DIY eGPU experiences

Well, i guess tho at lower resolutions the bandwidth wont be as much of an issue, right?

What does anyone think of that powersupply?
650 WATT ATX PC Netzteil SATA PCI-E 140mm SILENT Lüfter | eBay
German vendor but pretty straight forward to read for english speaking people i think...

 

The 'usb videocards' (2.0) usually do 1280x1024 tops, DisplayLink is working on a 3.0 version though, no idea if that allows you to use 'clone view' with the eGPU though. Keep an eye on their newsfeed I guess if you're interested.

 

Yes you can run both an ATI and Nvidia driver at the same time under XP. Only Vista does not allow this.

Yes you can hotplug the mini HDMI cables.

 

i just bought a lenovo t420 from 'Merica! only with 2gb ram, gonna buy another one here in europe because 68 dollars for +2gb ram isnt very nice on import tax and its a lot cheaper here in europe lol


from b4:
What does anyone think of that powersupply?
650 WATT ATX PC Netzteil SATA PCI-E 140mm SILENT Lüfter | eBay

 

just took a look at your 3dv score page. CPU score only 8k+ which is quite low. my 2yrs old laptop with C2D P8700 score 23k+ for CPU, 9.7k+ for GPU (eGPU gtx460 on x2 link), totalling P11k+. maybe your i5 is not running in dual core mode? or 3dV doesn't support SB i5 properly?

 

I received my Lenovo G560 laptop (CPU I5 2.66GHZ, 3GB RAM)
He has the ExpressCard slot

What can I do now to be more sure that EGPU work on this laptop?
And what result I would get in 3dmark06?

 

You have PhysX set to the GPU giving those overblown CPU numbers. The correct way of getting an accurate CPU value in 3dmarkvantage is to set Physx to run on the CPU where your P8700 will get somewhere ~ 5k for the CPU, just under what my [email protected] achieved here.

 

Nando 4, I sent them an email a few days ago and they did actually reply:

Hi ,

Thanks for your inquired,
Yes, we have improvement for PCIe 2.0
But the sample is very limited,

Would you please let me know how many you need?


Best Regards,

Mason Tsai

----



I sent them that i only need 1 but they havnt replied yet, he had his phone number in the header too. You think any point in calling?

ps:

is that the adapter needed for the gpus? Neu IDE 4 Pol St. auf 6 Pol Bu. ATX Strom Adapter Kabel | eBay

 

hwtools list their numbers and even their photos at : www.HWtools.net ?????????? . Certainly, if you wish to call then do so. Perhaps you can get a straight answer as to what is happening with pci-e 2.0 and Thunderbolt support? I will eat the words in my previous post if they have a pcie 2.0 product ready to go. As a contingency, a request has been sent to Amfeltec to provide pci-e 2.0 and TB products something which they are now reviewing.

The linked adapter is the right one to connect b/w an ATX PSU and a 6-pin pci-e power connector on a desktop video card.

 

Next step is to get:-

• either PE4L-EC2C ver1.5 Package (USD87) or PE4H-EC2C ver2.4 Package (USD107).
• PSU with at least maximum current of 18A on the +12V. 12V * 18A = 216W have plenty of power to drive GTX460 (160W) & GTX560Ti¹ (170 W).

¹ GTX560Ti can consumed up to 205W when running demanding 3D application & goes up to 260W if overclock. So will need PSU with higher +12V power.

With x1.Opt setup, you'll get >10K for 3dMark06.

 

Then how could I turn my dGPU off? Should I add a line to startup.bat?
BTW, could you please explain what a SB notebook is? I'm a Chinese, so I'm not very familiar with the abbreviations. Thank you.

 

You can't disable/turn off dGPU because it is primary graphic card on your notebook.

SB = Sandy Bridge. It means Sandy Bridge notebook. This notebook come with Intel latest mobile processor, 2nd generation Intel Core processors.

BTW (by the way), please check TOLUD on your S13.

 

Hi, is a Intel 5700MHD compatible with Optimus? It seems to be the same as the Intel HD mentioned in the summary post, but I'm not sure. Thanks

 

there seems to come a cable like this with the geforce 560 ti:



I'm not quite sure why there are two 4pin molexes going into th pci cable (of which the card has got two slots). Is that only if the psu has got two seperate rails? So if you got a single rail you are just ment to use on of those molexes?

 

I don't know where the "5700MHD" name came from but Intel 5700MHD is referring to Intel HD Graphics on-die the 1st generation Intel Core processors, for example, i5-450M. Intel HD Graphics support Optimus setup.

 

Sweet, thank you for the quick answer!

 

finally got an answer from hwtools:



Hello .,

Thank you for your inquired and sorry for my late reply,

Bad News:
To be honest with you, Our test new PCIMM cable with PE4H in the PCIe 2.0
I/F,
The result is fail, the speed will be automatic be reduced PCIe1.1

As you know, even APPLY is try to enhance the performance to PCIe2.0 SPEC,
But, it's seems to has lots of barriers need to overcome it
We will keep research it

Good news:
Our new PCIEMM cable design got improve
Before our PCIMM maximum can support within 2M, but new cable can support
till 5M

Would you please let me know your thinking?


Best Regards,





Tbf I dont really care if their new hdmi cable can be 5m long, i want to put that damn thing next to my laptop and for that 30cm are more than enough.

 

That is correct adapter. It has nothing to do with PSU single or dual rail. If the PSU don't have enough 6-pin PCIe connector, you can use this adapter to convert two 4-pin peripheral connectors into 6-pin PCIe connector. The two 4-pin peripheral connectors are must (recommended) connected to two different cables coming from PSU. There is also two 4-pin molexs to 8-pin PCIe adapter.

 

As did I. Time to start eating my words The following was received from hwtools and has been copied into eGPU PCIe 2.0 and Thunderbolt update. I've advised they consider changing the connectors so a $50 Active Apple Thunderbolt cable could be used for reliable pci-e 2.0 link transmission.

2011-8-4

 

how come that guy:

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6663/gtx460pe4hatx.jpg

only uses two a single 4-pin peripheral connector to pci adapter and not two double 4-pins?


edit: nando, does it mean i should just buy a normal 1.0 Pe4h now, or should i still wait till the 2.0??

 

Look carefully. There are two 4-pin molexs.

 

i cant believe i didnt notice how there are more than 4 cables coming out of that thing. X_x

 

So Nando4, will you order a new cable to test it?

 

and is there any point to order the new one for just standard pci 2.0?

 

Yes, I'll be getting a new cable. I do however need a Series-6 system to test pci-e 2.0 functionality. My 2530P is a Series-4 running x1 1.0 Optimus.

Bogatyr tested his ViDock 4+ on a X220 + GTX570 here which also failed pci-e 2.0 testing. Reliable transmission of pci-e 2.0 signals on copper appears to be problematic.

Apple have been able to get reliable pci-e 2.0 transmission by creating an active Thunderbolt cable calibrated to the unique characteristics of the cable. See The technology inside Apple's $50 Thunderbolt cable . Maybe hwtool's need to create hardware to use Apple's cable? The current $50 cost of it will surely come down to more palatable levels once Thunderbolt peripherals are readily available.

 

External Thunderbolt graphics card for Macs to be developed soon, thanks to Facebook poll -- Engadget

 

If PC to Apple price scaling applies (Apple costs X% moar for the same specs) to this new vidock, then it is going to be expenSIVE! Vidock 4 is already around 250 right?

 

Just buy a Lenovo X220!!

I know you love it and this beast is a low cost premium.

I had a HP 2530p before and the transition is so goood!! ALL on this beauty is better. I look at them side by side, and the HP looks so cheap and slow (it is a great laptop too).

I just hope that it can go to 5gt/s soon (before Battlefield 3 get out...)!

 

I dont imagine being cheaper via sonnet too... villagetronics always had the highest pricing compared to the PE4l or the PE4H

 

I'm getting familiar with this concept and how to do it, and I've been looking to do something like an eGPU for awhile. But I seem to only see people talking about using Windows 7.

I have a Toshiba Satellite A305-S6916 with Vista 64. Can I get an eGPU to run on vista? My laptop has an express card slot, so that should make it easier as well.

Edit: Honestly, I feel like the CPU is holding this back even if I were to get a decent eGPU card. It has a Core 2 Duo T6400 (2.00GHz). But what I'm hoping is that I can make an eGPU and just use that for every laptop I own here after.

Thanks in advance for responses (I'm new here )

 

the 6400 is definetly holding you back.........

 

You're looking at > $304-delivered for a 225W product, which a PE4L+ATX PSU can provide for < $100, or as low as $65 if can get a ATX PSU for free. A significant price difference.

Code:

ViDock 3 (75W)   US$199 + $15 World-Wide Shipping
ViDock 4 (150W)  US$239 + $20 World-Wide Shipping
ViDock 4+ (225W) US$279 + $25 World-Wide Shipping 

I'd expect a premium on this price for the Thunderbolt product. Villagetronic (VT) in a good position to capitalise on Apple users' deeper pockets even if they could buy a desktop PC for the cost of the VT parts + desktop video card.

We are of course are waiting pci-e 2.0 compliant cabling for our gear. x1 2.0 Optimus (if it engages) would give ~10GT/s, or half of what a single channel x4 2.0 Thunderbolt solution gives. A X220 with a x1 2.0 Optimus eGPU being a incredible compared to a Macbook Air + x4 2.0 VT TB.

USB 3.0 as pci-e passthru?

As an aside, if anyone has access to the USB 3.0 NEC/RENESAS uPD720200 controller programming datasheet, could you see if there is any way of programming it into pass-thru mode? Ie: just wire throught the pci-e signals? If it's possible then would just need a USB connector so as to provide the four pci-e RX/TX lines back into the . USB 3.0 pinout does provide these RX/TX lines.

 

I get over 10K in 3Dmark06 with the GTX 460?
And I have to buy the PE4H 2.4 or PE4H 2.0 is enough?
If I get the same performance so I'd rather buy the 2.0 because it's cheaper.
If so then this seller:
PE4H + EC2C ExpressCard to PCI-E Adapter V2.0 +1mCable on eBay!
Reliable?

If not then give me a link to buying the PE4H 2.0.


and I saw you waiting for pci-e 2.0 compliant cabling.
What's this? It's important for me or not need in my case?

(Laptop is lenovo g560 I5 2.67GHZ 3GB RAM)

Thanks

 

I feel like the issue with pcie 2.0 might not be the cable's fault as just about every HDMI cable you can buy is rated for 10Gbit/s. Hopefully something gets figured out.

I would totally volunteer to test this stuff out on my X220 but I am hesitant to pull the trigger on a PE4L/H with the possibility of some significant revision.

By the way, the guy who is thinking about using the power brick, well DC power supplies are all regulated and stuff but power bricks tend to behave poorly under load. Their compact size limits what they can stuff in, and from what I've seen, they usually come out with poorer efficiency and power characteristics. The power supply certainly has inductors and capacitors, it's just I'd add another fat capacitor just to be sure. As we've seen, a lot of old PSUs people are using are causing their cards to not function, even when they are rated for far more than what the card consumes.

 

I'll happily swap my 2530P with a X220 if someone wants to

If you are using a ATX PSU then PE4H 2.0 and 2.4 will do the job equally as well. Only issue being a PE4H may need Panzer's fuse bypass applied if you are drawing a lot of power from it. That would be the case if using a GTX470/480/570/580 or a heavily overclocked GTX560Ti. A GTX460 is rated at 160W TDP so will work without such modifications.

HDMI and pci-e both use differential shielded RX/TX pairs (8 wires). Only difference is their physical layer encoding - pci-e uses LVDS and HDMI uses TMDS. I haven't found any info on limits of LVDS transmission on copper. Though Apple's use of an active Thunderbolt cable that does pci-e 2.0 signalling tells us the higher transmission speed requires an finely engineered cable. After all, if the cable was OK for higher speed transmission the then Apple could have used a passive mini Displayport cable. Or it could be their way of getting reliable data transmission over longer lengths.

Volunteering to do pci-e 2.0 testing

I think hwtools would be receptive of your suggestion of being a pci-e 2.0 tester. That might get you a free PE4L/PE4H and new cables for your assistance. Consider also volunteering to receive and modify a PE3A, shown below, since it provides a pci-e slot right next to the expresscard so needs no cable.



That product could help identify if the cable is the problem. Just needs a input 75W slot power mod as shown in this youtube video where a GTX460 was successfullly attached via a PE3A to a Lenovo X201: ‪External Galaxy GTX 460 Razor with an ExpressCard PE3A Adapter Power On & Power Off (1 of 2)‬&rlm; - YouTube

 

Yea... Maybe I'll just wait and build a desktop once I get some funds, since I will need to have good graphics in order to run some of the engineering applications I'm going to be using. (I use my laptop as a desktop anyway, now).

However, this is a marvelous idea that saves money (and is more fun!) If I had a laptop with a decent CPU, this would definitely have been the route for me.

 

Do you got any source for this? I would love to test pci-e 2.0 But I feel a bit weird if I just write them a mail like some kind of application.
Where should I send it to? There are a lot of possible mails.

 

i still dont know what to buy. :/ i just want my 560gtx ti to runwith pci 2.0.

 

After low benchmarks I started to notice a trend which I didn't think about at first. I have an FX1800m which was giving me a 7600 in 3dmark, so I bought a vidock and GTX 550 ti and it gave me a 5300. Not what I was expecting... So I was doing gaming benchmarks and they were about the same. I started to crank up the resolution and the gap started to narrow and then overtake the FX1800m. I then grabbed a HD6850 and benchmarked that, 3dmark is real high, no idea why 14,979. The gaming benchmarks are similar to the fx1800m and gtx550, until I cranked the resolution again.

Here is my dx10 Devil may cry benchmark with default settings.
1. 103.31
2. 100.42
3. 115.58
4. 54.45

 

I agree with Warwickeo it's a bit weird to ask to get a free unit for testing. They don't really have a way of ensuring anything will happen or that they'll get their stuff back.

To the PE3A now, a week ago or so Xenetic mentioned it, but I didn't think it would work because of the lack of external power to the board...I'm in China right now so I can't see that Youtube video, but judging from the pictures that I can see it probably requires directly soldering wires to the board? Can someone check this for me? These adapters aren't exactly cheap so I don't know if I'd do that, since it's probably a bit difficult to sell once that sort of modification has happened. For people who are willing to get their hands dirty I guess the PE3A could be a good low cost option. With some patching in extra wires, it can essentially be restored to full PE4L functionality.

 

Update on this. I swapped out the CM PSU cause it sounded like a jet engine. Using an Antec Truepower New 550W now and everything is running great, and silent. The Antec has only 20A per 12V rail so I'm not sure what was wrong with the Corsair I'd tried out before. I suspect the molex-to-PCIe adapters might have been rather flaky.

 

I just realized that the adapters that convert 2 molex into 1 PCI-e 6 pin almost definitely are inadequate for today's power hungry cards, which exceed the official 75W spec of the 6 pin cable and can draw up to the total rated power of the 3 wires, which is probably something like 9-10A. Each molex has 1 12V wire, rated for about 3A or so IIRC. If you look closely at this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=330546717369
, you'll realize that one of the 12V/ground pairs is missing! Couple that with the sketchy molex pin contacts, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Perhaps it should be added to the first post as a known issue? People should consider buying adapters with 6 actual wires and directly splicing them into 12V lines coming from the PSU. For example, buying one of these:
6 Pin to 8 Pin PCI Express PCI-E Power Convert Cable 1 | eBay
, then snipping the wires in the middle, and hooking them directly to the PSU (splicing with some tape, or preferably soldered).

Oh and, I just looked closer at the PE3A schematic, and it seems that USB2.0 still works with a PCI-e card plugged in, you just can't use USB 3.0 for obvious reasons. So the PE3A is a PE4L without power, patching in 5V into the USB and 12V into the PCI-e would make it a rather versatile adapter

 

I'd just suggest just buying a PSU with 2x PCIe connectors. The CX500 has 2 of them, and is only a little more expensive than the CX430.

 

All about the various PC power supply cables and connectors tells us about the dual molex to 6pin pci-e power adapter. There are no issues if you use separate power molex leads from your PSU. I actually only connect one molex to each of my 2 6-pin pci-e leads that attach to my GTX460, but ensure those PSU molex are coming from separate cables running off the power supply. You definitely wouldn't use two molex splitting off one cable leading to a PSU as that would then put up to 150W draw on those leads which they may not be able to safely supply.

 

Is harmonicinversion US based? How long would it take them to ship a PE4H to the continental US? Also, what wattage rating would I need for a PSU to power a GTX560 Ti?

 

• GTX560Ti max power requirement : 170W
• GTX560Ti DirectCU II max power requirement (3D) : 205W
• GTX560Ti DirectCU II overclocked max power requirement (3D) : 260W

The PSU must have enough +12V power to drive the GTX560Ti. For standard GTX560Ti, 80Plus rated PSU with at least +12V max current 18A (12V * 18A = 216W). Higher is better of course.

 

So if we manage to get some electricity going onto the PE3A it would be a fully working 2.0 pe4h? i mean, why doesnt hw tools not just do that? Oo

 

That was my suggestions a few posts back to eliminate the cable from the equation. I've asked my contact at hwtools if he can test that arrangement and we'll see what he comes back with.

Techpower rate a reference GTX560Ti as peaking at 202W, but a Zotac OC edition with voltage limiter removed and seriously overvolted required 291W. See details.

So if going for a 80% efficiency rating, 202/.8/12=21.1A and 291/.8/12=30.4W. So would need b/w 21.1A (reference) and 30.4A (OC) or more on the 12V rail. The following power supplies meet that criteria. All have 4-eggs average rating. I've bolded the one I think is best value.

12V/30A: $36-shipped Newegg.com - Diablotek PHD Series PHD450 450W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply

12V/28A: $36AR-shipped Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

12V/34A: $40AR-shipped Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

12V/30A: $45-shipped Newegg.com - Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W Continuous Power ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

12V/33A: $45-shipped Newegg.com - Rosewill Green Series RG430-S12 430W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS Certified, Single 12V Rail, Active PFC "Compatible with Core i7,i5" Power Supply

12V/36A: $46-shipped Newegg.com - Diablotek PHD Series PHD550 550W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply

 

Right, but what I'm getting at is this:
All the cables coming from a power supply are the same gauge wire. A 6 pin PCI-e cable is rated for 75W, but manufacturers routinely exceed this specification. If we look at the 8 pin PCI-e, it is rated for 150W, which comes out to 12.5A across 4 cables, or about 3.1A per cable. This is, in all likelihood, very close to the maximum amperage the standard gauge power supply cable can handle.

This is where the problem lies: manufacturers routinely push 6 pin cables to this true 3.1A/cable rating. Meanwhile, a dual molex to 6 pin PCI-e adapter provides 2 12V cables, not 3. It is very likely that there are issues with cable resistance when exceeding the amperage rating of the cables by that much.

 

Is anyone using a power brick to provide the juice?

I got my videocard today. Removed the 'JP4' jumper on the pe4l so it's in external power adapter mode, hooked things up. Turn on the laptop.. and nothing.
No errors, no "new device detected" message, no heat generated by the videocard (it's a passively cooled model so no fan to spin up either).

Connect an USB fan to the USB port on the pe4l.. nothing. So if someone does have it working off a power brick, please tell me what I'm doing wrong

[edit]
The power brick is more than capable of running the videocard. It can run my htpc with the same videocard (and a Core2duo p8400/hdd/optical station)

[edit2]
Using my htpc as a power supply (not just its adapter) I can get the USB port on the pe4l working, it's not seeing the videocard though. Device Manager is only showing my onboard under 'Display adapters' and there aren't any 'unknown devices'. Wonder if my expresscard slot is broken or something.

[edit3]
Tried it on another laptop without success.
Tried using my servers PSU (380watt Seasonic), no luck either.