DIY eGPU experiences

I recently bought an HD 5670; when using the 36-bit compactation method in setup 1.x, what do I select for 36-bit compactation [all, vid_1, vid_2 or vid_1 vid_2] , and which video card do I force GFX to 32 bit?

 

I don't suppose anyone has found a better mini hdmi cable then Amazon.com: GTMax High Speed Gold-Plated Flat Mini HDMI to HDMI Cable (6 Feet, White/Blue): Electronics with an adapter? Think I have busted my cable as the vidock has stopped working unless I 'jiggle' the cable enough. Not surprising as it does not fit very well.

 

nando gave me this link:-
$5.61 - Gold Plated 1080P HDMI Mini V1.3 M-M Connection Cable - Black (1.5M-Length) - AV Equipment
It's mini-HDMI to mini-HDMI cable. However, it might take 4 weeks to arrived.

 

Thats pretty similar to the box I built out of plexi. I just put a single 80mm fan in the bottom though and everything runs cool and quiet enough.

This is the correct one. I use it. I have an Ikea Fredrik desk with the eGPU case on the top shelf out of the way, and the mini HDMI cable is 4 ft long and connects to the laptop that is on another shelf about 2 ft away. Works like a charm.

 

Amfeltec's mPCIe adapter is pci-e 1.1 (2.5GT/s) atm

Great. Looking forward to seeing your enclosure creation. There may be eGPU users in your local area who may want to recruit you to create one for them too.

36-bit is only useful with Core2Duo Inspirons. No other vendor has a 36-bit PCI BUS capable of using that. Also suggest using the devel version of Setup 1.x here with more extensive help to guide you along.

 

Hi Nando, can you give me some advises? Ty

 

I just reinstalled Windows 7 (64bit) and grabbed the newest driver from the first site (nvidia + modded inf). I get 16k+ in 3dmark06, but games are unplayable.

Monitor uses 1920x1200 and is directly attached to the GTX460 (1GB), which is connected via PE4H and ExpressCard to my Thinkpad x220t (8GB, Bios 1.11).

I tested Minecraft, League of Legends and COD:MW1. I get over 100+ FPS in Minecraft, but the FPS drop down every few seconds (microlags) and LoL only plays with 15-35FPS. COD:MW1 fps are fine to play, but there are fps dropdowns too.

Cable length is 2,5m.

Any solution?

GPU-Z says PCI-E x16@x1 v1.1 (shouldn't it be 2.0?)

 

Does anyone have a link to the Lenovo x220 bios which will work with an eGPU (1.11 or I think 1.12)? The x220 I bought came preloaded with 1.16, and can't find it using google. Thanks!

 

BIOS Update Utility for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), XP - ThinkPad

Just scroll down to 1.11

 

PCI-E x16@x1 v1.1 is correct since you are only running the 2.5Gb/s transfer rate. If it works without any lockups, then cable length is not an issue. Minecraft is almost completely CPU dependent. It was made in java instead of say c++, meaning that it wasn't optimally written, which is a reason why it has slowdowns. I am not very familiar with LoL, but RTS games are often CPU limited, so I suspect a CPU bottleneck. COD:MW1 I am not familiar with at all.

 

The CPU (i5-2520M 2x2,5GHz and usually 3GHz with turbo) shoudn't be the bottleneck. I tried COD:MW1 with low resolution (1366x768) and the fps are fine, but fps drops make it unplayable (you can play, but aiming is really hard as it skips a few frames). In LoL I notice something similar: Sometimes the FPS are totally fine (>60FPS), but as soon as some certain effects are displayed (or my hero is in visible area) the FPS drop.

Reinstalled the driver (tested the first three nvidia driver + modded inf). Only Minecraft works now without any lag I could notice. Tried RTCW:ET (old Q3 engine) and there is also no lag at all.

I will try to replace the 2,5m cable with the 30cm stock cable. Installed the Card into a computer case (with server inside) - the PE4H is right above the PSU. Maybe the cable doesn't like so much voltage around. I will report tommorow

 

From my experience power cables do hurt pci-e performance, but I would get a performance drop at all times, not something intermittent like you're getting. If I clocked my pci-e too high, then I would get lockups.

 

The fullname is Intel GMA 4500MHD. So, you're actually using Optimus.

 

I'm worried with the heat produced by the graphic card (temp is OK though) & ambient is hot over here. 2 x 120mm will be sufficient. I calculated the measurement in notepad. I'm going to ask help from my friend to draw the casing in his CAD software later.

 

Is the following laptop:
Lenovo IdeaPad B560 M4892IV‎
will Connect to ViDock 4?

if yes so
The Optimus features with external graphics cards will work this laptop With GTX 560 So I could play laptop screen with this video card? i will get the error 12 on this laptop?

I heard I have to change the BIOS so it will work ..
This is true for this laptop? Or there were not any problems?

Thanks

edit:
And I wonder if the Optimus will improve my performance on this laptop

 

Wait, so does 1.1 optimus actually give a performance increase over x1?
My laptop is not a sandy bridge laptop so I am limited to x1 optimus. Does 1.1 provide more bandwidth than 1.0, or is it the same?

Also, Warwickeo, how playable is BFBC2 multiplayer on a full server on your setup?

 

YouTube - ‪PE4H failing #1‬‏
YouTube - ‪PE4H failing #2‬‏

The first video just shows a overall bad performance - after restart (still plugged in everything) it was better as you can see in the second video.

Thinkpad x220t (Chipset Series 6), 8GB RAM, BIOS1.11 (Windows running in UEFI mode right now) and a GTX460 (1GB) plugged in with the PE4H. Set the PCIE Generation to 1 as someone in this thread suggested.

Verde 275.33 + nando's nvam.inf

The resoultion doesn't matter... 1920x1200 or 800x600 has the same fps drops. GPU-Z shows up a 40% GPU load and the card is switching into 3D mode(higher clock settings). CPU-Z shows 3GHz while playing.

@Mjolner: Right now nothing will play smoothly Should have done an image of my machine with the right drivers and without this "bug". As far as I remember everything was fine before reinstalling Windows. Didn't test much BFBC2 though - just jumped on a online server and it was a smooth feeling.

 

Hi everyone ,

I've stumbled upon this interesting thread and have silently read about everyone's experience! It seems that most of the members here seems to be happy about eGPU systems!

So I tried myself and I must say I'm really satisfied also !

I've got questions as the latter posters regarding optimus, because I didn't find answers on Nando's thread or in the Z11 Optimus thread
A pity, but could anyone give a hand if you don't mind ?


My system specs are as follows:

• Vaio VPC Z12 (i5 520M, 4Gig Ram, Win 7 64Bits) .
• Hybrid graphics drivers (Intel HD + 330m).
• Bios Hacked with graphic Switch set to Static instead of dynamic.
• Graphic Switch set to Speed mode (Priority to the discrete GPU Nvidia).
• Followed Nando's, Nautis and Zoinks instructions:

Okay everything seemed smooth as I ran to test the DMC4 benchmark with default bench settings and a 560GTX Ti.
However, where for Mikjoa, he achieve's 118 FPS on scene 4, I achieve 70 FPS on the same scene (Yup, I know he had 8 Gigs RAM and i7 620m .With the same eGPU on both sides, could this explain the 50FPS Difference ? )


Seeing those differences, I was wondering:

As the Optimus watermarks seems to be removed by Nvidia in the latest drivers, I have no idea how I can know if my optimus tweak (x1Opt Link) is active or not

An idea from experienced users?


Thanks in advance everyone for your answers!
Especially for the members that gave Feedback onto their EGPU system, that made me pull the trigger and try the experience too .


Rei

 

Thanks! Can't believe I missed it!

 

I hope this doesn't sound too silly (I still haven't received my eGPU parts yet, so this isn't speaking from experience), but is performance improved by setting your monitor to be your "main" display, not your laptop screen?

 

Just tried that again. Only external display activated, but that doesn't change anything. External display is connected to one of the DVI outputs (GTX460).

It's pretty weird... in Minecraft you can look at the left bottom and see when the fps lags happens - periodically !

 

You want the Z12 to be running IGP only so the GTX560Ti can provide the Optimus functionality with the driver. We found on a XPS15 that the dGPU would otherwise become the Optimus selected gpu and the eGPU would not see the x1.Opt performance tweak, effectively running the same performance level as if the desktop driver was installed. A 3dmark06 result of ~5k/~14k confirms that x1.Opt isn't/is engaging on the eGPU.

You'll know when Optimus is running when you have a Preferred graphics processor option as shown.

If your bios doesn't allow you to disable the GT330M, then can use Setup 1.x to do it via the Video Cards->dGPU[off] menu.

Lags could be either periodic transmission errors with your long cable, throttling of your GTX460, or the x1 pci-e bus is being overly taxed. The first you can confirm by running the shorter 30cm/60cm cable. For the second review this info. For the last, you'd need the pci-e 2.0 compliant hwtools kit scheduled to release come August which will get full 5GT/s out of your Series-6 chipset. ViDock 3/4/4+ also claims pci-e 2.0 compliance. Note: This will also confirm if NVidia's Verde driver enables pci-e compression on a x1 2.0 link like it does on a x1 1.0 link (x1.1Opt or x1Opt).

 

Please help me!

 

Just chiming in with some updated benchies.

Scored 11014 on 3dmark06

Score 12246 on 3dmark vant.gpu
full results: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti video card benchmark result - Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8600,LENOVO 7454CTO score: P8100 3DMarks

I'm not entirely sure optimus is working, tho it probably is. I'm running Verde 270.61 + nando's nvam.inf (64-bit) currently. I'll try to install the latest (last tried mid June, didn't work) Verde 275.33 nvam.

Anyway, since I got a top of the line PSU (500W Corsair) my system has been pretty much totally solid in terms of stability. If anyone is having instability issues, check your PSU! Cheap PSU's are an easy route to fail.

 

Hi,

I just went through the first page on all the detailed summaries and am quite interested to give this eGPU thing a try. Just have a couple questions hope to get answers for before start purchasing the required hardware.

My current laptop at home is a Sager NP8662 with Geforce GTX 260M. When I check through EVEREST->Motherboard->Chipset->South Bridge: Intel 82801IM ICH9M, under the PCI Express Controller tab it shows:
PCI-E 1.x x1 port #1 Empty
PCI-E 1.x x1 port #2 Empty
PCI-E 1.x x1 port #3 In Use @ x1 (Intel WiFi Link 5300 AGN)
PCI-E 1.x x1 port #5 In Use @ x1 (JMicro JMB380 PCI-E 1394a OHCI FireWire Controller and Memory Card Host Controller, JMicron JMB382 PCI-E Memory Card Host Controller)
PCI-E 1.x x1 port #6 In User @ x1 (Relatek RTL8168C/8111C PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Adapter)

I have no expresscard device plugged in currently. From such information, my questions are:

1. Is my laptop able to run the x2 link that supposedly double the host-external GPU bandwidth?

2. Do I need to disable some device to free up the required port for a x2 eGPU setup?

3. Is x4 possible and how much performance gain will I see (assuming 1080p gaming). I can see an empty WWAN slot in my laptop besides the occupied WLAN slot. I think probably x4 is not possible without some more mini pcie slots.

4.where is port 4 anyway if I may ask?

5. with a potentially GTX460 1GB eGPU setup, is the x1 or x2 PCIe bandwidth a bottleneck after certain resolution? if yes how much is that cut-off resolution? (to make this question clear I'm asking about whether the x1/x2 PCIe bandwidth becomming a bottleneck whereby changing to high-end GPU like GTX580 won't help over some lower grade GPU. hope I've made myself clear on this one.)

6. I suppose doing CUDA/OPENCL parallel computing is not limited by the x1/x2 PCIe bandwidth as long as I don't explicitly do a lot of data transfer between host/eGPU. as long as keeping all the work on eGPU the performance shall be the same as if running on a desktop (rather than the initial kernel launch overhead which involves data/instruction transfer between host/eGPU). Am I understanding it correctly here?

Thanks in advance!

 

Thanks a lot for your precise explanations & screencap Nando
I'll give it a try and report back the user's Feedback given the user Template you provide (Benchs about DMC4, RE5, 3DSMAX and so on) with/without the x1opt link.

Thanks again ,
Rei

 

The new 2.0 tool from HWTOOLS is available from 30/6, right? Anyone bought is already? I haven't even seen any picture or data on www.HWtools.net so far.

 

Tested with 30cm long cable (came with the PE4H), but nothing changes.
So I'll wait for august and sell my PE4H v2.4 and mostly my GTX460 too

Nvidia systeminfo says PCIE Gen2 :O


(sorry for german ui)

Or should I stay with the "old" PE4H and give AMD a try?

 

When everything was fine, does Windows boot/installed using UEFI mode?

 

For myself there is no difference between UEFI and BIOS. Tried this with BIOS as well, same problem.

YouTube - ‪PE4H failing #3‬‏

Another video showing COD:MW1 on my x220t with PE4H at 1920x1200 (no AA) - the lags exsist with 800x600 too..

 

Hey guys,
I'm looking into getting a ViDock 4 plus with something like the GTX 570/580 or the AMD 6950 2GB with a Thinkpad W520. How will the ViDock 4+ performance compare with the Thunderbolt solution? I am disappointed that the Thunderbolt port only comes on macs because it offers full pcie 2.0 x4 link. That is really good. Apparently, that provides 80% of the graphics performance of full x16 link. How well should the Vidock 4 plus perform?

 

Hey fellas,

This eGPU idea is just amazing ... therefore just for this purpose I bought a new HP laptop with no discrete graphics card built in (just Intel HD3000). Sandy Bridge-Second Generation i5 having HM65 motherboard. This laptop fully support PCIe express card slot 2.0. Ive checked it in its mobo manual, it shows something 5Gt/s full duplex (not entirely sure about full duplex part ... but Ill check it).

Now before I go ahead and start buyin awesome new graphic card and PE4H. As per the latest info PE4H is goin under redesign to support 2.0x1 (new express card slots) and this baby (which is my new laptop) can also support optimus as it is not having discrete graphic card ... am I on the right track fellas ???

Thanks

 

I believe so, but I would wait for more opinions, as I am not an expert on eGPUs. If you want something right now, I think the best option is the ViDock 4 Plus, since I think it has support for the PCIe 2.0 X2 over expresscard slot.

 

BIOS? You mean standard boot?

 

Hello, I am happy to tell you that I get THE thing worked!!

GTX560 Ti eGPU x1.1 opt. here we go!!
__________________________________________________________________________

Here is my setup:

-Laptop : Lenovo Thinkpad X220 (876$) (I highly recommend this fantastic thin and light 12,5’’ laptop with IPS screen + 12h battery life with 9cells + FAST!! + SOLID!!)

CPU : Intel i5-2520m
RAM : GSKILL 8gb DDR3 10666 (68$)
INTERNAL GPU : Intel HD3000
SSD : Crucial M4 256gb (375$)
OS : Windows 7 64bits

- External eGPU : Zotac Geforce GTX560 Ti 1GB GDDR5 (209$)

- INTERFACE : HTools PE4H v2.4 + EC2C + 30cm mHDMI cable (86$)

- POWER SUPPLY: Corsair CX430 (21$)

- EXTERNAL SCREEN : ASUS VH326H (126$) (I connect with DVI, cause I don’t have HDMI cable (soon)

TOTAL : 1761,00$ for a complete Super-fast and super-light setup!!




__________________________________________________________________________

How I proceeded :

1) BIOS 1.23 is good now!! Install it.
2) Be sure that expresscard is generation 1 in BIOS.
3) Plug the eGPU in the expresscard and power it when the laptop is on.
4) Windows detect it. After that, install the latest Nvidia driver.
5) Restart and….PLAY!!

Does Lenovo X220 have expresscard 2.0?! We will see!
__________________________________________________________________________

Benchmarks:

-Internal screen:
3dmark06 = **Soon**
3dmark Vantage (GPU) = **Soon**
3dmark Vantage (CPU) = **Soon**
3dmark11 = **Soon**
Heaven = **Soon**
RE5 (var.) = 47.4 FPS
DMCV4 = **Soon**

-External screen:
3dmark06 = 17248pts
3dmark Vantage (GPU) = 14058pts
3dmark Vantage (CPU) = 9610pts
3dmark11 = 3722pts
Heaven = 1230pts
RE5 (var.) = 127 FPS
DMCV4 = 118,44 FPS

Games in 1920x1080:

L4D2 (maxed out) : 128 FPS average
BBC2 (maxed out with 32 players online) : 33 FPS average
Metro2033 (Maxed out - but DX10) : 29 FPS average
Battlefield 3 BETA (ULTRA Setting): 17-45 FPS

Here is a crappy video I just made of my X220+eGPU on battlefield 3 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36FNJsYhLb4
__________________________________________________________________________

Pictures :

 

Oh, I think I know what you asked.

I can boot with the GTX460 plugged in. Hotplugging also works. Both in UEFI mode.

Just ordered a GTX560TI - hopefully my lags are gone then... If it won't work, I'll have to send it back and grab a AMD card.

 

Good idea to test another Nvidia card. I watched your latest video in your previous post. I experienced the same micro-lag with HD5870 when playing Bad Company 2. The FPS stable though. So, I recommend don't get AMD card unless you can do x2 link.

 

justinkw1 has been helping with formatting - pls rep him if you like the results

justinkw1 has kindly volunteered to apply his formatting prowess to the main page and quicklinked pages to improve readability. If you like his work then please add to his reputation by clicking the scales in the bottom left corner on one of his posts such as http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...1-please-read-before-posting.html#post6810579 .

ViDock4+ would provide a x1 2.0 link, or 25% the bandwidth of a Thunderbolt port. *If* the Optimus compression engages on a x1 2.0 link then it approximately doubles bandwidth, so x1.2Opt would indicate approximately x2 2.0 performance. A x2 link combining mPCIe+expresscard or mPCIe+mPCIe ports isn't possible on Series-6 chipsets nor would it be desirable with NVidia cards since the compression disengages if the link isn't x1.

If you want 80% of desktop graphics performance via a x4 2.0 link then you may want to look at a 15" Macbook Pro + Sonnet Thunderbolt eGPU solution instead of a W520 + expresscard-based eGPU setup.

ViDock 4 product questions, including compatibility and issues should be directed to Villagetronic, the maker of the product.

x1.1Opt is my shorthand notation of x1 1.0 with Optimus' pci-e compression. It's used to indicate a link capable of running x1 2.0 but is running x1 1.0 link speed due to hwtool's hardware that is not pci-e 2.0 compliant.

 

Hi guys,

My PE4H + E2C2 came in today and I tried setting it up but to no avail.

My Specs
Laptop: Lenovo T400
CPU: P8800
GPU: Switchable Graphics (Intel 4500 and ATI HD3470 Mobility)
OS: Windows 7 x64
RAM: 4GB

By default the ports that are open visible are:

PCI-E 1.0 x1 port #1 Empty

PCI-E 1.0 x1 port #2 In Use @ x1 (Realtek RTL8191SE Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E Network Adapter)

PCI-E 1.0 x1 port #4 Empty

PCI-E 1.0 x1 port #5 Empty


I know that Port 4 is the ExpressCard port because I have been using a Creative Notebook Soundcard fine for years, and upon removing the card, Port 4 is empty again.

For testing purposes, I am using my old ATI Radeon HD4850. I understand that there will be a significant performance cut compared to using Nvidia GTX4xx, however I am most interested in just getting this to work at all.

I have tried using Setup 1.x, but when I get into the boot menu, it does not detect anything for Port 4. I've fooled around with disabling the WiFi port, turning on all ports in x1, and turning on x2 (which effectively disables WiFi and leaves me with Port 1 x2, Port 3 x2, Port 5 x1, and Port 6 x1.)

Putting the laptop into Standby then turning on the eGPU does not do anything. Windows Update has never activated to download video drivers.

I am at a complete lost as to what to do. If someone can kindly direct me to what I should do, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

 

Did you connect the floppy power connector to the PE4H board?

 

If it looks like this then yes.

EDIT: And yes, the floppy power connector is connected to the PSU. I also have that flip switch module connected to the PSU too; it is turned on. My 4850 also requires another plug on its side that I initially forgot to plug in, but after plugging it in it still didn't work.

 

Probably insufficient power. Recommended to use 450W PSU with HD 4850. One 6-pin PCIe power connector (75 Watt) also required to drive the HD 4850.

 

I am powering the card with a 500W PSU (previously used for my desktop with the 4850) and the 75W is also plugged in (what I was referring to in the previous post as having forgotten initially.)

This is really odd because my laptop doesn't even acknowledge that there's new hardware plugged in...

 

There are 4 LED indicator (D1, D2, D3 & D4) on the PE4H board. Did any of 'em ON? Initially, after switching ON the power to PE4H board, D3 LED will light up. After PE4H is connected to ExpressCard & notebook is ON, D2, D3 & D4 LEDs will light up. Does yours behave like this?

 

atticus182, could you tell me what sort of performance you get in BFBC2 on 32 player multiplayer servers? Does the large number of players case any sort of bottlenecking because of the limited bandwidth, and is it still playable?

 

No... It looks like only D1 and D3 are on, but D1 is red. D2 and D4 sorta look on,, but I think it's due to the bleeding effect from the D3's LED. See second link.

http://i.imgur.com/Rx40e.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/S2bdP.jpg

What does this mean?

EDIT: The picture was taken from the opposite side. D1-D4 should be read from right to left.

 

On mine, after power ON the PE4H, D3 is on ( Green). D1 briefly ON ( Red) when power ON my notebook. Afterward, D2, D3 & D4 ON & stayed ON ( Green).

Did you tried connecting the mini-HDMI cable with the other ports (on the PE4H board)? Probably the mini-HDMI cable is faulty.

@ nando4, what say you?

 

Plug the mini HDMI cable in the lane1 connector in the far left position.

 

I will install BBC2 this friday to test it. I will edit my initial post when it will be done.

 

How come for my t410 laptop.....whenever I have my vidock on with external monitor...then I open the lid for the laptop. It goes back to the internal lcd and disengages the external.....for my old vidock setup. It didn't do that unless I told it to..how can I change that?