Let's figure out how to make a DIY eGPU (previously DIY ViDock)

Yes it looks like it's 34.
But don't worry, the 34 size wont be loose.
Some notebooks only have the 34 size slot.

@ ALL:

The first post has been updated.

 

Is x2 going to be compatible with every system? Or is the more unlikely?

 

gosh hwtools poastage is so expensive!

 

Would this adapter be good to extract the 1x or 2x mPCIe links?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180405763915&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

It does seem to have 8 centered wires as in your diagram.

 

We don't know yet. I have not seen ANY data on x2 mode as yet other than what appears to be a GTX260 running on a Dell M1330 in the hwtools progress link. hwtools did say they would be performing some testing so fingers crossed, they'll release some more info on what the parameters for a working x2 mode are. PE4H is listed but is "out of stock" so can't buy it as yet. Let's hope that they offer complete kit pricing for the PE4H in x2 mode so early adopters can provide more info.

Measured the EC2C. It's 34mm wide, so it's a 34 size slot.

You're absolutely correctly!! This would be a better candidate than the ZIF adapter. I've updated the Cheapest practical x2 mode: 8 soldered wires notes to use this adapter instead.

If wanting to skip the PE4L altogether, neither adapter provides a comprehensive ZIF/header set away from the mPCIe slot pins to make one better than the other. Neither has a header accomodating the extra CLK/SMB lines in which case you'd need to still solder directly near the actual pins that plug into the mPCIe slot. There is a ZIF/SATA adapter with pads/points away from the pins though it's too expensive for my liking at $12.95. Might as well just buy a US$55 PE4L and save yourself trouble.

 

What is the maximum number of PCIe links that the express card has on the inserting end? Could it be possible to hack the express card 1.0 port to support more PCIe links?

 

According to the Expresscard pinout it uses 26 pins and has a single lane (x1) only. This is the same for expresscard/34 and expresscard/54. Expresscard 2.0 doubles the transmission rate to double the speed to x1 2.0.

mPCIe uses 52 pins and does have a "reserved 2nd lane" pin set but we're not sure if vendors have implemented and if they have, what the pinout is, discussed here.

 

Hi
I'm having a problem getting this to work.

Laptop: Sony Vaio VGN-FW21E (W7 64bit)
PE4L => EC2C
HD4670
100w 12v psu.

My problem is that nothing happens no matter what i do. If i just plug it in without gfx, no diodes light at all no matter what i do and nothing happens when i plug in the card either.

Did I get a defect PE4L or am I forgetting something stupid?

 

the cheapest way to get X2...

you have to solder wires to the graphics card?
sry thats too much of a risk... and youd probbly never be able to use it again, after you solder wires to the pins.


And a question regarding the PE4L/X1 port...
...The PE4L uses the "open end" port, so apparently you can put in a X16 card in, right? I wont need to cut the end of the port or anything?
im pretty sure, but i just want to make sure before i order my PE4L

 

it is open. no need to cut anything

 

ok. i was almost positive. but just wanted to double check haha.

 

did you set the jumpers on PE4L as said in the manual?

i think they made a mistake in there.. in the table the jumpers are either open/close or close/open and then it says close/close in red color

 

LEDs/jumpers from PE4L schematic

Yep - close/close works well for me and it's been tested using expresscard's EC2C and mPCIe's PM3N. Setting jumpers that way provides 3.3V from the mPCIE/expresscard slot AND external DC via voltage regulaor. LED D1 must then alight to green else there is no 3.3V and no function.

 

Wait a second, so you need a 3.3v power supply as well as a 12V power supply when you are using the PE4L?!? Or does it have a voltage regulator built in, and all you need is the 12V?

Also, doesn't Close/Close short the 3.3V from the computer to the power supply? Isn't that bad for the computer?

 

3.3V comes from the mPCIe/expresscard slot OR from the PE4L (a voltage regulator downsteps 12V->3.3V). That's what JP3/JP4 set. Consider reviewing the PE4L schematic if need more technical info.

 

Hi!

I've read a little into but considering the length of this thread, I obviously didn't read all the pages . In which case I've after some reading considered jumping on PE4H + EC2C + Shuttle 300W "Ultra Silent" (It got from what I understand pretty good/decent 12v line) and would like to have some input about this setup. Would this be sufficient? What about the 2x pcie bandwidth, is PE4H pre-defined to run in that speed or do I need something else to add? or improvise?

 

you'll also need a PM3N (mini-pci connector) and a PCIEMM-030 (second cable)

 

I tried all possible jumper settings and haven't seen any light yet! I tried the PE4L in another laptop with same result.

Then i tried install the chipset driver but still nothing (if it could have made any difference) Can't find any interesting settings in bios either.

Concluding defect PE4L?

 

Can you post a picture so we can confirm that it's all connected? Otherwise I came up with the following basic steps to confirm the PE4L and mPCIe/Expresscard port are in communication.

Troubleshooting PE4L by LED D1 (3.3V)

1/ Disconnect everything from PE4L
2/ Set jumpers JP3 and JP4 in closed position.
3/ Connect the mini HDMI cable to the PE4L and EC2C/PM3N
4/ Attach EC2C or PM3N to notebook
5/ Power up the notebook
6/ Check if green LED D1 is on to confim a 3.3V signal is being received.

If you don't have a glowing LED then I'd suggest double-check all cabling, ensure mPCIe/Expresscard ports are enabled in bios and if have any other sort of expresscard/mPCIe card, confirm they work. We've had one user confirm their expresscard port wasn't working in this thread.

 

I followed you orders exactly but still none of the LEDs are on. I tried on 2 computers and on one of them the expresscard is confirmed working (before he installed W7 on it though, don't have anything to test with atm)

Also checked bios on both computers but doesn't seem to be any options that would affect this.

could this be a driver problem? got a "Base System Device" which I never bothered to find out what is.

 

why is my pcb so thick?

 

Here's what I get. PE4L-EC2C connected only to DV2000's expresscard port. No 12V connected at all. JP3/JP4 closed. 3.3V (pci-e) and 5V (USB) LEDS both on.


I can see there is a difference in voltage chip markings. I have

AME1085
DCDT-3
0434

I have PE4L version 2.01. QC check sticker says "passed". Mine is an engineering sample so doesn't have the added bottom base presumably for extra endurance. It should be functionally equivalent to yours. If you undo the two bolts the thick base separates from the circuit board so it will be much thinner, like the picture above.

If you have a multimeter, perhaps check pins on the EC2C (without mini hdmi cable connected, or check the cable itself for 3.3V by following EC2C schematic). All the PE4L related schematics are at the bottom of the PE4L page.

 

Mine also said engineering sample on recipe. It do have the Q.C. Passes sticker on with a "B" written manually.

 

Are you sure the EC2C is pushed fully into your expresscard port? On the DV2000 it sits right in flush with the unit. I notice yours juts out a bit.

 

100% percent sure. it gives a click sound Have I debugged enough to contact hwtools now ?
I'm afraid I don't have a multimeter. But I can maybe find a small diode and try see if any power comes out the expresscard slot.





edit: I have tried plug in gfx and connect psu but makes no difference..

 

it could be possible that the lights just dont come on. on my pe2l the little green led doesnt come on but it works when i plug in my xfi titanium card to it. so i assume the led doesnt work but i dunno either lol.

 

Good point raised about perhaps the LED itself not working.

Are you using an ATI card in it? If so, suggest download atiflash.exe as part of the PCI Bridge Config files, create a DOS bootable USB/floppy, and bootup with PE4L+<ATI CARD> connected and run 'atiflash -ai'. It will tell you if it sees a card. The same thing should occur in Windows, even if you have resource issues, but of course testing at DOS gets rid of a whole layer of complexity.

 

I wrote an email with my problem to hwtools. I tried on a laptop more now with same result so...

 

Hello guys,

im from germany and want my hands on that nice PE4L/PM3N Bundle.
Does anybody where hwtools is located und if they do ship worldwide?

buy-it-now tells me 73$ incl. shipping ... but the calculator doesnt know that i want the pcbs shipped to Germany ;p

 

I think HWtools is located in Taiwan.

I do believe they ship worldwide

 

Got it shipped to Denmark for that price NP they used FedEX took 4 days

 

Ouch, shipping costs $18?!?

 

Alright, thanks!

Now on another "problem", how do I re-direct the output signal to the LCD screen? I noticed in this thread that it may require an "LVDS Serializer", whatever that means but i suppose it's for converting the signal - right?

So, how do I do this? Or you haven't found a way yet?

 

Thank you guys for your fast reply

 

I think I have some bad news about the 2x PCIe project at least for my D901C which is no slouch when compared with non-Nehalem laptops.
Here is a page where there are some discussions and schematics that say in the then current laptops the PCIe is not a true PCIe bus because it is going through a PCI bridge for compatibility reasons: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=221396

That applies to the express card but I think also to the mPCIe slot for wifi. If you look at the images in that page, the Express card and the WLAN are sharing a 1x PCIe lane which may not be even a true 1x PCIe link.

It seems that only the MXM slots have a true PCIe connection since they start right off the Northbridge.

For the new systems without a Southbridge, e.g. Nehalem, that may have changed but I don't know. Somebody has to confirm that there is no more PCI bridge inside the motherboard. The possibility of Express card 2.0 and SATA ODD in them is a good sign that there is no more backward compatibility need for the PCI existence.

Anybody can comment on this?

EDIT: my bad, Nehalem don't have Northbridge anymode ...

 

Is it necessary to have the 3.3V from the external PSU? Would the ExCard's 3.3V be sufficient?

 

Also, when going with the 2x solution, do you need to buy a miniHDMI cord from HWTools, or will any old miniHDMI cord work?

 

No, the power given by the Expresscard slot is NOT enough.

You need external power from a PSU or DC Adapter.

any Mini HDMI to Mini HDMI cable will work.

Personally, if it matters, im looking at THIS one. The cheapest ~6ft. i could find.

 

Yeah.. $18US + $55US for a taiwan based company is way too much. Its total rip. just $55 is ok...

 

Good point. You're basically saying all non MXM laptops with expresscard and mpcie are actually sharing a 1x PCIe slot which means it 2x won't work using PE4H.

But if you look here I think it shows HWtools tested 2x on a dell M1330 which i'm pretty sure isn't MXM.

If you're talking particularly about just your one then i'm not sure but it seems normal ones would work

 

We had this discussion before, I don't remember the answer but I think in the end we found that the miniPCIe slot and the express card slot do not share.

 

well, the fact that they are in taiwan makes that shipping charge so high.

 

im not sure if we ever found a definite result, did we?

When i get mine, ill definetly be testing it with the wifi card enabled/disabled to check.

 

Yeah i guess.. I just see too many china based sellers/resellers provide free shipping. It must be dirt cheap for them. However i guess if using fedex, the pricing will be much higher.

It'll cost me $80+ delivered then i'll have to buy a card and psu. Not worth unless the released product is fully ready by hwtools. And not leaving all the testing done by enthusiasts on this forum!

 

On the HP Pavilion DV2000, using ICH7M I/O chipset, expresscard port=port1 and wifi port=port4 as shown here, I've been surfing the web via the wifi viewing the results on 1920x1080 TV LCD via HD4670, enjoying HDMI audio playing my mp3s

I retested the DV2000 and found contrary to my previous comments that the mPCIe slot whitelisted. I needed to bootup with the wifi card installed, then hotswap in the PM3N to make the PE4L+HD4670 work via mPCIe. Though it would be crazy to do that rather than using the much more convenient EC2C expresscard option.

 

ahh, ok. cool

hmm, oh well. but yeah, anyone would rather take the Expresscard


Ok, and here's a question i asked a few pages back, but i dont believe i got an answer.
My case i built it made out of wood. So, i obviously cannot touch the wood to the PE4L's circuit board when i mount it in there. So, what do you guys suggest i use in between?

 

HP Business systems mPCIe whitelisting workaround

Figured out a way to avoid having to swap in the whitelist compatible wifi card followed by PM3N after every reboot. This will be handy to HP Business systems without an expresscard slot like the HP 2510P.

See reversing HP whitelisting. Saves wear on my mPCIe slot and far less annoying. Would be better if HP just removed the silly unadvertised whitelisting. Amazing to believe someone was paid to engineer in limitation to ensure only vendor-specific mPCIe cards to HP systems in this way.

 

non-conductive duct tape?

Those engineers are probably busy right now with making ExpressCard ports that shutdown themselves when an external videocard is connected to it.

 

lol. Ofcorse i'd definitely reckon you could get past that easily with all the brains here

 

It seems the PE4H are now in stock at HWTOOLS!