DIY eGPU experiences

I did that. The GTX 570 information in the modified INI didn't match my GTX 570 card. I changed the hardware ID in the INI to match my card and it was detected. Drivers detect the card and start the install, but the install still fails and device manager shows the driver but it says "No drivers are installed for this device." in device status and "The device isn't using any resources because it has a problem" in the Resources tab.

USB is back to not working (try to access a flash drive and Windows quits working) and Windows won't boot with the card inserted, it freezes up after the Windows 7 logo comes together and pulses a few times.

This is with BIOS 1.09, Expresscard Gen1 selected.

On the PE4H card, lights D2, D3, D4 are lit up, D1 is not. The switch is in position 3 (came that way out of the box even though the board says position 1 is default). Powering it up with a new Seasonic 400w silent power supply.

 

Fresh install of Windows 7, installed IGP driver, chipset driver, Nvidia modified driver.

Works.

Install Lenovo Power Management driver - works
Install Lenovo Power Manager Software - symptoms return

Anyone with one of the new Thinkpad generation laptops able to use the Power Manager Software?

Oh and now for the scores (EVGA GTX 570 HD on T420s laptop):
Internal LCD: Result
External HDTV: Result

 

Also, I wanted to thank everyone for their help. Especially sprtnbsblplya and Nando4.

Nando4, you definitely keep up on the PMs and do a lot of great work around here

 

Hey all!

I am new to this forum, but have posted a bit on the sister site tablet pc review.

I recently got a Fujitsu T901, one of the few Sandy Bridge tablets on the market right now (the other I know of is the X220T)

I have been following the DIY Vidock forum for a little while, and it encouraged me to try it myself.

Enough about the intro, for the juicy bits:

Laptop:
Fujitsu T901
Intel Core i7 2620M
8 GB RAM
120 GB vertex 3

MB:
Manufacturer FUJITSU
Model FJNB228
Chipset Vendor Intel
Chipset Model ID0104
Chipset Revision 09
Southbridge Vendor Intel
Southbridge Model ID1C4F
Southbridge Revision 04

DIY Vidock:
x16 adapter
MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone OC 1024MB
USB hub, to which is attached a 1.5TB hardrive, and misc other peripherals.


Experience:
On unboxing the laptop, after setup and stuffs:
Turn on DIY ViDock, plug into already turned on laptop.
Laptop auto installs drivers and everything works. Video, external drive, everything.
Awesome!

One quirk:
Evey plug in, it knocked out the installed "Intel My Wifi" adapters. This is not the actual wifi, it is some Intel utility to configure your laptop to act as a router for other devices. They come back to life after removal. Not a big loss, guess it is PCI bus weirdness.


Now for the not so awesome part:
I removed the original ram (2gb), upgrade it to 8GB
change the installed hardrive to SSD.
Re-install windows.
However, now the card is seen as a "Standard VGA".
Not able to get video, still knocks out My Wifi.
The computer does not recognize the rest of the stuff attached to the usb port either...

Going to try the 1.x Setup tonight.
Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

Hey guyz,

As noted before, with Sony VAIO E series, gtx460. allocation reserve problem , solution: memory must be 2GB.

Well, on the main page, Nando4 Said, only Nvidea cards can fit.

Does this mean i cant run Ati on my EB12FD? ( Location on the page:i-core... (use find))

Thanks guyz, going to buy it at last!

 

hmm...
i have a benchmark saved where i had 8gb ram, old hdd, and vidock was working....

 

Just in case there is anyone else from Canada looking for a PE4L, I found a dealer on Ebay which provides the cheapest shipping. I've posted the link in a search format, so that after the buy it now auction ends, you should still be able to find it.

pe4l | eBay

You can also make a highest offer - he took $51, making the grand total only $67 to get a PE4L up to Canada.

 

I'm using the default install of all the ThinkVantage tools running on my T420 and I have no problems with it.

These are the jumper settings I successfully used with my PE4L, it is powered externally by a 560w 80% efficiency Corsair PSU: http://forum.notebookreview.com/7588949-post4065.html

400w for a GTX 470? What brand? Is it a newer gen, high efficiency model? If not, that may be a problem as it may not be putting out enough juice on the 12v rail you're using to power that GTX.

Edit:
Go into Thinkvantage power management software. On the lower end, battery saving power settings, it may be restricting power to the PCI Express port.I do recall there being some setting that messes with that, may be worthwhile to check that out.

 

I had no success with hp 8510p + ati 2600hd + diy vidock with x1950GT. it almost always showed A5 stop error when booting or when done with the sleep-plugin-wake trick it found the card, but it said "no drivers are installed" or "cant find resources" or "drivers are already loaded so they cant start".

i've tried every possible combination I could imagine with no avail. Any ideas what to?

 

What drivers are you using for both cards?
x1950 is a 'legacy' card... you need a 9.3 or older driver if you're trying to make both cards use the same driver that has both cards' dev id in the inf.

 

as the only driver that will work with mobility radeon HD2600 is the one from HP I had to leave that in there. After that I've unpacked the legacy AMD drivers and when I saw VGA compatible adapter in device manager I've tried manualy updating its drivers with the unpacked ones, but with no avail.

If I had removed ALL drivers and then used the older driver, would it work with both cards? IMHO I would have to mod the drivers with "mobility modder" so they could be used on mobility radeon.

 

Hi
I bought a GTX 590 and I put it in place of the GTX 580 but... does not work. I see two GTX 590 in different PCI address but with "error 43".

Can you help me please?

 

A 590 is basically 2 graphics cards in one, so you need 2 256MB windows instead of just one. You're going to have to remove/disable components to get the total 512MB free, if it's even possible. Also I don't know if Nando's setup program will try to make a window beyond 256MB.

On my laptop I cannot disable my internal card, but if i remove it, the system will boot with everything displayed by the 460 fine. If you can remove your internal card, try it to at least get some benchmarks for us to see!

 

I got a x220 with the PE4H (2.4) and a GTX460(1GB). As far as I understand the best performance is achieved by a "optimus install".

Downloaded Verde 275.33 + nando's nvam.inf (replaced it after extracting the drivers) and installed this driver. How can I see, if optimus is running? Right now there is no new menu or something like that.

What is better? Using the ports of the GTX460 or from the x220?

Got P3093 in 3dmark11 and 16-17k in 06. However BFBC2 has low fps (even at low resolutions).

 

Were those scores on the internal LCD or an external hooked up to the GTX 460?

You should see an Nvidia folder in Start -> All Programs. In there you can open the control panel for Nvidia and in the menu options enable the systray icon to monitor applications using the Nvidia card.

 

External with the DVI output from the GTX460 I think. Good/bad?

 

Sorry if this is obviously wrong, but is it possible to do SLI on 2 optimus links? lol throwing the idea out there.

 

I don't know about optimus, but you can do SLI. I ran this patch on my system and it completed successfully. No 2nd 460 to try it out though

Downloads

 

Anyone know what value the intel.txt file in the vidock image should contain for sandy bridge motherboard?

mine lists southbridge as ID1C4F

thanks

EDIT:
replacing with 2GB memory, uninstalling "Standard VGA" device, restarting.
Still get standard vga on re-connect..

 

Ensure SW1 is set to position 1 on the PE4H 2.4+.
If necessary use the Video Cards.Initialize function in Setup 1.x to get rid of the error 43.

Two 256MB pci-e windows will need a very relaxed BIOS OR removal of RAM. If not sure please run Setup 1.x, choose Save Diags.compact_fails, upload the resultant contents of the \diag directory to mediafire.com and send the link.

It would actually be better to run 2xGTX580s, each on it's on x1 link (mPCIe + expresscard) to double the bandwidth. Would require SLIPatch to allow a non-certified SLI setup to work.

The 16-17k 3dmark06 benchmark results mean x1.1Opt is active. You want to connect the DVI/HDMI output on the GTX460 for best performance. Still, if BFBC2 requires a lot of pci-e bandwidth it may have low FPS. A workaround is to buy a ViDock4/4+, which claims pci-e 2.0 compliance. That will double your bandwidth. There's one on ebay ATM you might be interested in.

I worked with a user on the E-series. We discovered the bios had hardcoded a device to sit in the E0000000 range preventing it from being a 256MB contiguous space. Fortunately a NVidia card use a fragmented 128MB+64MB+32MB BAR so we could allocate around the problem.

Please post your devcon.txt file so can see if your E-series is affected as well.

Devel version of Setup 1.x includes support for SB systems. Please use that instead.

Code:

; Series-6 Sandy Bridge (5GT/s)
0x1c47   UM65     2    8     -1
0x1c49   HM65     2    8     -1
0x1c4b   HM67     2    8     -1
0x1c4d   QS67     2    8     -1
[COLOR="Red"]0x1c4f   QM67     2    8     -1[/COLOR]

 

wicked, thanks!

 

I don't know why exactly, but my FPS are alright now. BFBC2 (and Mafia 2) runs perfectly at 1920x1200 without any FPS drops! eGPU = awesomeness

Does my PE4H use the old PCIE version? I tought it was only some kind of bridge, without any processing. So right now I am very happy - bye desktop, hi notebook + egpu!

 

Hmm.. still cant get it to work...
I guess I will try the method described here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/7572285-post4023.html

EDIT:

Sweet, the method above works for a clean install of a Fujitsu T901!
Going to re-install my 8GB ram and compare results...

Seems to work even with 8GB RAM installed!


Thank you all for your help!

Want me to post benchmarks and rig pictures?

 

congrats!

im sure nandos would love to include your results in the list of successful setup on the first post. put up some benchmark and screenshots of mark06, vantage, RE5 and DMC4..

and also to include which bios you are running for your T901.

 

I was thinking of buying a Latitude E6420 to do an eGPU with, but one of the links in the OP mentions that the Latitudes are capped at 3GB RAM when used with an eGPU. Is there a way around that, or should I avoid Latitudes?

EDIT: Just did some more reading, sounds like it's still a showstopper. Bummer.

 

I've installed moded 9.3 driver and it still doesn't work - says no driver is loaded.

 

Hello,

Sorry for asking this, which way i should post my devconfig, or the specific software, is it AIDA64 (or the other one i don't remember)?

Just for confirmation.

Thank you for your supporting.

 

So my Lenovo x220 came with a bios version of 1.16, so how do I downgrade to 1.11 or 1.12 so I won't get a black screen?

 

Try uninstalling all ati drivers, then disable 2600m which should be a 'standard VGA' by now and install a win XP driver for x1950.

 

I can't really disabled it because it will be used anyway during next startup because I have to boot without eGPU because I get BSOD when I start windows with connected eGPU.

 

Thanks. Do you know if the other cable I mentioned is the correct type?

 

I meant mine came with the molex to PCI-E cable adapter. It did not come with a molex splitter.

The molex splitter you linked looks like a female to 2 male, instead of what the name says. The picture may be a generic picture and not of the actually part.

 

Here are the details on the successful T901 eGPU setup:
Computer:
Fujitsu T901, tablet, multitouch version
BIOS: V1.05 31/03/2011
8 GB RAM
Windows 7 x64 Pro

eGPU:
PE4H
MSI GTX 460
USB HUB with hardrive and other misc hardware attached. (I get added storage capacity along with added graphical power, put all my games in the external drive).
Fanless PSU to power everything.
No Case just yet.

Pictures



Initial:
Right out of the box, the eGPU was plug and play, auto installing the needed drivers. I did not take any benchmarks of original system.

I swapped the 2GB RAM for 8GB (I run lots of virtual machines) and installed a vertex 3 SSD.

However, after replacing the drive, the graphics card was no longer plug and play. The system then needed to follow the setup here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam.../418851-egpu-experiences-403.html#post7572285
After that, the system can now boot with hotplugging right after boot screen.
The system does seem to be running in optimus mode, as the Nvida menu presents the option of automatically selecting GPU on the fly.

Benchmarks of final system:

3DMark06


3DMark Vantage


FurMark 1.8.2


Just for fun, Windows score and ATTO disk benchmark:

 

Another impressive Series-6 chipset result.

Though there is something not right with your setup. Your 3dmark06 CPU score of 3247 is considerably less than Xav's 3843 achieved with the same i7-2620M. It's also less than sprtnbsblplya's i5-2540M of 3553.

That result indicates that Turbo boost isn't probably not being activated. Please ensure you load the latest drivers, even doing a Windows Update. Then re-do the 3dmark06 benchmark with a higher result.

 

Well, uninstall the video drivers and see if you get a bsod with connected egpu

 

Regarding the devconfig log.

Is it recommended to buy the Nvidia GT430 or the Ati 5650, i know, Ati 5650 is much faster (same value +10 ) than gt430. (if you see the bench-marking...)

But, i'm using an external screen right now. Does this mean , i don't need the optimus setup? (i know, optimus is updated with these features e.g: eGPU)

Sorry for replying the same question though.

Thank you.

 

WOW, i am so glad for this thread!

NBR Never seems to let me down.

I am really interested in doing this with my laptop (Specs in sig)

Anyone think it'll be possible to do it with a GTX570/GTX 580 using the Mini PCI-e port (Wifi port) on the M14x?

Any feedback would be gladly appreciated!

The M14x uses the Intel 6-series chipset (HM67)

 

GT430 or better is recommended if you can do x1.Opt. I never recommend the HD5650 since the HD5750 offers a lot more performance and can be run with a 80W PSU. Actually, the GTS240 appears to be x1.Opt capable as well.

Where's your devcon.txt file for perusal? Please install the devel setup 1.x, run \devcon\mkdevcon, upload the resultant \config\devcon.txt file to mediafire and link.

Alienware m14x x1.Opt implementation with existing GT555M

wicked20 was trying to do a x1.Opt setup on a Dell XPS L502x mPCIe port with partial success. I believe he got a non x1.Opt setup going. He did however get a HD5870 going as described.

The theory to to do a x1.1Opt setup on an existing Series-6 Optimus system would go somethng like this:

- disable the GT555M in device manager

- uninstall the existing NVidia drivers

- edit the nvam.inf of the latest modded driver, remove your GT555M from it.

- sleep system, attach GTX570/80 so it appears as a VGA adapter in Device Manager.

- load the modded Verde driver so that the GTX570/80 would be the only NVidia driver present.

Once the GTX570/80 is confirmed to work, then would be a matter of re-introducing the GT555M back into the nvam.inf and seeing what happens when both drivers are active. The m14x likely will not have the PCI space to allow both to be active, however I idealise that one of them could be active at any one time.

I'm happy to help you along as it would be great to see one example of a Series-6 Optimus notebook with a x1.Opt eGPU setup working.

While deliberating on this as a solution, proceed to see if your system is whitelisting the mPCIe port by booting without it installed, then sleep, plug in wifi, resume. Is the wifi recognised and listed? If not, then use the devel Setup 1.x to overcome the whitelisting.

 

sounds awesome.. it's gonna be a shot in the dark but it'll be a lot better than building a desktop. I use my laptop for everything and the extra juice from the video card would be very beneficial.

Thnx for the info nando! I'll keep everyone here posted as soon as I order the parts to give it a shot.

 

Here's a another update on my Lenovo X200 mod.

I have been quite busy for the last couple of months so this project had to take a back seat. I picked it up again recently hoping to implement a x2 link based on previous tests and recommendations by Nando and Khenglish. Unfortunately, things had a turn for the worse:

Not true anymore. For some reason I lost the ability to run my eGPU connected to a PM3N on port #3. Now the laptop hangs at POST and beeps three times (once long, twice short). According to the manual this could be a system board error. I've tested the cable and tried three different PM3N adapters (1.1 and 1.2) to no avail. Plugging the PM3N to port #1 also causes the same error. I've also tried reflashing the BIOS to early versions, patching the BIOS for de-whitelisting, reseting the system board by powering down and unplugging the CMOS battery, etc.. Nothing works - I am now unable to run my eGPU with PM3N from boot. Other than permanent damage to the system board, the only possibility that comes to my mind is short-circuiting somewhere on the board with a bit of alloy shrapnel from the case mod. I tried to be thorough in cleaning the board but it's possible some scraping stuck to the anti-static stickers and is in contact with soldered components.

I've modded a PM3N 1.1 according to Nando's instructions. Thus should have allow triggering the CLKRUN on the PM3N on demand but using the modded PM3N I couldn't get the laptop to pick the eGPU so I thought the mod was a dud. I obtained a PM3N 1.2 and was able to find out the following:

• setting 1 (no CLKRUN delay) causes laptop to hang on boot (see previous),
• setting 2 (~6s delay) allows the PM3N to bypass the BIOS detection and POST is successful. The GTX460 noticeably speeds up after 6 seconds but neither Setup 1.0f nor Windows can see it on the PCI bus;
• setting 3 (~12s delay) also successfully bypasses BIOS detection by the GPU never ramps up and also fails to be detected.

Considering the PM3N 1.2 results, I think my modded PM3N is working fine. The problem is that if CLKRUN is delayed for longer than >6s the system fails to initialize the GPU even when triggered. It takes me 12-15s to boot up and reach the Setup screen with eGPU detection - at that point the CLKRUN trigger is useless.

 

I can't really remember this one. Those tested VGAs belong to my friend so I had to take my almost-desktop notebook to my friend's house.

 

I got it working on my new Lenovo y560p

i7 2630QM
Radeon Mobile 6570M

Radeon HD 6850 via Expresscard.

I'll have benchmarks later.

 

Hey Maeth, what GPU did you get with your T901?

Intel® HD 3000 Graphics
NVIDIA® NVSTM 4200M with Optimus Technology

It lists two options and I want to pick the one that I can use 1.xOpt with, reading parts of this forum it seems you can still get optimus with the Intel HD 3000 which would save me $120.

Also what link is your benchmark utilizing? 1.x/1.xOpt/2x? New to this, want to get into it in a big way.

 

Hey nando4, I notice that you added a mention of the XPS 14 L401x to your recommended notebooks post. It looks pretty interesting, but do you know if it's possible to completely disable the discrete GPU on it at a BIOS level? I'm interested in getting a laptop with Intel HD 3000 graphics only, a backlit keyboard, and a 900p display -- and I want to do an eGPU with it.

I thought the Latitude E6420 was going to be my next machine, but the 3GB RAM limit for the eGPU kinda takes it out of contention for me.

 

Hi. I'm interested in trying this out on my Asus m50sv. It has an express card. Would diy vidock work for my laptop?thanks

 

Yes please.

It's a x1.1Opt setup. Recommend NOT geting the NVS4200M option. That adds a lot more complexity in getting a the x1.1Opt eGPU setup going. The $120 saving going the HD3000 setup almost pays for a GTX460-768MB eGPU setup ( ~US$174). The eGPU will benchmark 3-4 times faster than the NVS4200M.

If you still want that Latitude, then add some comments to that affect in this thread that I've just logged in the Dell forums requesting Dell to correct their bios: http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...ostro-latitude-egpu-friendly.html#post7633189 .

Series-5 (1st gen i-cores) or older chipsets can have the dGPU component of a switchable graphics setup completely disabled using Setup 1.x. Intel have however locked that in their Series-6 chipset (2nd gen i-cores) requiring a sophisticated bios to do that.

I personally wouldn't go the XPS 14 L401x because it lacks an expresscard slot. A Toshiba R840 or Lenovo T420s it the pick for a lightweight 14" with a 900P LCD and expresscard slot.

No reason it wouldn't unless you have a dud expresscard slot. If you want to be 100% sure then install Setup 1.x and confirm that 256MB of PCI space is available or can be made available using 32-bit PCI compaction to host the eGPU. Chainload to Windows after the PCI compaction to ensure it's a stable setup.

 

Hello,

I'm sorry for being late (having BCD issue, but was solved) , though i really appreciate your help

Here's the log link: devcon.txt

 

Your system is a bit different to the last E-Series I saw. Yours has TOLUD=3.5GB. That will be troublesome unless yours has the PCI BUS in Device Manager using the "large memory" area resource (unlikely) as described. If not, then there is no 256MB window available in 32-bit space when there is 4GB installed to host a eGPU so would need to run 3GB to make that 256MB window available.

A longshot: a 4GB setup may work *IF* the bios sets the eGPU as the primary video adapter instead of the onboard GPU upon detecting it at bootup. Dell Latitude and Lenovo bios does that. Only way to confirm is to test it. That will not allow a x1.Opt setup. Though I believe you don't have an Intel iGPU so can't do x1.Opt anyway.

If the TOLUD issue bothers you then it's well worthwhile taking it up with Sony for correct by lowering TOLUD to 3.25GB. It is otherwise pointless of them to provide an expresscard slot without any significant 32-bit PCI space to host an attached device.

 

Well, my specs: CPU intel CORE i3 , IGP , so i have iGPU... (am i wrong? sorry)

Maybe, I don't mind if ill use 2GB memory, however, i'm using Intel HD graphics.

EDIT: How about Linux, i think youll need to boot it with specific command... without this exceptions...

Thanks!

 

Hi. How do i get out of setup 1.x and load to my os? Im stuck at the menu item where the options leads to sector not found..abort, retry, fail? Thanks.