DIY eGPU experiences

I tried fixing my problem last night, but I was unsuccessful. Trying the 258.96 drivers instead of the 259.12 drivers didn't change anything. Is there ANYONE else who has ever had this problem? Optimus just doesn't kick in and my keyboard stops working.

I can plug in the DIY ViDock and turn on my computer and boot all the way into safe mode or diagnostic mode and the GTX 460 shows up, but if I turn on my computer, put it to sleep, plug in the DIY ViDock, and turn it back on, the GTX 460 is not used (no external display and no "Unauthorized Optimus Configuration" on the internal display). I am on the verge of reformatting, but we all know how huge of a headache that is.

I'm on an X201 Tablet with Win7 Pro x64.

 

Unless Nvidia makes a new driver or someone hacks the optimus driver, you will not be able to do optimus. Currently Nvidia restricts it's use only with intel integrated graphics. From my experience, 8600m gts have a significant, but not huge overclocking headroom. You'll probably get 15-20% higher clocks out of it, for around a 10-15% fps increase. The 8600m gt I overclocked once ran hot, so you should watch your temperature.

 

Probably just windows issue. Reformatting it is a good idea though.

 

So I've just been reading this thread for the past few days and will post results shortly with my setup. I have a ViDock4+ with HD5870 which I'm happy with but wondering if it is possible to get even more out of it? The first post mentions the Dell Studio 1558 and Dell D630 as having the correct setup for x2 PCI-e 1.0 and my system is the same in regards to their PCI configuration.

My system is the Dell D830 , T7300 @ 2.0GHz with 4GB RAM and Win 7/64 using the GM965 chipset.

The ports are:
#1 WWAN
#2 Wifi
#4 expresscard

'

Is it even possible to use just the expresscard and get x2? I don't mind removing the wifi to do it. If it helps, I'm unable to boot with the card in till Windows is booted.

I'm guessing x2 is different from x1E? In that x2 requires two devices (expresscard and mPCIe card) while x1E only requires one device spread over two ports? Can I just follow the x1E tutorial using iport x2 or there is something better?


The variable test for RE5 is as so:


3DMark06

 

Thank you for posting your results.

Yes. You can get more gpu performance out of your Dell D830+HD5870 setup but that would mean using your mPCIe slots for connectivity rather than your expresscard slot port4.

If you use a hwtools PE4L+PM3N solution then could do x1E using port1, or if combine PE4H+PM3N+PM3N could do a port1+2 x2E setup, which see a significant performance increase. Consider JamesBond007's x2E results.

Unfortunately Vidock4+ has neither mPCIe connectivity nor x2 via two-ports capability so would require replacing it with the DIY PE4L/PE4H instead to see this performance improvement. Can you get a refund for the Vidock4+? [rhetorical question]

Such GPU performance would make it worthwhile to invest in a more powerful T9300 or X9000 CPU. In the interim, your D830 can do a dualIDA overclock for 10% more cpu performance.

 

Questions regarding the 1XE mode:

1.) In the original post it says this does not apply to 5 series chipsets.
a.) What are 5 series chipsets. Are these the Core i3, i5, and i7 chipsets? I have a Dell Latitude E 4310 with a Core i5-520M. Does it fall into this category?
b.) What does it mean that it does not apply? Do the 5 series chipsets not have the handshake issue, or does the 1xe mode fix not work on the 5 series chipsets?

2.) How do you tell if you are having the issue? Can any of the tools read which mode the video card is communitcating with the computer on?

3.) Has anyone tested the Radeon HD68xx series boards yet? Do these still suffer from this issue or have they been fixed like the GTX4xx boards?

I just ordered a Radeon HD6850 - due in on Wednesday - and would be happy to test it and report back, but I don't really know how to test

 

No HD6850 results as yet. The boards were released only last week. Your results may be the first.

series-5 chipsets are the i-core ones like HM55/PM55. My testing with a HD5750 finding the x1E tweak doesn't work on them like it does on the series-4 or older core2duo chipsets.

When the HD6850 arrives, please post full benchmarks. I'll be able to compare it's relative 3dmark06 SM 3.0 performance to these ones from the first post.

* i7-620M+HD5750@x1=5085
* P9600+HD5770@x1E=5618
* T7500-2.6+HD5850@x1=5640

Relative performance sees

HD5750 = 64% of a HD6850
HD5770 = 73% of a HD6850
HD5850 = 105% of a HD6850

If ATI have fixed the problem then we'll see the equivalent of x1E performance with the HD6850 obtaining a 15% better SM 3.0 result. So it would be ~6500. If the handshaking issue is still present with Intel chipsets then you'll get 3dmark06 SM 3.0 result of less than 6000.

 

Choice thanks for the advice. I considered the DIY option since it is much cheaper but size wise I much prefer the ViDock. Also the mPCIe ports are beneath the keyboard so I'm not really left with any place to mount the cables through the side of the laptop.

I more planned to just wait for a expresscard 2.0 Laptop and continue using the ViDock I'll try out the DualIDA now though.

Thanks for posting, I understand it a lot more now. Maybe in the future I'll give the hwtools one a try.

 

I'd be happy to 3DMark06 and RE5 all I should post?

I could also post a lot of other benchmarks, if helpful..

 

Hey nando I read your instructions on how to use the 120W DC adapter with the splitter on the HD5750... As per your suggestion, I'm thinking of getting a GTS450 and running that in a similar fashion. Do you think it matters which variant I get? Or should I just go with the cheapest?

 

The main concern will be ensuring you keep peak power under the the DC adapter's maximum output. Factory overclocked cards will push those requirements up. Or could just go a 150W DC adapter giving a generous margin so could overclock the card up to it's limits.

US$170 GTX470?

Consider another option. There's a US$170 PNY GTX465. Very likely they are the black, not the blue PCB versions that unlock to be a GTX470 as discussed. If don't need portability then that there is your maximum bang-per-buck card.

By all means, post as many as your willing to volunteer. There will certainly be interest in seeing how a HD6850 stacks up against the HD57xx, HD58xx and NVidia Fermi GT* cards.

 

Will see if I will replace my hd5770 with 6850 depending on how it performs

 

Hey nando thanks for the reply

Any tips on how to find a 12V 150W DC adapter? I don't see any on ebay that have a 2.5mm tip... There is a Dell adapter that keeps coming up, but apparently that has a "4-pin" connector (not sure what that is).

 

US$37.50 AC-DC Adapter fit picoPSU-150-XT DC-DC 150W 12V 12.5A has a 2.5mm/5.5mm end so can be used with a PE4L. A factory-OCed GTX460 has 153W peak in case you were thinking of going higher performance...

 

Hey guys,
I've read most of this thread and it looks like vidock is finally viable for me, thrilled even that i've got a studio 1555 which is capable of pci-e x2.

Just have one question, is this via 2x mini-pcie or 1x expresscard and 1xmini-pcie? Don't want to waste money ordering, and i didn't see it mentioned in the thread.

Also thinking of picking up one of the wifi adapters so i can plug in to my workstation at home when i'm not moving, and have proper gaming capability, but only need to worry about this if the wifi card needs to be removed...

Thanks!

 

With the recent price drop on the GTX460, this is really tempting... There's only about $10-15 price difference between the GTS450 and the GTX460.

Also, the review you linked to is for the 1GB version. According to nvidia's specs, the 1GB version is rated at 160W and the 768MB version is rated for 150W:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB and 1GB Video Card Reviews - GeForce GTX 460 Brings NVIDIA DX11 to $199 - Legit Reviews

So if the MSI 1GB card does 153W max, then it seems likely to me that the 768MB version would be around 143W...

I think I'll wait a little longer to see if the GTS450 gets a price cut as well. Otherwise, the GTX460 really seems like the way to go... (But I would probably prefer the 768MB version over the 1GB, just to be safe that the 150W power supply can handle it)

 

pyro515's Studio 1555 had:

port2=wifi
port3=unused mPCie slot
port4=expresscard slot

Meaning you could do a port3+4 x2 setup using a PE4H-EC2C + extra PM3N, but Intel's limitation means that port1+2 is x2 as a sideeffect, so your wifi could not be concurrently used.

You have a HD4570 Studio 1555 systemboard. Maybe you can find someone on here who would be glad to swap it for a 4500MHD systemboard so could do a Optimus x1 1.0 setup via the expresscard slot instead or x2 1.0 using a combo of ports? The first has been benchmarked giving impressive results.

Note too: your x2 setup would also be running what appears to be half-duplex speed if using an ATI solution. Ie: not x2E. You'd need a x2 port1+port2 setup to do x2E-ATI which is not possible.

 

Okay, so it's express plus mini pcie, and i'll grab the wifi adapter as well. No worries there.

I'm not keen on a system board swap - i want to keep the 4570 in there as it's a fairly decent performer... The vidock is for a combination of nvidia 3d and 120hz gaming, so plans are to have a gtx4x0 card running dual link to my alienware 23" monitor. Given this, I should be all sweet with an nvidia solution?

oh - you're saying i can't use an nvidia card?

 

Got the card today, going to post the benchmarks as soon as I get home after work.

Quick question though...

Does having 4GB of ram on a machine with a 32bit OS automatically mean a DIY Vidock will not work due to address space limitations?

The reason I ask is that my laptop uses 64bit Win 7, but my work laptop is locked down with XP. It would be nice if I could use mysetup as a dock for when I work from home, so I don't ahve to go reconnecting everything ever time...

 

Hey,

I read the issues at the top of this thread regarding the >2.5GB problem.

I have 4GB and Windows 7 64bit installed on my laptop with the following specs:

Dell e4310
Intel Core i5-520M
4GB Ram

I am getting the "This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)" even though I am using the latest catalyst 10.10 drivers. According to the thread Catalyst 10.6 drivers enable 36/64bit addressing.

Do I have to do anything special in order to enable 36/64bit addressing in Catalyst drivers?

I would roll back to older drivers just to make sure they haven't removed this in the latest drivers, but I am using a HD6850, which I understand is first supported in 10.10 drivers.

Any suggestions which step to take next?

I assume it will be one of the reallocation steps at the top of this thread, but which would be the best to choose given that the newest Catalyst drivers have failed me?

Any help appreciated,
Matt

 

Interesting development.

I removed one of my two sticks of ram to test at 2GB, and - as expected - it worked.

The funny part is, once I put the second stick back in and rebooted, it continued to work without me changing anything else.

I am wondering if once the system successfully booted with the desktop card installed, this triggered a address space remap, which held after booting back up with 4gb ram.

It will be interesting to see if it still works after a few reboots without the desktop video card plugged in, or if it will revert to its old address space configuration.

 

Alright, here are my results.

Laptop:
Dell Latitude E4310
Core i5-520M
4GB Ram
Windows 7 Pro 64bit

Video Card:
Radeon HD6850

Connected via expresscard only. (I don't feel like having my covers hanging open...)

3DMark 2006 at default settings:

3Dmark2006-vidock by mattlach, on Flickr


Resident evil DX9 fixed benchmark at 1280x800:

RE5DX9_2010_10_27_18_16_01_665 by ]mattlach, on Flickr


So what do you guys think, am I suffering from the AMD 1x problem?

It's lower than my Core i7-920 Desktop with a GTX470 which gets 17623, but really not bad considering the laptop only gets 2082 with internal graphics.

 

A respectable performance, but your result indicates to me that the AMD problem still persists. Consider 3dmark06 results from the first page which show you to be pretty much on par with a HD5850:

T410s: i5-520M+HD5850.2GB@x1=12765
Dell E4310: i5-520M+HD6850@x1=12994

Comparison to [email protected]

[email protected] gets 3dmark06=13910. It's SM 3.0=7227, which is a 15% faster than your HD6850's 6320.

We do see that the 1280x800 RE5 fixed on a [email protected] gets 58.9, a good 29% more than your 45.7. I'd expect a maximum of 15% of that is due to the faster i7-620M CPU, which means the GTX460 is still at least 15% faster.

EDIT: I see you have a GTX470 in your desktop. Consider using it to do back-to-back of the HD6850@x1 versus [email protected] on your E4310 to confirm for yourself that the NVidia Fermi Optimus setup is the superior performer. The NVidia Optimus driver's peformance and internal LCD mode enhancements would also engage on your Intel HD equipped E4310. This opens up the possibility of a GTS450+120W or GTX460+150W portable AC adapter NVidia solution for gaming-on-the-go.

 

Thanks for your analysis.

Keep in mind - however - that the 6850 replaces the 5750, not the 5850. (AMD decided to free up more space in the low numbers for mainstream cards)

I'm actually really surprised it performed on par with a 5850, unless - of course - this is as a result of being bottlenecked by the AMD 1x problem, making the system unable to take advantage of the full potential of the 5850...

It would be interesting to pull out the GTX470 for a comparison, but I doubt the poor old little power supply I am using could handle it, and it wouldn't be a fair comparison. The GTX470 is on par with the 6850's older brother, the 6870, when on a 16x bus.

 

Hey nando, what do you think of the Dell DA-2 adapter? It's 12V and 220W. It seems to me that it should be able to easily power any card... The only problem, of course, is the connector. But it seems that other people have successfully modded it:

SPCR • View topic - Antec NSK1300 with PW-200-V DC-DC and Akasa Evo-120

I'm not too familiar with all these types of plugs so I couldn't exactly follow what was going on. But it seems to me that it should be possible to convert the connector directly into a Molex plug. What do you think?

 

And btw mattlach, how did you hook up your HD6850? Did you use an ATX power supply or a DC power brick?

 

I use a marginal DC power brick that I modded together. Its barely sufficient. I found it in a box of old wires. Can't really remember what it was for.

Long term I'll need to figure something else out.

 

I have thought some more about this, and what really surprises me is that the 3DMark score is so high, and the RE5 score is so low...

Other cards in the test archive have lower 3DMark scores, but higher RE5 scores...

Does anyone have a good link on how Nvidia Optimus works? It looks like it really does wonders. Maybe I'll try to replace my HD6850 with a lower powered GTS450, and still get better performance, at a lower power envelope...

Maybe I'll see if I can pay a restocking fee and switch

Also,

Did I do the RE5 benchmark incorrectly? How come you only posted a - for it on the first page?

 

Hmm, I've tested my GTS with Fallout New Vegas. About 40fps under heavy carnage on 1280x1024 and Ultra settings ;d

IMO GTS450 is the best option when we are talking about PCIE x1 1.0.

 

The front page has RE5 variable 1280x800 results. You did a fixed benchmark which gives lower numbers. This is why you have a "-".

I'd be going a GTS450 or GTX460 if it was my Optimus <strike>cable</strike> capable E4310. An overclocked GTS450 at x1 Optimus would very likely outperform the HD6850 at a lower price and power usage. Benchmarks show a GTX460 would outperform the HD6850 at ~ the same pricepoint.

That Dell adapter is available for peanuts on ebay with enough power on tap to drive a GTX460 or a HD6850. Being fanless, it is silent too. Quite attractive features for a DIY ViDock implementation.

The 8pin plug has 3 12V/GND pairs, each which can deliver ~72W. So if prepared to splice in heavy gauge wiring could adapt it to so two pairs can drive up to two 6-pin pci-e sockets and the remaining pair provides the slot power via the floppy molex plug on the PE4H/PE4L.

Perhaps someone can volunteer to do a mini project to show how it can be done?

 

Thank you for the input. Not sure I understand though. Do I need a special cable for Optimus? I thought it was just a matter of drivers...

 

It's just about drivers.

However, for GTS450 Optimus we need to wait for 260.xx update, because with 259.xx some games just won't work. GTX460 don't have such problems (I think so).

 

Oh, OK. That explains my really low benchmark numbers.

I chose the fixed benchmark as I thought it was more repeatable, and thus better for comparisons. Didn't realize you had gone with the variable.

Here are my new numbers with this setup, but with the variable benchmark instead:


RE5DX9_2010_10_28_12_46_58_744.jpg by mattlach, on Flickr

 

I should post DX10 benchmark results too.

It would also be nice to see some DX11 benchmarks.

Civ5 has a free demo/benchmark in steam I believe. I wonder if there is a Metro 2033 benchmark, as that would really show what these DIY Vidock setups are capable of...

Meanwhile I'm addicted to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series. I'm still only on the first one as I rarely have time to play, but hopefully this DIY ViDock will help with that

 

Interesting. I'm looking into trading in my HD6850 for a 1GB GTX460.

I'll take a 15% restocking fee hit, but I feel its worth it seeing what Optimus can do...

This will all have to wait until next payday though. This was a Mortgage week.

I will miss the 6850 though. It is amazing how low power it is for its performance. Maybe this is just because I am used to the loud GTX470, but going through the RE5 benchmark it never went above 65C, and was never audible over the HVAC duct in my office.

 

Comparative GTX470 versus HD6850 testing sans 15% restocking fee

An OCed GTX460 benchmarks at GTX470 levels so you could certainly use your GTX470 to do comparative benchmarking. The cheapest option to do that would be to remove the PSU and GTX470 from your desktop, connect them up, load the Optimus drivers and do back-to-back benchmarking of the HD6850 versus the GTX470 with your favorite games. If you didn't get a SWEX, use the paperclip trick to power the ATX PSU.

DX9 is slower on NVidia cards in the non-Optimus setup. 3dmark06 result inwould suggest that DX9 on an Optimus setup outperforms the HD5xxx/HD6xxx though your benchmark results would confirm that. Such comparative benchmarking would be appreciated by the community and show you firsthand if it's worth taking the 15% restocking hit. I expect it is.

Request: review/add FAQ items on first page

The first post has been re-designed in FAQ style format. There is certainly scope to polish/edit the existing responses and add any other items that may be missing. Your contributions most welcome either as a post OR as a PM.

 

Hmm.. For this comparison, I could underclock the GTX470 to get closer to GTX460 speeds, but is there a way I can tell it to use fewer shaders? If that is possible, I can make it identical to a GTX460 (except for the larger VRAM size...)

 

I wouldn't bother trying to get the GTX470 to be a GTX460. They are after all different GF100/GF104 cores. Just know that the GTX460 has lots of overclocking potential so can run at close-to-GTX470 stock speed. If you really wanted, could flash a GTX465 bios on your GTX470 which would give only 1GB VRAM and lock down shaders, giving you a GTX465. A GTX465 is slower than a GTX460. I did the opposite. I had an unlockable PNY GTX465 which I flashed the GTX470 bios to get the extra VRAM, faster clocks and more shaders.

I've added a section ATI versus NVidia back-to-back benchmarking on the first post giving you an idea of some volunteered benchmark comparisons. So you could consider providing a HD6850 versus GTX470 on x1/x1.Opt links (i5-520M 2.4, mattlach) article to link from there. Based on existing posted results I'd expect:

DX9: GTX470 x1.Opt > HD6850 > GTX470 x1
DX10: GTX470 x1.Opt > GTX470 x1 > HD6850
DX11: GTX470 x1.Opt > GTX470 x1 > HD6850

 

Im having a problem getting my system to work i have a radeon r4850 with a 300w power supply and a toshiba satellite lap top. and im using a pm3n plug to the laptop mother board and when i turn it all on its giving me a black screen, do i have to use a monitor or can i use my laptop screen?

 

Wow, so much has happened since last I looked for external video card solutions. (ViDock 2 hadn't come out yet). I'm not going to lie, 200 pages of replies is overwhelming.

I've been reading but there is so much information that I can't find the info I wanted again.

My question is going to be a very noobish question which is:
Given that I have a HP HDX16t laptop with windows 7, what is the best options for me to get. I've been reading that maybe the GTX 460 or 470 might be ideal with the optimus setup. Although it would be fine if I haev to get a powersupply, I would prefer just the regular adapter plug if possible. I'm at work right now so I'm not sure if I have the mPCIe slot. I would LIKE to run mPCIe and expresscard to maximize bandwidth if that is possible.

I would like to use the internal LCD but I may switch to external since I saw that it had noticably better results.


I appologize for my ineptness. I am on my lunch break at work and have been very busy with moving and settling down.

 

Interesting. What makes you think the 6850 will beat the GTX470 in DX9 applications? I fully expect the GTX470 to trounce the 6850 accross the board even without optimus, as this is what we've seen in 16x desktop applications. Remember the 6850 is the spiritual successor to the 5750, not the 5850. AMD/ATI upped all the numbers by 100 for this release to make more room in the low end for more mid range products.

I will run some DX10 benchmarks on the 6850 today during lunch, and try to get the GTX470 tests done after work today. It's going to be a little tricky, as my Shuttle SFF case uses non-standard motherboard and power solutions, so I am not sure how to do the paper-clip trick on it. I may just leave the desktop running sans video card, with the power hooked up to it for the test.

 

You are correct. You need either an external monitor or a special hack to allow you to use your internal monitor.

The only exception to this is to use a Nvidia 4xx board coupled with Nvidias Optimus drivers IF you have Intel HD based internal graphics. If you do this, the Nvidia graphics can write directly to the Intel HD frame buffer over the PCIe bus and allow for internal graphics, but there will be a performance hit compared to usig an external monitor.

 

I can't speak to mPCIe as I have not done this myself, but I'll try to address your other questions.

From what I have read here, Geforce 460GTX 1GB + Optimus is an ideal solution. You will need to have a power supply either way, there is no way of getting out of this. You can easily mod an external 12V AC adapter though, or use a small form factor PSU, so there is no need for a large bulky ATX power supply with Medusa-like power cords sticking out of it.

If the 1GB GTX460 is too much for you, I'd go for one of the 1GB GTS450 overclocked versions. My somewhat educated guess is that the 768MB GTX460 is going to take a much larger performance hit over vidock than it does on a desktop due to the 1x bandwidth...

 

I am trying to setup my computer for a x2 link, but I am having trouble getting the DIY ViDock Setup 1.0e4 working on my usb bootdisk. I am using Windows 7 64-bit.

I followed all the directions listed here http://forum.notebookreview.com/6295529-post630.html, and redid it numerous times, but something seems to be missing. I set my USB drive to first in the boot order, but it never loads. I forced the USB to load, and all I get is a Win 98 message and a DOS prompt. Is there supposed to be some sort of GUI?

After doing this "1. Choose Create a DOS Startup Disk [your USB thumbdrive] using System Files located in v:" it appears as if there is nothing in the usb drive's root directory. After doing "2. Copy the contents of v:\ to your USB thumbdrive's root directory (eg: h:\) using Windows Explorer" a prompt asks me if I want to copy and replace IO.sys and MSDOS.sys. Am I supposed to?

I really want to figure this out so I can start testing. Thank you.

 

Wow, thanks for the lightning fast response. If anyone else knows about mPCIe + express card at the same time let me know. Otherwise I will be taking your advice with the 460gtx 1GB + optimus.

 

@ PanzerHauptmann

I saw that you have the same laptop I have. I am wondering what your current setup is if you are stilling appearing on these forums.

 

Alright,

Here are the DX10 benches for the 6850:

3DMark Vantage (I'm going to run out of email addresses to use for free trial keys if I am going to test many more configurations):

HD6850 3DMark Vantage by mattlach, on Flickr


Devil May Cry:

DevilMayCry4_Benchmark_DX10_2010_10_29_12_20_12_246.jpg by mattlach, on Flickr

DMC seems surprisingly low compared to the other results on page one. I wonder if I have the settings wrong again. I couldn't find what was used for the comparison tests here, so I just changed resolution to 1280x800 and ran everything else on default settings.

 

Hi guys, I started a thread (and link to this forum) in Tomshw.it for external graphic cards. Before I found Nando...should I try to translate something???
... after I can get out a shoestring or s.thing... I Just want to make sure at this moment I'm not doin' some big mistake.. with my DIY-ing...

OK...
I just ordered a PE4H + EC2C v.2.0a

HP Elitebook 6930P
CPU Type Mobile DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo T9400, 2533 MHz (9.5 x 267)
Discrete graphic ATI 3450HD 256 mb
OS Microsoft Windows 7 Professional

North Bridge: Intel Cantiga PM45:
PCI-E 1.0 x16 port #2 In Use @ x16 (ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450/3470 (HP) Video Adapter)

South Bridge: [ TRIAL VERSION ]
PCI Express Controller
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port #1 Empty
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port #2 In Use @ x1 (Intel WiFi Link 5300 AGN)
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port #3 Empty
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port #5 Empty

I Will start with the basics :
Download >> DIY ViDock Setup v1.0e4 << (2.47MB, 2010-10-21) >>>>>

- encounter WinXP/7 error 12:cannot allocate resources requiring automated PCI Reallocation or IGP relocation.
- want to use x1E/x2/x4 higher performance pci-e links
- require mPCIe anti-whitelisting (HP/Lenovo mPCIe slots)
- want to enable/disable the IGP or dedicated graphics in a hybrid graphics system to free up resources

Than I don't really know know which graphic card I will go for, maybe the GT460 or The Gigabyte ATI5750... I would get the MSI Cyclone 460... and a ext. PSU... but is it worth my case Could I get significant improvement enabling - I still dont know how - the crossfire option (Everest says not supported ) linking the 3450 to a 5750 for ex.
The price for the Cyclone it's ~70$ more ex. > HD5750
Any helps? I am not sure what is the best choice for my pci-e 1.0 ports , it looks like three of them are free in the South Bridge...
but it would be just great to have ONE working for good...

Boops!

 

Bootup with the DIY ViDock off. In Win7, standby system, poweron DIY Vidock, resume. If the HD4850 isn't detected then bootup with wifi in slot, stanby, swap the wifi with PM3N, resume. That is necessary if Toshiba whitelists the port. Then can use DIY ViDock Setup 1.x's anti-whitelisting feature to overcome.

There is a HDX16t implementation linked from the first post. Searc for PanzerHauptmann posts for extensive commentary on his experience. Summary: HDX16t has wifi=port1, expresscard slot=port4. So it's port doesn't allow x2 to be done. Neither can it do Optimus since it comes with onboard GT130M or 9600GT. Panzer did both a HD5750 and a GTX470 implementation, not completely satisfied with either's performance, finally selling the PE4H and doing a desktop implementation instead.

A blue bootup selection menu option with "DIY ViDock" items appear if done right. Suggest do the disk image install.

DX10 result added to the first page. Your HD6850 a tad faster than my i5-430M+HD5750 result and are as expected for Intel crippled x1 1.0 bandwidth (ie: no x1E) where:

DX10: GTX470 x1.Opt > GTX470 x1 > HD6850 x1E > HD6850 x1

NFS Shift a good example of how this translates to real life. It's very choppy on the HD5750@x1, smoother but still choppy with HD5750@x1E (which series-5 chipsets can't do), yet buttery smooth and very playable on the GTX470 with or without Optimus. GTX470 x1.Opt DX10 FPS will be 2-3 times faster in dmcv4. You'll see this with your own eyes when you test your desktop's GTX470 or review the links below:

ATI versus NVidia back-to-back benchmarking

HD5750 versus GTX470 on x1 and x2 links (i5-430M 2.26, nando4)
HD5750 versus GTX460 on x1/x1E links (T9300-2.5, ithildin)
HD5750 versus GTX470 on x1, x1E, x1.Opt and x2 links (T2050/U7600/T6600, nando4)

 

Has anyone had any success with the ViDock on a Dell Precision M6400/with
T9900 @ 3.07g? I am using the following steps but no luck:
-unplugged ViDock
-boot with USB
-Compact onboard video which is NVidia FX2700 in (have tried both Bridges and 32 mode)
-Plug ViDock in and F5 to discover
-Compact ATI HD 2400 in (have tried both Bridges and 32 mode) I get (256)
-Apply Startup.bat
I am not sure what to do from here but I have:
-unplugged ViDock and rebooted then plugged vidock in after loggin in
I get Code 43
-I have left ViDock plugged in and still get Code 43 which also appears on Richo PCMCIA adapter in Device Manager as well

Any help would be appreciated!