DIY eGPU experiences

So does anyone know if there is a sleeker solution for power supply than a ATX power supply pulled from a computer.


I was thinking something like this would do the trick, but the most I can find are ~60 watts

 

If/When a low-profile GTS460 card comes out, I plan on buying a mini-ITX desktop case to use as a housing. It might not exactly be easy to carry around, but at least it would look sleek on my desk! I could stick it under my secondary monitor.

 

By the way, it would be interesting to see if i5/i7 laptops benefit more from Optimus, since disabling the graphics chip would mean less heat produced in the CPU, which *might* allow TurboBoost to crank up the clockspeed.

 

You can combine that small PSU with a regular notebook power brick to supply the PE4H/L. My first setup involved a 90W 12V laptop power adapter connected to my PE4H + one of these small SATA/IDE power bricks to provide the extra power on the PCI 6-pin connector on the card. This setup was sufficient to power a Sapphire Vapor-X HD5750 1GB.

This is not correct - it's not easy or recommended to combine both rails of a standard ATX V2.x PSU to power the same GPU. Firstly, the second 12V rail (12V2) is meant to provide the CPU with clean power, undisturbed from power drains from other components. Thus, it's only connected to the 4-pin ATX plug so you can't tap into it unless you make a custom plug adapter. The 12V1 rail was designed to power everything else, hence all the juice available via the 4-pin IDE molex, SATA and 6-pin cables come from this single rail. Second, if the PSU is a dual independent 12V rail PSU (unlikely), connecting both rails to the same component might throw off the voltage regulation and fry the GPU. Despite the standards. ATX PSU internal designs and part quality can vary wildly so it's difficult to know for sure what to expect, particularly with cheap PSUs.

Here are some tips I used to find an adequate PSU for my GTX 460. If you are looking for a standard 12V dual rail ATX PSU to power a DIY Vidock GPU, don't choose the PSU based on total watt rating. Choose one that is efficient (e.g. 80 Plus certified, PFC) and provides enough current on the 12V1 rail:

Current (in Amps) x Voltage (in Volts) = Power (in Watts)

That Thermaltake model is spec'd at max 14A for 12V1 which means 168W max 12V power on that rail. This is sufficient to feed a GPU that has only one 6-pin PCI connector (75W PCIe bus + 75 PCI plug = 150W max) like an HD 5770. So far, all Geforce Fermi cards come with at least two 6-pin connectors - that is 225W (3x75W) max requirement. For these you will need a PSU with at least max 19A on 12V1 rail to be on the safe side. High quality single rail PSUs or good dual rail ones should do the trick. Thermaltake PSUs are usually good stuff but that particular model will not cut it with a power-hungry Geforce GTX 465 or 470 card (might be fine with a GTX 460 though).

For my GTX 460, I went for a Corsair 400W CX single rail PSU which costs slightly more than the Thermaltake 430W, is 80 certified, has PFC but can pump 32A on the single 12V rail (max 384W) which is more than plenty for the Geforce. It's also quiet and doesn't pop/hiss/whine under strain.

 

Hey all, I experimented around with recording some starcraft 2 offscreen using my iphone 4, and uploaded the results to youtube- Ill try and get a better recording or some fraps recording eventually, but the video does show the excellent performance of the DIY vidock. Im using a geforce GTX 460 1gb card connected to my dell XPS M1330 T8300 @2.4Ghz.

All settings are maxed out and im running at 1440x900 resolution. See video comments for more info, but basically average around 45-60 FPS in normal 4v4s! Im EXTREMELY please with this setup, my laptop by itself could only run it on low settings. (huge upgrade)

Here is the video: (again sorry about the poor recording/shakycam):
YouTube - laptop DIY vidock - Starcraft 2 Ultra Settings
--Just uploaded, so its still processing.

 

Sweet, after some troubles remedied by playing with the jumpers, I got it hooked up and benchmarked.

Heres my system and 3dmark06 result:

Lenovo x201 i5 @ 2.4Ghz
RAM 4gb
PE4L with ATI HD 5670
Windows 7 Pro x64
3dmark06 score 6098

 

Good stuff. Your SCII vid is linked from the first post.

Did you run the audio via the NVidia controller or your notebooks soundcard? Turning off the NVidia audio controller so you using the notebook's audio card will have a bandwidth sparing effect, increasing your SCII FPS.

Thank you for posting your result. While the HD5670 is an upgrade to the Intel HD IGP, spending another US$230 on a GTX460-768MB + ATX PSU to allow a NVidia Optimus setup would give you a significant boost yet again. You'd also be able to run your 3D games/apps using just your internal LCD, all managed transparently by NVidia Optimus. Features which would make your X201 a gaming-capable pocket rocket.

Hybrid graphics systems - can switch off the discrete NVidia graphics

Sony owners can rejoice. I've released Setup 1.0e2 with the ability to turn off your discrete graphics (Intel pci-e ports -> discrete [on/off]) so can run a NVidia desktop card with no contention issues with the onboard NVidia gpu. Can also enable/disable the IGP as well (Intel pci-e ports -> IGP [on/off]).

Setup 1.0e2 will be rolled to to an official 1.0f release once I get some feedback.

 

Hi thx for your time to answer my question and nice job with all support that you give in this forum.

I want buy gtx 460 768 or 1gb graphic card and i wanna know if I could buy a 400w micro-atx case for support only the graphic card and PE4H

I search the smallest (dimension) PSU possible have you any idea thx in advance.

 

Any benchmarks?

 

if the power supply has the correct ports 2x6pin for the card and a floppy pin for the pe4h

 

thanks,

it's the psu i want buy Ultra X4 400-Watt Modular Power Supply - 98mm Fan, MicroATX
and buy a Ultra ULT40391 Dual Molex to pci-express

do you think it will work...

 

US$55 Ultra X4 400W microATX PSU has 12V@21A so can deliver 252W maximum off the 12V rail. A GTX460 was measured by techpower to need 155W at peak. That peak will increase with overclocking. The Ultra x4 has enough grunt to power a GTX460.

A good find that's worth the $25 premium over the $30 Corsair CX-400 if want the smaller footprint and modular cabling to keep things neater.

 

does any one know where i can get a t8300 or a t9300 so i can boost my vidock performance because the t3400 i have is really hurting my performance and all my retail sites like newegg dont carry these anymore

 

Oh wow, ViDock4 plus is available now. It should allow the use of GTX460 as it has 2 x 6pin power connectors. Should be able to function as an enclosure too I guess.

Village Instruments : ViDock

 

First off, after reading many pages of this forum, I am super impressed with how helpful and kind you all are. So here it goes.

I AM ON THE PATH TO BEGIN MY DIY VIDOCK EXPERIENCE!
Current laptop Specs.

Dell Latitude D630
Intel(R)Centrino Duo CPU T9300 @ 2.50GHz
Nvidia Quadro NVS 135M <--------Ouch >.<
4GB ram
Windows 7 (64bit)
Chipset: ICH8

I haven't bought any hardware because I have had a few concerns.

1. My Laptop does not have an expresscard slot. However, it has a PCMCIA. And when I open up my device manager, it brings me to believe I have a PCI-e port. Forgive me if these are the same thing. I am justing getting into this stuff because I've recently switched from console gaming. The device manager shows devices such as:
Intel(R) ICH8 Family PCI Express Root Port1 - 283F
Intel(R) ICH8 Family PCI Express Root Port2 - 2841
Intel(R) ICH8 Family PCI Express Root Port6 - 2849
Mobile Intel(R) PM965/GM965/GL960/GS965 Express Root Port - 2A01
PCI bus

2. I was planning on purchasing the PEAH when the new version comes out August 10th for the X2 link capabilites. However, I'm unsure if I can even support this. Would this Everest program that I see everyone talking about show me if I can x2 link?

3. I was planning on purchasing the ATI 5770, but I see that many people have said that Nvidia 4XX series has better results on this dock. However, I think that I will spend most of my time with this dock playing Final Fantasy XIV and the FF benchmark results between the 5770 and the 460 are very similar! (Student on a budget)

So in short,
1. Is it worth building a dock?
2. Will everest tell me if I can X2 link?
3. Nvidia over ATI?

I already have this guy. Gift from a friend.
Newegg.com - APEX SL-D460EXP 460W ATX12V Ver.2.01 Power Supply

Thank you so much for your time!

......::::::UPDATE!::::::......
I searched around the thread and found the answer to my first question. Looks like I'm going to have to go for the PM3N solution, which means opening up my laptop.

 

Try PE4L with miniPCIE card. Could you give us PCIe layout (Everest or something?)?

 

IMHO, it's worth building the DIY ViDock.

You have only PM3N (mPCIe) options. Would need a second mPCIe port to consider a x2 link. If have one, swap the wifi over and see what port number it comes up on. There are specific ports required for x2 as discussed on the first post.

GTX460 is far superior for FFXIV. The FFIXV demo on the 2510P posts ~700 on the HD5750 and 1739 with the GTX470. The 768MB GTX460 is only $40 more than a HD5770 and well worth it for the far better x1 1.0 performance.

 

Thanks!

I actually had my computer all in pieces a couple minutes ago. I have an open turbo memory slot (WWAN?) which I'm guessing would be filled by the PM3N. I have to download Everest and see what port that occupies. If I wanted X2 link I would have to remove my wireless card if it is the adequate port?

If I get the gtx 460 i'm going 1gb all the way haha. Thank you so much for the advice. Its really appreciated.

.....:::::UPDATE!::::.......
@avlan

I installed Everest and checked out my ports. I have 3 ports.
#1 is empty (must be the turbomemory WWAN slot)
#2 is in use by Intel(R) Wireless WIFI Link
#6 is (Gigabyte ethernet controller)

If I remove the wifi card and leave that free does this mean I can x2? According the the main page of this thread I just need to combine ports 1 & 2 or do I need ports 3 & 4 combined as well? Thanks.

 

I need some help here guys... I got my system all setup with my GTX460... the comp is recognizing it, but in the devicee manager it keeps giving me CODE $#, Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems..

I have tried the sleep mode; power on DIY vidock, then resume, but it keeps reverting back to the same device manager error code.. I dont know what to do at this point, I think it may be that I cant have two GPU running at the same time, perhaps?? Ive tried to disable my onboard GT 130M, then amazingly the error code on the GTX460 goes away. But when I reboot with the DIY vidock ON the system just hangs... and when i try to switch out to projector only mode it says no projector detected.... HELP!!!!

Edit: When i first hooked it up, win7 x64 installed it as "Standard VGA Driver" or something like that.. thats how it recognized it I guess, then it said that a reboot was reqqured, which I did with the ViDock still ON and the system just hangs until I physically remove the expresscard from the slot..

 

What system specs do you have? all the specifics if you dont mind. it works out differently for different systems. For instance, mine will not recognize it from standby/plugin/resume - I have to have mine connected from the bootup - whereas others need to not have it on during bootup because the bios will hang.

Have you installed the latest nvidia DESKTOP drivers? - I accidently kept trying to install the notebook drivers to my desktop card.

Also, you may need to get familiar with DIY vidock setup 1.0e2 - as you may have some PCI allocation issues. In general, the code 43 error is fixed by putting the comp in standy by, plugging in the device and the resuming.

You can certainly have two gpus running at the same time- I run an 8400M and the GTX 460.

Im pretty sure we can get yours working, we just need more info!

 

ExpressCard External Graphics x16
Price per Unit (piece): $85.00
ExpressCard External Graphics x16

How does this compare?

 

Flaunt, my device manager is recognizing the GTX 460, but with error :"Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)"

Tried the standby, startup, then resume to no avail, keep getting the error code...... Tried the setup1.x, but that didnt work either.. Installed the latest DESKTOP drivers for the card, so they are all up to date.. But then again I installed the ones from the CD that came with the card, perhaps nvidida online will have newer ones that may make it operate... but i think they are the latest (258) drivers...

I really dont know what else to do, and I am extremely disappointed... was really looking forward to a speedy setup, but then again, I dont mind a good chanllenge... help!!!!! =)

Running HP HDX 16t, 2.26Ghz P7550 Core 2 duo processor with 4GB RAM. Have external monitor currently hooked up thru laptops HDMI outlet, so to make things easier im using the DVI-VGA converter from the GTX460 so I dont have to keep switching them back and forth to see if they work.

While vidock is ON, and reboot, system hangs. Only way it works obviously is if its turned on AFTER system starts up. After its turned on, takes a sec for systme to recognizse it, and , quite pecuiliar, during this time all my USB and eSATA outlets are disabled for about 10 seconds, then they come back online after the GTX has been recognized.

I dunno what else to do.. any reccomendations??? I will try downloading the latest drivers from the website, but I Tihnk I already HAVE the latest drivers...

 

@Panzer, try installing a microsoft/windows mobile driver for 130M(add hardware - ... - let me choose a driver from a list, etc) and a nvidia desktop driver for 460

 

I have the same with my 6600GT. It was working all day long, and the next day this 43 error. IMO it is because of faulty cable, but I don't have another one to test it.

 

faulty cable?? so what did u end up doing? so basically no matter what
I do it still may not be able to work due to a faulty cable??

I dont think thats my issue bc win7 is detecting the video card just fine.. theres siome other error i gotta figure out to make it work...

 

The Vidock4+ is definitely an improvement. I have to admit I like the tidy enclosure and cabling. I haven't yet found a good case configuration for my GTX460 + ATX PSU that's not too bulky or an alternative enclosure with a discrete PSU.

That's the PE4H v2.0. Harmonic Inversion is the new US retailer for hwtools.net. Same hardware, lower shipping costs and no import duties.

 

I've reinstalled Win7 because of its other issues and still it isn't working. In my case, it is hardware issue.

 

For some reasons, after the recent Windows 7 security update, my DIY ViDock setup has not been working.

Previously, I can just do a 32bit compact for all devices without the DIY ViDock (and USB hub cos it hangs the compact if USB hub is connected). Then after booting up to windows, I connect my USB hub and everything will work fine with or without the ViDock, but now, my whole system will hang if I connect the USB hub at any point in time after I do the compact. It even hangs at the Setup 1.x screen.

Any ideas anyone?

PS: I am not using the latest bootdisk though... should be 1.e1

 

Ok guys, Here is the latest info (with data pics):

This is what i know: got core 2 duo 2.26 P7550 'cessor HP HDX series 16" laptop w/ 4 GB 400-800Mhz RAM. Has 3 usb ports, 1 firewire, 1 eSATA. All filled. 1 Internal 5400 RPM 500 GB HDD and 1 external 1TB 7200 HDD. GPU is nVidia GT 130M w/ 1 GB DDR2 dedicated RAM. Running Win7 x64 via CLEAN INSTALL, so no screwed up drivers or bloatware to mess the equation up.

Bought Pe4h, PSU, and Galaxy GTX460. Set everything up last night. Laptop wont boot while GTX is ON. Must be OFF and UNPLUGGED from ExpressCard/34 slot. (which comes to think of it gives me the inkling that my Expressport MAY be whitelisted...?) Anyway, started windows, put into SLEEP mode, plugged ExpressCard in, and turned on GTX. Both green lights shot on and fan began whirling. Upon comp. resume, it hung for about 10-15 seconds, during which time all my usb outlets were disabled, strangely. They all came back and I was able to log-in from the password resume screen. Everything seemed normal, nothng out of the ordinary, (but switching display modes on my Samsung 24" monitor to PC showed blank screen so I knew it wasnt working) so I clicked device manager. Device manager listed the GTX460 beneath the Gt130M, but with an !. When I click it it gives me error 43. Nobody knows what this error means, I dont even think Microsoft does either. lol..

I tried the setup1x. but I hear thats only for error 12 allocation problems... I m thinking of removing a stick of my ram bc I hear it may allocate the rirght amount to PCI if you have under or at 3 gigs...

I tried uninstalling/reinstalling both desktop and notebook drivers, with no success... The dilemma is that after I finish installing the desktop drivers it tells me that a REBOOT is necessary, but if the GTX is connected and ON during a Reboot the system hangs.. So ?!?!

Granted Ive only had it setup for 4 or 5 hours so I have much more troubleshooting time to spend on it, but im running out of ideas and I really feel like Im coming to a dead end... Here are requested data photos:













I hope someone can find this info helpful and try to solve my problem.. Thanks alot, any more info I can provide please let me know!! thanks!

 

I am in a pile of information that I have acquired from reading all these pages and would love if someone could put it in order for me.

According to Everest, I have 3 ports, #1,#2, and #6
#1 is empty
#2 is wifi
#6 is ethernet

If I remove my wifi card I can do x2 link. I am going to use PM3N connection.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been convinced to buy a nVidia Gtx 465 1gb. Done. However, some early posts are leading me to believe that x2 link doesn't change the performance of the gtx 4xx series enough to be worth it because the gtx 4xx perform so well on x1? Is this true?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

PEAL is of x1 link. Easy
PEAH v2.0 is x2 link capable.
What is the attraction to the PEAH v2.0a and is it worth waiting for?


Thanks everyone.



Panzer I hope you get your setup working! You sound so close!

 

Thanks brick.. good luck to you likewise... Currently in process of removing 2 GB stick out of one of my DIMM slots, inserting a 1 GB I have laying around, totallying 3 GB... Just booted up, same results. Will perform shutdown and remove 1 GB stick and hope that it'll work with the 2GB alone... I heard the memeory allocation works somehow when there is less than 4 or 3 GB...?? dont ask.. lol

 

You know what? I think im gonnna just go back to compusa and return my GTX 460.. yeah, I know it yeilds better performance than a Raedon, but it seems like users overall have less compatibility problems with their Raedon cards.. unless I get find a way to work this one, i might return it.. =( dont want to thou...

 

can you post screens from the driver tab for 130 and 460?
if the driver is the same for both that would be the reason for error 43

 

yeah sure I will but I did download and install the separate desktop nvidia drivers (258) and installed them. I would be suprised if they were the same..

 

Before going further I'd suggest install your GTX460 DIY ViDock on another notebook with Intel gfx just to confirm the hardware is all working OK. There is a NVidia error 43 link where it was discovered to be a hardware problem.

 

I dont have another notebook .. I have a netbook but it would probably fry it LOL (jk it doesnt have a PCMIA slot.. )

going to compusa now to get a RAEDON.. the most expsnive one they got is like 160... has same memory specs as the GTX but lower clock speeds im sure.. I dont care I just want this sh!t to work.... =(

 

dll's/files can be overwritten if both drivers share some of the files

 

hey everybody thought id update you with the latest... Just got back from compusa with a new raedon 5750 1GB GDDR5.... Installed to PE4H, rebooted, didnt even HAVE to go to sleep/resume mode, installed drivers, and

IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will be running benchmarks shortly.... Just to give u an idea, theres a little dinky non-standard benchmark program/system info called AVS System Info.. has a built-in GPU tester... ran it real quick just for a apples-to-apples comparison... Put it like this, my internal GPU (GT130) was average (overclocked to MAX) about 280/300 FPS MAX.... This bad boy (stock speeds) is hitting over 600 FPS.. definintely happy as ofyet..

GEARS OF WAR, HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Id like to thank Nando, Key, and flaunt for all ur help. DIY ViDOCK RULES!!!







... I know the cords need to be cleaned up a bit but u get the idea.... and YES That is a Blu Ray Burner underneath my PSU.. =) (thought id brag a little bit) was a gift from GF, darn thing burns Dual Layered DVD's (approx 9GB) in about 7 mins... lightning fast... !!

Anyway Ill post some benchies ASAP!!

.... oh and BTW, anyone considering the GTX vs. HD raedon.. If u dont like the sound of fans then i HIGHLY recommend you stay far far away from the Galaxy GTX 460... I could hardly hear my 5.1 speakers when that thing was on... this Raedon I cant even tell its ON!!! amazing, absolutely amazing..

Just finished running 3dMark06 tests, all on stock settings...

Not so bad when considering the highest Core 2 Duo Mobile processor out there's rating was a bit over 13000! And those were probably over $2500 machines at the time of purchase...
Id like to run a full bench with the GT 130 M now and see the difference...

Res. Evil 5 Benchmark @ 1920 x 1200



Res. Evil 5 Bench 1280x800 with motion blur and 4xAA:

 

Hello Everyone, first post here!

I've just got my DIY Vidock to work on a 4-year-old Thinkpad T60 which uses Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz with ATI X1300 and Windows 7. Everything worked flawlessly. I connected the PE4L to an EVGA Geforce GT240 GDDR5 512MB, and then the PE4L to the Expresscard slot on the T60. Upon boot the laptop automatically outputted from the GT240 instead of the internal X1300.

Some x1 benchmarks:

3dmark06: 2446 (CPU score 1455)
3dmark Vantage: P3647 (GPU score 2964, CPU score 11823)

These aren't stellar results but they are an order of magnitude better than my old X1300 setup.

My question is how to setup a x1E interface. According to Everest, I have an ICH7M chipset with:

PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#1: In use, Intel PRO/1000 LAN
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#2: In use, Intel PRO/Wireless 3945
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#3: In use, NVIDIA GT 240
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#4: Empty

From above it looks like I can do x1E. I made the USB bootdisk and booted off of it (I chose the USB boot option because I have SATA hard drive and Bootdisk 1.0e supposedly has issues with SATA). I have a few questions:

1) When it boots to the USB, I don't get a menu, just Windows 98 Copyright and a blank prompt with C:\>. How do I get the menu to appear?

2) I used C:\Core\iport to scan the ports. They corresponded with Everest. I typed "iport x2 3" and it told me that port #2 was disabled as well to make ports #1 and #3 both x2. Then, I typed "grub4dos w7" and it booted to Windows 7. However, during the windows logo screen, my usb keyboard and mouse stopped working and the boot slowed to a crawl. It booted really slowly into windows desktop but everything was frozen and I could not do anything. Why does this happen?

3) I tried to disable the wireless (port #2) in BIOS. Now iport scan doesn't see port #2 at all...but same result as above, Windows froze during boot.

4) Last thing I did was to start windows 7 using C:\Core\startup instead of grub4dos. It complained that no gfx could be found. I skipped the error by pressing Enter. This started Windows all right (USB still worked, not frozen), but everything was 640x480 and 16 colors. Also, Windows could not load the NVIDIA drivers and any other non-core drivers.

I spent the last five hours trying to figure this out. If someone could help me out it would be much appreciated!!!

P.S. Thanks guys for making the DIY Vidock and for such an informative forum.

 

Great. We have a T60p implementation.

Use Setup 1.0e2. It has no problems with sata and will give options to boot to a Setup 1.x (menu based). Setting port3 to x2 (x1E) will mean port1 will become x2 as well. That's an Intel limitation. Problem there is then the wireless will become lane2 of your LAN card and will freeze the system. The workaround is to physically remove the wifi card, then set port3 to be x1E, ie: "iport x2 3'. Disabling port2 in the bios will be insufficient (which btw is the same thing as 'iport off 2').

Can you try x1E mode and do full benchmarking and detailing your 'experience' in your previous post above so I can link you from the first post?

 

If you use DIYViDock-Setup-10e2, you can just type 'setup' and you will get the menu.

 

Update:

Have began researching the possibities of overclocking the Radeon 5750. Apparently, she makes a great candidate for OC'ing. Few points to consider:

-Had no joy installing ATi Catalyst Control Panel (which is the default overclock app sanctioned by ATi) Had "incorrect build" error upon executing Setup.exe.

-Next best thing, that worked perfect for me, seamless and easy to operate, MSI Afterburner, which can be downloaded directly from here , for free.

-ATi cards do not feature "shader" speeds, just memory clock and core clock. According to various tests, the most "stable" OC speeds that can be obtained are as follows: 825 core, 1335 memory. These values can be maxed out at 870 and 1430, respectively. Fan speeds can also be adjusted manually, or set to "auto".

-Overclocking with these values has yielded 20% increase in various benchmark tests. As to whether or not these can be relfected in real-time via ExpressCard v1 has yet to be seen. I doubt it though.

-Installation and implementation occurs with no errors. Had absolutely no problems with mine. MSI Afterburner can also set the values automatically during boot-up, however, considering most laptops "hang" during PE4H connected, this may be a moot issue.

Anyway, after playing a few games on maxed out settings I've noticed large disparities in frame rates. At one point it'll be over 60FPS, then it'll drop to under 20, thus sometimes making gameplay quite choppy. This may have something to do with the way the data is being buffered thru the expresscard port to the motherboard then finally to the CPU. It would be interesting if this issue could be investiagated further. Overall, performance has exceeded expectations. Quite please.

DIY ViDock forever! =)

 

Thanks for replying! So I did what you said by pulling out the wifi card. Now what I see in Everest and in iport is the following:

PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#1: In use, Intel PRO/1000 LAN
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#2: Empty
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#3: In use, NVIDIA GT 240
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#4: Empty

Also, the menu works now with 1.0e2. I enabled x2 on ports #1 and #3, then selected "startup" and it starts booting windows 7.

However, the same problem remains. I still get a really slow boot and none of my USB devices work. When it boots into desktop area it slows to a crawl and eventually freezes. There is no BSOD or error message. If I try "chainloader" instead of "startup" the same thing happens.

By the way, if I do x1 speed then everything works fine. Also, I have a Thinkpad T60 with T2400 32bit CPU with 3GB RAM and X1300 graphics card.

Thanks guys for your help!

 

Firstly ensure that chainloading without setting x1E mode boots from Setup 1.x into Win7 without the slow startup. If works fine, as I expect it to do, proceed to disable the LAN card in device manager. It probably doesn't like running in x2 (x1E) mode. Then restart and try 'iport x2 3' followed by 'grub4dos w7' and see how you go.

 

Chainloading without x1E works fine. I tried what you suggested and disabled the LAN device. Same problem happened. I even disabled LAN from BIOS (so that port #1,2,4 all read empty) and the same thing still happens.

What's weird is when the slow/freezing windows boot happens, the display at the login screen is fine, just that USB is not enabled and the cursor is very slowly refreshed and later freezes when I move it (using the trackpad). Thanks again!

 

Hi,
Well, the PE4H still hasn't arrived after roughly 2 months... And I still need one connector for the power source.

Have we found out a way to get past the 25 fps cap for an internal screen?

 

NEW BENCHMARKS.

These are new internal GT 130M GPU (1GB DRR2) vs. DIY ViDock HD 5750 3dMark06 scores. (OC'd the Radeon a bit). See below.

GT 130 M @ 1280x1024 (Before )


HD5750 @ Same Res (After )


Very pleased with these results. Any comments?

 

@ruthraeel It is possible using the nvidia optimus set up but it requires a nvidia card. Check out the details here http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...1-diy-vidock-experiences-121.html#post6542661

 

Ok guys lets say that on this field i'm a complete noob. I read but i'm a bit confuse.
I have an dell e6410 and i was close to buy a desktop just to be able to run some 3d app specially arma 2 but that's not the point. The point is would i be able to run an external 3d graphic card on my dell e6410 and if yes would it run at x1 or x2.
The last question what is the lastest (most powerful) card that i can use or the best to use in this system

 

what is port 1? If it is your express card then you might be able to do a x2 if you remove your wifi card at port 2 to combine to do x2. The best card based on the results so far would be a gtx 460. It seems to be the best bang for buck card so far.