DIY eGPU experiences

Thank you once again Nando.

- I will try the setup 1.x when I can. Question: I have 2 win7 instances on my single hard drive, one for work, one for leisure. Is there a risk that setup1.x applies to both instances? (I do not want to change anything on my work-related windows)

- Are you saying that optimus CANNOT technically accomodate vga ?

- re Throttlestop: thank you for the heads-up. I get mixed results from this tool. While it improves my Wprime performance (from 730sec to 640sec to calculte 1024M), it hardly improves anything in 3dmark06 (+100 points max, out of 10600). My core i7 went up to 92 degree celcius toward the end of the wprime test. Probably too much to be safe, right?

acer47> GTX 460 TDP widely differs depending on which version/brand you have. My factory-OCed PNY was reported as peaking at 199W. As there is still margin for OC, I imagine the TDP could go up in the 220W's.. FYI, I am using a "new old" PSU with 18a on its 12v 1st rail. Theoretically enough for 216W. I don't think that what's on the other rail matters (in my case, another 18a 12v). An earlier poster in this topic recommended that you take a PSU with AT LEAST 19a on a single given 12v rail when using a GTX 460.

Btw, my PSU had no PCIe power cord, so i had to buy an extra 2molex-to-PCIe adaptor on top of the one shipped with the card. In other words, my GTX460 eats up all 4 molex plugs on my PSU.

 

... so whaddya want me to do!?

 

Hi nano4,
Sorry, but I'm little bit confused about setup for HP Compaq 2510p. I want to buy a PE4H ver 2.4 + EC2C. Can you explain how have you pluged expresscard|34 into this laptop which has full expresscard bus? Have you any image that show that?

Thank you.

 

The two Win7 instances would both be booted up via bcd. If do a disk image install of Setup 1.x, then there will just be an additional entry added to BCD that you can select in the bootmenu. Or can do a USB install to have no trace of DIY ViDock Setup 1.x on your disk.

Optimus can use a VGA monitor. I did test the VGA output on my LCD to do testing and it worked fine.

92 degrees is getting too hot. Not worth risking system failure unless improve cooling/airflow somehow without voiding warranty. A notebook cooler perhaps?

The 2510P doesn't have an expresscard slot. It has a whitelisted mPCIe slot. So you'd need PE4H-PM3N or PE4L-PM3N + Setup 1.x to do mPCIe unwhitelisting AND PCI compaction. The required config shown as an example in the startup.bat . This image shows how to connect to the 2510P. Works great with the HD4670, HD5750 or GTX470 that were all tested on my 2510P with a PE4H-PM3N and PE4L-PM3N.

Perform same steps as outlined here. Avoid a "ALL" compaction as it moves things like USB/SATA controllers around which can freeze the system. So do a 32/36-bit Selective compaction only on the onboard + external video card. Turn on help with "F1" to get more assistance with the menu options.

If that error you noted still persists, test by renaming \config\devcon.txt as \config\devcon.bak and try again.

If you are still using the Vidock4+ then it would be appropriate to request Villagetronic for a solution to your error 12 problem or seek refund per their return policy.

 

<quote>This image shows how to connect to the 2510P</quote>

It means that every time when I want to use video card I have to remove wifi card from laptop(do you have a video how are you doing that? =))... Hmm.. this solution doesn't look nice.

Thanks.

 

Correct. Unlike other ultraportables like the HP 27x0P/2530P/2540P, Lenovo X200/X201, Dell E4200, Sony S/Z series, Toshiba R700, the 2510P doesn't have an expresscard slot. So need to use the mPCIe slot instead.

I consider swapping out the wifi on the 2510P to be a minor inconvenience for the huge improvement in graphics speed + other features like HDMI video/sound the desktop video card provides.

Adding expresscard-like convenience to a mPCIe-based DIY ViDock setp

Can mod in expresscard-like convenience to the 2510P by dedicating the wifi mPCIe slot to DIY ViDock use and setup USB wifi instead. Simply cut a square access hole on the underside plastic cover above the mPCie slot and screw in the PM3N. Place a removable velco patch over the access hole to protect the system internals when being transported.

Whenever you need desktop video just remove the velco patch and attach the mini HDMI interconnect cable that leads to the PE4H/PE4L. Easy.

 

As the first step, just run Optimus in different modes (on/off, internal/external LCD), run cmd.exe (or Powershell), type SET command (or Get-Variable for Powershell) for each mode and check the values of environment variables VIDEOSHIM_UMD_INTERCOMM and SHIM_MCCOMPAT. If the values are different for each Optimus mode, then we're on the right way. Please also post the values here.

 

First issue: (same one I encountered in my earlier post responding to you): the variables don't exist. I checked in the envoirment variables section, and I don't see them

Happens on the 260.99 WHQL and 266.35 Beta drivers (both the verde laptop ones).



EDIT: actually, that is an issue with Powershell, aparently... CMD seems to work fine. But the same issue exists. It says the variables are not defined. Checking OS will say it's Windows NT, checking HTPATH will get me a program dir.

 

Just got 3dmark 11 results on i7-640UM + GTX 460SC 1GB, performance profile - not much, not much... P2877 3DMarks. Hopefully Sandy Bridge will fix everything

 

It seems that it'll be a little bit tricky to get required info. If environment variables are set by the process, then they're specific for this process and cannot be seen globally (from SET command). Please try to use Process Explorer as described here.

 

I ordered from hwtools. They shipped with fedex from taipei taiwan.....how long will it take to arrive in canada?


I wanted to buy from harmonicinversion. But fedex shipping alone is $40. I emailed about usps and it was only $20...but by the time they replied I already ordered....also harmonic is in the US...

Will I get dinged more if shipping from taiwan than US from duties n such?

 

I am supposed to get my PE4L today from harmonicinversion via UPS. For U.S. peeps I think harmonicinversion would probably be the cheapest as shipping was only $10 ($65 total including shipping, no tax).

I think I must have bad luck scavenging for PSUs, I found 4, and 3 of them would not turn on with the paper clip trick (maybe I am doing this wrong?), and the 4th worked but was only 100 watt, which I don't think is enough for the GTS 450 I got (from what I read I need 106 watts?). Does anyone know if I can just use a universal AC adapter like this:

I have an old one lying around unused and it is 120 watts. (I have a bunch of different tips for it and one of them appears to be 5.5mm/2.5mm)

Any suggestions or advice?

I am trying to save as much money as possible, I am hoping to get away with only having to buy the P4EL and the graphics card.

 

if its a 12v/10a adapter then you're good

 

Sandy Bridge's Series-6 mobile chipset supports pci-e 2.0 (5GT/s)

Snippet taken from the just-released Series-6 Intel chipset datasheet shown below confirms this. So we finally have Expresscard 2.0 (x1 2.0) capability *if* the vendor conforms to the Expresscard 2.0 Electromagnetic wiring spec. This chipset is used with Sandy Bridge CPUs.

How will this affect DIY ViDock? 1. This means two times more bandwidth then previous expresscard 1.0 (2.5GT/s) implementations. ATI cards may actually see more than 2 times the bandwidth for ATI cards if they now do proper full-duplex link negotiation. Previously needed the x1E tweak to get full duplex. 2. Intel now sets the x2/x4 pci-e port link width via the flash descriptor so can no longer be done using Setup 1.x. Would require a painful flash descriptor mod to get a x2 link if combining expresscard+mPCIe or mPCIe+mPCIe ports. x2 is no longer a feasible solution unless you are a hardcore modder. 3. If NVidia keep the x1.Opt tweak in their newest Optimus driver then this doubling of bandwidth should give some pretty impressive results. 4. ATI cards running full-duplex x1 2.0 will post results like the x2E results given so far. DV7-5000 confirms has pci-e 2.0 ports Got to play with one of these just-released Sandy Bridge notebooks at a local store.

left: default ports are x1 2.0. The wifi and lan are get downspecced to x1 1.0 due to being only pci-e 1.0 devices. middle: set a gen2 port to gen1 speed right: set a gen1 port to gen2 speed

Other findings

• IGP or x16 dedicated graphics port can no longer be disabled by Setup 1.x -> it needs to be done via the flash descriptor.
  
  
• x2/x4 link width can no longer be set via Setup 1.x
  
  
• DV7-5000 diag.txt has more PCI Config details if want to look.

So who would like to be the first to benchmark a NVidia Fermi card in a series-6 chipset with the latest Optimus driver?

Another performance improvement is the addition of SATA-3 (6GBps). So SSDs like the Crucial C300 can break the 280MB/s transfer rate previously imposed by the previous gen ICH8M to Series-5 SATA-2 interface.

UPDATE

hwtools inform me that their existing mini HDMI cable cannot run pci-e 2.0 5GT/s signals, even if use short 15cm cable. They are looking at creating new cables to run this higher speed link. See progress link for more info.

 

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo Toshiba M305 is on the not compatible list. I just received my diy vidock parts today.... lame

 

It's on the "not x2 1.0 capable list". That does not mean it can't do x1 1.0. Based on the results here you will need to use Setup 1.x to get it going.

 

With a intel dual core 2ghz with 2gb ram 4500mhd. Does it matter which version of a 460 gtx you get? I mean, if I got one at stock speeds of 650mhz vs something like a msi hawk 460gtx which can be overclocked very very high....
will it make a difference in a diy vidock?

 

Hi guys,

It's my first time posting, but I've been lurking quite a bit for the last week, so lemme know if I missed anything.

I'm trying to setup a PE4H ver2.4 with EC2C (1x expresscard) on my Lenovo x200 with an Nvidia 9800GT. Many others seem to have had success with the x200, so I think it ought to work, but just hasn't yet. I keep getting the dreaded error 12 - device doesn't have enough resources.

My system is a:
Thinkpad X200, 4GB@1066MHz DDR3 RAM, [email protected], ICH9-M, 4500MHD, Win 7 64bit + PE4H<->EC2C @ x1 + nVidia 9800GT 512mb

Things I've tried in DIY ViDock Setup v1.x:
- using the compact tool
- bridges mode
- 36-bit mode
- 32-bit mode (no possible configurations)
- using hallucinate's x200 remapping script at:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...51-diy-vidock-experiences-56.html#post6232081

I'm also attaching everest screenshots of my pci-express devices, my memory map without any remapping, and my memory map after using hallucinate's remapping.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide! If there's anything else you all need to know, just let me know. I can't wait to get this working. =]

 

Confirm there is a "PCI BUS" section in your \config\devcon.txt file which will be ignored if it's in English, or otherwise prohibit all 32-bit allocation if it's another language. The latter not good.

Then try 36-bit compaction, moving the 4500MHD to 36-bit space and keeping the 9800GT in 32-bit space.

If using hallucinate's script then check that the I/O ports allocated are free in Device Manager. Conflicting I/O area will also throw an error 12.

If no go, run the Setup 1.x diagnostics, archive the contents of the \diag directory, upload somewhere and link here.

It does help, but not worth paying a premium for. The folks at http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/ usually home in on the most balanced price/performance GTX460 available.

 

Not Vidock but XGP (AMD LX310 1.2Ghz X2 + 2GB DDR2 + Win 7 64bit + HD3870 XGP )
All running on 1280X720 benchmark default
I got 43.99fps on DMC4 scene4 DX10
27.1fps average on Bio 5 DX10 (how much does DX9 improve performance?)
and 3DMark06 of 4590

The CPU is the serious bottleneck here consider the HD3870 is running on PCI-E 2.0 X8 mode. I got 6.9 for game and graphic on WEI btw

If they could make XGP standard on most notebook it will be much better than going through those X1 option, consider you can hot plug the XGP (and unplug it) without restarting (like USB), ability to choose internal or external display acceleration on the fly, and the 1 year AMD exclusive is already expired so its pretty much FFA

 

- devcon.txt is in English, and has been attached

- tried 4500mhd->36bit, 9800gt->32bit, and my 9800gt was recognized, but my 4500mhd got an error 12 and booted in vga mode (see attached screenshot intel36bit-nvidia32bit.png)

- hallucinate's script is set to use port 4 and that port is open according the the Everest output in my previous post - that ought to be okay, right?

- attached compressed diag directory

if there's anything else i'm missing, let me know... i'm starting to think i'll have to do the remapping manually?

 

Ah, I'm sorry for being late. I'll get you the result tomorrow. I saw what you meant in PE earlier, but it's a late worknight today/early workday tommorrow.

 

hallucinate's script won't work because your 9800GT is requesting a 512MB+16MB+32MB BAR. No way it's going to get that in 32-bit space when TOLUD=3GB.

Code:

 5: 0: 0, BAR=1 size=0x20000000 prefetch=1 64b=1
 5: 0: 0, BAR=0 size=0x01000000 prefetch=0 64b=0
 5: 0: 0, BAR=3 size=0x02000000 prefetch=0 64b=0

So then either the 4500MHD or 9800GT or both need to go to 36-bit space. Try updating the NVidia and 4500MHD drivers to the latest and test. Or maybe you can flash a vbios on the 9800GT so that only requires 256MB BAR=1? Or alternatively, try a different video card altogether. A GTS450/GTX460 would give you x1.Opt performance.

This is the first time I've seen a non-SLI desktop video card require > 256MB PCI config space.

 

Unfortunately, the support for true PCIe 2.0 5GT/s doesn't mean automatic support for Expresscard 2.0. Expresscard 2.0 interface should be implemented by notebook vendor separately. So far I haven't seen any such announcements.

 

Is it possible convert a memory stick duo or sdhc card slot into a pci-e type slot?

 

even if u can, the speed is far to slow..

 

The only thing vendors need to do is conform to the Expresscard 2.0 electromagnetic spec AND ensure they don't switch the port to 2.5GT/s. The datasheet shows it's pretty easy to manually switch the port to 5GT/s if the vendor down-clocked it to not claim Expresscard 2.0 compliance.

I'd say we'll see a lot of Expresscard 2.0 capable systems announced. Why? Primarily because of USB 3.0, something that Intel's Series-6 chipset doesn't included native support for. So to get it at it's 5Gbps spec will require a Expresscard 2.0 interface to host a USB 3.0 EC card.

Harmonic Inversion(HIT) has more DIY ViDock accessories

HIT have the US$6 SWEX and US$20 PM3N in stock. US/Canada folks can buy from HIT instead of hwtools and save on shipping costs.

 

Following Nando's further advice, this is a new update on the implementation of DiY Vidock on a HP 2540P (i7 640LM, 4GB ram, intel HD+Nvidia GTX460, W7 64)

- Setup 1.x did solve the sound problem. I did not test further to see the effects on resuming from standby (previously impossible). Am I supposed to run Setup 1.x everytime I intend to use the Vidock?


- The directx issue is still here. I cannot run anything directx 9 or even 10 on the external monitor. Only directx 11 apps and the windows desktop will run. Even the directx10/11 option of Civilization 5 won't launch. I still get the message "D3DERR_NOTAVAILABLE" from GetDeviceCap, while dxdiag lists NO DDI version and "not available" for all 3 directx features under the "display" tab (with no option to enable them). However, everything works fine on the internal LCD..
There is little google information available on this issue. D3D devs forums basically say this:

They also say it could be linked to a multi-monitors set-up.

* My W7 64 is fairly clean. I never had to install directx on top of what's already in there (until this week)
* Reinstalling directx9.c or the latest full sdk package does not help
* UniOptimus 258.96, standard 258.96, modded 260.99: all nvidia drivers give the same result
* Cleaning the registry did not help
* Could it have to do with the modded drivers not being WHQL certified?
* Could it be a stupid thing as in "sequence in which you plug on vidock" (I switch it on and then plug the whole thing including EC2 in the laptop), an option in nvidia CP (either intel or nvidia as primary graphics) or somewhere else? An option in W7 screen resolution etc?
* Which version of the nvidia drivers are we supposed to use: desktop or mobile? (before modding them)
* Could additional Setup 1.x help solving that issue? (maybe I did not go far enough last time)

Any suggestion?


- Still, I ran a couple more benchmarks on what I could:

* 3DMark11 (the only 3Dmark that works on my external display): from 2881 to 3104 points (depending on the GTX460's o/c: from factory 765mhz to 866mhz), ie. almost the exact same score Docusync got with his own factory-o/ced GTX460 (2877)

* 3DMark06 (on internal LCD only) went from 9600 (factory o/c 765mhz) to 10418 (o/c 866) under drivers 260.99. I reckon that would be about 11300 points under the 259.96 drives.

* Surprisingly, the results were not exactly linear with progressive o/c:
i7-640LM + GTX460@765mhz: 2881pts
@802mhz (+37mhz): 2912 (+31pts)
@850mhz (+48mhz): 3071 (+159pts)
@866mhz (+16mhz): 3104 (+33pts)

 

Thank you for posting your results. Somewhat baffled by why your external monitor doesn't work as I have not seen such an error during my testing.

First suggestion: run Driver Sweeper and remove ALL previous instances of the NVidia drivers, then do a fresh re-install. You want to use/mod the Verde (mobile) drivers as they are the ones that come with the x1.Opt tweak and internal LCD mode setup.

Second suggeston: plug in another LCD (hdmi/DVI) if have at hand to ensure it's not something to do with the monitor or any VGA/DVI adapters you may be using.

Yes, you would need to boot via Setup 1.x to overcome your sound issue. This is a minor inconvenience if you set it up with as a disk image install AND configure your startup.bat with all your necessary details in it, eg:

Code:

REM prompt/wait for GTX460 to be powered on
call waitvid 60 10de:0e22

REM 'configure' the GTX460 so it doesn't hang win7 load
call pcicap load -d 10de:0e22

REM *Perform the PCI compaction and chainload to Win7*
call pci
call grub4dos w7 

* This requires that you have previously saved a PCI Config dump of your GTX460 and done the necessary PCI compaction which will automatically save the commands required to do it to pci.bat.

Then the boot sequence to use your DIY ViDock would be:

Code:

1. Boot Win7 bootmenu, select "DIY ViDock Setup 1.x"

2. At Setup 1.x bootmenu, select default "Automated startup via startup.bat"
option or let it count down. You will be prompted to power on your GTX460. Your
startup.bat will run and do it's magic..

3. Now you will be back at the Win7 bootmenu, select "Windows 7 ..." upon which
Win7 will bootup with the GTX460 active and any external LCDs attached to it
showing your desktop/extended desktop. 

Easy, per design. Use of Setup 1.x in this way can actually save you the inconvenience of having to do a standby, poweron GTX460, resume to get the GTX460 working in Win7. So it is faster at getting you to a working desktop on a monitor attached to your external video card.

 

Thank you once again, I will Driver_Sweeper and report.

I confirm that I get the same issue on a VGA monitor, a VGA projector and a HDMI monitor

 

A better "PE4H":
----------------
Works like a charm, no Watt power limit (limit is your ATX PSU max W) and extremely reliable + super excellent technical support; still need to test with more than one graphics card/other PCI cards (in addition to graphics card):

ExpressCard 34 => 4 x PCI Expansion ATX Kit (pictured below - fully CE, FCC and RoHS compliant; the latter is mandatory in the EU)

 

On a side note: did you know that the CE marking does not mean anything? It is a self-declaration by the manufacturer to claim that his product complies with EU regulations. It does not indicate that the product has actually been checked/certified by anyone. No wonder dozens of "CE" marked products are found out to be blatantly non-compliant with regulations/standards every year: with compliance authorities overwhelmed with work, only a very small pct of products are actually controlled, enticing dubious producers to take their chance..

 

I wonder if this would eventually be adapted to do a SLI or Crossfire setup?

On another note, I got my set up and running last night:

Sony Vaio VGN-SR129E (P8400 2.26ghz, 4GB RAM, Win 7 Pro 64-bit) with an on board Mobility Radeon 3470 HD hooked up to the DIY ViDock with the following:
305 Watt ATX PSU (free)
PE4L ($65 shipped)
EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 ($95 after rebate)

I did not have any time to do any benchmarks yet, but I was able to play Left 4 Dead 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on max settings on a 1680x1050 display. Whereas before the setup I had to play Left 4 Dead 2 on the lowest settings and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was very laggy even on the lowest settings.

 

The company is French and operates legally in the EU.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_mark#Rules_underlying_CE_marking

On a side note, the "original" PE4H is not RoHS compliant, it seems, as some of its components, I have been told, include lead and other non-RoHS elements.

 

That's what we wanted to try, but I first need to have two similar GPUs, e.g., two GTS 450s, to do so.

 

I wonder if it would work through just one expresscard slot or would you need to do it in conjunction with a mPCI-e slot?

I also wonder if the bottle neck would make an SLI set up not even worth it?

I am just happy I got my 1x GTS 450 set up to work.

 

Sure Kindheart, I did not mean to imply anything negative against this (your?) company. Environmental claims, declarations and labels just happen to be what I deal with for a living, so I felt obliged to do my usual rent against the CE marking and the lost opportunity it represents in terms of communicating sustainability&safety to the consumer

I now wonder why the PE4L packaging clearly stated "for engeneering purposes only".. that may be related to these regulations..

 

Hi Nando,
A little update. I got my macbook pro to reliably boot with both graphics cards. It sounds very strange but I belive EFIs/bios configuring of the pci address space is very important even though the system will not boot if the vidock is plugged in to the vidock. So far if the vidock is plugged in and the system is booted, the mac chime will sound. After 30 seconds the monitors on the external cards will come on but they display nothing but black. At this point the system is completely halted. It has to be shut down by pulling the battery. So I played around with this a little bit. If the computer is booted with the vidock plugged in and left plugged in for 5 seconds after the mac chime and then unplugged, the system would still boot. After this procedure, I can successfully do a 32 bit compaction on vid 1 & vid 2. The largest free memory block is always at e00000000. In fact if it is ever not at e00000000, I know that windows will boot with errors on one video card. I realize that the largest free block location is dependent on what hardware is installed and e00000000 is probably specific to my macbook/vidock setup.

This whole process got me thinking that any system that can get a 2gb ram vidock working without the vidock setup software should be able to do a 32 bit compaction on a 4gb+ system and have it work. In my case it seems like the 5 seconds that the vidock is plugged in during boot, allows the devices to be aligned closely enough for compaction to do its job properly.

I examined the difference between working and non working configurations and i discovered that compact does not always properly configure bridges. In my non working case I discovered that there was 318 mb of free addressable space, plenty for the external graphics card which requires 256 mb of free space. Unfortunately, the bridge which the card was addressed to was only allocated 4mb of free space. This is plenty for an ethernet(16kb), wifi(64kb) or other device. The memory was there, just not addressed to a bridge and therefore inaccessible to the external graphics card. I have no idea why booting with the card installed for a short time during boot solves this problem.

 

The price is 200 pounds...which is a lot more than US/CAD. What kind of cable is that? hdmi to dvi?

I ordered the PE4L from hwtools on Jan 4th around eveningish. And it's Morning of July 6th and I already have it in my hands! From taiwan to here...this is TOO FAST for $22 shipping. No duties

 

I wish I had a company like this but I don't earn my living from any commercial/industrial business.

 

DIY ViDock x1 using PE4H v2.4 (Jumper: bypass 12V fuse), NVIDIA GTX 260 896MB and 900W ATX PSU on the HP Dragon HDX 9300 series - X9000 @ 3.4 - 4GB RAM








Above 3DMark06 figure has been repeated with PhysX off, PhysX on GTX 260 and PhysX on internal 8800MGTS and has in the three cases been almost the same ~4294
3DMark06 with x2 setup is ~6000
Quite disappointing if you are only looking for raw power. However, if you want to enable stereoscopic 3D Vision on external 120Hz LCD monitors, it works perfectly well and you can play Blu-ray 3D and display stereo JPS and MPO images, among other things...

 

Really? I thought if powered through an ATX PSU the PE4L was getting power from the PSU not the express card slot?

 

The pe4l being sold on hwtools and harmonicinversion are the same thing right?
Why is it faulty? Why have I just heard of this...then why is there a 200 page thread on this if it's considered faulty?

 

A PCI, not PCI-E, expansion for $300+?? ORLY?

 

You could.........saw it off so it fits.

 

If you use the DC jack (for 75W cards), it will draw the 3.3V from your laptop.

 

I didn't know that. Good thing I went with the ATX PSU.

 

No, you cannot saw; this is not like the PCI-e x1 slot. If you buy the pictured PCI version, you can only run older NVIDIA and ATI DX8/DX9 PCI cards. Make sure you order the version (PCI or PCI-e) that matches your requirements.

P.S. If you want to run old PCI cards on the PE4H/PE4L, you can use this:

 

Yes HIT and hwtools PE4L are the same.

kindheart has a problem with his PE4H not working after being used on with an AC adapter followed by using on an ATX PSU and is seeking a replacement from hwtools, which have been slow to respond (XMAS/NYE?) Note: I've just sent an email to Gerry/hwtools requesting further assistance with your enquiry.

kindheart has identified that the PE4L driven by a AC adapter, jumpered to obtain 3.3V from the expresscard may overdrive the expresscard sot. An ATX PSU will not have any issues since it supplies a 12V and 5V rail. The 5V rail is regulated down to 3.3V by the PE4L so there is no need to draw power from the expresscard/mPCIe slot.

3.3V@3A=10W (max power available per pci-e spec)

PE4L: USB cable workaround to provide a 5V power source

PE4L 1.6 provides JP5 to allow additional input from USB. Older versions of PE4L would require a patch lead from the USB 5V input pin to the floppy molex 5V pin.

If using a DC adapter and concerned the 3.3V rail isn't getting enough power then can plug a USB cable from your notebook to the PE4L's USB plug. That will provide [email protected] power source so the 5->3.3V regulator can now provide additional 3.3V power. There's still a power deficit even if doing this.

3.3V@1A (3.3W expresscard) + 5V@500ma(USB port regulated to 3.3V, 2.5W) =5.8W

Saying that, I had no power delivery issues when jumpering a 12V/80W HD5750 here without such workaround to draw 3.3V power from the mPCIe/expresscard slot. I'd be very surprised if the video cards needed 3.3V/10W to drive them and if they did need that significant amount of power they would use surely do their own 12V->3.3V voltage regulation. 6.8W with USB cable workaround should be more than enough if encounter any power starvation issues.

 

Thanks again Nando for recommending the GTS 450. It worked pretty painlessly installing on my system. All I needed to do was install the drivers I downloaded from the nvidia website.