DIY eGPU experiences

Im attaching my AIDA results, can you please tell me what setup can i do from the provided image:



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My system specs:

Sony F Series Notebook (VPCF111FD)
Win 7 Home x64
Intel Core i7 (1.6GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.8 GHz
NVidia GT 310M
8 GB DDR 3 (2 x 4GB)
External PCI Express Slot Gen 2 x16

 

Thank you nando, it was a dodgy PSU.

What utilities (if any) should I seek to attempt a PCIE overclock for my system (HP DV4-2173NR)?

 

@kindheart Sorry to bother, but that link is for the taiwanese manufacturer. Where did you find it for sale at that price? As I need it for a special mod I have in mind, and would be most grateful if you could let me know

 

It's hard to tell because, as per Intel chipset requirements, port #1 needs to be enabled in the BIOS even it it's not wired. For instance, my laptop has a free port#1 so I initially assumed the expresscard slot was wired to port #1. Unfortunately it was wired to port #5 while port #1 is not wired at all. To find this out, I had to:

• Plug in a expresscard device to the slot and check which port the new device data shows up on Everest,
• Check the mainboard schematics to find that no lines were connected to port #1 "pins" on the Southbridge BGA chip

 

Sorry dawg87 but what you are showing here is the output for the Northbridge chip. DIY Vidocks are connected to the Southbridge (just click on the southbridge entry on the top and the displayed info should change). That single PCIe 2.0 x16 slot is the internal MXM slot that is reserved for the internal GPU (not sure why it's labelled as #3 though).

 

Ooops, sorry i knew sumthing was offf lol but here is the southbridge picture.



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Thank you so much for the answer! I live in South Korea and envy so much US residents for the mail-in-rebate system. The price here cannot just beat that of the US especially when a product is mail-in-rebated. Thus the system you kindly suggested may cost almost twice here. ;-) Besides, Optimus is great, since I don't yet have an external display.
Moreover, I learned a lot from links in you sig and started to think getting cheaper GTS450 might be a better choice for me. And thank you and to unclewebb, I could already make my e4200 to 1.40@x7 with slightly less voltage. That is GREAT!
But I also learned that you posted that Dell Latitudes are not allowing 36-bit PCI Compaction. You mentioned E4300, but I think E4200 shares a lot of the same spec, so does it also apply to E4200? I have 5GB memory (with Windows 7 64bit) and I cannot change it to 3GB since 1GB is on board. I just hope E4200 doesn't have the same issue...

 

Ok besides the the obvious x1 1.0 link (expresscard), a x2 link might be possible with your laptop. Ports #5 and #6 are available and your chipset (PM55) can be configured to combine them into a x2 link (see here). Whether you can achieve a x2 link or not will depend on if and how ports #5 and 6 are wired.

The x1 1.0 link is the cleaner and safer option but its performance is seriously compromised. Unfortunately, since you only have a Geforce 310M you cannot set up a superior x1.Opt link. The faster x2 link is the "messiest" option but pays off nicely if you are successful. See the performance chart on the first post to get a better idea of your options.

Should you decide to pursue the x2 option, first you need to find out to which port your expresscard slot is wired to (port #4, 5, 6, 7 or 8) then you need to look into how many mPCIe slots are available inside the laptop. The EC slot wiring can be figured out by plugging in a expresscard device and checking out the Southbridge config on AIDA like you did just now. The mPCIe slots are harder because you need to find them and gain access. Check first underneath the smaller access panels (e.g. memory, cpu/gpu, etc.) - if you can't find any, then try to remove the bottom cover and expose the mainboard. The best ways to confirm their presence and layout is by studying the schematics for the mainboard (difficult to find online) or by careful inspection of the disassembled mainboard. Once you find them, you can figure out the wiring by moving your wifi adapter between slots, reassembling the laptop, booting up and checking AIDA.

 

How exactly do i figure that out? Im sorry if thats a dumb question

AND

What is the best/cheapest combination i can achieve with the graphic card being a GTX series of NVIDIA?

 

Rather disappointing that at this stage, the best card for this project is a GTX 460 1gb.

I was considering buying a 560 Ti but it looks like that might be a waste of $$. Has anyone obtained better benchmarks with other cards?

 

However I guess it can reveal more power than the other card if you achieve a PE4H X2 or X4 link, I'll try to test PE4H X2, not sure I can.

 

Where is the port 5 ?
Is it possible that it isn't listed ?
Because I've just find an other mPCIe port in my laptop, it's the WWAN mPCIe port, and everest didn't listed it



But I wonder, as it isn't list, maybe it is a two-pieced WWAN card, with a mPCIe adapter so that it is possible to plug an other mPCIe port while there weren't. Would it work with DIY vidock ?

And I have an other question, a little stupid.

Can we make a X2 link using only mPCIe and not an ExpressCard + mPCIe ?
It doesn't bother me to remove the devices already plugged into mPCIe.

Here is a part of the schema, you can see the mPCIe WLAN (center) which is listed as port 1 and the WWAN card (top-right) and the unlisted mPCIe.
What do you think of it ?

 

I'm slowly getting my ordered parts for my DIY Vidock..

1. Asus ENGTX 460 Top

2. CORSAIR CX430 Power Supply

3. PE4L-EC2C from hwtools

I got my video card today and I'm expecting the psu tomorrow (may be thurs the latest).. I noticed that the card has 2x6pin connecters, however, there is only 1x6pin connecter that comes with the card!!?? I've noticed that this is how Asus ship the card, so does that mean it only needs the one 6 pin connecter?? or do I need to go out and spend some more $$ and get another 6 pin connecter??

Also, how long does it takes the guys from hwtools to ship? There is no tracking number and/or status update with the order!! I live in Canada and I was hoping that it won't take them more than a week!

Thanks

 

Your card need 2 pci-e 6pins. you get a molex adapter to get a 6 pins PCIe.
Your power might have a PCI 6pins adapter, if it doesn't you can buy an other adapter. This mean you may possibly be forced to use 4 molex just to power the card but you actually need an other one to power on the PE4H or a floppy plug or an usb 2 male/male cable.

Concerning HWtools it wasn't long, approximately one week. I live in europe.

 

The CX430 has 1xpci-e power connector. You've got the 2 total needed for the GTX460.

Good to see you are aware that your system may present challenges. You could try x1.Opt but based on the E4300/E6x00 findings it will probably not work with your 5GB setup. If not, then consider running with only 3GB by replacing the 4GB module with 2GB which will work. Could log a support request with Dell to provide a bios that sets TOLUD=3GB if wanted to run with your 5GB setup.

Don't think you can. HP TME-lock their PLLs to prevent overclock. You'd want to ask in http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-pavilion-notebooks/451065-official-hp-dv4i-owners-lounge.html to see if someone's figured it out.

 

Thank you for your quick reply, nando4. Too bad there's such a compromise since I love Windows 7 laptops with more than 4GB memory. I am getting inquiries to sell my e4200, so I'll just do it and get a different laptop which can run x1opt mode (since it is clean and powerful) yet doesn't force such a compromise. I see HP Elitebook 2530p in your sig which reads 4GB ram with x1opt setting and many other like such in the list on the first page of this thread. Does it mean it's only Dell laptop"s problem?
I would get another laptop around 500$ (possibly a high spec used one), do you have any suggestion or recommendation? I for sure want x1opt with more than 4GB ram.

 

I take it no one has tried a Sandy Bridge system yet? Does it really provide pci-e 2.0 speeds? I am interested in one of the new ThinkPads (T420, X220). They have expresscard ports.

 

Hello, can somebody help me. I did look at the FAQ and couldn't find an answer. My system is:

Lenovo T61, with PE4H, ATI 5770, ATX power supply

Im pretty sure i installed everything correctly according to the picture. The light on the 16x PCIe is turned on, and the GPU fan is turned on too.

I installed the ATI driver catalyst, and I got this message, "other devices detected".
I tried to setup dual monitor on graphic properties, and it also didn't recognize it.

However, I bought this GPU on the 2nd hand market, maybe faulty? Not being able to test the GPU on a working computer is quite frustrating

someone please help

 

Hey guys, I just want to share my experiences:
My system is a Core 2 duo, Intel 4500mhd integrated graphics, 4GB ram, running Windows 7 64bit (home premium).
I got a DIY Vidock (PE4L) so I could use a Geforce 8600GT I had laying around.

At first I couldn't make it work, even using the Setup application - the only solution was to remove one 2GB stick - It indeed ran games much faster than the 4GB+onboard video, but it was noticeably slower when using regular applications on Windows, since I had lost dual channel + 2GB of RAM;

Then I found something that could be useful for someone else with the same problem I had: on msconfig you can go to the System Startup tab (sorry, translating from Portuguese, words may not be the same) and then Advanced Options button. There's an option on the window that appears where you can set the maximum amount of memory Windows can use. I set mine to 3.5GB (and then restart), so now I can use both memory sticks, runs much faster, and I can also now easily revert to full memory, if I want to use the computer without the ViDock.

 

Doesn't work for me with an e4300 and 2x4gb sticks.
Are you sure your notebook can't do the allocation?

My system information tells me 8gb (3gb usable).

 

If I try to use the ViDock without disabling some RAM, it kind of works for a minute or so, start showing some artifacts and then the system hangs on the infamous blue screen.

I'm not sure if the best way to do this, but the way it works here is plugging the ExpressCard when Windows is already running, without even putting it on sleep mode - If I insert while it is still loading, the system hangs.

I suggest trying to reduce the memory setting to a low value, say, 2GB or maybe less if you're brave and then if it works try increasing.

 

Hey everyone

These are my scores for my Vidock setup with a GTX 560Ti

System : Lenovo t410
CPU : Core i5 580M 2.67ghz
Ram: 8Gb
Card : GTX 560Ti @ 1x
3Dmrk6 : 15645
RE5.Var : 110.0FPS
OS : Win 7



and for note I'm using a MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II OC 1GB with a 1.5m Mini HDMi cable.

IF you got any questions feel free to PM me

 

sorry for double posting but i figured you'd like a more details pic of the 3Dmark scores

 

I want sandy bridge vidock results naw!

 

I wonder if we can modify Vidock power-adapter for neater PSU solution . (ViDock 4 plus PSU)

 

Also, i found this (useful) for PE4L if your facing (stand) docking problem to be just like PE4H stand : PCI-e 1x bus to 16x Socket Extension Card

 

Just got my Power supply today (took 2 days for delivery from Newegg); also, I got my PE4L package today (ordered last Sat, and got it this morning)..

 

If I get an i5 laptop with a amd gpu...can I disable the amd gpu...will there be an intel gpu underneath in which I can use optimus setup?

 

Don't quote me, but Optimus is Nvidia only, so that means no ATI. But thats as much as i know sorry.

but what laptop are you looking at?

 

Wow, this is an amazing thread. Have read through quite a bit, but very confusing!

I am thinking of up-speccing a Dell XPS M1530 (4gb ram, dual booting into Linux/Win 7)

Seems to me the best solution would be GTX 460 and x1? And I am likely to run into some issues with 4gb of memory.

Also a stupid question - when running through an external monitor - does it 'stress' the card any more depending on screen size? (i.e can I run it through the 40 inch TV ok, or would it work better through a 20 inch monitor?)

Edit: Ok that is stupid - I wouldn't be able to see the whole TV screen up close!

Thanks!

 

If you want a comparaison, I have a MSI GX640 configure like this:

Intel i5-430m
Seagate M omentus XT 320gb 7200rpm
Radeon mobility HD5850 1gb GDDR5



And this is what are my benchmarks scores:

3dmark 06 : 13220 pts
Res5 : 101.3 fps

So, a diy vidock with a gtx 460 optimus x1 can surpass my ''more than 1k $$'' rig.

With the addition of the expresscard 2.0, it will blow my notebook that can play all games well.

I will, in a near futur, buy a new sandy bridge laptop like a HP 2560p and throw a gtx 560 ti in it. Better built quality, better portability, better battery life and better performance for the same price...I am sold.

 

What is the brand/model of your screen?

Stress can occur due the frequency refresh rate. (depending on my info).

GTX460 can handle i think 120 hz. you can also watch 3D...

 

Did you try testing any other Express cards?

Maybe it's a physical problem... (what is your chipset?)

Else, try with mPcie...

EDIT: I hope i don't get the same problem, still didn't buy it.

My specs :

(Vaio Eseries VPEB12FD)

Intel Core i3 m330 2.14 GHz
RAM: 4GB
Intel HD int.
HM55 chipset.
Express. 2.0

 

I only bought this card and I dont have another one..

I dont know.. for some people it was as simple as plug and play.. I've been on this since yesterday with no progress whatsoever :-| I'll give this more go but I might consider returning the parts if I cant get this to work

 

I have connected all the parts together, and I'm not sure how to proceed from here onwards :-/

I powered the PSU and the card powered up.. I connected the expresscard to the laptop but nothing happens and it doesn't detect it. I have attached a pic of Everest south bridge dump and it shows port 1 and 2 empty..

I tried rebooting the laptop with the diy vidock switched on, but the screen stays black and it doesn't go anywhere..

I restarted the laptop with the vidock off, put it into sleep mode, powered on the vidock, and then tried o wake up the machine again, but the screen stays black and nothing happens.. I can hear the machine going, but the screen stays black..

I downloaded the nvidia 266.58 drivers, but can't install it as it doesn't detect the card (I tried different drivers (258.96 and 266.58) - all end up with the same results

I read more through the posts and I followed the posts by becak and by masterjumong2012 and still can't get my laptop to detect the device

I'm not sure what to do!! All the connections are ok, but my laptop is just not picking up the card.

My last try, I had my laptop up and running (laptop is on docking station).. I powered up the PSU and vcard, I pluged in the Express Card and I heard windows beep (indicating recognizing a device of some sort).. I looked in the control panel under Display adapters and I can see my gpu with unknown status and error code 14? Also, this time when I look at Everest, it shows the current value "In Use @ x1 (High Definition Audio Controller [10DE-0BEB] [NoDB], Standard VGA Graphics Adapter [10DE-0E22] [NoDB])"

Trying to restart the system will give a black screen that I can't do anything with unless I power off the vidock, and reboot again..

I had a look at nando's link so I downloaded the DIY ViDock Setup 1.0e8 , extract it to C:\DIYViDock , ran the setup_disk-image:

****************************************************************
DIY ViDock Setup 1.x disk image bootitem installer
****************************************************************

[install_dir=C:\DIYViDock, CurPath=C:\DIYViDock].

!!Please ensure you are an admin user!!
Press any key to continue or CTRL+C to exit . . .

0. Copying installation files from C:\DIYViDock to C:\DIYViDock . . .
Cannot perform a cyclic copy
error occurred. Please copy files manually.
Copying grldr and menu.lst to C:\.
1. Defragging C:\DIYViDock\DIYViDock-Setup-10e8.img.
2. [XP ntldr] no C:\boot.ini detected.
[Vista/W7 bootmgr] BCD entry \DIYViDock\grldr.mbr already exists. Skip.

Press any key to exit . . .

C:\DIYViDock>

I then mounted the image disk "DIYViDock-Setup-10e8.img" as the V drive. Also made a shortcut of the file and added it to my startup list.. I shutdown my machine, my vidock is switch off, boot my machine, loged in to the Vidock setup, power on the PSU and the vcard, and pluged in the ExpressCard..

From the Vidock menu, I went to Video Card -> Load Dump, however the load dump prompt shows:

Load dump to which GFX: 1.none 2. vid_0 , clearly indicating that its not picking up my card.. also I noticed on the right side there is a description of the ports as follows:

P1@x1
P2@x1
P4@x1 8086:423@x1 (Intel)

Using devcon_file: no
pci_alloc_flag: yes
pci_written: yes
vid_0= 8086:0045 (Intal)

If I choose the load dump to vid_0 then the screen will go black and does nothing.. and choosing none will do nothing.. I tried pressing F5 to refresh the devices, but the card still didn't show up..

Conclusion: No Freakn Idea!!

Help, is highly appreciated..


Thanks

Laptop Specs:
HP Elitebook 8440p
Intel® Core™ i5-540M Processor (2.53 GHz, 3 MB L3 cache)
6 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Intel® HD Graphics
1 Express Card/54
Win7 SP1 64x

DIY specs:
PE4L
Asus nVidia ENGTX 460 768MD5
CORSAIR CX 430 PSU

 

Once in Setup 1.x, power on the DIY ViDock and hit F5. If 10DE:0E22 (NVidia) isn't showing up Status window ports section then unplug/replug the mini HDMI cable on the EC2C and hit F5 again. Should now find the GTX460, upon which proceed to 'configure the GTX460', perform PCI compaction and chainload into Win7. Only once the GTX460 is on the PCI BUS that you can then successfully load the drivers.

 

Finally!! Managed to get it running.. experiance wise, it was painful, frustrating, and purely based on trial and error..

I went into setup, powered on the psu and the card, pluged in the ExpressCard, hit enter and I saw that vid_2 Nvidia was deteced as follows:

P1@x1
P2@x1 10de:0e22@x1 (Nvidia)
P4@x1 8086:4239@x1 (Intel)

1. VideoCard -> Show State -> Nvidia-nvflash :

Nvidia display adapters present in system:
No Nvidia display adapter found

2. PCI Config Space -> !run compaction , once finished I went back to VideoCard -> Show State:

Nvidia display adapters present in system:
<0> GeForce GTX 460 (10DE,0E22,1043,835C) H:--:NRM B:02,PCI,D:00,F:00

3. Save dump+ , select vid_2 (Nividia).

4. Click on Chainload Win7|orig

5. boot manager again -> select DIU setup -> opt 1

6. boot manager again -> Windows 7

7. completely login to windows while the expresscard is in and powered on.

8. Device drivers for my gpu was showing error (10) device couldnt start or something like that.. However, I can now install the drivers that I couldnt install before as it ddint detect the vcard at all.. I installed drivers 258.96

9. Had to restart my machine and I went through the whole setup again. However, this time when I logged in to windows, my monitor came to light and the control panel fully picking up the display driver as GTX 460

I ran 3dmark06 before (1691) and after (5231) and I am disappointed with the results.. I thought I'll be getting at least 10k with the card!!??

I tried installing drivers 265.90 or 266.58 for better performance, however, I get this error when I try to run them..

So the 2 questions I have now:

1. How can I further improve the performance of my DIY.

2. how can I install the updated drivers



I've attached the results for both tests..

P.S. Thanks nando, I just saw your post after I got it to work would be great if you can help with the 2 questions above. Thanks

Ok,

 

Hi. I have the same laptop Dell XPS Studio 1645. Can you give me some more information on this setup?

I already purchased the 6950, I need some more information on the rest of the components.

Thank you

 

Hello everyone! I would like to know if there are any more information regarding ViDock using thunderbolt?

Im asking this since there are a few good indications about the presence of one in the upcoming refresh of the vaio Z

 

Finally.. I have a vidock running with opt. Drivers the drivers install always failed with "cant find graphics hardware".. I downloaded nando's nvam.inf file, put it under the "C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\266.58\Vista 64-bit\International\Display.Driver" directory, ran nvidia opt drivers setup.exe and this time it detected the card, finished the install, restarted the machine and it all went ok

I also ran 3Dmark06 and i got 13k+ rating i will upload the screen dump later on.

Thanks

 

Hello everyone. I need some help!!!
First of all sorry for my bad language
I just bought a PE4H EC2C and HD 5750 for my Sony Vaio VPCEB11FM
I used the Setup 1x for it. But it didn't work
If i chainload on 32bit in device manager will show me that Integrated HD Graphic has code 12 and port 6 has code 12 too /pci-e express card is port 6, and 5700 series sign will dissappear/
And if i chainload on 36 bit it will be crashed blue screen. Device manager detected the 5750 but it's not working either.
So anybody knows how to fix this PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME
THANK YOU,

 

Ensure you've created \config\devcon.txt, Boot Setup1.x, ensure the HD5750 is detected then run "Save Diagnostics", rar/zip the resultant files in the \diag directory, upload to mediafire and post a link to that file here. I'll have a look.

 

I tried Save diag... But it freezes when running something like compact 31000000... How can i run this properly?

 

this message deleted

 

I have this port error 12 when use setup 1x... 32bit, 36 bit same
I have turned off the vaio recovery tool for some partition manage. I guess that doesn't matter right...
And when i'm trying to save my diagnostics it will run then stuck on Running **compact pciend 31000000

 

nando4 please give me some advice please please please.
Can i use DiY Vidock setup 10e9b2 ?

 

Finally got the diagnostics used 10e9b :d

 

The diags tell me exactly what is happening. Your Sony VPCEB11FM has:

BIOS sets TOLUD=3.5GB (E0000000) - so there's 512MB of 32-bit PCI space
PCIEX=[f8000000 fc000000) (64MB - reserved)
Intel HD=[e0000000, F0000000) (256MB)
+ additional devices in the top of Fxxxxxxx.

Means there's no chance of fitting an ATI or NVidia card in 32-bit space with 4GB or more installed. So only option is try 36-bit PCI compaction on VID0+VID2, force VID2 to 32-bit or try VID0+V2, force VID0 to 32-bit. Ensure you have the latest Intel HD +ATI driver installed.

If can't do 36-bit compaction then this system suffers the same problem as the Latitude series here, so the immediate solution is run with 3GB installed. Long term solution is ask Sony to set TOLUD=3.0 or 3.25GB in the bios. Could go a XP driver as well but then lose Aero+DX10 and Intel HD would need to be disabled.

 

Ok thank you

 

Okay i tried 36-bit PCI compaction on VID0+VID2, force VID2 it kinda worked but have some problem. my monitor is not recognizing adapter but device manager do. Then it's working on 8bit 640x460... And the other PCI compaction is not working