture fill rate	Color fill rate	Pixel shader	Stream out	GPU particles	Perlin Noise
T6600-2.2+GTX470@x1	P6408	7701	17.7 FPS	28.0 FPS	31.35	6.33	37.94 FPS	12.33 FPS	17.76 FPS	74.30 FPS
[email protected]	P7788	10972	33.1 FPS	31.2 FPS	31.38	6.35	37.94 FPS	43.77 FPS	69.01 FPS	74.54 FPS

3DMark06: i7-620M Lenovo X201 + Palit 1GB GTX460 - Courtesy of AgentYura

Setup	3DMark06	SM2.0	SM3.0	CPU	Proxycon	Firefly	Canyon	Deep Freeze
i7-620M 2.66+GTX460@x1 (1280x800)	5526	2198	2035	2957	13.3FPS	23.3FPS	21.1FPS	19.6FPS
i7-620M [email protected] (1280x1024)	14530	7K	7K	2962	55.0FPS	56.4FPS	77.0FPS	69.3FPS

Observations >>>

• Confirm Optimus is activated seeing the Preferred graphics processor option in the NVIDIA control panel as shown.
  
  
• Optimus setup using an external LCD accelerates the x1 1.0 performance as can be seen by the highlighted RED 3DMark Vantage/3DMark06 scores. This is not placebo.. these apps run noticably faster. Best quick visual indicator to use is 3DMark06. Return To Proxycon (scene1) pans smoothly, unlike when in non-Optimus mode and gives ATI like numbers for this DX9-centric test. Other apps: 3DMark Vantage runs even smoother than before, dmcv4 benchmark sees many scenes render at a straight 150FPS (!!). RE5 is not a good one for comparison as it's being cpu-bound. I even managed to get a 13056 running the GTX470 at >GTX480 850/1950 overclock. An impressive result considering a GTX470 on a low-end desktop scores 13407 on a x16 2.0 PCIe link.
  
  
• Optimus improved the the DX9-centric 3DMark06 FPS scores by 333%(!!)
  
  
• Internal LCD setup using NVIDIA Optimus is always < 60FPS. Likely clamps rendering to be < vsync to conserve resources.
  
  
• If using the Internal LCD setup then get this overlay. NVIDIA are putting their stamp on 'uncertified' Optimus solutions. Notice too that dmcv4 is reporting the 4500MHD as the display adapter.
  
  UPDATE: 270.51 driver has removed the Confidential overlay when using the internal LCD mode. Older drivers can use the Optimus_overlay-off to remove the overlay.
  
  
• Optimus did not work with the X3100+GTX470 setup, so no performance gain there. Though am working with others to enable Optimus on systems NVIDIA didn't intend to enable it on. Likely NVIDIA are using PCI-IDs to filter out non-certified implementations. See http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/469747-sony-z11-nvidia-optimus-29.html#post6539272 .
  
  
• Optimus' pci-e compression only engages on x1 links as discovered on the x1/x1.Opt and x2 implementation of a DV4-2000 here. IN benchmarks x1.Opt > x2 > x1, though in real-life gaming x2 is just slightly faster than x1.Opt.
  
  
• Means that when NVIDIA release a 75W-120W Fermi graphics card then could realistically do a compact and portable 12V/120W AC adapter+PE4L+GTS4xx setup, like the 12V/120W HD5750. Small enough to take to LAN parties and it will give a significant performance improvement over the IGP.

Hacking Optimus for non-certified solutions >>>

There has been no success at http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/469747-sony-z11-nvidia-optimus-29.html#post6539272 in unlocking the driver to work with a different primary adapter.

I have PMed GenL at ngohq, author of the Hybrid Physx 1.04ff patch, to see if he can assist in unlocking the driver which he is looking at now. It may be valuable too that the DIY eGPU community petition NVIDIA to give us the performance tweaks the Optimus-enhancements provide.

NVIDIA Wishlist - unlock the Optimus PCIe performance tweak for

1. Any systems regardless of their primary video card. atm requires Intel HD or 4500MHD.
2. Those with a x2 link.

​

This was requested by Khenglish on the NVidia forums Optimus with 2 Nvidia cards? (no intel IGP). Since NVidia doesn't appear in any hurry to do that can consider listing this as a grievance in the http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...ia-methods-inhibit-great-pc-gaming-all-2.html thread.

Acknowledgements >>>

Nautis for asking if Optimus works on DIY eGPU implementation, providing INF and assistance.

 

@nando/Nautis - Excellent find! - that performance boost is insane - it approaches x2 performance if not better..

Is it possible for optimus to run with a non-intel IGP or a laptop with NO IGP

For instance, will a geforce 8400M internal card + a gtx 460 fermi work with optimus? I know the geforce 8400M is listed as compatible with optimus on the nvidia website. My GTX comes in tomorrow - would love to help you guys experiment/test this if you need me.

Let me know!

 

Wow that's insane! Kudos for that discovery guys, it's a huge find! It would be great if we could find a way to force Optimus on non Intel HD IGPs. I just hope I can somehow use Optimus with my Mob Radeon 3650 (in principle no but still!). A lot of us are stuck with discrete (MXM or alike) GPUs and can't really hope to replicate an Intel IGP scenario to fit with Optimus...

 

Awesome, but... Why so much difference?

 

Great job nando/nautis. Looks like a strong case for me to switch to a nvidia card.

 

im still not sure how to get this nvida boost to work like am i downloading the right files and i dont see what the guy had in the video menus

 

New user here! I have two simple, but urgent question(s):

1. Will it work out if I use THIS device on a laptop that does not have a built-in ExpressCard reader? Can the ViDock still function correctly by going ExpressCard->USB->Laptop rather than a direct ExpressCard->Laptop connection?

2. Will an ATI 5770 video card ( link) fit into this thing with no problems and perform correctly? P.S. We're ordering ViDock 4 ( link), which supports PCI Express cards that require only one 6-pin power connector such as with this video card. I'm most worried about the video card's power requirements with the 6-pin connector. Think the ViDock can not only seat the card, but also provide it enough power to avoid from having it not operate at all?

Thank you very much for any answers to these two questions. They're urgent because I'm in need of making a decision quickly. Thanks again!

EDIT - And obviously, these questions are regarding the actual ViDock product, not the DIY version. I'm just hoping that with enough experience to create your own, you'll have some answers for the actual product, too, and whether or not my equipment will suffice.

 

Hello not in a hurry but I was wondering with the DIY ViDock does it work with a HP Pavillion dv6000. I was wondering if somebody try it and if they did could you tell me your experiences.
PS The DV 6000 does come with a express port and would need a expressport to usb adapter would that hinder prefomance for anything at all?

 

@ Chubz
1x 6 pin connector has 75 watts no matter what so it should work fine the whole usb to express-card thing might not be a good idea not even sure if it will work and if it did its already being bottle necked think it will just make it not worth trying that way. i know the diy vidock u have a option of using the laptop pcie port or the one your wifi is taking up using a PM3N

 

Adding link to Nautis' NVidia Optimus packages that are ready to install.

Also added detailed 3dmarkvantage scores which can be used to compare the Optimus vs non-Optimus NVidia GTX470 setup. Can see that Stream Out and GPU Particles performance is increase 3 times with Optimus. Suggest then NVidia are aware Optimus puts more load on the pci-e bus and have applied some tweak for efficiency to conserve bandwidth/power which works great for our x1 1.0 setup.

Nobody has reported a DV6xxx setup as yet. You could be the first. You have an expresscard slot to do it with. Consider a US$300 GTX460-768MB great bang-per-buck setup. There is no reason why it shouldn't work. Worst case scenario requiring decreasing RAM from 4GB to 3GB to accomodate the video card in 32-bit space in the unlikely event that your chipset doesn't do 64-bit PCI allocation NOR has room to host a video card in 32-bit space.

 

thx its working just fine now i hope i see the big boost with the 460 i have

 

Wow,

This is really interesting, I had no idea you could do this!

Two questions:

1.) If the desktop graphics card is fully bus powered, and thus does not require a 4 or 6pin plug, do you still need a power supply, or will this provide sufficient bus power directly from the laptop?

2.) Is there any way to make this work with an AGP card? I only play very light games, and don't want to spend lots of money on another desktop video card. (Already have a GTX470 in my desktop rig) Civilization IV runs on my laptop as it is with the integrated Intel HD graphics, but despite its age, I think my old AGP 6800GT I have laying around would be faster (by at least double)

Much appreciated!

--Matt

 

Cool Thanks nando4, So just to make sure I follow this guide when I obtain all the parts. http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...7667-lets-figure-out-how-make-diy-vidock.html
Another thing is I run Linuxmint 9 Isadora and would it be compatibility(I am dual booting Vista so I could do it there just curious if it would work).

 

-deleted-

sorry its working now..

 

So i am having difficulties getting my setup to work.

I have everything connected - I am using a corsair 400W supply; geforce GTX 460 MSI; and PE4L;

My system specs are:
Dell XPS M1330 T8400 (2.4GHZ)
4GB ram
NVIDIA geforce 8400M GS
Win 7 64-bit

When I power everything on while asleep and turn the system back on - Immediately, my USB input devices stop working and it detects the card. It "fails" installation and list the device as standard VGA device with no drivers.

At one time I got a code 10 - cannot start device or something like that.

Another oddity, if I try to re-enable USB or disable the external graphics card or anythign like that - my computer will blue screen and restart - with a BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER error or something like that.

Also - I have the latest nvidia drivers installed on my laptop graphics card - and when i try to install again, it will not recognize the external card - or sometimes it will try to install and HD AUDIO driver...


Any help?

Update: I can see the device in everest as a standard VGA adapter/audio adapter in port 4 -
and also the system device manager has the device in 36-bit space under port 4 - however the nvidia drivers will not recognize it - AND The USB devices on my system do not work. If i mess around with device manager I will blue screen.

 

Set system to have only 2GB of RAM installed to achieve first milestone of a working setup, complete with drivers installed and no USB issues. Then work from that point to get 4GB working.

 

OK I got it working - the problem was that i was trying to get my NOTEBOOK graphics drivers to recognize the card - I have it all working now... the only problem is that I cannot get my USB ports to work anymore when I have the card plugged in... they both just dont work =/

Also - it seems that my sound will not function either.

 

Can you post a screenshot of the memory resources used by your GTX460 in Device Manager as assigned by Win7? Specifically I want to see if it's assigned to a 32 or 36-bit address.

You are losing the sound/usb because Win7 is doing PCI allocation (reshuffling) to find space for the GTX460. This will be solvable by using DIY ViDock Setup 1.x instead to pre-allocate PCI space for the GTX460 so no shuffling by Win7 will be necessary.

 

Here you go nando -

Also - how do accomplish this shuffling?

 

Great - the first confirmation of a 965PM chipset using 36-bit allocation so will have no problems with a 4/6/8GB DIY ViDock setup. As to your USB/sound issue use Setup 1.x to pre-allocate your PCI space by:

1. Installing DIY ViDock Setup 1.0e1 (beta version).
2. Apply Recipe for hotplugging GTX4xx in Setup 1.x but in your case do a 36-bit PCI compaction in step 4.

 

So I tried following the steps in DIY vidock 1.0e

when i boot to USB it says loading up windows 98... and then gives me a c:\

so I type in cd\setup
and then setup and it brings up the menu (after listing a whole bunch of "bad file....")
Once im in the menu - no matter what option I select it goes back to the dos prompt and says

"DIY vidock setup %ver%
unable to open file"

Even if I try chainloading - it sends me to the same message above.. Anyone know what Im doing wrong?

instead of cd\setup i did cd\core
and then I ran compact - it goes through some lines and then says max <4GB is 64MB - then it gives the c:\core prompt again - if i type anything in here, it hangs without doing anything.

 

Cool but could you just direct me to the part of the forum in which would guide me to setup it up. I say all the part and it pretty much seem plug and play. Yet would like to know if I need update BIOS or extra software to use. Thanks

 

Ok with regards to my previous post, I got to the appropriate menus using cd/core then running grub. In the menu however, I cannot get it to recognize port 4 has anything connected. I followed the hot plugging instructions and even hit f5 to Rescan but no go. The card does start whirring it's fan as if it's connected , but port 4 still does not show the Device is connected. Any ideas?

 

1. ICH8M has proven problematic with USB. I'd advise doing a disk image install instead.

2. After hotplugging the GTX460 per recipe, do a 'lspci -tv -n'. Port4 is 0:1c.3. If there is nothing coming up next to that port then can't do much as the GTX460 isn't showing itself on the PCI BUS.

3. If the GTX460 does show up then just need the following to allocate the GTX460+onboard audio to 36-bit PCI space:

Code:

compact pciend 310000000 useonly 10DE:0E22 10DE:0012 import \core\devcon.txt makebatch %DRV%:\core\pci.bat

4. Power off the GTX460

5. Run the pci.bat and chainload into Win7

Code:

call %DRV%:\core\pci.bat
grub4dos w7

6. Standby system (not hibernate), poweron GTX460, resume.

 

Im a little new at this, when you say 'lspci -tv -n' where do I type this in?
Is this in DIY vidock dos prompt?

Also, is the card supposed to show up right after hotplugging, or am I supposed to rescan after hotplugging. (any clue as to why it would not show itself on the bus?)

If all of this stuff fails, do I just need to drop ram to get the USB and sound to work?

 

hello all,

I just got my setup working thanks to Nando and a lot of trial and error - but bottom line is:

Dell XPS M1330 T8300 Core 2 duo @ 2.4Ghz
4GB of ram
onboard geforce 8400M GS 128mb
External geforce GTX 460 1GB MSI OC version running on PE4L
Windows 7 64bit

Preliminary results are:

DMC4 DX10 (scene 4): 65.33 (RANK S overall)

RE5 DX9: 59.2
RE5 DX10: 61.1

3dmark06: 5182
3dmark vantage: GPU score - 7202; 3dmark score P8558

final fantasy 14: 2243 (on 1280x720)

Starcraft 2: I have been able to run this on all settings turned to full (all on ultra) at a resolution of 1440x900 and remain in the mid to high 30s for FPS.
---Nando and I are working on frapping our systems running starcraft 2 and will upload them soon.

 

Hello there. Unfortunately, the short answer is no. USB2.0 has nowhere near enough bandwidth to provide for a Vidock setup. It might work but it will be terribly slow. Your only shot is to find an internal mPCIe slot that you could use but that also means you can't use Villagetronic's Vidocks, only the DIY ones (unless you can find an expresscard/34 to mPCIe adapter).

Yes, it should work. According to the ViDock4 specs, its power supply should suffice for a HD5770. Each 6 pin connector is designed to draw up to 75W. The HD5770 only has one of these connectors so it should only draw 75+75W max (in practice it draws far less). The ViDock4 PSU should be sufficient.

 

On a desktop I would definitely get the 1 gig model over the 768meg model, the question is if the difference will be as pronounced on the limited bandwidth 1x solution.

Actually, come to think of it, due to the limited bandwidth, video card ram may actually hae an exhaggerated effect, as with more ram, there is less data transfer over the PCI-e bus. (Can anyone test and confirm this? it would be interesting to see)

As far as the PSU goes, from a pure wattage standpoint it seems sufficient. What's mor einteresting than just the wattage is how many amps each 12V rail can provide, and then compare this to the amperage requirement of the video card.

 

Australian Customers - AU$370 GTX460-768MB recommended setup

AU$85-delivered PE4L + AU$220 GTX460-768MB + AU$65 Corsair 400W.

- I don't think a 20% premium of the 1GB card (@AU$275) will yield 20% more performance. We'll see when someone posts 768MB card benchmark results. The 1GB card more likely to show performance improvements if can do a Optimus setup.

- Corsair PSU recommended. If want to be cheap then I wouldn't go any lower than a AU$40 Shaw or A-Power 860W PSU. I did blow one of those with my GTX470 after 1 days usage. A GTX460's lower power requirements meaning it will have longer longevity.

 

@agentYura

I do not think the 1gb would be worth the extra 80 dollars - I am running a 1gb now, but it was not 305 dollars.

 

Wow nando, this is amazing progress! The recent results from the nVidia GTX460/470 cards are pretty mind-blowing, especially with Optimus enabled. Honestly I'm glad that I didn't get the chance to build one of these yet.. now that I know the GTS460 is coming soon, I think I will wait for that and get it working with my Thinkpad X201 (Unless I see an amazing deal for a GTX460!)

Keep up the good work man!

PS. Tried to give +rep but "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to nando4 again."