DIY eGPU experiences

I know it's not ideal to post this here, but I don't know where else to post this.

I recently bought a PE4L + 100cm cable set from Harmonic Inversion. In the time it's taken to get here, I already built a full sandy bridge rig, so I have no use for it anymore. If anyone in Canada wants to buy it off me for a discounted price (say $75 CAD shipped anywhere in Canada), let me know via PM. It's unopened.

Sorry for the off-topicness

 

Thanks nando4, I'll give that a try.

 

Hey @becak what drivers are you using? According to at least one owner on Newegg the included 260.99 drivers did not detect the GTX 460 SE.

Also, according to Nvidia GTX 460 SE support was added in 263.09.

 

Thanks for all the help guys, FINALLY GOT IT WORKING

Although not using latest driver i use nvidia driver 258.96 ver instead of the latest 266.58.
Weird thing is NVflash on vidock setup still wont recognize GTX 460 SE but it recognize my card as GTS 450 which is in accordance with device manager on win7.

One of my other thing i miss is i didnt choose save dump (which i did finally) after successfully load dump.
then do pci compaction, chainload and choose automated start up bat. turn off vidock, once windows start turn on vidock and plug in the card. it got detected no error and soon i have signal.

 

*Sigh* I am kind of ready to throw this thing out the window. Can anyone suggest future steps for me?

I have a Thinkpad T61p with an internal Nvidia FX570M and DIY ViDock with a GTX 460. I tried installing drivers for both cards but I only managed to get both working in Win7 32-bit twice. Both times I had to wipe everything and installed an old driver for my laptop internal GPU and 266.58 for the external GPU. When I put the laptop to sleep and bring it back, it stops working again.

I have also successfully installed Optimus driver for both cards, but when I put the laptop on standby and power on setup, then resume. I still get "No Driver Installed for this Device" for the external card.

In the two times that the card actually worked, it was right after I installed the driver for the external card. It would flash the screen a few times and switch over to the external. Again, I am unable to repeat this a third time.

I have tried to use the DIY ViDock Setup disc but I can't even get into the setup. It hangs after I select menu-based. It says "Installed A20 handler number 11 / 64k High Memory Area is available." and just sits there.

Please help! I don't know what else to try...

 

@bleuiko
What did u do to get the diy vidock setup? I know the steps itself are hard for regular people. I have to try the hard way to learn. I wished before me, there is a more stupid guide to do the diy setup. like a dummy guide of vidock setup. I know a lot of people who don't even know how to go to BIOS setting.

 

I did all the steps done in this post:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-vidock-experiences-63.html#post6295529


Basically, I turned off UAC (confirmed) and installed ImDisk. I then downloaded the setup disk and used its batch file to create a bootmenu in win7. I think copied devcon into the config folder. Rebooted and selected the menu item to begin setting up the DIY ViDock Setup but it freezes and won't even get to the menu.

UPDATE: I tried the USB drive method and it worked. I am very lost as to how to use the setup though. I think I am having issue chainloading into Win7 in the very least. My HDD is encrypted using Truecrypt so my partitions are a bit weird. I am trying to edit the menu.w7 file. What lines do I change? How do I test this? I tried testing it by getting to the grub commandline and typing this: chainloader (hd1,0)/bootmbr but it gave me an error. How do I get it to launch into windows?

My PCI allocation was yes* so I ran [bridges] and saved it to startup.bat (or was it pci.bat). Is that right?

 

3DMarks 2006 with 1280x1024 res. Scored 12306


RE5, 1280x800 variable benchmark mode, default settings, DX9. Average: 79.9 FPS

No additional workarounds. Used Catalyst 11.1 desktop and mobile drivers.

 

@blueiko
I am not entirely sure what you did there but in my case, I paste a shortcut of the diysetup image file from the c root directory (in diyvidock folder) into the startup folder in windows. then I reboot the windows selecting diy setup my vidock is entirely off and unplugged until i get prompted to turn it on. wait like 10 secs (the fan speed will turn faster then you can press enter to get to the menu).
Have u download r-w everything and make a dump file?

 

Hi Guys.

Today i got my new HP6930p laptop with 4gb RAM and 4500MHD.

i would like to try out the DIY ViDock project.

I am just wondering if i buy the P4EH and express card adapter with a gtx460+atx psu
-will that setup work without any workaround or not? (e.g.Vidock setup1.x etc)
i would like to shoot in x1.opt
If not what would i have to prepair myself?

Any suggesstions about that for anybody?

Than you

Legu

 

@legu314
What OS are u running?

 

Thanks nando4 and everyone for creating this project, but I think it's a bit to much for me. Lucky for me I got enough money back from the feds to get a new computer.

If anyone wants it, I tossed my Pe4l plus all the wiring needed on ebay for $50. PE4L + Wiring (ExpressCard External Graphics) - eBay (item 320651421324 end time Feb-08-11 15:33:21 PST)

If I end up getting a new laptop, I'll have to try this again.

Best of luck everyone, and thanks for the help.

 

Becak.

I am running Vista at the moment but i gonna go to 7. I`ve heard is much better for DIY Vidock

 

System
Lenovo T400
Intel P8600 2.4ghz
CPU: 3gb
IGP intel 4500mhd

Originally running XP then installed Win7/64

Diy setup;
PE4H
Corsair 430CX
GTX 460SE/GTS 455
1gb memory
With nvidia optimus driver 258.86 (credit to Nautis)

Initial issue
error 10 (no driver install)
error 43 (need vidock setup fix, r-w,chainload etc to fix)

@Legu314 Yes Win7/64 is better, in my case at least my pc seems to run faster.

3DMark 06
Score
Over 10K

3dMark11
score
Just over 3K

 

Thank You Becak.

I tried to find the error 43 in this page but i culdn`t, DueI have limitied time Can somebody post a link for the solution for error 43, and also error 10 pls.

Thank you
Legu

 

If anyone wants it, I am selling my 5-month old Pe4h on ebay for best offer: PE4H + EC2C ExpressCard to PCI-E Adapter for Laptops - eBay (item 190497758046 end time Feb-12-11 03:01:10 PST)

 

IMO, solution will differ for every system.

For mine the fix is these

Use Nautis optimus drive, the older one 258.96, dont use the one that comes with the graphic card cd.
- download R-w ver 1.4.7 the older one not new
- download Imdisk
-download diy vidock setup 10e8 rar file by Nando4
-Double click the rar file
-will extract itself to C root folder
-right click image file , select mount as virtual disk using Imdisk

-Install 258.96, error 43 will appear. NVM. Open r-w everything
Click Access->command-> Type 'save c:\10de0e23.bin memory 0xe0500000 0x2000' (this will differ depend on ur card)
creating a 8kb file
4kb will be the gpu and 4kb for the hdmi audio controller.

Copy that file (c:\10de0e23.bin) to your DIY ViDock Setup 1.x USB drive or disk image \config directory (the one in C drive).

Create a shortcut of that image file in c-drive (the one that you double click)
And put it in startup folder.

Shut down the system, turn off the card unplugged the expresscard

Let the fun begins!!!!

First time setup;


8. Boot the system, on windows boot manager , select vidock setup 1x
9. Turn on vidock and plug in the expresscard, choose option 2(menu based)
10. Wait a few sec, the fan speed of the card will get louder and then press enter
11. On the vidock menu, go to video card
12. Load dump
13. Go to Intel PCI-> perform compaction
14. Go to Video card, select nvflash (Ensure the adapter card says its been properly configured it will says GTS 450)
15. Then click Save dump+
16. Then click perform chainload on win7 origin
17. You will be taken to boot manager again, select diy setup
18. Choose option 1 this time
19. Back to boot manager, click on windows 7, then unplugged the expresscard but don't turn off ur vidock
20. On welcome screen, type in your pc password and enter and plug back the card
21. If nothing goes wrong, signal on the monitor DONE. Go have a beer


After wards/for future usage and maintainance


1. Do not hibernate the system, either sleep or shutdown if u dont want to use the card no more.
idle pwr consumption of GTX 460 + monitor is like 200W
versus laptop only maybe 30-40W or less

After shutdown, to use the card again turn on ur pc
2. With Vidock off, Boot windows.
3. On windows boot manager, select diy vidock setup 1x
then turn vidock on and Plug in the expresscard.
4. Choose option 1: Automated startup with startup.bat
it will wait until your card get detected.then it will says OK
5. you will be taken Back to the Windows boot manager, choose windows 7 then Hot plug the expresscard (unplug expresscard but don’t switch off the vidock)
6. On window requesting password, enter the password and press enter
7. On welcome screen with circular thingy, plug that expresscard back.
8. You will see the signal on the monitor with the card being detected

 

Here is my setup

 

forgot the attachment

 

@becak

I have not yet tried to make a R-W dump but want to do so now... your instruction says this differ per card. How do I know what command to use? I have a GTX 460 which is (10de0e22)

UPDATE:

I tried both

save c:\10de0e22.bin memory 0xe0600000 0x2000
save c:\10de0e22.bin memory 0xe0500000 0x2000

Neither of them worked. Before the load, both cards show up in nvflash, but the external card shows "unconfigured device, device is not accesible". After loading either dumps, the external card simply disappears and only shows my internal Nvidia. It also disappears from the right side of the menu (in black box area). According to masterjumong2012, nvflash show show both as configured after the dump load. How do I find the right memory to store?

 

well, I guess I will join the chorus of frustrated..
Just got my DIY ViDock, and can' t find a way to make it work one way or another, so need your help! Basically, becak you are right saying that it' s far from obvious. I guessed some options but most of that stuff and the sequence of actions is a complete mystery to a newbie like me, and I have been around computers for a long time.
Anyway, here is my setup:
HP DV6-2162, i3, 4GB RAM, Win7/32, external card Nvidia GTX295

Boot with DIY ViDock on - does not boot
Plain boot, plugging DIY ViDock after "Starting Windows" appears - boots, but shows in Device manager with a "Code 43" message.
Plain boot, sleep, plug in DIY ViDock - laptop crashes on resume. Namely, I press the power button, the lights go on then off. Unplug DIY ViDock, press power button again - computer starts as if it were shut down.

Next, installed DIY ViDock setup in a RAM disk. Copied the devcon config into its /config folder.
Now, when I select ViDock setup at boot menu, switch on DIY ViDock when asked - sometimes it hangs at " Gathering system details" . OK, I turn it off, turn off laptop, turn on laptop, select DIY ViDock setup, turn on device, wait for a minute. Sometimes it works.

When it does, ViDock setup detects the card, original status:
pci_alloc_valid: yes
pci_written: no
free@d8000000 (128MB)
vid_0=8086:0046 (Intel)
vid_2=10de:05e0 (NVidia)

p1@x1 14e4:4357@x1
p2@x1 10ec:8136@x1
p5@x1 10de:05e0@x1

PCI compaction - bridges method comes back to the same 128MB of free space.
32-bit method has more sucess - 256MB. "free@d0000000 (256MB)"
36-bit method comes back with "free@c0000000 (512MB)"

Chainloading after compaction (DIY Vidock still runs) sees Win7 startup, but the Device Manager shows error Code 12 against PCI-e port 5..

And then the tambour dances begin. Tried installing latest Nvidia driver, with option "wipe out previous config" - installs, but the card is still marked as Code 10 in Device Manager. Tried disabling other PCI-e ports - no luck. Tried 32-bit compaction, 36-bit - same effect. Sometimes the system won't start at all, I even managed to see a BSOD a couple of times

In short, I have no idea what I am doing, and can only guess from the 270+ pages in this thread. Or am I missing a manual everybody else knows about? Is there a list of what needs to be done, why, and how?

 

on my experience if you load the wrong dump the card will disappear on the port(what i did was experimented to use the GTX 470 dump then the card disappeared)

if you have already have a dump the i suggest you do this first

1. boot into windows
2. go to DiYVidock folder (C:\DiYVidock)
3. load the DIYViDock-Setup-10e8.img
4. delete the "10de0e22.bin" if present on the virtual drive "usually @ V:\DIYVDK_IMG\CONFIG"

after that power on and plug your DiYVidock and make sure it is getting detected or else this method will not work!(to verify go to Device Manager>Display Adapters)

it should display (GTX 460 with Code 43 or Standard VGA Adapter with Code 10)

once you verify the card is detected, download the RW-Everything v1.4.7(the latest version is BROKEN! v1.4.8.5)
RW - Read & Write

then make sure you do the RW-Everything properly

Spoiler

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7i1e20Wu-e8?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;hd=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7i1e20Wu-e8?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&amp;hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='960' height="745"></embed></object>

after that restart your computer and boot into DiYSetup and select #2 menu based
make sure DiYVidock is plugged and poweron and is getting detected

go to video card and select load dump, in my case there are 3 choices "none, vid_0 and vid_2"
(you will know which on is your onboard or external graphics card by looking at the top right corner windows where the memory, ports, etc is displayed)

in my case vid_2 says nvidia so i choose vid_2

now go to nvflash to verify if the card is getting detected, if successful it should not show
(unconfigured device, device is not accesible
no nvidia video card is detected)

after that go back to menu and select PCI CONFIG SPACE and select RUN COMPACTION. you would need to press enter several times and after that it will bring back you to the menu

don't unplug or poweroff your vidock

select Chanload W7(NOT CHAINLOADER!) and select your operating system(Windows 7)

 

did you try to let your computer boot with the ViDock plugged long enough?
on my experience i thought it would not POST cause it will just show HDD but now screen and will reboot

what i did was let it boot and i observered that at first 2 attempts of the computer to boot it would not display any screen and at the third attempt it will just boot fine

my advice to you is to save a dump using RW-Everything 1.4.7 then load that into vidock and run compaction then chainload w7 and select your os (don't power off or unplug your ViDock!)

 

Quote:
@becak

I have not yet tried to make a R-W dump but want to do so now... your instruction says this differ per card. How do I know what command to use? I have a GTX 460 which is (10de0e22)

UPDATE:

I tried both

save c:\10de0e22.bin memory 0xe0600000 0x2000
save c:\10de0e22.bin memory 0xe0500000 0x2000

Neither of them worked. Before the load, both cards show up in nvflash, but the external card shows "unconfigured device, device is not accesible". After loading either dumps, the external card simply disappears and only shows my internal Nvidia. It also disappears from the right side of the menu (in black box area). According to masterjumong2012, nvflash show show both as configured after the dump load. How do I find the right memory to store?

@blueiko

I also experience card disappearing after I load the dump, that was when i am still using the R-w ver 1.4.8.5 but after using ver 1.4.7 I manage to successfully load the dump.

On my case after loading the dump, i immediately do PCI compaction then check NVflash which is not according to instruction.
I didnt do any devcon config file.

In your case you seems to have a dedicated graphic card in your laptop, mine doesn't I only have the Intel IGP 4500. so you might have to disable the dedicated graphic card then do compaction.
I am not really well known abt the setup with dedicated graphic card, the other user with similar config as me, Apollo-fox has a discrete graphic (ATI HD3450) and he can make it work.

 

Hey, I would really like to add another usb port to my vidock setup. Is it possible I can convert the floppy connector off the atx psu into a usb?

 

@masterjumong2012
thanks for the suggestion!
Unfortunately, my card is not a GTX460 but a GTX295, ID 10de:05e0
So - no luck. I performed the dump as described for 10de0e22 but it was not recognized of course. The script then asked whether I would like to try the GTX470 dump - I said let's, it went ok but - no result, when I chainload back to 7, the card gets recognized, Windows tries to install drivers and fails (whether it's code 10 or 12 can't remember).
When I try to perform the dump and save it under proper name 10de:05e0.bin - the dump is not even loaded, throws an error.
Apparently I need to find out which memory block on my card is required. Does anybody know? How can I find out? What's in this block anyway?

 

im very sorry. that is all the stuff i know as of now



btw i recently returned my Logisys 575w to newegg and decided to replace it with OCZ StealthXstream II OCZ500SXS2 500W

i am also planning to get this monitor ViewSonic VX2250wm-LED Black 21.5" 5ms Full HD LED


i need some advice before i do anything

as some of you may already know, i have PE4H EC2C and PM3N

my computer(Acer Extensa 5620z-4801) can have 2 free PCI-E Slots(EXPRESSCARD and MPCI-E)

currently if i remove my mpci-e, i can use PORT 2(MPCI-E) and PORT 3(EXPRESSCARD)

i tried to go on the DiYSetup and select X2 on odd port and what happened is the PORT 2 Disappeared and PORT 1 is set to X2(i didn't tried with my Vidock plugged on cause i don't have power supply yet)


what i am thinking right now is if it is possible to use my PM3N and EC2C at the same time to achieve X2 speeds by linking PORT 2 and PORT 3

i am thinking of using a USB Wireless Adapter and get this Rosewill RNX-EasyN1 IEEE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wireless-N 4.0 Dongle (1T1R) Up to 150Mbps for my network connection

i don't have any second mini hdmi cable and i am looking at this DealExtreme: $5.61 Gold Plated 1080P HDMI Mini V1.3 M-M Connection Cable - Black (1.5M-Length)


according to everest, my PORT 1 is Gigabit Ethernet Controller. i don't plan to use that thing

if i set to X2 mode, is there any side effects that i am not aware of?

 

Well I tried to mod my vidock so I could have another usb input. But I think it turned out bad and I fried my player which I used to test. Luckily my usb input still works on the pe4l board. It doesn't detect the mouse anymore which is weird, but I can put another mp3 player in it and it charges it so it means its still good. And in the device manager the mouse says it cannot start...

Please help. So the other mp3 player works on the pe4l usb. My mouse does not work on the pe4l USB I get a this device cannot start code 10 error. The mouse works on any of the usb ports on my laptop.

Problem is temperarily solved....I have 2 of the same mouses and just switched them and they both work now....must have to do with registry.

 

Becak

To get the memory location go into Setup 1.x menu> Video Card + > !Save dump (Win) + > [Choose the video card, you can see which one you want on the right hand side of Setup 1.x]

It provides the instructions for R-W Everything in step 5

 

That was me. Thanks for the tip! I did, and found the right memory address for my card.

Unfortunately it did not help much. I am stuck around Code 10 or Code 43. With an occasional BSOD http://forum.notebookreview.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

@all
Here are the steps (the 10de05e0.bin is already saved in \config):
Boot
Select DIY ViDock setup
Select menu mode
start the ViDock itself, wait 10-15 seconds then hit [Enter] - otherwise it hangs
Once it is up, load dump, compact PCI, then chainload into my w7.
Different compact methods:
[Bridges] gives no result,
[32bit] brings w7 to BSOD on chainloaded boot.
[36bit] actually works - the system returns with 512 Mb free, then chainload works. Upon boot, Windows7 finds the card and install the drivers (if it were unconfigured/cleaned out before). But - plain WDDM driver shows Code 43. Nvidia drivers - I tried the latest 266.58 and also an older 258.something. To the same effect. Code 43, sometimes Code 10..

Once again, need ideas!

 

Thought I would add some additional info regarding Code 43. After upgrading drivers to 266.35 w/Optimus a week ago, besides a 700pt hit to 3DMk06 score, this code 43 seemed to have come out of nowhere. I do fresh installs of Windows every few months to keep a peppy system, so reinstalling wasn't such a big deal.

Here's how things worked before and how they went with the upgrade

Original setup: New Win7 x64 install > Let WinUpdate find and install video card drivers > reboot and install 258.96 w/Optimus > Okay

Upgrade: Same as above, upgraded to 266.35, a week later > Error 43

Newest setup: New Win7 x64 install > Let WinUpdate find and install video card drivers > reboot and install 266.35 w/Optimus > Okay > reboot > Error 43

I think it is one of the non-essential Nvidia services that is causing the problem (at least in this case).

Edit: I got the error with 260.99 also. Uninstalled the newer drivers and reverted to 258.96, everything is working again.

 

Hopefully my upcoming laptop will work with my DIY Vidock:

Lenovo - New Product Showcase

Ideapad Y470

 

@becak @masterjumong2012: I'm stupid. I don't know why even with both of you posting this information, I still went and used the latest version of R-W Everything. EVERYONE, USE R-W Everything 1.4.7 ONLY.

Then again, it wouldn't have worked anyway since I didn't saved the right memory area. For those wondering what memory dump to save, do this:

1. Boot into the DIY ViDock Setup Menu (option 2)
2. Choose the Video Card +
3. Choose !Save dump (Win) +

This will save a text file in your \config folder. This file is named 10de0e22.txt for me since that refers to a GTX460. The file will have the exact instruction customized for your card (the memory string is dynamically changed by setup). Follow the steps in the text file to make a dump. After making the dump, do the following:

This is the final setup that worked for me. I tested this 3 times and ran some video test to make sure it is working:

1. Boot into DIY ViDock Setup (I use USB since my HDD is TrueCrypt encrypted)
2. Select Option 2 (menu-based)
3. Load video dump file
4. Compact PCI allocation (I used bridge), it should also save a new pci.bat
5. Chainload into Win7 with DIY setup still plugged in
6. If all of this works and your video card works, do the following to speed it up:

1. Boot back into Option 2 (menu-based)
2. Edit Startup.bat with the following (change 10de:0e22 to your card) :

call waitvid 60 10de:0e22
call pcicap load -d 10de:0e22
call pci
call grub4dos w7

3. save and exit. You're done.

Normal Operation:

1. Boot into DIY Vidock Setup with setup disconnected
2. Choose Option 1 (startup.bat)
3. It should wait for you to plug card in (do so with setup on)
4. It'll detect card and do dump load and compaction fast and start windows
5. Leave card in and windows should show login screen on external monitor
6. Play!
7. When you are done, do a shutdown (sleep will freeze system)

One note is that I have an internal Nvidia card as well, Quadro FX570M, and I am using an external Nvidia GTX 460. Even after loading the dump correctly, NVFlash still showed that my external card was not configured. One way to tell whether you have loaded the right dump is that the black box on the main menu should show the card after the dump load. On bad dump .bin files, my experience is that the card disappears from that list.

I was stuck on the R-W Everything part because I didn't know what memory to dump. Thanks to a pro-active phone call by Randy at Harmonic Inversion (I emailed for an RMA number and he called me to see if I want to try to get it working; he wasn't pushy and was willing to RMA if I wanted to but spent a lot of time walking me through the setup), I found out how to dump the right memory (different for each person). Thanks to the tips by becak and masterjumong2012, I also found out I was using the wrong version of R-W Everything.

Advanced Setting (TrueCrypt users only):

This only applies to anyone who has full TrueCrypt encryption on the harddrives. The current Grub setting won't work for you so edit your Grub setup using the following steps:

1. Load into windows normally
2. Start Truecrypt
3. right click on your encrypted partition/drive and select create Rescue Disc
4. This should make an ISO specific to your encrypted drive
5. Move ISO to the root of the USB drive (not \config or anything else)
6. Add the following to your chainloader instruction (menu.w7 for me):

debug 0
timeout 0
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
map --a20-keep-on=0
map --hook
chainloader (hd0)+1
boot

7. Comment out all the other line (by starting line with a "#" symbol)
8. This should get Grub to be able to chainload your partition/drive

Thanks everyone, for your help!

 

congratulations:smile:

 

Here's my pics . Really needed an external keyboard and wired internet for gaming to work well with the laptop vidock setup. The enclosure is an old rca satellite receiver laying around in my house. Small satellite receivers are just the right size for a vidock enclosure.

 

Yay pics of my vidock are up!
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...-post-your-diy-vidock-pics-3.html#post7132248

 

Nice work. If you also post you system details, OS and benchmark results then I can add you to the first post of this thread.

 

Hi guy, I have a question :

How many FPS would I lose in crysis if I get a PE4H+C2MS and a 5970? I have when maxed around 15 FPS, how many would I have if I had a 5970?

 

Hi everyone.

First of all, Thanks for you guys for all the help.

Succesfully implemented Palit GeForce GTX 460 1Gb with PE4H+ATX PSU

System
HP EliteBook 6930p
CPU: Intel P8800 2.66 GHz
VGA: GMA4500MHD
RAM: 2x2 GB 800
HDD: 160GB 5400rpm

Installation: First time plug error 10 (no driver)
Installing Nautis' 258.96
Restart.

System working without any workaround ( e.g. Pci Reallocation, Vidock setup 1.x etcetc)

3Dmark06
11711 score

RE5 Var
73 Fps

Thaks for you guys

Legu

 

ViDock Experience: Dell Latitude D830 + Geforce GTS450 @PCIx1

Thanks to nando4 and all others that made my DIY ViDock possible!

My system:
Dell Latitude D830
15.4" LCD, Intel Core 2 Duo T7300M 2GHz, 3GB DRR2 RAM, 120GB 7200RPM SATA HD, NVidia Quadro NVS 140M 512Mb
Dual Boot Windows XP 32-bit and Ubuntu 10.04 32-bit


My ViDock Setup (About $277 in total)
-Asus NVidia Geforce GTS450 1024Mb (£96.18)
-PE4L+EC2C ($77) => provides PCI x1 connection to the ICH8M controller
-120W adapter(£22)
-Molex 4 Pin Male to 2 Molex Female Power Splitter Cable (£2.70)
-extra mini HDMI cable ordered as advised here ($5.61) => I can affirm that the connection of the default short one is quite dodgy/unstable. (Note: my ordered cable still hasn't arrived in the UK after about two months; so beware.)

Setup
I used this howto of nando4 to setup the hardware. I've put my GPU on top of the anti-static plastic bag it comes in, and under my notebook cooler. This gives it a little protection and extra cooling (which is kind of unnecessary as this particular GPU already runs really cool). I've attached a picture.


Configuration
Then I downloaded Setup 1.x and installed it into my bootloader as described. I didn't bother with devcon as I couldn't find the "appropriate devcon directory", and its use is only to prevent freezes during compaction (I never got any either). Then I played around for quite some time with Setup 1.x and NVidia drivers (don't forget the excellent F1 help feature while running the utility). It works if I first configure the GTS450, and then do a 32-bit compaction on both video cards. To automate this, I added "call pcicap load -d {8bit GPU-code}" to the beginning of startup.bat (GPU-code is shown in the main screen). I use the 266.58 NVidia drivers, installed after both cards properly showed up, disabled the HDMI-audio functionality of the GPU, and set PhysX to the CPU. Furthermore, I doubled the 3D-setting 'maximum pre-rendered frames' to 6, as assumed optimization for the PCIx1 bottle neck. (To save a dump for your unconfigured card, start the BIOS with the card plugged in! Otherwise, the card can be succesfully configured in Setup 1.x, but generates an 10~'could not start' error in device management. After saving the dump you have to restart with the card unplugged to configure it.).


My Benchmarking Results
Tests are using default settings with resolution 1280x1024 for 3DMark06 and 1280x800 for RE5-variable. PhysX was set to the CPU & HDMI-audio disabled.

Internal Quadro NVS 140:
-3DMark06: 1852 Marks (100%)
-RE5: 10.4 FPS (100%)

External Geforce GTS450:
-3DMark06: 4080 Marks (220%)
-RE5: 56.0 FPS (538%)

A DualIDA overclock had significant impact. According to wPrime this resulted in +9% CPU speed. See how this affects video benchmarks:

Internal Quadro NVS 140:
-3DMark06: 1830 Marks (100%)
-RE5: 10.7 FPS (100%)

External Geforce GTS450:
-3DMark06: 4122 Marks (225%)
-RE5: 57.0 FPS (533%)

Additional Comments
I couldn't get it to work in Ubuntu; but that doesn't matter much since it's better to game under WinXP anyway. And my Quadro NVS is more than enough for everything else. I choose the GTS450 over the GTX460 since it saved me about £35 ($50) on the card + adapter, while costing me little performance on a PCI x1, DX9 & CPU throttled 4 year old laptop. (On PCI x2 or ATX PSU systems I would definitely recommend the GTX460.) Now I can play Assassin's Creed reasonably(20-30FPS at moderate settings). Increasing the number of objects shown costs much more in performance than anti-aliasing or increasing the resolution. However, running a non-native resolution would provide 'free' anti-aliasing.

 

Hi Guys.

I have a little problem with Vidock. If i try to run Star Wars Force unleashed II i got error on external screen. Its run only the internal screen very playable.

But, in the videos i got just about 10 fps. Is that something driver problem?

Has anybody met same?

Cheers

Legu

 

Congratulations to all the people out there that have finally made the vidock working.

Now, no problem with vidock, however if I am not using vidock and just hooking up my laptop to my monitor via VGA.

I have this screen refresh problem [see image]. I never experienced this before installing vidock setup.

Anybody experience this?

 

NVM, I fixed it,
Just have to update my IGP display adapter.

it was showing only 32mb memory earlier after update it becomes 64 mb.

 

Okay, I've been reading ALL day long and it's so much information that I am totally lost now. Can someone please give me simple directions or link me to the page for installation/setup instructions that applies to me?

I got:

PE4H kit
ATX PSU
GTX 460

Sony Vaio i7 VPCF113FX w/nVidia 310m 512mb

...this is all I've got. Am I missing any parts? How do I put this all together? Where do I even start? lol


Thanks!

 

Oh NOOO!! HELP!!!

...ok, so after I already bought the x16 kit and GTX460, I came across this post.

I have:

Sony Vaio i7 (vpcf113fx)
nVidia 310m w/512mb
5 Series chipset

...I am still paying for this, so it's not an option to buy or trade for a new one.

This laptop actually got an upgrade model and now has nVidia 425m w/1GB memory. I wish I had that. And there's no where I can buy the 425m and attempt to upgrade.

Now, back to your post. Am I pretty much out of luck having already bought the parts?

When I play Starcraft 2, 1600x900. I can play on medium and it's kinda slow, but definately playable. I can't play on high or ultra, it will lag a lot, barely playable. I have to set everything to LOW, then put special effects & models on High. Post processing Medium. That will make the game buttery smooth for gameplay.

So its because of my series 5 system I won't be able to use the DIY ViDock/Video card? I saw on a regular working similar setup, they can play Starcraft 2 on all Ultra settings and its perfectly smooth.

Advice?

 

It will be just expresscard 2.0 5Gbps, no?

 

As of the news available right now, we probably won't see any new Sandy Bridge models available until at least April.

 

Will the GTX 460 768M that's listed on the first post offer a real world advantage over the 5770 1GB I already have?

I've seen the performance comparison between the 460 1GB and the 5770 and it seemed that the 460 was only better in dx10, but again, that was the 1gb version.

 

Canada sees the Lenovo Y470 in March.

14 inch
up to 8GB RAM
Sandy Bridge i7
Onboard Nvidia GT 555M


US sees this in May.

 

Did you try setting your external monitor connected to the vidock as your primary screen?