DIY eGPU experiences

Either expresscard or mPCIe uses the same x1 pci-e pins leading to the southbridge I/O controller so have identical performance. Expresscard having two advantanges : (1) it is a more convenient package to access and hotswap than mPCIe and (2) it has a USB 2.0 port as part of the spec,

I did find a Dell WX637 mPCIe video card. No idea how capable it is. It's marketted for blu-ray playback, so might be something similar to the Broadcomm Crystal mini PCIe BCM970012 hd accelerator, in which case it's not a video card at all.

 

Thank you very much for the clarification nando4, I was starting to get worried

I'm currently in Europe but I'll be travelling to the US soon and, once I'm there, I'll be ordering the parts (saving in S&H and all) and putting my hands to work. What would be a good budget graphic card for a test setup?

 

Hey guys,
I'm happy to report that the setup that I managed to do just this week is running very well. I'm using the Ultramon method to generate an internal LCD image. However, I noticed that the graphics deteriorated when I did this. So I had a few questions:
-Is it possible to further increase performance? I am running a 1X PE4L with GTX460 1GB OC'd, 430W power.
-Is there an additional step I need to do so that the laptop GPU is shut off when the external GPU is running? Don't the two compete?

Finally, I'd like to post some benchmarking results with the internal display. What sort of program do I use and how do I do it (native or cloned monitor?)?

EDIT:
Also I would like to know if I can run a X2 or other links. Below is the screenshot from Everest. If I can run X2, please tell me what parts I would need to get. Thanks!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

Hi Nando,

I have set-up the DIY Vidock to my Macmini over the weekend. There's no posting in any Macforums on DIY Vidock, so I decided to experiment it myself. The DIY Vidock works nicely and Windows 7 able to detect the external graphic card after I disable the integrated i945 graphic chipset. I am using an external power supply salvage from an old laptop rather than using a desktop PSU. This gives a small form factor and complement the MiniMac as a HTPC. I am using EAH5450 Silent 512MB graphic card to also complement the quiet MiniMac. I am not concern on how powerful the card as long as I can play decent Starcrat 2 and watch HD movie thru the HDMI connection of the graphic card. I have also make a small cut on the edge of the MacMini base (as per picture 6) so that the mini HDMI cable can slide thru the bottom base and the MacMini metal enclosure can be close securedly. I am including some other photos too of the DIY Vidock set-up. The rest of the photos and the step by step set-up of DIY Vidock for MacMini will be included in external URL link on my next update. This will helps others intend to DIY Vidock their MacMini. I have not tried on the Snow Leopard MacOs X yet. It will be on another post.

Take note: That the latest ATI or Nvidia (whichever graphic card is set-up) catalyst driver need to be installed on every boot of Windows 7 for the card to be recognised and 3d acceleration is activated.

Hope someone can advise me, what can I do to get Windows 7 retain the graphic card driver upon shutdown.

As my Macmini is 2 yrs old, I have just revived its life with this DIY Vidock. Thank U again to nando for this handy and useful forum. As MacMini in Singapore is expensive, even a 2yrs old unit, I would not recommend for those faint hearted to disfigured their MiniMac.

http://img826.imageshack.us/g/001xrw.jpg/

 

nando, please come over here please

SWEX (ATX Power Supply Power-On Switch ver1.1) What is the role?? Not add to line up>?? ATX power supply connected directly to the Green Line and a short black line will be able to directly activate the power of the! Simply can ignore SWEX please nando please answer my question

 

Today I verified that Dell doesn't have a way for me to get rid of the Nvidia 160m in my laptop ( soldiered on motherboard). The chipset is known to cause problems ( according to Dell) so they only offer the option of replacing the motherboard, with exactly the same!
Since Dell is not giving me any option to get rid of this cursed Nvidia chip, I would like to ask if there is anyone that has this as well and has managed to make a working vidock. If so, please add your laptop model, the new added desktop card and if you have express card adapter or the other type.
Thank you

 

Hi There Nando4,
Ive just recieved my PE4H in the mail.
Im trying to get it to run on my HP TX2 and im running into some issues. I put the system to sleep, connect it, and wake it up. It goes right to the Laptop display, not my monitor. I can see my HD5770 in the Device Mananger under display adapters, but there is nothing in Display settings to choose...?

Help please

 

Did you install a driver for the 5770? It won't display anything without a proper driver. The windows automatic driver installation is not something to count on. Also right click on the 5770 in the device manager and make sure it says, "This device is functioning normally" and not giving you an error 12 or something.

 

If my Express Card slot is port 2 am I screwed?

port 1 empty, port 2 express card, port 3 empty, port 4 wifi, port 5 hidden, port 6 lan

 

ill try reinstalling the drivers when i get home later tonight. From Device Manager it says the device is working normally... but in Resourcses it says its not using any because there is a problem.

 

first of all a big thank you to everyone who's posted their progress and in particular, nando4 for the endless hints, tips & detailed responses!

now my set-up's working a treat, i have a few connectivity questions:

1, is there a 'mini displayport to dvi + dvi' adapter?
by that, i mean one with a pair of dvi outputs to run two dvi screens, not one dual-link output (eg; for connecting two 23" cinema displays, not one 30" cinema display)

2, has anyone managed to speed up the expresscard's connection on a Mac?
could one of the three available mini-hdmi ports on the PE4H be hacked/merged, eg; to usb 2.0 now & usb 3.0 later? it's running at x1 on a Mac, even though the board can handle x16 on a PC.

3, could anything else be added to the PE4H?
as posted earlier, i'd like to house as many of my external peripherals in one desktop tower as possible. right now, there's a PSU, GPU & cabling, all neatly stowed inside one case. unsurprisingly, it runs considerably quieter than the laptop it's connected to.

what i'd like to add next is a blu-ray burner, which could easily be powered off the PSU, but what to connect it to? if there's an internal-burner and the necessary cabling's available, i could connect it to the Mac's firewire 800 socket. that would mean two data cables from tower-to-laptop, but no additional power bricks, etc. has anyone else tried to do this?



I did find a Dell WX637 mPCIe video card. No idea how capable it is. It's marketted for blu-ray playback, so might be something similar to the Broadcomm Crystal mini PCIe BCM970012 hd accelerator, in which case it's not a video card at all.[/QUOTE]

 

Hi everyone thx for this thread i just try a gtx460 on my toshiba l300 and it working perfectly...
I will post result later

I got a question i'm running on internal setup so i receive this watermark a "OPTIMUS DEMONSTRATION NVIDIA CONFIDENTIAL NOT FOR RELEASE...."

How can i just flush this message.

Next is it possible to made a adaptor for my internal lcd to connect on my gtx460 with hdmi or dvi??


thx in advance and continious this great job

 

so now i tried reinstalling the ATI drivers for my 5770 to no avail. the card shows up in Device Manager, and it says it working... but wont display. If i shut down and reboot with the card running i get 4 beeps from the MoBo and blackness...

 

Nobody in this thread or http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/469747-sony-z11-nvidia-optimus-29.html#post6539272 has figured out how to get rid of the watermark on NVidia uncertified solutions.

See Can I make this work using just my notebook's LCD display? on first post for details of a $30 adapter would give you an input port to allow the desktop video card to drive the internal LCD.

Switch off the HD5770 so the bios doesn't hang trying to allocate it. When Win7 has loaded, standby system, poweron HD5770, resume. Ensure you've attached a monitor to the HD5770's HDMI/DVI output port and not the notebook's hdmi/dvi connector. Lastly, if no go, uninstall the onboard video driver and reload that as well. There is a successful TX2+HD5770 implementation linked from the first post.

See 5. (Performance) Can my system do a PE4H x2 or x4 link as shown in PCI-E Scaling Analysis? on the first post on how to check if can get more pci-e bandwidth.

To add multiple devices off a PE4H would require something like a x4 PCI Express 4-Way Splitter with each split-off point sharing the available bandwidth. You may instead wish to go another PE4L or PE4H and tap another x1 pci-e link off the wifi slot if can't do a x2 link by port combining.

 

nando4,
I tried putting system to sleep and connecting, still reverts to Laptop screen. from there i uninstalled the ATI driver and downloaded the latest, still nothing.

 

Check:

1. there are no errors against the HD5770 device in Device Manager
2. your LCD/monitor works and is connected to the desktop video card ports
3. you've loaded the latest Catalyst driver and have the latest Southbridge driver for the RS780M chipset installed.

If still no go, try to remove RAM so you have 2GB installed and test. This is in case the video card is allocated to 36-bit space but for whatever reason doesn't want to operate correctly from there. If that is the fix, then work with Setup 1.x to get your HD5770 allocated in 32-bit space with all your RAM installed.

 

still no luck with the south bridge drivers... going to try Ram removal to 2GB

 

no luck with less ram either... this sucks!

 

Hey guys,

First time poster hoping to build a vidock.

I have a xps 1530m and probably am going to get a 460GTX for performance.

One question though: how much power do I really need? From the guide it says 75+2*75 so 225W? Any advantage using a 400W?

Hehe, electrical noob

Thanks.

 

If either port 1 or 3 is a mPCI-e then you should be able to do a 2x 1.0 setup via one of these 2 methods:

1) port 1 mPCI-e + port 2 express card
2) port 3 mPCI-e + port 4 mPCI-e

If both ports are mPCI-e then you could get a 2xE setup (4x 1.0) but it comes with you removing your wifi card on port 4 and you would need to use an AMD GPU to get the most out of it, according to my understanding.

There is a difference between Power supply output and power supply rating.

Refer to ithildin's PSU recommendations. But basically you want to read what output your power supply gives on the +12V rail or in multiple rail power supplies, the +12V1. You just need to multiply the amount of amperes the +12V rail gets and you should be set.

Since you are getting a GTX460 you will need a power supply with at least this printed on it's specifications +12V@19A. This is 228W so it's the minimum to feed both the card and your adapter.

Personally i would advice something like this PSU(go to "Details Tab" then check "Output") this would give you an output of 336W so you would be more than safe with your graphic card and PCI-e adapter.

 

Hello everyone, I am thinking of giving my vidock setup another try.
This time I will be using a GTx 460.
I am between these 4:
1) EVGA GeForce GTX460 768MB DDR5 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card 768-P3-1360-TR
2)MSI N460GTX Cyclone768D5/OC 768 MB Overclocked Graphics Card
3)Gigabyte GeForce GTX460 768M DDR5 192B PCIE2 2DVII/HDMI/FAN RTL Video Card GV-N460OC-768I
4)Gigabyte GeForce GTX460-1 GB GDDR5 PCIE2 256B 2DVI-I/HDMI/FAN RTL Video Card GV-N460OC-1GI

First 3 are 768 MB Ram (196 bit bus) different manufacturers Evga,Msi, Gigabyte Msi comes overclocked last one is Gigabyte 1MB ram (256 bit bus).
All the 768 models are around the same value 1gb is +20 $ ( however I am already over budget).
I have a an the express card adapter version connected to an e6500 through port 4, my internal cards is Nvidia Nvs 160m ( unfortunately).
Given the vidock's limitations is the 1gb superior indeed superior than the 768 versions?
Should I go for the 768 overclocked? What do you think over the comparison of EVGA, overclocked MSi, Gigabyte?
Thanx in advance

 

I'd go for the 1Gb version because the difference in price is really nothing when compared with the gains in performance.

 

Apparentely because of a special offer the 768 versions are up to 70 $ cheaper which makes them the winner.
For my final decision I am now between:
EVGA 768-P3-1362-TR GeForce GTX460 768 MB Superclocked DDR5 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card
Superclocked or regular version. Superclocked is 10 $ cheaper than regular (!), anyone sees a handicap of the superclocked version compared to the regular for vidock use?

 

ok guys, not sure what i did now, but now the card is not even visible in Device manager...


Ive tried reinstalling the ATI drivers from the website... nothing
Ive tried using a different power supply... nothing


When i power on the card, the fan goes to full speed. When its connected to the laptop and woken up the fan slows down, so the card can "see" the laptop... just not the other way.

EDIT: after some mucking around with the card it is visible in Device Manager again... but still wont go to external display
EDIT: here is an image from Device Manager
and another from Everest showing the 5770

 

Can anyone help me, because i don't know if my laptop really can use DIY Vidock using mpcie. Now, I am using Acer Aspire 4741g Core i5 450m, 512mb nvidia 310m and 6gb ram also using win 7 64bit. Can it go to fully performance if i want to use gtx 460.There pic about my pcie controller.

 

you need WDDM 1.1 drivers for both video cards to make 57xx primary and then you can choose it to display. maybe you'll have to mess with the infs.
Mine worked when I installed ati catalyst drivers for 5750 and microsoft(lol) drivers for x1400 using these inf settings
"ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 (Microsoft Corporation WDDM 1.1)" = ati2mtag_M54, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_7145
"ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (Microsoft Corporation WDDM 1.1)" = ati2mtag_Evergreen, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_68BE
you'd need your own device id's DEV_XXXX and driver names (ati2mtag_Evergreen & ati2mtag_M54)

Or you can disable onboard video and install xp driver for 57xx

btw what's ati RS780M?



read this http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...18851-diy-vidock-experiences-post5590209.html

 

i believe that that RS780M is the name for my onboard ATI HD3200 if im not mistaken.

I run into a problem if i try to reboot with the card connected, i get 4 beeps at POST

 

Where is says uninstall the existing ATI device in device manager, is that referring to the on-board GPU or the external?


Also i have CCC10.xx installed, not 9.xx, does that need to go as well?

 

ATI is working on its version of Optimus

Apparently Optimus enabled notebooks will appear December

 

ive tried going through the steps from DIY setup1.x....
When i restart my system i get the menu to choose Win7 or DIY setup,
I choose DIY Setup, and it says windows cannot start and goes back to square one...

still cant figure out why it wont go to external disaply. the card is visible in device manager and Everest, no problems or errors being reported on either.




RESULTS AT LAST!!!
after many hours of tinkering i got the card to come up Error 12. Shut down and removed 2GB of ram and now it works!
Still gonna need some help getting the DIY Setup 1.x to work properly
Benchmarks to follow soon

 

Scanned the Macbook Pro 17" 2,1 for more info about the chip but revealed just it's model name: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz. Not sure what else to try without pulling the case apart (which is what I've been trying to avoid all along).

Is there a usb to mini-hdmi cable available and if so, would connecting that to the second slot on the PE4H do anything useful? I notice there's a usb slot on the board too, but don't know if it's in/out, or just /out. Before I plug it in and the room fills with smoke, would either/both of those options increase the throughput?

The external extension modules you recommend look like just the thing to build up the system, although with it all currently running at x1, it's probably going to be more efficient to use a firewire 800 cable to connect a blu-ray recorder when required. Exciting stuff!

One alternative could be to pull the superdrive out & patch it through there? I need wifi a lot more often than the superdrive, so would that be a sensible option? Perhaps it's cabling could be relocated into the external case and be used on the new blu-ray recorder?

Thank you once again for your direction!

 

So having this thing running is great, but i really need that 4GB of RAM for running some of my Autodesk programs.

I tried doing the DIY ViDock Setup 1.x, and when i boot my system the first menu comes up to choose Win7 or Vidock setup. When i pick Vidock setup i get a screen saying that windows cannot start something about file: \grldr.mbr status: 0xc000000f entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt

I need this to run Autodesk 3DS Max and other intense programs, so 2GB just doesnt cut it.

 

Congratulations on making yor vidock work even with 2 GB. I have the same problem and I need 4 gb for other programs. So it would be very interesting if you made it work. I couldn't do it even with the Setup 1.x but of course this is something you should try cause every laptop is different.
If however the setup fails in your case as well, one soution would be to try if it works with 2gb+1 gb ( i.e. add a ram stick of 1gb) or..if it works with more than 4gb. The 3gb solution will probably work as other people have tried, the >4gb probably not...

In any case, although the 3gb solution may work do the tests without buying ram. Just experiment if you can borrow temporarily compatible ram from a friend. Especially the >4gb will probably not work so do not buy a memory upgrade just for your vidock. If however you have a friend that can lend you a 4 gb stick of compatible ram you may want to try.( Although not very probable) It would be interesting if vidock worked .

 

This guy posted earlier in the thread "another solution" for the > 4GB RAM problem, so i'll repost it for reference highlighting the important part to see if you guys find it useful.

 

I am very eager to try this. Thanx for reposting.

 

has other people had problems getting ViDock Setup 1.x to run properly? when i try to choose it from the boot menu it fails to open

 

For me I found that older versions run, while the newer ones do not, even after repeated reformatting the same flash driver for different setup versions. e2 is the newest version that would open for me. e3 and e4 do not.

 

Can you tell me the best solution for the latitude e4300?
I've seen the two examples for the e4300 in the start post, but nothing about their mpcie configuration.
Wlan is a must have. Usb and expresscard are not the most beautiful solutions, but for the best performance its necessary? I added everest screen.

What would be the best configuration?
USB/Expresscard WLAN + x2 mpcie@hd4850?
Or somethin else? Switch to Nvidia?

Thank you for your help

 

@ Atonof: According to this post, the E4300 has the following config:

- Port #1: mPCI-e
- Port #2: mPCI-e
- Port #4: ExpressCard

So in order to do a x2 1.0 setup, you would need to take out your wifi-card and use a PE4H with PM3Nx2.
Since you don't want to get rid of your wifi, your choices are limited to the following:

1) Do a 2x setup like above mentioned, but you would need to buy an compatible expresscard wifi for your laptop.
2) Do a x1 + Optimus Drivers Nvidia setup
3) Do a x1E setup with AMD HD 5xxx/6xxx graphic cards

 

Thanks for the advice. Illtry this when i get home tonight

 

It looks like you can move your wireless card to port 4, and do an x2 setup with ports 1 and 2. However, you can't do an x2e link and have wireless active at the same time since port 4 would have to be disabled, meaning that you'll get more performance out of nvidia 4xx cards than ATI. Port 1 is likely an expresscard slot so this would be a combination of expresscard and mpci-e connectors.

 

Also, have you ever done any formatting on your drive? I think that the main reason I have issues with it is that I made an XP partition. Even though that partition is gone now, I think it may be messing up grub and win7 bootloaders with the setup program.

 

No, ive never done any partitioning on my HD. My laptop came loaded with Vista, but i had the free upgrade to 7 when it was released... not sure if that could affect anything?

 

so now when i try go through the DIY Vidock setup i get this in cmd


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

So a x1 opt. gtx460 setup at express card would be fine?

Don't really understand the x1e setup. Is the external graphic connected to the express slot or to express slot and mpcie? i think only to express slot while the mpcie is disabled?

 

hi,

Did somebody test notebook Asus K50IJ with 4500MHD intel graphics?I want to buy PE4H but dont know if its supported.I dont have any express card slots,only mPCIE and I dont know how to do it.

 

Oh I didn't know you could do optimus. Definitely go with nvidia then. It's unfortunate that your expresscard slot is port 4. If you absolutely must keep your wireless card then you can only do x1 with either expresscard or mpci-e. If you want to get a wireless card for your expresscard slot to replace it, then you could do an optimus x2 setup with your 2 mpci-e ports. No one has done an x2 optimus yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

 

The start post tells me, that optimus with the e4300 can be done. avlan did it i think.

I would love to do a x2 opt with a gtx460, but i don't want a wireless card in my express card slot, not fitting perfectly in it.
Are there very small cards or usb sticks? i searched for them, but didn't find one. Perhaps because of the antenna.

So the only reasonable way is x1 opt. with the expresscard slot, if i want to change my current hd4850?

 

@ Atonof: Given your set of restrictions, yes it seems that Nvidia x1 + Optimus Drivers setup using your expresscard slot is the best way to go.

@Khenglish: I'm just waiting for the new PE4H v.2.4 release, and I'll give x2 1.0 + Optimus a go, ETA end of this month.

 

maybe i should wait and see how x2 opt. performs
If i could find a very small express card oder wlan usb adapter, there would be no problem. But removing backcover and switching mpcie to wlan each time doesn't sound very good.