DIY eGPU experiences

Judging from the amount of success with this project, I would say that it is a viable option for many users who have graphics-intensive applications. I seem to be a special case, as Nando has never seen the vidock appear as "unspecified". I believe that I will need to adjust the driver itself, because the vidock and the card seem to be working properly. In my case, the monitor I own is only 1366x768, and my 5870 will be more than sufficient for maximum resolution and configuration settings at x1.0. The PM3N is only necessary if you wish to do a x2 1.0 setting, in which you would have to remove your WLAN card. In a x1 1.0, you only need to use your PCI-E slot, which for my M1330, was the Media Remote. I am keeping my 5870 instead of opting for an easier and internal screen setup using Nvidia Optimus because I believe that once expresscard 2.0 laptops come out, along with USB 3.0, I will have access to Optimus' benefits in the future.

So...
Anyone else get "unspecified" in the device manager when plugging in their vidock? I strongly believe that it is due to the ATI Catalyst Centre not being designed to detect a card outside of the laptop itself. Or it may be because of the Chipset I am using, and maybe I am missing some drivers for my laptop.

 

I own a HP Envy 15 Generation 1 laptop and would like to attach multiple monitors. As someone else on this thread already indicated, there is no ExpressCard slot in the machine with which I can use the DIY ViDock kit. I have come up with the following 3 alternatives / questions.

1 - I could convert my available USB 3.0 port into an external ExpressCard reader, but have not run across any on the market right now. I did see that Pretec is set to release the p240 USB 3.0 Card Reader soon. Do any of you know a company that would provide such a product now? More importantly, would this be a usable solution for me since USB 3.0 is not quite as fast as the ExpressCard slot to begin with or would the performance difference be significant?

2 - Will the PE4H board ever be refreshed with a USB 3.0 connector instead of the ExpressCard? I have been trying to find information about the currently available USB 2.0 port on there. Can it be used instead of the ExpressCard or is it just for attaching more devices?

3 – Is it possible (easy) to open up the Envy and jack into an available Mini PCI-Express slot if there is one? I found the disassembly instructions for the laptop, but there is no mention of an extra PCIe slot.

To anyone that owns an Envy laptop please let me know what your solution is. For everyone else, I would greatly appreciate recommendations as to how I may hook up multiple displays to this laptop’s frustratingly limited external ports!

Thanks in advance.

 

Hi,
I have a 15 inch macbook pro non unibody (core 2 duo 2.2ghz geforce 8600M GT) and connected through the express card slot and PE4H an ATI HD 4650. I run Windows 7. So far I get error 13 on the HD 4650. So in response I have configured the boot menu to contain the diy vidock 1e2 version. I have run 36 bit compaction and so far when pci.bat runs at the end of the compaction i get insert disk into drive B: and hit any key when ready. There is no drive b: in my system. Editing the batch file to reveil any reference to drive b: yeilds nothing.

 

I noticed that you are running an ASUS F8SA with 4GB RAM.
I am running a similar spec'd F8SN (same CPU as yours, but the onboard card is nVidia 9500M GS) with a ViDock 4 Plus/ GTX 460 setup. But I had to reduce my system memory from 4GB to 2GB just to get the external card recognized, otherwise I would bump into an error 12 for lack of system resources.
Were there any special steps required to get the 4GB RAM working together with your setup? I really want to know, thank you.

ASUS F8Sn
BIOS: 304
RAM: 2GB DDR-II (was 4GB)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64

 

Two solutions:

- a USB to DVI box, like HIT sell here. Only have slowish USB 2.0 devices at the moment. Displaylink DL-3000 will bring USB 3.0 speed in Q1 2011.

- swap out your mini pci-e wifi card for a PE4L/PE4H-PM3N solution.

The drive B reference may be via the %DRV% variable. %DRV% is set in autoexec.bat to be the bootup device. Please check that it's doing that correctly. As a workaround run the process manually:

1. Boot DIY ViDock Setup 1.x -> DOS prompt
2. Poweron the HD4670
3. Run 'lspci -tv -n' -> ensure you see the HD4670 on the 0:1c.* PCI ports.
4. Perform a compaction only on the HD4670. Try in order the following until a solution is found:

Code:

compact pciend 100000000 useonly 1002:9490 1002:aa38 import \config\devcon.txt (32-bit)
compact pciend 310000000 useonly 1002:9490 1002:aa38 import \config\devcon.txt (36-bit)
compact pciend 310000000 import \core\devcon.txt  (32-bit - ALL)

5. Chainload Win7 with 'grub4dos w7'.
6. Once successful, add a 'makebatch \config\pci.bat' to your command in (4) to create a \config\pci.bat.
7. Then can just select the 'Setup 1.x> Automated startup using startup.bat' option.

Does the US$330 you paid for a Vidock4+ entitle you to support? Villagetronic appears to have a 4GB solution delivered by Support Ninjas and a slightly modified version of the original DIY ViDock bootdisk.

If you don't get a solution from them then consider a refund to purchase a PE4L/PE4H DIY ViDock solution instead and save yourself up to US$230, example here. The DIY ViDock fix for 4GB issues is to use DIY ViDock Setup 1.x. The f8sa.bat here might help you along as well.

 

Hi Nando,
So a little update on what has been done. I reduced the system ram to 2 gb and the system boots no problem with the HD4670. I am now running my macbook on windows 7 with 4 monitors simultainously which proves that there is no reliance on bios to make the vidock work as a macbook does not have bios (EFI). Before you responded to me I tried every possibility in the vidock config. There are a few problems running the config software. First off edit.com and compact.exe in dos kills the keyboard. The computer still runs as it will continue through a batch file but after it finishes with compact there is no way to interact with the computer. I tried an external usb keyboard and usb dos drivers but none help. Edit im assuming will only work with PS/2 keyboards and im assuming compact messes with the pci config which causes a reallocation of the usb ports to somewhere else in ram. So essentially everytime i try to run compact in the GUI, wherever it says press enter to continue, I cant press enter. I remmed "xewc :#=1FPress [ENTER] to continue...#=07#[ ]#P" in RUN.bat to get a little further in the config but another press enter to continue happens after the call to PCI.bat which I cannot find. This prevents me from ever getting back in to the GUI after compacting so I have to reset to see if anything happened at all. So here are the results of my trials while resetting every time to try again

Vid 1 is Geforce 8600M GT(Built in)
Vid 2 is HD4650

Bridge never works. A solution is never found
No 32 bit compaction works at all. A solution is never found.

36 Bit compaction:

ALL:
Force 32 None:Insert Disk in B: 512MB will not boot
Force 32 V1:Insert Disk in B: 512MB will not boot
Force 32 V2:Insert Disk in B: 512MB will not boot
Force 32 V1/V2:Insert Disk in B: 512MB will not boot

V1:
Force 32 None:No Solution
Force 32 V1:Insert Disk in B: 512MB will not boot
Force 32 V2:No Solution
Force 32 V1/V2:No Solution

V2:
Force 32 None:4650 Code 12 Compact says 256MB free
Force 32 V1:4650 Code 12 Compact says 256MB free
Force 32 V2:4650 Code 12 Compact says 64MB free
Force 32 V1/V2:4650 Code 12 Compact says 64MB free

V1/V2:
Force 32 None:8600GT Code 35 Compact says 256MB free
Force 32 V1:8600GT Code 12 Compact says 256MB free
Force 32 V2:8600GT Code 35 Compact says 256MB free
Force 32 V1/V2 idnt try because Compact says 64MB free

It is intereseting that whenever 512MB is free I get the insert disk error. The error occurs on the second setpci.exe instruction in PCI.bat. This will happen on reboot on chainbooting and immediatly after compacting. I determined this by placing a pause between each instruction and rebooting as I have no keyboard after compacting. The only reason that the computer will not boot is because it just gets stuck at please insert disk into drive b:. I cannot do control break.... keyboard doesnt work. On compacting with V1/V2 the 4650 is properly configured but I cannot enable monitors. 8600 GT is stuck in 640x480 16 colors and will only display on the built in LCD.

code 35 is:Your computer's system firmware does not include enough information to properly configure and use this device. To use this device, contact your computer manufacturer to obtain a firmware or BIOS update. (Code 35)

 

Well, yes, in fact did get an email response from them this afternoon. But they only said they are working on a fix but did not provide me with any of the interesting tools you just showed me.

 

These are the ones to try. The xxxMB free is really just a status report designed for users who don't have their video card attached and want to see if they can do compaction. In the above, a solution was found so they have ALL been successful. The last one (32-bit for v1 and v2) is the best one to use since it doesn't rely on having 36-bit compliant drivers. Though I'm baffled then why 32-bit selective compaction on V1/V2 didn't work since that is exactly the same thing.

The keyboard problem may be due to xewc OR compact. xewc is 'extended echo with color' which I use to pause/echo and add a splash of color to the status message. It has worked fine on all the non-MAC systems I've tried. I'd need you to confirm if compact or xewc are causing the keyboard problem on your Mac by testing them independently.

I am looking forward to Mac results. There have been at least 3 previous enquiries asking if it was possibe which your results will help answer.

Villagetronic cannot link you to Setup 1.x since that would violate the free for non-commercial use clause. Means then Villagetronic are required to come up with their own solution to the 4Gb problem OR you have good grounds for a refund for incompatability reasons.

 

Thank you very much for the prompt reply and extremely helpful information nando4. I will definitely be waiting for Displaylink's new USB 3.0 adapters.

 

just received PE4L-EC2C but currently didnt have any PSU and VGA card to test. maybe tomorrow im gonna go to local computer shop to buy it

 

Ok so I tryed running "xewc :#=1FPress [ENTER] to continue...#=07#[ ]#P" by directly typing it in the command prompt. I tried it twice and both time the keyboard stops responding. It isnt clear if xewc always kills the keyboard because I have noticed it used elsewere with different parameters. Is the 60 second count down timer based on xewc? It never gets stuck there. In addition, compact.exe never crashes the system. I tried:

compact pciend 100000000 useonly 1002:9490 1002:aa38 import \config\devcon.txt (no solutions)

compact pciend 310000000 useonly 1002:9490 1002:aa38 import \config\devcon.txt (boots to windows error code 12 on 8600M GT only 640x480 on built in lcd 4870 is configed properly)

compact pciend 310000000 import \core\devcon.txt (boots to windows error code 35 on 4670 onboard 8600GT works fine)

After entering these parameters (on seperate reboots not one after another on the same reboot) I chainboot windows 7. The keyboard always functions.

Thanks for all your help

 

An elaboration from microsoft about error code 35:

Code 35
Your computer's system firmware does not include enough information to properly configure and use this device. To use this device, contact your computer manufacturer to obtain a firmware or BIOS update. (Code 35)
Cause

The Multiprocessor System (MPS) table, which stores the resource assignments for the BIOS, is missing an entry for your device and must be updated.

Recommended resolution

Contact the system vendor to update the BIOS.

Do you think this actually could be a BIOS related hangup seeing as how there is no BIOS?

 

UPDATE

Still nothing. With the 4GB of RAM back in my computer, I am forced to do 36-bit allocation on vid_2 (the 5870) and force the vid_1 (8400M GS) into 32 bit. It doesn't seem to make a difference regardless, however. Whether I have the Vidock on or not at startup, whether or not I run compaction, the screen still blacks out for a bit when I turn on the 5870, but still cannot be selected. I have a very strong feeling that it is because I am missing a driver.

 

Update on GTS450 and PE4L-EC2C.

I just installed the driver successfully, it recognized the card, but when I go to switch displays, it will not do anything at all. It'll just reset back to my laptop display even though everything appears to be fine.

I'm stumped and have been looking for solutions in all the threads, must be GTS450 related is a guess of mine.

Update: I got it to work, but the screen is constantly flickering whenever I play Starcraft 2, researching possible solutions.

Thanks!

 

I purchased a ViDock4+ in hopes it would make things easier, but as it turns out, I'm going to buy the DIY kit anyway. Why? Because my ViDock appears to be broken, but I can't verify because the ViDock support hasn't taken an interest in my problem. (I won't go into the detail of their lack of responsiveness)

So... after I figure out the right components, I'll plug it all in and see if my video card even turns on. If so, good-bye ViDock, hello DIY.

I'm only hoping I can find a nice enclosure - since I've grown accustomed to having a nice black box to keep it all in. Respond later!

 

If you are using the 258.96 retrofit Optimus drivers then I would suggest use the proper GTS450 desktop drivers to confirm if the flickering has gone away. The GTS450 uses a new GF106 chip which I believe will need the latest Optimus drivers to be updated to work correctly.

I found a 12V 150W AC adapter on ebay for US$47. So with the right GTX460 which consumes < 150W at peak, eg: a slightly underclocked MSI GTX460-OC, you could do a portable setup with a tiny footprint like described for a GTS450 here. A DIY enclosure could house it all easily.

If you do add a 'makebatch \config\pci.bat' then study the pci.bat for the 36-bit compaction, V1=32 then, you'll find it configures your pci-e port bridge window and does some other things. I would simplify it to *only* configure your PCI bridge and test your pci.bat. Have a look at \scripts\bridge.bat to see which pci config registers should be written to which you can then use to simply your pci.bat.

Either that or your HD5870 or PSU is faulty. Worth testing the HD5870 in a desktop or connect to another system via the DIY ViDock to confirm if the problem follows the DIY ViDock hardware or the notebook.

 

I just got my gtx460 + pe4l running on my Dell 1530m. I'm disappointed on my 3DMark06 score. I not sure how people can score 10000 on a 1530m. Any ideas what I did wrong?

 

I don't have another system that can handle a 5870. I also do not have another laptop that is feasible for the diy vidock, as they are all older than my M1330.

I still think it is software, because everything works right; only the Catalyst control centre doesn't let me switch to the 5870. It even detects it in the catalyst hardware info.

I have the mini-HDMI cable going from the PE4H to my expresscard slot, and that's it. Do I need any more connectors? I noticed that there is what looks like a USB slot on the PE4H, and also 4 slots on the 5870 itself. Do I need to connect the 5870 to anything other than the PSU and the PE4H?

 

Your expresscard slot is port5, so could do a x1E ATI implementation which would get you a dx9-centric 3dmark06 > 10k with a HD5770. Now before you swap your GTX460 for a HD5770 consider perusing the following info for real-life performance between the a ATI HD5xxx and NVidia GTX4xx DIY ViDock solution:

8-22-10 NVidia Optimus for speed+internal LCD
7-16-10 HD5750 versus GTX460 / GTX470@x2 <- Real world gaming performance
4-14-10 x1E versus x1 benchmarking and here

NVidia are working on an external graphics solution. We may well see them unlock the Optimus performance tweak to net you a 3dmark06 of > 10k with the GTX460. Has been requested here. A x1 1.0 Optimus setup even has better benchmark results than a x2 1.0 non-Optimus setup as shown here.

Your M1330+HD5870 DIY ViDock connectivity should be as follows:

- connect the mini hdmi cable linking the PE4H and EC2C
- connect a floppy molex from the PSU to the PE4H
- connect 2xpci-e power leads from the PSU to the HD5870 (or use molex leads and pci-e adapters)
- connect a HDMI cable linking the HD5870 to your LCD

 

Well, I've tried reinstalling the newest drivers now. It won't even let me extend to my GTS450 now. When I had it working, I managed to do a FF14 benchmark that seemed to run very well, but it was extremely buggy at different parts (display multi-color triangles and/or shapes), but never stopped flickering.

So, for now, I can't even get it to extend to the video card after reinstalling in different ways. I thought originally I installed over old drivers and it wasn't installed correctly in the first place. I'm stumped again, will be looking for solutions in the meantime.

Edit: In the "Set up multiple monitors" tab, the card appears there and check box is not checked, but will not allow me to check it in. Figured I'd include this information.

Another Update: Got it to work again, took a few screenshots of what I see when I play some games.

FF14


Starcraft 2


The performance vs. what I used to have is outstanding, but these graphical glitches sometimes rendering the game unplayable. Surely it isn't overheating? (Just got it today!)

All help is greatly appreciated.

My computer's build:
Toshiba A505-S6025
i3 2.13ghz
Geforce 310M
4GB DDR3
Windows 7 Pro 64bit

 

Didn't anyone tried DIY Vidock on a first generation HP HDX ?
I still can't seem to get the card recognized. The setup is PE4H v1.0a + EC2C + an old ATI X300 + 300w Fortron PSU. The PICe slots are shown by Everest as epmty, no matter if I boot up without the Vidock plugged in, or with it, or puting the system in standby and then powering the Vidock. I assume that the HDMI cable is ok, because the LED turns on of the PE4H when I plug the cable in it. Further more, if I plug a flash drive in PE4H's USB port it gets recognized and functional.

Did I miss something? Guys, help will be appreciated.

 

I've did some intensive testing, and the only driver the works properly atm with the GTS450 is the office 260.63. Anything older won't install properly even with modified inf files. I am patiently waiting for the modified 260.63 with the optimus drivers.

 

I went back to 260.63, but still experience flickering / weirdness when playing games but not on the desktop. Do you experience this as well, or does it work normally?

(I don't have an Optimus setup, so that isn't an option for me.)

I KNOW it's not overheating, it's really cool to the touch. I'm guessing there's something I'm doing wrong, guess I'll be having to wait as well.

 

I believe that you can force optimus with a modfied INF file, which is what i am waiting for. The fact that it isn't over heating and you are experiencing flickering might mean that you have a loose connection Expresscard, DVI, VGA, etc.,. Or that you might be experiencing some bad artifacts from a bad video card. A final possibility could also be from a faulty power supply not providing adequate amperage on the 12v rail.

Easiest way to test would be to pop it into a desktop and see if you run into issues.

 

Hi nando,

I'm a bit confused on question 2 in your mini faqs. Here are my pci ports:



"The best way to identify your port layout is to insert a expresscard e-sata card and see what port it reports as being on, then checking too the wifi card. If have multiple mPCIe slots, worth swapping the wifi aiming for a port1+2, port3+4, port5+6 setup."

Are you saying it is possible to swap the ports? For example, move my 3 and 4 to 5 and 6? So I'd be able to create a x4 link with 1-4?

Thank you

 

sunneh, after much troubleshooting, I think I've finally accepted that I've gotten a defective video card. The artifacts are happening and the card did seem to be overheating in some areas that it shouldn't be.

It's a shame that I won't be able to celebrate FF14 at launch. Oh well!

I'll RMA this one and get a new one and then re-post back here my success/failure once again. I at least have the drivers done properly now.

Thanks!

Edit: The card IS NOT broken, I'm using a 400w PSU with a 12v rail that is only at 15amps. It needs 20amps to run properly. Everything is just fine, gonna buy a new PSU and report back here! Thanks sunneh!

*Facepalm again.*

 

HAHAHAHAH!

Nando, thank you very much.

I didn't have an HDMI cable attached from my 5870 to my monitor, only the VGA from my laptop to the monitor. That may be what is wrong.

EDIT:
My monitor doesn't have HDMI. Will DVi work?

 

I have a lenovo y460, and according to Everest port 4 is free, while port 3 is not listed (ports 1,2, and 5 are taken up). Is the missing port the expresscard slot? Is it supposed to show up if not in use?

Also, has anyone tried to run an external setup powered by one of these?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817101044
It has 6 and 8 pin pci-e leads, but no molex leads (except one that is supposed to go to the main psu to turn it on, hopefully this could be hotwired). What type of power connector does the PE4H use? Does it need to be hooked up in order for the video card to work (with power coming from the slot itself), or can the video card be run entirely on 6/8 pin power alone? Sorry for the probably already answered questions, but this is a huge amount of information to sift through.

 

Hi Nando,

I have a HP 2540P, which is close to what you have. Do I understand correctly that a PE4L + an Nvidia GT4xx is the best solution for me, with possibly optimus? I read on the official vidock compatibility list that I will have to limit my RAM to only 2GB, though?

 

If you have GMA X3100, then probably there is no chance to activate Optimus.

 

It is actually a GMA HD (or is it the same thing with different names?)

 

GTS450 was found to require < 120W by techpowerup or 12V/10A so the problem may not be your PSU. I found I'd get blackouts and system freezes when my GTX470 was power starved. The only time I saw strange results like yours is when I overclocked my HD5750 beyond a point of stability. Worth underclocking the GTS450 to see if you've got a poor GF106 chip or VRAM. If so, then have identify a good reason to RMA the card.

I don't use DVI but figure it should work just as well.

You'd be the first to do a Y460 implementation. Your expresscard slot will be port4. The Y460 schematic shows you have another mPCie slot in which case you might want to swap the wifi into it and see what, if any, port it appears in Everest as. If have accessible port1+2, 3+4 or 5+6 then could even do a x2 1.0 Optimus setup.

The PSU looks good. Cheap and compact. You'd also need to provide up to 75W to drive the pci-e slot. That is supplied to the PE4L/PE4H via the floppy molex plug. The PE4L/PE4H comes with a floppy molex to molex (male), so you'd need a molex(female)+molex(female) adapter to plug it into the male molex plug.

Yes a PE4L/PE4H + NVidia GTX4xx or GTS4xx would be the best solution. The 2540P's Intel HD graphics would unlock the Optimus enhancements: higher performance+internal LCD use. You'd have no 4GB issues either with latest drivers. Just suspend Win7, poweron the DIY ViDock, and resume.

 

Thanks for the prompt answer Nando!

I should try this by the end of October. I first need to check whether I can boot from a caddy'ed HDD on top of the original HDD (the latter being under administrative rights - work computer..hence me wanting 2 bootable OS-)

 

not DIY ViDock related

The 2510P/2530P/2540P bios allows boot from the optical drive, or caddied HDD. So you'll have a drive to do all your non-work activity stuff on. US$18 9.5mm ebay Fenvi caddies can do the job but you'd miss out on the extra USB port the HP caddy provides. The optical drive faceplate can be swapped over for a perfect apperance or if want to hotswap with the optical drive, then the ebay caddy's standard faceplate provides an underside gap, a nice latch on point for your fingertips.

 

Okay... I've been poking around on the Vidock option for a little while, trying to figure out what might fit my needs the best. Here's the details for my usage profile. Apologies if this doesn't totally fit inside the DIY scope of the thread:

I need any external GPU setup to be able to be lugged around frequently. This for me excludes a DIY setup, as I do not want an exposed GPU card and power supply rattling around in my bag. I don't have the fabrication skills or tools at all to make a case for one, so I'm left with choosing a commercial Vidock option.

I'm looking at the Vidock4 Plus, as it seems to be able to take the most potent power supply. Since both of my notebooks have an Intel X4500(My T400 is switchable; any foreseeable problems with this?), I'd like to be able to use Optimus in order to display output to the notebook's internal display(ie: I don't want to use an external monitor).

It looks like the best available card to do this with is the GTX460. However, I'm looking at this thread here that seems to indicate the GTX460 is going to have power supply issues with the Vidock 4 Plus. Can anyone confirm this? And, if so, what would be the best route to rectify this? Is there an alternate video card I'd have to look at, sacrificing GPU power, or could I manage to find a replacement power supply for higher output?

 

Not sure if it makes a different, but I am using EVGA GTS 450. It was just what I was told in a support ticket. They also mentioned it would cause the effects that I've been experiencing. In whichever case, I have to test the card out on a different PSU. Hopefully it is the problem, if not, then I'll just RMA it.

Here's my card and some info on it: http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=01G-P3-1458-TR

 

Based on the Vidock3/4/4+ specification sheet, we see the dimensions of the AC adapter tells us the Vidock4 uses a 12V/150W adapter and the Vidock4+ uses a 12V/75W and a 12V/150W adapter. Given your requirement for maximum portability you'd want a Vidock4 and a GTS450 (< 120W). That would cost you US$400 total.

Same setup can be done for US$220 as a DIY setup. A small lunchbox could easily accomodate all the parts just requiring basic handyman tools such as a box cutter/coping saw, drill and doublesided tape to make a DIY enclosure. Add cutouts to access the HDMI port, mini HDMI connector and cloverleaf power jack + coolings vents. The DIY setup with the extra advantage of using a detachable and replacable mini HDMI cable to connect to the system. Could also add your own custom branding stickers to the enclosure The DIY enclosure could easily be done for $20, saving you US$160 to put towards a Sandy Bridge notebook.

 

Interesting. However, is there a huge performance difference between the GTS450 and the GTX460 when used through this setup? I'd think that the limited bandwidth of the ExpressCard slot would make only a marginal performance difference, am I right?

 

If you had a x1 1.0 non-Optimus setup, then I'd say it really would not be worth going a GTX460 over a GTS450.

However, you can do x1 1.0 Optimus where we see a GTX460 can get 3dmarkvantage.gpu > 10k as shown on the first post. A GTS450 can only ever get a 8.5k score with a x16 2.0 link.

So if you can figure a way to make a portable GTX460 setup then it does offer up to 50% more performance than a GTS450. Your Optimus x1 1.0 setup will have bandwidth to use that extra performance.

 

Interesting. And, does the ViDock4+ use the case as well as two power adapters(I'm assuming they're 'bricks' like notebooks have)? Would that setup have enough juice to drive the 460GTX? I could deal with a couple of notebook power adapters if need be; most of the use would be me moving around the house and an occasional trip out to a friend's house or LAN party. Even if I built the case myself and wanted to use a GTX460, would there be a way to avoid using a full desktop PSU?

 

Thanks re: the caddy, Nando

 

as my thanks to this thread. so I contributed the benchmark. thanks to Nando and NBR to make this work. but i'm sorry i haven't benchmark for Resident Evil 5 yet, i just benchmark for 3dMark06 only due to time constraints.

Spec:
Dell Vostro 1310
Core 2 Duo T7250 2Ghz
RAM 4Gb (currently running 2Gb)
HDD 160Gb
Windows 7 Ultimate x86

DIY ViDock:
PE4L-EC2C ver 1.5
SWEX ATX PSU Pin
XFX Radeon HD 5670 512Mb
500w PSU

Benchmark:

DIY ViDock is running on x1. i have to release one slot of my RAM (from 4Gb to 2Gb), because there gonna be error12. i haven't perform PCI reallocation (i'm not understand yet how to perform). just turn the laptop into standby mode, power on the DIY ViDock then slot in to the express card slot, resume and windows ask for the driver. it's works perfectly without error12.







Setup:

 

Can anyone explain me why a x2 1.0 setup is not gonna work with an MSI CR620?
It has an HM55 chipset, in order to make a x2 1.0 setup possible, P1+2, P3+4 or P5+6 should be linked. According Cx620's Everest screenshot P1+2 are empty: Cx620

 

Hey guys, i finally got the courage to go ahead and order all the stuff i need for my own diy vidock.

my system is a x201 thinkpad i5-540, 4gig Ram, win7 64bit
i have a 1GB Gigabyte 460GTX with a 400 Crosair 2.2 ATX and the P4EH

ive been following this post for a long time now thank your everyone for the good work especially nando but now that i got the parts, I need a little bit of help.

I tried hotplugging the gtx in windows7 but it wouldnt get recognised i tried pluging in but not starting the graphic card until windows was ready and i tried standby/resume both didnt work.

so i went ahead and tried the vidock setup 1.0e2 but im stuck.

i manage to get my 460gtx to be recognized and then i run the compactation for the 460gtx and the intel HD card. everything is fine and everything in the top right says yes.

now the Help file says to do a "chainload" but when i press chainload (beta/w7) it hangs at "starting cmain() ..."

any suggestions?

greetings from austria(europe)

EDIT: hoorrraay i got it to the point where windows7 recognizes the card, now i just installed drivers and the card is gone again but i think i know what i did wrong. as you can see its a work in progress.

EDIT2: yeah! i got it to work, i used 32 bit compactation then bridge compactation then chainload (org/w7) then it worked, oh and i forgot at first to put the devcon.txt in the /config not /core
my gigabyte 460GTX 1GB 715mHZ Core scores 12166 in 3dMark Vantage and i havent even tried overclocking it yet . really awesome stuff thanks a million for this thread!!!

 

I got short mini HDMI cables and now I can clock up to (and over) the CPU max.

so far 10264 in 3dmark06 at 20% OC (CPU at 3.01ghz). will post more soon
11461 in vantage with 259 drivers. 260s would probably 300 or so higher
122.97 dmc4 s4 dx10
93.4 re5 dx9

 

X201+GTX460 is shown here to only need standby (not hibernate!), poweron GTX460. No need to use DIY ViDock Setup 1.x. Very simple. In any case, congratulations on it working for you. Can you please post full specs and benchmarks? We don't have i5-540M+GTX460 results as yet.

Your wifi slot is port4 and your expresscard slot is probably port2. port1 must be enabled for all the other ports to be visible and usually not physically connected. Unless you have another mPCie slot you can try the wifi card in then I believe you are out of luck with x2.

Though the CR620 has Intel HD graphics. In which case Optimus will be available if you go a NVidia GTS4xx or GTX4xx solution, which benchmarks faster than x2 1.0 non-Optimus but is a little slower in real-life gaming.

Congratulations on an impressive overlock. If you can disable the EIST locking bit by hacking your bios, then you'd be able to do a dual-IDA CPU overclock. Ie: T9400-3.01@x9 would be T9400-3.34@x10. Might need to bump up voltages a bit but Throttlestop lets you easily do that.

 

I theorized perhaps the 4GB problem isn't an issue about the size itself rather it is the number of SODIMMs installed. This is based on the speculation that most of us with 4GB RAM problems probably run a 2x2 setup, and the problem is fixed when the RAM is reduced to 1 stick (2GB). So what if we used a single 4GB SODIMM instead?
Unfortunately I was wrong. Installing a single 4GB stick does not solve the Code 12 error.

So the problem still remains with the actual size of the system RAM which is now limited to 2GB. (As I mentioned earlier, I did try a 2+1=3GB setup and the Code 12 error is still there)

So now, in order to reap the superb performance offered by the external VGA adapter (aka ViDock), I would have to limit my system to 1 stick of 2GB RAM for now.

Though, my experiment is not entirely futile. At least I now have proof that the ASUS F8SN, which uses a PM965 chipset, does indeed support 4GB SODIMM modules. I was even successful with 6GB (4+2). I haven't tested 8GB, due to the lack of a second 4GB SODIMM. However, I believe it should be workable.

The point is, if you have a PM965/GM965 chipset bases system, and Intel and/or your system manufacturer says your system tops out at 4GB. That is probably NOT true!

I've seen reports of HP, Lenovo, and now ASUS machines that are apparently able to support more than 4GB RAM. Now just hope the ViDock folks or perhaps the community can come up with a common solution so we can actually reap the benefits of this newly expanded land made by the availability of 4GB DDR2 SODIMMs. I like to have my cake and eat it too, I suspect everyone does.

 

You've already had a reply from me to the same query previously at the bottom this post. The additional will it work with 6GB/8GB? query above has the answer: yes, if you get your 4Gb setup working then it will also work with 6GB OR 8GB. You also have Villagetronics response..

Villagetronics' fix for error 12: cannot obtain resources

In response to the numerous error 12 issues reported by Vidock3/4/4+ owners their developer, Jim Atchue, says on their facebook page that they will be releasing a 4GB patch. In the interim they are doing manual PCI reallocation by using a slightly modified original DIY ViDock bootdisk (not Setup 1.x), OR asking users to run with 2GB or 3GB installed.

 

Yes, but the problem is that it didn't work for me, and I certainly hope for a more universal and streamlined solution. Asking us to run 2GB or 3GB certainly does not sound like a good solution at all. Besides, I can't even get it working with 3GB. Which is why I hypothesized that it might have something to do with the actual sticks of RAM installed.

 

nando4: i want to ask you something...
get ready, its pretty crazy...

Say you had a notebook with MXM 3.0 AND external 2x PCI-E linked vidock. Say the mobile card was a 5870 and the external desktop card was 5770... (they have the same core)

Assume we have very good VBIOS modders, and we get either the mobile card to act like a desktop 5770, or the desktop card to act like a mobile 5870...
And then we make a custom crossfire cable.


On the PCI-E allocation side of things, I ask because you know the most about this... Do you think we could get it to work? a vidock that will do crossfire or sli between a special desktop card and mobile mxm card?