DIY eGPU experiences

I could not find the PSU specification of this power supplier ..

Can you recommend me for a good PSUs that cost a maximum 50$ ?
I want even less than 50$ if it is possible



Thanks

 

I'd recommend a modular power supply like this one.
Newegg.com - TOPOWER Galaxis MX Series GAPS-500MX 500W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Power Supply

Thoughts kizwan?

 

Are you sure you already try all combinations of PCI compaction? What is the TOLUD register set to (you should see it at the upper-right corner of the Setup 1.x screen)?

You can removed the "eGPU setup" boot option by following the instruction in Setup 1.x post.

TOPOWER Galaxis MX Series GAPS-500MX specification are:-

Feature	What I think?</td?
Dual +12V Rails	Not recommended
PCI-Express Connector: 1 x 6-Pin, 1 x 6+2-Pin	OK
Output: +12V1@14A, +12V2@14A	12V * 14A = 168W: Power too low to power cards like HD5870, GTX560Ti, GTX460

I recommend getting Corsair CX500 V2 instead. Single 12V rail with 12V/34A (408W). Probably cost around USD 60.

 

This is what I was doing:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam.../418851-egpu-experiences-460.html#post7735965
(iGPU + eGPU)

I'll put the RAM back in and check.

 

[email protected]

Tried compacting all pci devices: system froze
Tried compacting just egpu: code 43 after chainloading windows
Tried compacting just igpu: code 43 after chainloading windows
(Had previously tried egpu + igpu: code 43)

I'm not adverse to spending $15 on a 1GB stick of ram if you think it would work.

 

With TOLUD 3GB, you should be able to use 4GB+ RAM. In your post, you did mentioned " hook everything up". Did you tried boot without eGPU connected & hotplugging the eGPU in windows?

 

Just tried it now, screen went black for a second, then came back: code 43.

I have previously tried plugging it in with machine asleep, code 43 when I wake it up.

EDIT: I'm thinking my iGPU is causing the trouble. I believe it can use up to 1GB of system memory. I haven't seen anywhere where I can manually set this though (to say 256MB which is still more than it has processing power to properly utilize). [EDIT #2: I've checked the BIOS - no option.]

 

Thank you.
This shop shiping to worldwide?

 

There is the Video cards->Initialize and Video cards->Save/Load dump features to eradicate error43. Ensure you are running the latest 275.33 Verde drivers + modded nvam.inf and the PCI reset delay slider on the PE4L 1.5/PE4H 2.4 is set to the 0 seconds position (not 7 or 15 seconds). Then proceed as follows:

1. Boot eGPU Setup 1.x with 2GB installed, run Setup 1.x, select to Video Cards->Save. If you are hotplugging after bios boot then need to select Video Cards->Save(Win) and follow instructions generated from within Windows.

2. Install 4GB of RAM. Boot Windows. Create a devcon with 4GB of system RAM installed:

Code:

\eGPU\eGPU-setup-mount
v:\devcon\mkdevcon 

3. Boot eGPU Setup 1.x,
- select Video cards->Load to load the PCI space dump created when it was working with no error 43.
- perform 32-bit PCI compaction on the iGPU+eGPU.
- select startup.bat->edit, remove the 'call vidinit' since it might interfere with your load dump.
- select Apply config.Run startup.bat
- select Chainload mbr

If still get an error 43, then repeat steps in (3) above but use 32-bitA PCI compaction method instead.

 

It worked!

Do I have to do all these menu selections each time? (I'm guessing I don't need to edit startup.bat each time but what about all the other stuff?) Is there some way to do all this on boot with zero human input?

I take it this makes it so I can't hotplug my eGPU? I need to reboot windows when I connect it? (Not really a problem, my hybrid SSD makes reboots pretty fast.)

EDIT:
Never mind, I don't need to do ANY of this on reboot AND I can hot plug my eGPU. +1 Nando!

 

I will put this in Troubleshooting FAQ page.

 

Great result. Appears you have a Toshiba L300. You'll note there are only 3 Toshibas on the first page. If you can extend your write up here to contain full system details, any additional steps you needed to get it working + benchmark results (at least 3dmark06 + RE5) then I can add you to the main page so we can have another Toshiba in the bag

 

Regarding the Thinkpad TOLUD problem I sent JameZ a message with my x220t serial and stuff.

 

Done (mostly, benchmarks and photos to come still).

 

I think so. Or you can buy from ebay: Corsair CX500 V2

 

As I said I'm trying with a notebook with Win 7 and new Setup.1x
In this system work fine a GTX580 but I want now use a GTX590:

Test with:
-Notebook:
eGPU and PCI compaction 32-bit Selective iGPU eGPU and Chainload Win7, but in this mode there is not eGPU in Win7 Hardware list, there is only iGPU.

What can i do ?
Thank you for help

 

I have updated error 43 FAQ (Q10) with new solution. Did you tried that?

 

Yes, I tried two new different and one original mini HDMI cable, PCI Reset Delay slider is set to 0s and I installed 275.33 Verde drivers + modded nvam.
The "Update 26 July 20112" I think is for systems that have error43 with 4 Gb ram and work fine with only 2 GB of ram:

I've got only 2 GB ram in my system and I've error 43.
Unfortunately, the problem remains and I still error 43 (error 12 with hotplug)

 

Would I be able to do a egpu set up on a Sony SA? internal or external

thanks

edit: just now noticed a few relevant SA-related posts. Apologies.

 

I am new to this eGPU thing, but I want a good laptop that can run the desktop GPU on the laptop screen.

What is the best performance/ease of use/bang for your buck, laptop to get for a eGPU setup?

---------------------------------------------------------

Also will any desktop GPUs bottleneck any of the sandy bridge or llano CPUs to the point of not being worth it.

=============

I hear thunderbolt is amazing but it seems only macs and the sony vaio z have it, and those are both too expensive. Is the thunderbolt even worth it, do GPUs have thunderbolt connections?

Thanks

 

An error 12 is better than an error 43. You still get error 12 with only 2GB? Sounds like you just need to reallocate.

 

Sir I want change my vga card gtx 560 Ti with Ati VGa card. What vga card that matches the my cpu?
Specification :
Dell inspiron 1410
Processor : Core 2 Duo T6400 2.00 GHz
Ram : 2 GB
Vidock use PE4L-PM3N
Please answer my quetions?I want to buy VGA card that can be increase bencmark score.

 

gtx560ti is a decent graphics card already. plus it's optimus capable so if you later switch to a new laptop with intel HD grahics you can see better performance. besides I think the CPU you have is kinda a bottleneck here so getting better graphics card most likely only yield marginal performance improvement.

benchmark score is not everything, especially synthetical ones like 3dmark. if gaming is your end application of the eGPU setup, try play real games as performance indicator.

 

The bottleneck with eGPU is the PCI-e link. The best you can probably do is a x1 Optimus PCI-e 2.0 link, as it seems Sandybridge does not allow ganging of PCI-e ports in an easy way, whereas older systems could with nando's software tweak. So just keep in mind that if you get a powerful GPU, you're still stuck with relatively low resolution and framerate. Turning it up to say 1920x1200 will probably not work with newer games.

 

Thunderbolt, as MacBooks have implemented it (dunno how the Sony Z has) gives roughtly 1.2 times the bandwidth of a PCIe 2.0 x1 link over the PCIe portion of the link, and a normal DP 1.2 link over the other portion.

So thunderbolt isn't rolling in PCIe bandwidth, either.

There are Thunderbolt to PCIe adaptors. All Thunderbolt interfaces currently connect to PCIe, at the moment.

 

I have a problem with Setup 1.x. I have installed it as a bootloader menuitem and it shows up as I start Windows but when I select it I get the error:
"Try hd0,0 NTFS5"

And it goes back to the main menu.

What's wrong?

 

Yes, my system has 2 GB ram. I've error 43 if startup win 7 with eGPU ON and I've error 12 if hotplug eGPU when win 7 is running.

 

Try do PCI compaction using Setup 1.x then boot into Windows then plugged in eGPU.

 

In eGPU Setup 1.0f with eGPU OFF I did PCI compaction.Run compact --> ALL devices on pcie bus. After that the system is frozen with black screen. I tried to disable some pci and the command work without Ethernet card in P6. Then I redid two test:

a1) (with p6 disable) PCI compaction.Run compact 32-bit--> ALL devices on pcie bus
a2) chainload win7
a3) plug eGPU (insert EC2C in expressCard slot) there is again error 12

b1) (with p6 disable) PCI compaction.Run compact 32-bit--> iGPU
b2) chainload win7
b3) plug eGPU (insert EC2C in expressCard slot) there is again error 12

EDIT: I've tried the two tests with 32-bitA, but again error 12

 

Now it's final.
Laptop Lenovo IdeaPad G560 M27C2IV 0679-C2G
Has an ExpressCard 34 slot!
It has been tested by the store

So I'm going to buy this laptop.

Now about the PSU:
I got a recommendation on this PSU:
Hec Cougar RS 400 80PLUS RS-400
(I can buy this PSU in my country)

For the GTX 460
Information about the PSU are here:
cougar-world.com: COUGAR RS

Is this PSU good for
Good For The GTX 460 + PE4H?

And another question,
Is all I need to buy for this laptop is the PE4H + PSU + GTX 460?
If I missed something, tell me what

Thanks!

edit:

I found this picture:


That's exactly what I need to buy (probably)

Everything in the picture is - PE4H + PSU + GTX 460 ?

 

Hmmmm I've been itching to game for a while, and hearing that Kepler/SI is delayed YET AGAIN, I think I'm going to just pull the trigger and grab a GTX460 and the new PCI-e 2.0 adapter when I move into college in a few weeks. So we'll have a working Sandybridge x1.opt 2.0 soon (hopefully)

I apologize in advance, but I am running BIOS 1.12 on my X220, as I understand I will need to run Setup 1.x and optimus, or revert to 1.11 correct? I haven't been following for a while, and I don't really remember anything.

 

Yes, you have to downgrade to 1.11. However there might be a change in the future. JameZ opened a case for me (x220t)...

 

I am running my GTX 560 Ti on a X220 BIOS 1.11 without problem and it is plug'n'play.

 

My experiences with a Egpu and an ATI 5770 are extremly bad.
For every game i tried i had to install a different driver to get acceptable fps.

I recommend an Nvidia Card.
It seems that the Nvidia cards handles the limeited bandwith better..

 

Can I please get some advice on what graphics card to buy for my laptop?

I have a Vaio Z VGN-Z11XN (The old Z that came with Intel 4500MHD + 9300M GS)

Would it be possible to do an 1x Optimus setup on this laptop if I disable the 9300M GS?

 

Hello all,

Sorry for not reading all 464 pages, although I seem to have gotten most information from the very nicely written OP I do have a few questions left.

Can PhysX be offloaded to a NVIDIA card on the PE4L-EC2C? Already have an ATI Mobility 5870 in the laptop itself the performance and it's quite the beast as far as laptop graphics go. Giving it a little performance boost by being able to offload PhysX would be a nice bonus!

A "you're right" or "you're wrong" response to these assumptions made after reading the OP (and more) would be nice:
-Using Windows 7 (64 bits) there are no issues adding a NVIDIA card to an ATI system or vice versa.
-A large amount of VRAM could be beneficial as the card needs to swap back and forward less information if there is more room for keeping things local.

Any other info is of course also welcome! If everything goes well I'll attempt to add a GT520 to my MSI GX640 so I can hook up a 2560x1440 display.

 

So,
I received my HP Elitebook 8460p today and got the eGPU working on an external monitor. Optimus is enabled(18k 3dMark06) and the RE5 and DMC4 benchmarks all showed that the GTX 460 was active.
The only problem I am having now is getting optimus to enable on the internal screen. The laptop will not boot with the eGPU connected, as I get a black screen. Even halting W7 startup with F8 and hotplugging the eGPU cause W7 to not load.

I then tried DIYVidock Setup 1.0e8 and was able to chainload into W7 to get optimus to enable using the internal screen. I don't know if I needed to do PCI compaction, but I did. After getting into W7, I noticed thing were running slower than usual, so I am thinking that just I shouldn't need PCI compaction, only initializing the GTX460 prior to loading W7. After reinstalling W7 and updating to the latest HP bios, I tried again to boot the laptop with the eGPU connected. Still, a blank screen and a no go. I tried one last thing before going the DIYViDock Setup, and that was plugging in the EC2C just after the post screen appeared on the laptop, but before W7 loaded. Low and behold, it worked. W7 booted just fine and asked for drivers to install. So in the end, all it takes it a well timed connection of the EC2C to expresscard slot to have W7 load the eGPU and engage optimus on the internal screen. *Note* If I do not need optimus on the internal screen, I can connect/disconnect the eGPU as I would any USB device once W7 is loaded and I will get full performance on an external LCD.

Now, my question is, once I chainload and initialize the GTX460, will I still need to install the virtu drivers from Lucid. I know that they are recommended, but has anyone noticed a difference? Not Needed

I will do a full gamut of benchmarks with screen shots after I get everything sorted. I am pretty sure my results will be very similar to the Dell with the i7 already on the examples

Lastly, I haven't seen anyone with an HP 8460p and eGPU yet, so if you guys need me to try anything, I should have time the next few weeks before school.

Elitebook Specs:
Windows 7 Professional 64
Intel Core i7-2720QM (2.20 GHz, 6 MB L3 cache)
8 GB DDR3 SDRAM
Blu-ray R/RE DVD+/-RW SuperMulti DL
14.0" diagonal LED-backlit HD+ anti-glare (1600 x 900)
Intel® HD Graphics 3000
160GB Intel SSD


Update 7/29/11
I did a system format for a couple of reasons. I was running the stock HP install of W7 and it was bloated! I had well over 100 processes running with 3.08GB of physical memory used just after booting. Another reason was to reclaim the 20GB of Recovery and HP Tools partitions that, to me, are completely useless. On Monday I will continue with RE5 DX10, DMC4 DX9 and DX10, and 3dMark Vantage/11. If there are any other benchmarks you'd like to see, shoot me a PM and I'll see what I can do. So without further ado, here are some early benchmarks.

3dMark06 Intel

3dmark06Intel by Danenick, on Flickr

3dMark06 Galaxy GTX460 768mb

3dmark06NewGTX by Danenick, on Flickr

Resident Evil 5, 1280x800 Variable, GTX460 768mb

RE5GTXDX9Variable by Danenick, on Flickr

3dMark11-all default

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/1708309;jse...11/1708309?key=f6RJbqj2atuA0tvumJRCy9xRJFEV8R

Heaven Benchmark



I would test a GTX570, but mine went to the previous owner of the HP 8460p as part of the payment. I am really looking forward to the updated HW Tools stuff. I am planning on getting a hold of the hardware as soon as it's available so we can get this Expresscard 2.0 ball rolling. At this point, I am pretty unsatisfied with the internal LCD performance of the eGPU BUT, I know that will get a lot better with the new hardware. I mean, this laptop kills my C2Q Q9300 desktop when it comes to 3dMark06 and some other benchmarks. These new Core i7's are beasts!

 

YES. There is a stack of examples + info on the first page of video cards to buy. A GTX460-1GB represents great bang-per-buck when purchased for < US$120.

Read about Hybrid PhysX: NVIDIA Removes Restriction on ATI GPUs with NVIDIA GPUs Processing PhysX | techPowerUp

A full set of benchmarks with your quad-core i7 would be appreciated. Means can have a HP in the top ten systems which atm is dominated by Lenovo. The Lucid driver is not necessary since you are running Optimus which does the same thing plus gives x1 pci-e compression.

 

I will try to have that Friday. Also, any pointers on maximizing the framerate on the internal LCD? I'm assuming the best bet would be to wait for the Expresscard 2.0 parts from HW Tools.

 

Bios 1.12 should work just fine as well. Bios 1.11 was chosen for downgrade coz i couldnt find 1.12 on lenovo website.

 

Thanks! Just wanted to verify it cause I heard some strange things about the old Vaio Z I'll get into buying a GTX 460 then!

 

I'm trying to resolve my problems ( error43 and error12) and I tried this workaround:

I tried with 20,20 30,30 40,40 and 50,50 but the system freezes at startup win7 logo. This is screenshot with my startup.bat:



Is it correct? Where can I see the PCI IO space unoccupied on my system?
Bye and thank you.

 

Try getting rid of the "call pci" line. Your TOLUD is very low so compaction is unnecessary and can only mess things up. Even with a devcon file windows will also BSOD on startup for me.

 

Yes I tried, but the problems always remain

 

Oh great to hear! Thanks. I'll keep yall updated when I get started in a few weeks. I think I'll be using a Dell RM112 off Ebay (confirmed to be 91ish % efficiency by someone on spcr), it's got 17A on a single 12V rail, should be perfect for a GTX460. The PSU has a weird form factor which is perfect for building an enclosure off of

 

Thank you nando4, this was a very interesting topic! However, quick question... From what I so far have noticed, the only way I can obtain a PCIe 2.0 x4, is through thunderbolt's ( Sonnet’s Echo™ Express PCIe 2.0 Expansion Chassis ) which is currently unreleased if I'm correct.

Now my hopes would be to purchase an i7 laptop with a integrated graphics card ( Intel HD Graphics 3000 for example ) just under 900$(?) ( Shouldn't be too heavy with a integrated graphics card , so it'd be great for mobile use ), then come back home and if I'd need the extra performance, connect an Ati 6990 for example. ( Purchased separately of course )

Would this be near possible in the future? Because I have seen ~900-1000$ machines with an i7 with a full 1080p with a integrated card or a sloppy dedicated card, and I would love to buy my own more powerful graphics card and connect it whenever I need ( I hear PCIe 2.0 x4 isn't that big of a performance loss than x16 )

Oh and also! If this were to be possible, would one have to buy a mobile graphics card to connect via sonnet's thunderbolt, or would they be able to just purchase a regular desktop sized graphics card? ( Or are they the same thing )

Thanks for all the help I can get!

~~~ Oh and sorry if this wasn't the right place to post, I could not seem to find a PM button.

 

Sonnet's Echo appears to accept standard desktop pci-e graphics card as it mentioned "double-width" and "full-length". But since it's not ready, nobody really knows for sure. Also you may need an extra PSU to drive any high-performance graphics card since the stock PSU of this thing is only 150w.

anyway, if that's what you aim for, you'll have to wait for it, or maybe after someone reviewed it just to make sure. Also thunderbolt port is not widely adopted in laptops, and probably won't be any time soon due to licensing charge which increase costs.

On the other hand, you can try using Nvidia Optimus setup on laptops with intel HD/HD3000 iGPU which appears to perform quite well and you'll have much more option in choose laptops capable of doing it than thunderbolt.

 

+1. Thunderbolt isn't readily available ATM and limits you to Apple systems only. A x1 2.0 Optimus setup, which we are waiting for pci-e 2.0 compliant hardware, will give approx half the bandwidth of Thunderbolt and is a lot cheaper. Consider the following premium ultraportable + eGPU deal for $936 all inclusive. Could do a GTX550Ti 12V/120W portable setup for ~$40 less.

$683 12.5" Lenovo X220 i5-2410M 2.3 4GB 320GB W7HP
+ $128AR GTX460-2GB
+ $95-delivered PE4H-EC2C [currently limited to x1 1.0 (2.5GT/s)]
+ $30AR 12V/33A@80% PSU

Total: $936

 

GTX 460 requirement:-

1. max power requirement: 160W¹
2. PCIe connector(s): 2 x 6-pin PCIe connector²

Hec Cougar RS 400 80PLUS RS-400 specification:-

1. 12V rail: dual
2. 6-pin PCIe connector(s): only one²
3. 12V max current: 20A (max power = 12V * 20A = 240W¹)

¹ " GTX 460 max power 160W" vs. " PSU 12V rail max power 240W" - Look like PSU have enough power to run the GTX 460.
² " GTX 460 require 2 x 6-pin PCIe connecor" vs. " PSU only have 1 x 6-pin PCIe connector" - You'll need a molex to 6-pin PCIe adapter (some graphic card provided this adapter in the package):-

Yes, that is everything you need. <strike>You'll probably need external monitor when you're initially getting eGPU to work on your notebook.</strike>

 

Actually Thunderbolt's bandwidth on the PCI-e is only x2 2.0, the other 10gbps is on the hdmi which is sorta useless for this. Thus an x1.2 opt connection gets very close to a thunderbolt port.

btw if anyone wants a beefier psu for a high end card, I can sell my Antec NeoHE 500 for a very low price. SLI certified, modular, 85% peak efficiency.