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

Hi Briam !

Has had the same problem than you.

I've a PE4L with expresscard adapter, and i was unable to detect anything under windows.

In order to make Video Cards working on PE4L, you have to short TP1 pins with solder. It's the little circle located on the rear of the PCI-Express port. This allow to detect x4 and more cards.

If you look at differencies between your PE4L and nando4's one, you'll see that on his card, TP1 is shorted, not on yours.

With this, i'm able to hotplug an Ati Video Card under Win7 and do dual screens.

My setup is :
- PE4L, TP1 Closed with solder, JP3 open, JP4 Closed, external PSU on Molex connector
- Ati Radeon X300 64MB
- Lenovo X200, 2GB RAM
- Windows 7 Ultimate

Perhaps that will solve your problem, I hope !
Regards,

 

I am trying to get this all in my head, but I have a burning question.

Might this change how we buy laptops?
I am thinking If I can add the Graphics I want, whenever I want, where ever I want, then I should go by a CPU powerful Laptop with (relatively) gimped GPU, (Intel??) and add the external GPU I want.

I am looking for a new laptop. Is there a referb I should look at to mod to test this theory.

 

In the PCI Bridge Config scripts I've given the option to disable and hide the integrated graphics card and/or blank the LCD. Works with XP. Win7 only appears to want to start with both graphics enabled and it can then selectively disable one from being used.

grojules, would you like to share your experiences in more detail? If so please post at DIY ViDock - My experiences so far, perhaps using Configuration and Performance Matrix table as a framework of what sort of info would be desirable to know.

There would be much interest in a Lenovo X200/X300 with desktop graphics, being quite a popular ultraportable.

 

From here.

BarBQ - quite strange that your mPCIe cards don't see the card and expresscard slot does given they are just different packaging running to the same ICHx I/O controller. Could you

- Post photo of your PE4H + nv6800 setup

- Try XP: install drivers in XP, then disable the onboard gpu resources using PCI Bridge Scripts. XP appears to use whatever video card it finds has a valid configuration first, so if you disable the onboard it reverts to using the second video card (does on the DV2000/2510P I tested). Having two video cards active requires 2x256MB PCI memory bridge windows active definitely want to disable one of those windows if running 32-bit OS (< 4GB space).

- try an ATI video card for better performance on a x1 1.0 link.

 

dont have an ati card and not the time to experiment atm.

well, maybe its a problem with win7 RC or drivers and stuff i installed over the last 3-4 month. in a few days i ll get my win7 RTM, then i ll try with a clean installation and get back to you. thx anyway!

 

Just a little update,

As I stated I took too long to order and missed out, but here is what hwtools sales department sent me when I inquired for next batch::

Just FYI the name is supposed to be Ioane, but I digress, still trying to figure out what the "/B" is....8 or 3, any help would be nice...

Missing the ball on the PE4H worked out anyway, the timing chain on my truck broke ,so have some work cut out for me ;P

Aloha!!

 

which psu were you using with PE4H?

 

Maybe its a 13

 

Guys HUGE update, my setup WORKS.

1- I noticed that I had to solder the power points to a jumper that I connected to the PSU in order to draw a decent amount of power.

2-This setup doesnt work with my laptop maybe because I have a 64bit OS and 8gb of ram. But Ill fix it .

3- My video card doesnt work . Ill get a new one ASAP .

4- I used an HP DV2000 and worked nicely, I got external video images from the card.

BTW I used a PE2H with the express card and a faulty ATI HD4850 card.
The card doesnt work, it only displays some red words that I cant remember, but this is exactly like when I plug it to a regular desktop PC.

More updates to come .

 

Would like everyone to know I'll be getting my PE4H tomorrow, can only borrow 8800 GT from my desktop, have LG P300 to test on and a very old Dell Insp. 6000... Will look into ATI card once we can get some confirmation of the whole expressport 2.0 pci 2.0 in notebooks details.

 

awesome

oh how do you know you're getting it tomorrow specifically
be interesting to see your results. can't wait, you're LG is so similar to mine, well the card anyway!
I'm sure you've heard or have the defect problem so i too am hoping this will fix that!

 

Cool, Congrats! I'm sure you're really happy and relieved now

wow 8gb ram. No wonder it didn't WORK!

 

Congratulations, MexicanSnake I'm glad that you sorted it out and it's running, although it's not on your lappy. Maybe you could try with a 64-bit W7, who knows it could work with the whole amount of RAM (fingers crossed) Are you planing to try the twin-turbo (x2 PCI-E) mode

 

Awesome guys. Exactly what i wanted to test. If it works with a dead gpu. let me know when you're done Barbq

 

Doh! I sent the PE4H to home and not my apartment (school = Berkeley, home = San Jose area) so I won't be able to test until tomorrow... It is there though waiting for me!

 

Grub2 bootloader can do memory writes

PCI Configuration Registers' Memory Address

Latest grub2 that will be shipped with Ubuntu Karmic Koala (9.10) has commands that can be associated with bootloader menu items: write_byte ADDRESS VALUE write_word ADDRESS VALUE write_dword ADDRESS VALUE Since the PCI Bridge data is stored at a specific address, it means it is possible to just write the data to the right memory location. Meaning this could be incorporated with the grub2 bootloader items, bypassing the need for a a USB/floppy PCI Bridge configuration that does the same thing using the DOS setpci/pcitool commands. Windows users could install grub2 just for this purpose using the Live CD but may require a bit of mucking around.

PCI Configuration Register to Memory Address Conversion

1/ Lookup MCFG address using R-W Everything.
2/ Calculate the write memory address to access:

memory_address=MCFG + Bus Number*100000h + Device Number*8000h + Function Number*1000h ​

1/ Configure pci bridge - 4kb I/O and 256MB MEM Window

Example below uses D0000000-DFFFFFF and I/O 2000-2020, which I used from my X3100 graphics Device Manager Resourcing list. On my system Windows will remap this into an available space it finds if there is conflict, so the examples below might be sufficient to get the job done on other systems as well.

port X=MCFG+(0*10000h)+(1c*8000h)+ (X-1)*1000h
port X=MCFG+E0000h+(X-1)*1000h​

Description	setpci command	grub2 command^1
Port1: 0/1c/00	setpci -s 00:1c.00 1c.w=2020 setpci -s 00:1c.00 24.l=DFF1D001	write_word 0x(MCFG+E001c) 0x2020 write_dword 0x(MCFG+E0024) 0xDFF1D001
Port2: 0/1c/01	setpci -s 00:1c.01 1c.w=2020 setpci -s 00:1c.01 24.l=DFF1D001	write_word 0x(MCFG+E101c) 0x2020 write_dword 0x(MCFG+E1024) 0xDFF1D001
Port3: 0/1c/02	setpci -s 00:1c.02 1c.w=2020 setpci -s 00:1c.02 24.l=DFF1D001	write_word 0x(MCFG+E201c) 0x2020 write_dword 0x(MCFG+E2024) 0xDFF1D001
Port4: 0/1c/03	setpci -s 00:1c.03 1c.w=2020 setpci -s 00:1c.03 24.l=DFF1D001	write_word 0x(MCFG+E301c) 0x2020 write_dword 0x(MCFG+E3024) 0xDFF1D001

^1 - Evaluate the hex value of (MCFG+..) with calc and substitute for your system

UPDATE: As of 12/20/2009 there is a patch to use the setpci syntax in grub2 making it VERY easy. I would expect this to be merged in the 1.98 release.

 

Only if your meaning of a bit really is a bit, as i think most here wouldn't have a clue lol

ouch

 

Update from Gerry/hwtools as in progress link also duplicated below:

2009/10/23

For your PE4L hotswapping request and whitelist problem. PM3N new version.

For x4 request. we start develop new product for you. It can support x4 2.0 link update from PE4L. product name will be “PE4M”. but “PE4M” engineering sample schedule may delay to Dec/2009. ​

 

Naming convention clearly doesn't make any sense but it is great to hear they heard me.
Only time will tell which models can really do x4.

As shown in a few scaling analysis articles - x4 2.0 is nearly identical in performance to x16 2.0 for current video cards.

nando,
Any updates on your second mPCI-E port? Can you tell that it is physically connected by looking at the board?

 

wow.. except to practically do x4 you'd need also 2 connections using pcie 2.0. great for future adopters! bad for us

 

DV2000 with ICH7M, port1=expressport, port4=mPCIe port cannot do x2 link, nor a handicapped x4 link. That was with a soldered IDE cable between a PM3N and the 4th lane on my HD4670 card. There's still a small chance that IDE cable is not good enough to do such transmission. Would need the PE4M to use HDMI cable to confirm with 100% certainty.

HP 2510P. whitelisted port2 mPCIe port works. WWAN port1 is a mystery that I haven't figured out how it works . If they use the usb pins as the HS2300 WWAN module reports itself, then why are there no USB tracks to the mPCIe port? Why is it a USB Virtualization port?

I've DMM traced the usb/pci-e pins and am still confused as the usb pins appear disconnected and one of the pci-e pins is high impedance (is it disconnected?). I'm waiting for a 2510P owner with WWAN active module to take a pci-e config space snapshot so I can load it on my system to see if that unwhitelists the WWAN port, as done successfully with the wifi port.

Very bizarro HP activity. They *paid* someone to make it confusing. I'd *love* to see x2 on the 2510P. It would be great to have the second port so I could use wifi concurrently in x1 mode or do x2 mode. Not giving up just yet, but need more info.

Most recent eureka moment was finding out that grub2 can do memory writes, eliminating the need for the DOS bootprocess if done right. [Linux users rejoice].

 

I'd be interested to see how the Bidirectional bandwidth of the PCI Express bus could be utilized to Render on the External GPU and Display on the Built-in LCD.

As I read it, PCI Express is Full bandwidth I/O, or a 1x slot is capable of both 250MB/s IN and OUT, so moving the Rendered 3D back up the the PCI-E Link and to a 16x Link, should not effect Bandwidth/Performance.

I can't think of any bottle necks in the System Bus or Memory Bandwidth that should constrain a 500MB/s data stream, however perhaps the External Graphics card could limit, as I'm not sure how efficiently it could move Rendered Data back, but it's somewhat like SLI or CrossFire, only the "Display" device is not Rendering anything, and the "Remote" card is doing All the Rendering.

If I'm correct, in my interpretation and assuming, should it not then be posable to build a Portable External Graphics solution utilizing a Mobile Graphics and Battery setup.

To me, the DIY ViDock is very interesting, but it tethers the user it AC power. Sure one could lug around an inverter.

Don't take my statements the wrong way, as I plan on using this setup myself, I'm only wanting to discuss how this could be adapted into a Marketable Portable Product, in the hopes that pressure could be put on OEMs to support some form of external HIGH Bandwidth connection.

MXM is OK, but every OEM is able, and mostly does, configure it to be a DEAD end. If the buyer is Lucky, they get one or two cards to chose when they want to Upgrade, and Most NB don't use it at all, and we won't even go into the COST.

I'm thinking that PCI-E is adding or has already added an External Standard and Cable system, so maybe ATI/nVidia and NB OEMs could use it. Seems like more market for GPU makers, NB OEMs on the other hand........

The cost of the Port should be very little, the external GPU and PSU/Case maybe a bit $, but with True computation, unlike MXM, the Price should not be much more than the extra cost of the Battery powered PSU.

If we could see a Standard for and External Case/PSU/Cable, and a Standard
for fitting the GPU card, that would be Ideal.

 

Okay well back to where I was stuck, resource allocation issues... what to do? Looking at nando4's topic of his experiences, will wait to hear back first...

 

- 64bit or 32bit OS? XP or Win7?
- if have 3GB or more, retry with 2GB just for testing.

Quick and dirty approach

This prepares the USB drive so is valuable. *Without* the analysis of the lgp300.bpd file set up a 256MB MEM window and 4KB I/O window which Windows will relocate if there is a conflict of interest.

1/ Identify your PCI-e port. Take a Everest southbridge screenshot to identify which port has your video card attached to.

2/ Create USB DOS PCI Bridge disk as per experiences thread

3/ Rename dv2000.bat as lgp300.bat. Based on your PCI-e port above, replace "00:1c.0" to be your hosting pci-e port. If it's port1 then don't need to do anything.

port1=0:1c.0, port2=0:1c.1, port3=0:1c.2, port4=0:1c.3

Eg from dv2000.bat. Lines preceding with "::" are comments and are ignored

:: Expresscard is connected to 00:1C:00 bridge.
:: 0/1c/0 Bridge 4KB I/O Window
setpci -s 00:1c.0 1c.w=2020
:: 0/1c/0 Bridge 256MB Memory Window
setpci -s 00:1c.0 24.l=CFF1C001
:: mPCIe slot is connected to 00:1C:03 bridge AND is whitelisted!!
:: 0/1c/3 Bridge 4KB I/O Window
:: setpci -s 00:1c.3 1c.w=2020
:: 0/1c/3 Bridge 256MB Memory Window
:: setpci -s 00:1c.3 24.l=CFF1C001

5/ Run 'lgp300.bat' from the DOS boot environment as a test, answering X or 7 at prompt for WinXP or Win7. It will chainload Win7/XP.

6/ If it works, add "@call lgp300.bat" to the USB disk's autoexec.bat to automatically run this on bootup.

For detailed analysis of your system

Download PCIScope Trial. Choose File->Save As. Save lgp300.bpd, upload it and link here. lgp300.bpd can be loaded on another system with PCIScope installed for more detailed analysis.

 

This not going to happen unless nVidia and/or Ati develop the solution themselves. As it would definitely require driver and possibly some hardware support.

 

having problems making the flash drive bootable...do i just copy and paste the files onto it?
yeah that didn't work....have my lgp300.bat, i dont see any autoexec.bats in ur rar

win7 64 bit, pe4h to expressport

 

Creating a DIYVDock USB Bootable disk

Code:

1) Extract http://stashbox.org/665101/DIYVDock-conf.RAR to c:\DIYVDock

2) Install and run HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool
http://stashbox.org/673867/HPUSBFW_2.2.3.zip

Choose "Create a DOS Startup Disk" Using System Files located in C:\DIYVDock.

3) Copy C:\DIYVDock files to your USB drive with Explorer.

You now have a DIYVDock USB boot disk. Ensure your bios is set to boot from USB.
When booted in DOS, the DIYVDock bootdisk  has  the "edit" command so you can
modify autoexec.bat, dv2000.bat or 2510p.bat

 

Virtual floppy drive couldn't install, says it doesnt work on win 95/98/me, but i have 7??? and if i try to use the.rar says the files aren't for dos or something... :/

also it is on port 2 just if that makes things any easier/harder

 

You'd probably want to try installing using compatibility mode. That should get it working

 

didn't work for me...is there a certain compatibility mode i should be trying? tried win xp and 98 95
using an older version I get the GUI to show up but it will not let me mount the .img file...need a valid signed 64 driver apparently, is there any other way to make this work, i want my DIY to work!!!

 

Hey Nando

I tested this with my laptop, my wifi card is port 2, and when i swapped it into my wwan slot it changed to port1, does this mean my WWAN slot is a real mpcie slot?

And does this mean i should be capable of 2x?

My notebook has three mpcie slots...

 

yes it does. You are lucky

 

that is awesome! i just ordered a new board for my laptop that had a 256mb dedicated HD 3450, instead of onboard intel x3100, but i may not install it and use this solution instead if it works

one port is smaller but it looks like i can snap one of the PM3N's to fit:

 

happyantix,

1st mpcie slot - port 1
2nd mpcie slot - port 2
3rd mpcie slot - port 3 or port 4
Expresscard slot - port 3 or port 4
Boards plugged into any of the 4 slots aren't coming up as usb devices

If the above is true for you - it would be possible to even do x4 and use the upcoming PE4M.
What laptop are you using, btw?
It might be a good idea to start compiling a list of all models with 3 mpcie slots + 1 expresscard slot.

 

I have not tried the other port or the expresscard slot,i will try the other port tomorrow but do not have an expresscard to try..

although my bluetooth module when plugged in comes up as a USB device, but if i plug the wlan card into same port it comes up as a mpcie

will do some more testing tomorrow but it sounds promising for at least 2x

Dell Studio 1535 with intel graphics
2.1ghz core 2 duo
4gb ram

windows 7 32bit (changing to 64 soon to utilize all ram)

 

Just try your 3rd mpcie slot with the wlan card and see which free port numbers are left.
What port numbers does Everest show?
A screenshot would eliminate most questions.

mpcie slot has a pair of usb wires and a x1 pci-e link.
Some mpcie cards only use usb and some - pci-e.
Some mpcie slots are wired for usb only.
The fact that your wlan card comes up as pci-e device means that the slot is definitively wired for pci-e.

 

Thanks for your help so far, getting late here i will get some screenshots in the morning, with the wlan card in each slot

 

is there anything else I can try? Or am I outta luck

 

Revised instructions on creating DIYVDock Bootdisk. No need to use Virtual Floppy Disk software or the .IMG file.

 

theneighborrkid,

Try using the attached version 2.2.3 of HP tool
Run as admin.

 

windows 7 did an update now will not boot.. but i think 4x is not possible as i plugged my wlan card into the 3rd mpcie slot and it would not recognise, i guess this one is USB.

 

Yep - your third slot is likely a WWAN slot, which appear to use USB pins only. Nevermind, having port1 and port2 accessible means x2 mode is possible for you. Given the crazy good HD5870 x1 2.0 PCI-E scaling results, it would mean your T8100-2.1 Dell Studio 1535 with intel graphics with external HD5870 graphics running at x2 1.0 (same as x1 2.0) would have the graphics subsystem outperform current gaming systems like G51J/GT640/Toshiba X500.

 

I guess my laptop hated all of that, things went fine on the desktop thanks. My laptop is back at home, have a busy week of school and didn't want to tempt myself... Will report Friday with progress

EDIT - woot 500th post

 

just curious how would the 4x connection work. would that require 3 mpcie + 1 express card or is there any other combination to get 4x

 

Don't think this is possible. x4 i think refers to the speed and not number of connections. having pcie 2.0 with 2 connections would make a x4 link.

As stated earlier by other users, only mpcie slot 1 and 2 can be connected together to make x2 link. 3, 4, etc etc can't be combined to make a ultimatum

 

This is true.

this is not true, or it is half true.

port 1 and 2 can make a 2x link, this part is true.

Port1 through port 4 can be combined for a 4x link
This is in the intel datasheet.

Yes 3 miniPCIe slots + express card should make an 4x link if they are port1 through port4.

I don't know if they make notebooks with 4 miniPCIe card slots.

 

Here is what Nando posted a while ago.

 

Ok quick update regarding m15x notebook and nvidia 6800 ultra.

1) tried with clean windows, same problem: doesnt work
2) hw tools answer: "...it should be NVIDIA 6800 incompatible with your PC.
For we came across this issue before."

i ll buy a radeon 5850 asap and test again...

 

Ah true. My bad. No wonder he was trying to do a makeshift x4 with only 2 connections

 

Could be that your 6800 uses a HSI Bridge, NV45, this would be native AGP GPU with an on Die HSI, should be transparent, but never tested in this sort of setup.

I'd agree, and not waste too much time trying to get it to work, best to just get a newer/better card.