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

long wait for laptop enabled express card 2.0.from my search, it only at 5 gb/sec.feel suck! i want at least 10 Gb/sec.

 

Ok, then you need either 2x with PCI2.0 or just 4x to get 10Gb/sec.

2x:
Connect both the express card and miniPCIe card.
Or just 2 miniPCIe cards.
Or use both lanes of one miniPCIe port.

4x:
3 miniPCIe ports + express card slot.

4x + PCIe 2.0 = 8x bandwidth.

 

Can't you just take the card and shove it in the... thing?

 

Thank you for all the help My expresscard slot is port1 in everest. I would need to have a wire going directly into the mpci-e slot for 2x though? (and the PE4H right?)

Btw do anyone know how to launch games on secondary screen as I prefer having laptop as primary but when I launch games they open on primary and if I drag em over the game starts stuttering.

 

Hows about some other benchmarks so we know this thing isn't a one hit wonder.

 

Well not major news, but I got a USB flash drive ready that will boot on my laptop but I left the PE4H at home...Will be able to test on Thursday...hopefully this finally works for me!

 

I already wrote, but I most of all liked a patch from MAGMA. Rectifies an error (Code 12) and it is convenient in installation.

http://www.magma.com/support/drivers/

 

You smart person, I would rep you again if I could.
Nice find

 

I tried all 3 of these:

1.) Expansion_Driver_HP_E12_2_6.exe - This driver installation package is applicable for Magma products with the following attributes:

* Support Hot-Plug feature
* Depict Error Code 12 upon Boot on any specific platform

2.) FULL_FUNCTION_2_6.exe - This driver installation package is for chassis that support hot-plugging and have an error code 12 issue after boot on a specific platform.

3.) Expansion_Driver_NO_HP_E12_2_6.exe – This driver installation package is applicable for Magma products with the following attributes:

* Does not Support Hot-Plug feature
* Depict Error Code 12 upon Boot on any specific platform

and they all caused BSOD on restart... (the DIY was not plugged in, I don't have it with me but it asked to restart after installing and I didn't think it needed to be) I have Win 7 64 bit, nVidia 8600m GS GDDR3 onboard.

 

Probably problem only with Win7. At me WinXP and problems were not.

 

theneighborrkid,

try this:
http://forums.magma.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=207

 

Thanks toshiki, I did that and no BSOD upon restart which is nice, will be able to test it pretty soon...

 

Nmm nothing, I tried using the USB method and it ran okay and I edited it to use the correct port (which is 2 in my case) but after it is done it starts to boot win7 and goes to a black screen before the windows logo shows up... and the link also didn't work for me...

 

Acer Ferrari One 200 have external pci xpress or not?

 

galvatron,

Yes, Acer Ferrari One has an XGP port (x8 one i think).
External box is limited to mobile GPUs.
Highest you can go for the moment is mobile HD4670 - good for 11.6 size laptop.

theneighborrkid,

did you unistall all the magma patches properly?

 

I believe they did because I had to do a system restore after each one in order to get my laptop working again and they don't show up anywhere in programs and features, although the last one (registry fix) is unchanged, should I remove that?

 

If I remember correctly, that was only X2.

 

Bought the Vidock 2 and can not get it to work with my HP Pavilion tx2697cl Entertainment Notebook. Contacted Village Tronic Support...they told me to contact HP....they tried updating the BIOS with the current versions (that I already had installed) didn't work.

My Device manager sees the card...but I get an error code 12. If I restart with the card pluged in....it beaps 4 times and never boots up.

I have windows 7 64x...any ideas before I send this thing back?

 

I'm in the same boat, still trying to find something read a few posts back and see if any of those help you

 

I tried...

Have spent hours trying to make this work....Their support for this product sucks!

 

did you read this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5324240

And follow Nandos method.

 

How do we use the PCIscope?

 

theneighborrkid,

Number as per:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942959/en-us
should be 400 or 600. I would set it at 600 and leave it in for now.

Keep the card unplugged.
Show hidden devices in device manager and uninstall the card with error 12.
Plug it in with win7 booted(not before it starts booting).

If same thing happens - uninstall the card again(while unplugged), set the correct memory window from usb and plug it in after win7 boots.

Same thing happens - take ram out so you only have 2gb, uninstall the card and try the usb trick again (plug in after win7 boots).

Still no luck - there's a chance you're setting the memory window incorrectly.

 

Took out 2gb of ram...and it worked fine....but it will not work with 4gb.

Support said there is nothing I can do except only run 2gb of ram.

 

1/ If your bios is hanging when have ViDock+4GB connected, disconnect the ViDock, boot Win7 64-bit, suspend system, plug ViDock, resume and see if it works. If get error 12 try (2).

2/ Use PCI Bridge Config USB bootdisk here, modify the DV2000.bat file to disable your PCI Resources used by your onboard ATI graphics. This allowed the DV2000 to work with 3GB of RAM in XP and may allow your 4GB system to work in XP. Win7 has a different driver model and required the GMA950 driver and HD4670 driver to be active simultaneously, requiring 2x256MB windows. SO it didn't work in Win7. You *might* have more success since you'd be using the single ATI driver for onboard/external graphics.

 

Can someone explain why there is this restriction?

 

32-bit memory space is restricted to 4MB. The BIOS sets TOLUD, then the D_LCK bit so you can't change it after being set, and your PCI devices must allocate their required resources within the 3-4MB space. The PCI BAR for the HD4670 says it can allocate in 64-bit space. If there are two video cards, two windows, likely unable to fit in the 3-4GB space.

So my theory is that only the bios or 32-bit OS would be problematic here, the bios halting/beeping when it can't allocate resources, Windows reporting error 12: cannot allocate resources. The bios issue is easily solved by hotplugging after bios bootup (expresscard), New revision of PM3N will have a jumperable 6.9s delay to do that tranparently for you (mPCIe).

Furthermore XP's driver model allowed me to substitute the GMA950 bridge window to be the HD4670's window and do PCI config writes to disable the GMA950, so it worked fine with 3GB on the DV2000.

A 64-bit OS would have plenty of space to allocate the PCI Bridge Window so I anticipate no problems there. Waiting for more feedback for confirmation. As I do not have a 1x4GB stick to put into the 2510P, I was not able to confirm this theory.

 

I tried to used 1 x 4gb stick, and it didnt work. At startup the screen stays black.

 

Has anyone mod their bios to accept the Vidock as the primary display adapter? ie: init pci-e port 4 first instead of port 1...

What is the Targus ExpressCard Notebook Docking station video made from ? usb or pci express

Is there an "expresscard" video card in the format of mini-pciE or expresslot 54/34?

Is there any expresscard or pci-e video card that outputs in "lvds" instead of dvi/vga/hdmi

is it possible to convert hdmi/dvi signal into lvds?

Is there any way to disable/change the shared memory of the built in nvidia 6510 video card? (sort of like a VMX mod)

 

EDIT EDIT: to summarize...
1.) the USB img does nothing for me, it will not boot after using no matter what I do or don't have plugged in.
2.) it WILL work when I have 2GB of ram
2a.) with 2GB ram it seems like a lot of games cannot run because I'm on Win 7 64 bit and there is about 800MB of RAM used idle... so games seem to take the rest and freeze for 5-10 seconds every 3-5 seconds (aka cannot play) COD4 and Borderlands
2b.) Fallout 3 seemed to work just fine maxed out
3.) What can I do to get this to work with 4GB ram? I think I'll have to get my XP disc out or something to make this work okay... (that will use 3GB right? for 32-bit XP Pro)
4.) I cannot launch steam due to the error "Steam.exe (main exception): To run steam, you first must be connected to the Internet "
5.) I got a 3Dmark06 of 8219 marks using the 8800GT Win 7 64 bit 2GB RAM T8100
6.) How do I suspend my system? Is that just sleep, I have tried using that and then plugging it in to no avail.
7.) Other comments/suggestions/questions?

 

What notebook are you using to host the DIY ViDock?
RAM=2/4GB
CPU=T8100
onboard graphics=???
model=??

Create USB ViDOck disk as explained here. Very easy to do. Confirm success when you can boot your USB drive to a DOS prompt.

I got the DV2000 with onboard GMA950 graphics to work with 3GB in XP. Win7 refused to start when I disabled the GMA950 PCI resources via the DIYVDock USB disk prior to bootup, so then that means 2x256MB PCI windows, one each for the GMA950 and HD4670, which would only fit in my < 4GB space if I had 2.5GB in the DV2000. I haven't tried as yet to hack the Win7 registry to work with the secondary adapter to bypass the GMA950 altogether, though it would seem logical that it must be possible.

Awesome!! Is that x1 1.0 or x2 1.0? If it's x1 1.0, can you run RE5 benchmark edition and post the results at 1280x800 resolution, all high?

I hope we can get your system working and include it in the list in the experiences thread as it's the first NBR reported Nvidia system

 

Alrighty to avoid a ton of spam I'll just go through each question instead of quoting a quote...
-Onboard graphics are 8600m GS GDDR3 (woohooo) LG P300. Using nVidia 8800GT OC on the DiY
- I created the USB bootdisk and go it boots and everything, I edited the dv2000.bat and renamed it to work with my port (port 2 is my expresscard), so I type dv2000.bat and press 7 and thats all I do, then it says windows is loading files, and then it goes to a black screen after that
- That is at x1 1.0, will download the benchmark now...

EDIT: First run was 1280 x 800, no AA, Motion Blur On, everything High, 28.2 FPS Directx 9...Variable Benchmark, same settings but directx 10 i got 33.2 FPS, interesting...

 

I got my PE4H to work 1x with 2gigs of ram with the ATI 5770. I will post detailed findings with benchmarks in the my experiences thread soon, but first I have a few issues.

I am running win7 64 bit, with an xps1530 (ICH8 chipset). I have 4 gigs of ram but it will not work with 4 gigs. I get an error 12 on my onboard graphics shown in the picture attached. I tryed the USB boot method described by nando with this code modification in the batch file (to set the window for my onboard graphics bus):

setpci -s 00:01.00 01.w=2020

setpci -s 00:01.00 24.l=CFF1C001

It doesnt work though, am I entering the correct bus?

 

Nice, I would like to see the 3dmark06 results, I dont think you will be able to run it with more than 2 gigs, I tried many times to do that...

 

Disabling onboard graphics to get it to work with > 2GB

Is that screenshot with 4GB running + HD5770 active? If so, congratulations.
The error 12 is against your onboard graphics, which you'd want to disable when the HD5770 is active. The exact way I did that on the DV2000's GMA950 to work with XP, but it wouldn't work with Win7/32-bit (T2050 doesn't run 64-bit OS) was as below. This still allowed VGA only function on the GMA950, which XP used like an error console for any serious errors, likely failure to find/initialise the HD4670.

Code:

:: Enable VGA mode on the bridge hosting HD4670
setpci -s 00:1C.0 3e.b=C

:: Enable VGA Palette snoop
setpci -s 00:1C.0 4.b=27

:: Disable GMA950 graphics resources by closing Memory & I/O Windows
setpci -s 00:02.00 10.l=0,0,0,0  

The first two setpci commands could be used on your system. The third would be specific to the Nv9800's pci bus/function/device.

Suggest download P PCIScope Trial or PCItree to do more investigating. XP appears to go through the video adapters list and use the first one it finds to be available for use. So with the GMA950/X3100 disabled and it would just use the HD4670. Great for the DV2000 as it worked with 3GB. If I didn't disable the GMA950 using the USB bootdisk, then it would only work with 2.5GB. Win7/32-bit only ever worked with 2.5GB. 3GB was no go. Win7 seeming pedantic, wanting the configured primary display to be active.

It could be a matter of changing the registry in Win7 to use the HD5770 as the primary display, perhaps having two registry Configurations in the bootloader . I haven't looked at that as but based on the feedback so far by a number of folk would be a worthwhile exercise.

PCItool has a nifty save file option, so can dump your PCI Configuration to a .BPD file and then other reads can use PCITool to import and view your config details. Suggest doing that to help the process along.

 

okay folks my own little update here...So I tried using some old stuff I found at a friends as my project box for my PE4H and PSU and 8800GT, it fit okay and I think with some fans it will be fine but the 8800GT was pretty tight and needs better ventilation...here is some interesting stuff that I tried when I did have it running...
System as tested:
LG p300
Intel T8100 Core 2 Duo 2.1ghz
2GB DDR2-800 RAM
PE4H-nVidia 8800GT
LG monitor running native 1080p

I only got to run through a few games, and holy cow I was really surprised, Borderlands ran almost maxed out (Dynamic shadows off, would shave off 15 FPS on) everything else was on (AA was 16x) at 1080p to boot, was 30+ fps and I played for 15-20min, that is a huge improvement over my P300 which has a 8600m GS onboard, which ran it 800x600 medium-some lows @ 20-40FPS...
I did run into a weird problem though, for some reason full screen flash runs horrendously, any ideas why, it runs fine on the P300s screen?

 

Don't read too much into that, flash generally sucks and gets slowdowns at the most unexpected times.

Are you using both onboard and external graphics together in extended desktop mode? If so, it has been my general observation that moving an active media player from one screen to another often results in poor performance, slowdowns, or even crashes. I believe this must be related to the way hardware accelerated video surfaces work. To avoid any issues, try moving your media player application (or flash laden web browser) to the appropriate screen before loading up your video file.

 

Yea, the ati card doesnt get the error 12 with 4 gigs but my onboard card does, and this makes it so I cant extend my desktop to the ATI external card (when I go to properties of the ATI card, it says the driver isnt loaded)...

I cant get pciscope to work on my computer, I get a driver couldnt load error for some reason, Ill have to mess with it some more...

 

Nando, I dumped my pci configuration to a file that i can read in pci scope. I never could get the windows driver to read my pci config, but I created the file by booting into dos and typing this command.

Code:

pcitool /DB:[filename] 

So I have the file to look at, what exactly am I looking for? I dumped the pci configuration while the video card was plugged in with 4 gigs of ram...

 

I'd say there are two things to be done to get it working with 4GB of RAM:

1) For Win7, modify the registry so that the desktop video card is the primary card. On my system Win7 won't work unless the primary card is installed, so trying to work around that here. XP appears to just cycle through and choose the first one it finds to be working. This XP document suggests to look at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\hardware\DeviceMap\Video \Device\Video0 . Can do that research with your 2GB/1.5GB installed.

2) When figure that out, then want it to work with 4GB. So disable the onboard PCI resources prior to OS bootup using the DIYVidock USB files, similar to what was done in the DV2000.bat but would need to apply to the onboard ATI card. The snippet below was obtained by finding the 945 express datasheet, containing GMA950 gpu info. Is there some programming datasheet for the ATI graphics? the PCI config might follow the same format(??)

Code:

:: Enable VGA mode on the bridge hosting HD4670
setpci -s 00:1C.0 3e.b=C
:: Enable VGA Palette snoop
setpci -s 00:1C.0 4.b=27
:: Disable GMA950 graphics resources by closing Memory & I/O Windows
setpci -s 00:02.00 10.l=0,0,0,0 
:: Disable and hide GMA950 altogether so it doesn't appear in Device Manager
:: If do this without blank_igp=true often get spotty display
:: Comment out the following line if still want XP to display any severe
:: errors it may encounter to GMA950 (in VGA mode)
:: setpci -s 00:00.00 54.l=341

This is moving into uncharted territory here, so whatever you figure out it would help others too.

Lucky first post on page 100.

 

What would make a good enclosure for a dual slot videocard?

Currently I'm thinking about getting a mini-itx case and putting the card horizontally on the bottom of the case on something since those cases have only 1 pci expansion slot. I'd rather not cut any holes in it if the psu dies.

Like this (not to scale) http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8296/lolry.jpg
Though I need something smaller than that.

Or should I just buy a full ATX case+psu and saw off ~4/5 of it?

 

I had the same question, I had a dead xbox 360 in my closet and used its power supply and case for mine, check it out on the my experiences thread here.

 

whoa... i forgot about this thread again... lots of new pages.

any new news i have missed?

idk what the status of my diy vidock is anymore... i probably will still be making one... but really no clue when.

 

Oh the hilarity!

 

Shown on the experiences thread with easier to read table.

The good news
A HD5770 gets > 10k in 3dmark06.
A HD5770 gets 53.2FPS in RE5 benchmark
nv8800GT is added to the list

The not so good news
No one has the DIY VIDock working in Win7 with 4GB or more. Most have it working with 2GB or less. Hoping someone takes the initiative to start hacking the registry to have the external graphics work as the primary display AND once successful, disable the onboard pci-e resource bridge window.

 

Nando4 why does not work setpci? Reaches till the line setpci-s 00:1c.0 24.l=CFF1C001 and to the answer writes "bad Value "CFF1C001". When that in a network was found by file PCI_ BridgeConf.rar, in it the utility pcitool is used and with it all works.

 

Not sure why setpci doesn't work for you. Double check that it is zeros (0) rather than Ooes (o). Either setpci or pcitool works for me just fine, with both tools doing exactly the same thing with only slight syntax difference. Originally I used pcitool but since setpci is used on Linux I figured it's use would be more universal.

 

so why can't run an external triple or quad SLI setup on a laptop?

 

find me someone who can run a regular external SLI setup on a laptop

 

Since the external card will have to be designated as the main card in the OS, what happens if for some reason some aspect of the card fails while under use? Would you BSoD? Would it be possible to change the integrated card in the laptop back to the main card before booting up? Or...???