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

Check your fuse. Some PE4H units with a 2A fuse didn't deliver enough power as described here.

Can troubleshoot your problem further then. I've seen HP Bios with AMD chipsets likely attempts to direct output to the external display. To investigate resourcing, provide:

1. A screenshot of your PCI Space like this showing the PCI Bus resources. Expand sections C/D/E/F0000000.

2. Boot DIY ViDock USB bootdisk, attach PE4H+HD5770, then run:

Code:

lspci -tv > tree.txt
pt PCI map > map.txt
lspci -vv -x >  devs.txt
pcitool /db:snapshot

Save tree.txt, map.txt, devs.txt and snapshot.bdf to rar/zip, upload to mediafire.com and link here.

 

.

There is no fuse... there was a very clean soldering splice in its place. So if the issue is power... my power supply might be the cause.

I'll see about getting a different power supply soon.

But in case its not... here's the other information... your ideas are most appreciated.

Here's the files you requested.

Here is the screenshot.

Thank you for any help.

 

Can you hotplug the PE4H+HD5770 after you boot the DIY ViDock bootdisk? Run 'atiflash -ai' to confirm it's being seen as attached. Then re-run those commands again. The current set of files has no HD5770 listed (device 1002:68b8). Also, can you show the Win7 map at location E0000000 onwards as well?

While at it, confirm one of the following chainloads into Win7 OK:

Code:

grub --config-file="menu.w7"
grub

 

here's part 2 of the screenshot

I couldn't find the display with PTs "PCI probe" command either:
PCI bios found, version 02.10, last bus # 09
bus dev fun venid devid svnid sdvid class
00 00 0 1022 9600 0000 0000 060000 bridge
00 01 0 1022 9602 0000 0000 060400 bridge
00 04 0 1022 9604 0000 0000 060400 bridge
00 05 0 1022 9605 0000 0000 060400 bridge
00 06 0 1022 9606 0000 0000 060400 bridge
00 11 0 1002 4391 103c 3045 010601 mass storage
00 12 0 1002 4397 103c 3045 0c0310 serial bus
00 12 1 1002 4398 103c 3045 0c0310 serial bus
00 12 2 1002 4396 103c 3045 0c0320 serial bus
00 13 0 1002 4397 103c 3045 0c0310 serial bus
00 13 1 1002 4398 103c 3045 0c0310 serial bus
00 13 2 1002 4396 103c 3045 0c0320 serial bus
00 14 0 1002 4385 103c 3045 0c0500 serial bus
00 14 1 1002 439c 103c 3045 010180 mass storage
00 14 2 1002 4383 103c 3045 040300 multimedia
00 14 3 1002 439d 0000 0000 060100 bridge
00 14 4 1002 4384 0000 0000 060401 bridge
00 14 5 1002 4399 103c 3045 0c0310 serial bus
00 18 0 1022 1300 0000 0000 060000 bridge
00 18 1 1022 1301 0000 0000 060000 bridge
00 18 2 1022 1302 0000 0000 060000 bridge
00 18 3 1022 1303 0000 0000 060000 bridge
00 18 4 1022 1304 0000 0000 060000 bridge
01 05 0 1002 9612 103c 3045 030000 display
08 00 0 14e4 432b 103c 137f 028000 network
09 00 0 10ec 8168 103c 3045 020000 network

Part of the problem is there is some kind of conflict between the integrated stuff and the 5770 when I first turn it on...and when I try hybernating...

In device manager the HD 3200 shows up as PCI BUS 1, Device 5, function 0

HD 5770 Shows up as PCI BUS 2, Device 0, funciton 0

Also I think to avoid ATIFLASH detection HP set the device IRQ of the intergrated card to -2.

From what I understand the 5770 is setting its interrupt to IRQ 4.

Device ID in Windows is 68b8

I verified the grub config also.

Since I can't resolve the bios conflict during startup the boot disk might not be useful for my circumstance because it can't initialize the 5770 on start up... I may be looking at a bios hack...if i wanted to do this bad enough.

Is there a way to use the bootdisk after hibernate?

 

The error 12: is because you have no free 256MB window in 32-bit space for the HD5770. Based on the info you've given, try PCI Reallocation below running 'pt PCI map' before and after to confirm that everything has been relocated out of Dxxxxxxx range. Then chainload into Win7, standby, attach HD5770, resume, whereby Win7 should allocate the HD5770 into that free range and so no longer give error 12.

tx2pr.bat

Code:

:: Relocate all devices starting at D0xxxxxx to E4xxxxxx
:: This will free up D0000000 (256MB) for HD5770
:: Confirm range is free by running 'pt PCI map'
echo Performing PCI Reallocation to free up 256MB window..

setpci -s 9:0.0 22.w=e500
setpci -s 0:6.0 24.l=E501E501
setpci -s 9:0.0 1a.w=e510
setpci -s 8:0.0 12.w=e510
setpci -s 0:5.0 20.l=E510E510
setpci -s 0:4.0 20.l=E610E520
setpci -s 1:05.0 26.w=E620
setpci -s 1:05.0 1a.w=E630
setpci -s 0:1.0 20.l=E630E620
setpci -s 0:14.2 10.l=E6400004
setpci -s 0:13.1 10.l=E6405000
setpci -s 0:13.0 10.l=E6406000
setpci -s 0:12.1 10.l=E6407000
setpci -s 0:12.0 10.l=E6408000
setpci -s 0:11.0 24.l=E6409000
setpci -s 0:13.2 10.l=E6409400
setpci -s 0:12.2 10.l=E6409500
setpci -s 0:14.5 10.l=E6440400

Once you get it working, check in Everest what port the HD5770 appears on. Bios has set the link speed to 2.5Gbps, likely for lower power consumption or legacy support. Can try the code here to set port1 (0:4.0) into x1 2.0 (5Gbps) mode.

 

Wow Nando! That Did it...hotplugging worked instantly... the linked PCIe 2.0 script worked too.

Benchmarking Commencing...

Excellent Work!

Will post results in the DIY experiences section.

 

from here

From my contact with a reseller of theirs I can confirm they learning from what is being done in this thread. Presumably they will provide some software similar to the pre-OS boot PCI Configuration (DIY ViDock bootdisk) to provide greater system compatability, especially with > 3GB RAM configurations.

Yes. Disable ATI overdrive so that your HD4670 runs with stock gpu/VRAM clocks would be the first thing to do to attempt to correct the freeze.

Unfortunately your MCP51 chipset and ViDock2 limit you to x1 1.0 performance. The MCP51 might be able to do x2 1.0 (using two ports with a hwtools' PE4H), but Nvidia won't provide any programmer's documentation to show how to do that. For example, see the MCP79 request.

If you want more graphics performance, consider a system upgrade later this year to expresscard 2.0 systems or purchase a x2 1.0 capable system and a hwtools' PE4H. Or could just buy an inexpensive desktop system.

 

Hi,
You know the PE4H, does it require any external power?

I ask because I want to connect my Windows 7 laptop externally to a Nividia Quadro FX 1800, but as a complete novice/n00b, I need a bit of help.

You see my computer dosen't have a expresscard slot, but does have a firewire 800 slot built in.

So my idea is that I get the PE4H, the graphics card, a 800 firewire adapter & 800-800 firewire cable.

Will this set up work?
My use is as a 3D animation designer using autodesk maya.

kind regards,
PeanutButterJelly108

 

US$107-shipped PE4H_2.0-EC2C preview kit on the right. Main differences over PE4H 1.0 being:

- x4 link capable via 4 mini HDMI connectors. PE4H 1.0 was x2 link capable only. Keeping in mind a x4 link on an Intel chipset would require expressport+mPCIe ports to be available and allocated to port1-port4. Only a handful of Intel-chipset systems have the required port1+port2 accessible to do a x2 link. x4 is going to be harder to find a candidate system. Maybe the MSI GT62x can do it *if* an additional mPCIe connector is soldered onto the pads available for the extra port. - uses a 5A fuse. *some* PE4H 1.0's units shipped with a 2A fuse, rather than the specced 3A as explained here, causing intermittent hangs/reboots requiring a modification or replacement.

- total cost of the kit to do a x2 link is US$139-shipped, where the required extra mini hdmi cable is purchased as a US$6-shipped DX part.

If you don't need PE4H's x2/x4 link ability and would like a cheaper option, consider the US$77-shipped PE4L instead, adding US$5 if need the SWEX to on/off your ATX PSU if you don't want to do the paperclip trick.

I'm expecting hwtools will be listing the PE4H 2.0 in Buy It section sometime soon, since they are now being manufacturered. Appears they are clearing PE4H 1.0 stock at the moment some with reworked 3A fuses.

 

Well I was thinking of purchasing a new Apple MBP but seeing that the graphics card in the new one is not really a big improvement that I hoped it would be, I think I will just wait for the PE4H V2.0 to come out and use this with my 2008 MBP with its expresscard slot. God Bless

 

Update from Gerry of hwtools.net, duplicated from the progress link.

2010/4/14

PE4H V2 engineering sample available on Apr/21. Totally 7PCS goods will sale on www.hwtools.net “buy it now”. May/14 available when mass production smooth going.​

 

Hello,
I am trying to figure out if i should try to use external VGA with my notebook (MSI M655X, Turion ML 37 - 2 GHz, Mobility Radeon x1600, 2GB DDR). (if x2 (1.0) mode wont be possible, i probably wont use it)

On first page of DIY ViDock Experiences are in first post two screens from Everest showing occupied PCIe x1 slots connected to southbridges on two Intel systems. (in section about ablility to use x2 link).

I cant post links yet, so i added screens as attachment and i didnt add links to mentioned threads/sites

My problem is:
My notebook does not have mini pcie slot inside for wifi card, instead it uses older mini pci slot. Expresscard slot /54 is present (of course).

Northbridge used is ATI RD480 (CrossFire Xpress 1600) with 20 pci-e lanes (1.0) for peripherals (it is plus compared to southbridge connected pci-e lanes in intel systems)
//see first attachment

Now, the difference between mentioned screen shots (they have x1 ports) and mine:
//see second and third attachment

As you can see, Everest detects all lines (x16 used by radeon, x2 port2 used by gbit ethernet in x1 mode and another x2 port used by expresscard firewire controller in x1 mode - on second screen removed from system)

Now, i should already have slots configured in x2 modes (x16 + x2 + x2) x16 used by VGA and x2 used by ethernet chip are untouchable.

But I am wondering where does second lane of port that uses one lane for expresscard slot go (any more specific tips than link to article "Accessing BGA pins" mentioned in Experiences thread ?)

Also I am interrested in 3.3V rail usage with connected card - As cheap alternative to connect VGA is in this thread (first post) shown usage of mini PCIe connector and 12V supply.
Specification for normal PCIe slot is max 3A load on 3.3V but for mini PCIe and Expresscard slot specification says it is only slightly above 1A > wouldnt VGA damage notebook if 3.3V connection is used from notebook instead of external supply ?

p.s. i am not sure, if using RE5 benchmark is good idea for measuring GPU bottleneck caused by reduced bandwidth to card. Game is too much CPU dependant, that fps, shown in first post in experience thread are expectable for given CPUs - so they show CPU bottleneck (take a look at PCgamershardware test "Processor benchmarks with Resident Evil 5" - i cant post links yet - i dont have needed post count)

p.s.2 I know that my notebook has slow cpu, I am just trying to be able to play older games on full HD display with everything on max (with e.g. hd4670)

 

Hello again,

PE4L finally arrived and I set up the whole thing, and installed the graphics card driver.
But my laptop is not recognizing the HD5750.
When I shut down my computer and reboot, it starts normal without any errors, even without error 12, as if there isn't any external video card) .
The fan in the 5750 does not spin, too.

It seems like expresscard slot is wokring(also, when I plugged my usb flash drive into the usb port of PE4L, my laptop recognized the drive)and PE4L is powered properly, judging from the fact that both LED lights are lit.

To make sure if I connected everything correctly, here is what I did :
1. Non-expresscard-adapter-connected side of mini HDMI cable is connected to PE4L
2. PSU is attahced to PE4L via molex mini spox.
3. Monitor connected directly to the video card.
4. Video card is plugged into the PE4L in the same way that I saw in the photos uploaded here.

Is there any other step that I might have forgotten? Any help is appreciated.


p.s. I am using Windows XP 32-bit.

 

Two situations where I have seen the HD5750's fan not spinning:

- the 6-pin pci-e connector isn't plugged in
- the EC2C isn't plugged in

While the USB component of the PE4L may work, it is using a different set of pins than the pci-e component.

What PSU are you using?

 

It looks like E2C2 is plugged in...
Because PSU I bought has not arrived due to some problems, I am using one taken out from an old DELL PC which produces 160W. Its model number is PS-5161-7DS.
http://www.impactcomputers.com/u5427.html

For 6-pin pci-e connector, is it supposed to be connected to the graphics card, while the other end goes to PSU?
So I suppose the PSU needs to be connected to both the PE4L and the graphics card?
The PSU I am using does not have 4-pin molex connector, so I could not use the molex-to-pci-e cable included in the HD5750 package in any way.

 

I am going to get a new laptop before fall semester starts and some extra graphic processing power for games. I want something compact (13"ish), good battery life, and decent processing power. Right now I am looking at the Asus U30jc and the new 13" MBP, but neither of these has a expresscard slot.

Any recommendations? Something not too expensive ( like the sony z)

 

Having the 6-pin pci-e connector unconnected means no HD5750 function. Most of the power to drive the HD5750 comes from that connector.

If the Asus U30JC has an accessible mPCIe slot, then could use a PM3N to do a DIY ViDock. Though if using docked graphics, would suggest the better built Lenovo X201 or HP 2540P. Both with expresscards. Eg:

US$840 12" Lenovo X201i i3-330M 2.13 2Gb 250GB W7P
US$980 12" HP 2540P i5-540M 2.53 2GB 250GB W7P
US$1060 12" Lenovo X201 i5-540 2.53 2GB 250P W7P

I believe the 2540P has the same port layout as the 2530P shown here, with expresscard slot=port3, so could do a x1E connection and get 20% more performance.

 

Hi, what about the ThinkPad X201?

Anyone knows what speeds the X201 is capable of in terms of ViDock?

 

It is wokring!

I managed to borrow another power supply, and successfully set up the graphics card.
As expected, code12 error appeared. Since I did not really understand how to make USB bootdisk, I tried installing magmabox driver, and it solved the problem.
Since 5750 is connected to port1 and adjacent port2 is empty, I am also planning to try x1E method soon.
Thanks again to everyone who helped computer-retarded me.

One thing that bothers me is that RE5 benchmark result showed average ~24 frames, which is dramatic increase compared to drastic 2~3 frames, but significantly lower than similarly-performing DV2050's 38 frame shown at the front page.

I wonder if magmabox solution is the cause?

 

Great. Hope to see some benchmark results, x1 1.0 and x1E 1.0 mode

Try DX9 RE5 benchmark, rather than the slower DX10. Other reason I found for slower RE5 benchmark was if I installed 3dmark06 after RE5, then ran RE5. Appears 3dmark06's DX9 libraries give choppy results. RE-installing RE5 benchmark solved the problem.

 

Hmm... The result I posted was actually done in DX9 RE5, and I haven't installed 3dmark06 yet.
Although, it seems like GeForce Go in my laptop is not disabled, and I still can use my laptop monitor as secondary display. Maybe this has something to do with low benchmark result?

Anyway, I will try to get benchmarks for current state, and hopefully improved state if possible, and finally x1E applied state soon .

Thanks for the advice!

 

Are you running the fixed or variable benchmark? The fixed benchmark would probably give you ~24FPS since a T6600-2.2 gets 25FPs. The variable benchmark should get you >40fps at 1280x800 dx9 with a HD5750 and your 2Ghz CPU. The RE5 benchmark is CPU bound so I'm considering using DMCV4 to compare x1, x1E, x2 on low end CPUs.

 

I believed I have determined why some laptops are showing external GPUs with PCIe 2.0 x1 buses/

I determined from this that the Expresscard Port on the HP Tx2 is a Expresscard 1.0 slot connected to a PCIe 2.0 x1 bus... which makes me suspect the that rs780m design is basically the x8 bus divided out as follows:

4 PCIe Lanes to the HD 3200 onboard GPU.
1 Lane to the Realtek Onboard Sound card.
1 Ports to the 1Gbps Ethernet
1 Port to the WLAN card.
1 port to the ExpressCard.

What Everest is recognizing is the PCIe 2.0 x1 bus that the Expresscard 1.0 slot is connected to. (Theoretically this could mean hard core mod-ers could swap out their ExpressCard 1.0 slots for the 2.0 when some OEM parts hit the market).

I hope I'm not repeating already known information... but this seems like the most logical reason for this occurence... However I might be able to use the mpcie slot for the WLAN card to achieve PCIe2.0 speeds. I'll update this post with screenshots of everest and dxdiag to back up my assertions soon.

 

My laptop (sager np2096/compal JHL90) has an expresscard and 3 mini PCI-e ports. Could all of these be combined to make a 4x connection to a graphics card?

Sorry if this was already brought up. There are a lot a pages and I didn't look at all of them.

Edit:

I looked into this more and it looks like all the PE4H does is convert some voltages and makes it easy to hook everything together. I'm thinking that an easy way to do this without soldering directly to the gfx card is get a PE4L or PE4H and 3 of the mini PCI-E plug ins and 1 expresscard plug in. Then I could get a pci-e riser, and solder the connections that the PE4H couldn't handle to the riser. This riser looks amazing for this idea: http://www.genesistech.com.au/PCIE-2PR.jpg Can easily solder to the holes in the middle to add in the additional pci-e lanes.

Anyone see any tragic flaws with my idea?

Another Edit:

Did some testing and apparently one of the mini PCI-E ports doesn't work. With my wifi card installed, everest reported that I only had 2 empty PCI-E slots, even though 2 ports were physically empty and the expresscard port was empty. I moved my wifi card around and found that 1 of the ports simply doesn't work. I don't really know what to make of this. I don't know if was the connector installed with no intention of having it work electrically, or if it's just broken.

 

Hello,

I only have access to one pcie 1.0 X1 slot in my notebook, I was just wondering if increasing the pcie clock speed would help alleviate some of the bandwidth problems?

thanks for posting all of this info by the way, it's pretty awesome

 

It's likely a WWAN slot, with only the USB pins connected.

It will give a minor improvement in performance, as would overclocking the video card. If using an Intel chipset with your expresscard slot being an odd numbered port AND there is no device on the next sequentially numbered port, then a x1E link will give a more substantial 20% performance improvement.

 

I looked up the system's datasheet and it's definitely supposed to be a mini PCI-E port. Emailing back and forth with tech support atm.

 

Can visually inspect the pins. If pin 23/25/31/33 are connected, then it has pci-e lines. If only 36/38 are connected, then it's only USB. See full pinout details here.

If the pci-e lines are connected, can enable all the ports just in case the mPCIe slot is a port that the bios has disabled. Then can swap over the wifi and see if it's detected. See here and here to see how to access RCBA+3418h to enable/disable ports.

 

Sorry to quote myself, but was there a ever a confirmation about the pci-e 2.0 speed for the PM55 that the X201 uses? Basically, 2.5 GT/s or 5.0 GT/s? I read through this thread, but it seems no one got around to actually check the mentioned speeds.

 

See PM55/HM55 details here. Summary -> no x2 1.0 performance on these chipsets. Need to wait for expresscard 2.0 chipsets. Likely will have USB 3.0 as well, since both are rated at 5Gbps.

12" X201 probably can do x2 1.0 as discussed here. The T400 has the same port layout, where the expresscard slot is port4. Likely the same on the X200/X201, so then X200/X201 could do x1 1.0 via expresscard or x2 1.0 via expresscard + mPCIe turbo-memory slot. It can't do x1E using expresscard.

12" HP 2530P can do x1E using expresscard port3, likely the same on the 2540P. It can't do x2 1.0.

 

When just looking at the slot no wires were visible at all, however, no wires were visible either on a fully functional mini PCI-E port so I tried the BAR-edit thing to see what would happen. PCI-E x1 port 6 popped up in everest, but it said "empty" when the wireless card was installed so it looks like the slot isn't wired for pci-e. Even if it worked it's port #6 anyway so it wouldn't have helped. I knew it would be #6 ahead of time but was hoping that maybe they would renumber with it enabled.

Well idk what to do now. My internal card is decent (9600m gt) so I need x4 or a highly overclocked x2 to get a significant upgrade. The ports I have available for an external card are 1-3. Port 4 is hooked up to the ethernet card. Maybe I could disconnect it and reconnect if to an external card but that sounds incredibly difficult and then I'd have to figure out how I'd get an internet connection. Overclocking the PCI-E bus seems practically impossible because of the PLL type.

 

I am now waiting for a 13.3 inch or under laptop that has USB 3.0 and Expresscard 2.0 support, to make it able to do a higher performance 1x 2.0 link, AND enough bandwidth in the USB slot to pipe the image to the laptop screen, without the need for an external monitor.

 

+1. A great setup. Means too somebody needs to make a USB 3.0 frame grabber that can accept HDMI input for redisplay on the notebook LCD. BTW - I did try using iremote (like UVNC), creating a loopback network interface to clone the image from desktop video to the internal LCD. It was really s-l-o-w.

I've added a DX10-centric performance table in the experiences thread. The x2 1.0 linked T2050-1.6 DV2000 offering faster FPS than any x1E linked system. We see that serious DX10 framerates with current games require a x2 1.0 or x1 2.0 (expresscard 2.0) system. DX9 appears to be usable with a x1E link per comments here. Not sure if a 2GB VRAM video card + x1E link would improve things.

Any DIY ViDock users wanting their system in that table please link their 3dmarkvantage and DMCV DX10 benchmarks.

 

So look what I did:



Not as good as it looks though. All I did was disable ports 2-4, then put them all in x4 mode.

So my port 1 is the expresscard slot, 2 and 3 are mini pci-e slots. My wifi card is in port 3 and port 4 is the network "card" (it's integrated into the MB so it's not really a card). I tried just setting the PC to x4 with the wifi and network card active and it results in an instant crash. My network card dropping out when overclocking gave me the idea of disabling the wifi and network card, then with nothing active on ports 1-4 try activating x4 mode. It worked. This is great because it means that I could wire an external card to port 4, and just turn off the network card and activate x4 mode when I want to use the external card, and the opposite when I want to plug in an ethernet cable. I found the datasheet for the network chip and got the pin numbers for the pci-e. Now all i have to do is find the chip and connect wires. Hopefully it isn't too small to hook things up to. I have a usb wireless unit so I'll still have internet with the wifi removed and ethernet turned off.

BTW I can overclock the PCI-E bus by 22% so I'll have basically x5 pci-e bandwidth if this miraculously works.

K so I need some way to get the mini pci-e signals to the card. The mini pci-e to zif converter looks nice but I'm not sure how I would know which signal was which in the ribbon cable. The hwtools mini pci-e stuff seems kinda expensive.

This looks doable! Just a lot of work.

 

Any idea when hwtools will start shipping PE4H v2 to us regular folk?

I've waited a long time to hop on this band wagon... lurking and absorbing all the great info created by nando4 and the "DIYVD" community at large.

My X200 will be so much better once I get this rockin.

 

Hey everybody. First post here. I am wondering if anyone out there would be willing/capable to build me a DIY ViDock that would work with my setup:
17" macbook 2010 macbook pro, core i7 processor, nvidea GeForce GT 330M w 512mb, 8g ram, running Snow Leopard. Need to power 3 external 22" monitors at 1680x1050 each. I'm of course willing to pay for it. Any takers? (And yes, I realize it's a little ironic for a "Do It Yourself", but I'm a software guy - my hardware skills are lacking). Thanks!

 

Well I found the network chip. The pins were too small to solder to and they immediately went into the middle layers of the MB straight to the southbridge so there is nothing else to solder onto instead.

 

I don't think that's possible since unibody MBP lack expressslot IIRC.

I just ordered a X201 hopefully you guy can help me out with what hardware to get to maximize the performance of my 5850.

I have really hard time understanding why doesn't X201 support 1x 2.0 since on your front page you stated:

- x1 2.0 (single port): Intel-chipset: HM55-chipset notebooks?

Which I am pretty sure that's the mobo all Arrandale laptop atm use.

 

The 17" MBP do have expresscard slots. The fact that they're the only model with them is making me look into buying another PC notebook instead

 

Hey Nando4, I'm very interested in making a ViDock myself, but I'm a computer illiterate and know next to nothing about how this works... How hard is it to set this up myself? I've read your tutorial, I think plugging in some cards together is easy (although finding out what type of port I have is hard haha), but I don't feel comfortable messing too much with bios and such as I know nothing about it.

 

So everyone knows that the PM45 chipset doesn't support pci-e 2.0. However, the desktop version, the P45 does. I'm wondering if pci-e 2.0 support was disabled on mobile version since all it really does at x16 is use more power, and that the chipset may actually physically support it, but we just have to set it.

I looked at the P45 datasheet and found the control registers to go from 2.5 GT/s to 5.0 GT/s. They are software writable, and what my Bar-edit says corresponds exactly to what a P45 bar-edit would be saying if it was running at 2.5GT/s. The catch is that you have to first disable the PCI-E link, change the registers, then re-enable the link. I tried disabling my graphics card's pci-e link and the screen instantly froze, so I assume it worked. I also tried editing the bit that's supposed to reset the pci-e bus and it also froze the system, so I'm thinking that windows doesn't like suddenly no longer being able to talk to the graphics card.

So I'm thinking that changing my boot order to USB 1st HD 2nd that I can run a batch file off a flash drive, then boot to windows. I'm thinking that DOS won't hang on losing the gfx card so the batch should complete. Windows will see none of this so it should start up fine.

The main problem I have now is that I only know the offset address, not the actual memory address to write to. Another problem is that I don't know how to write batch files, and directly editing memory is surprisingly not in the beginning tutorials.

Address for changing max supported pci-e link speed:

Bus 0, Device 1, Function 0, offset 0xAC
bit1 = 0 and bit0 = 1 is 2.5GT/s
bit1 = 1 and bit0 = 0 is 5.0GT/s


Disabling PCI-E link:

Bus 0, Device 1, Function 0, offset 0xB0
Bit4 = 1 disables the link. Changing it back to 0 re-enables it.

Datasheet:

http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/datasheet/319970.pdf
go to chapter 6

This probably won't work, but I can see a small chance at it working so I figured that I'd try it out.

Edit:

Found the memory addresses. All I did was hit "save" in Bar-edit, then "showini" and there it was.

Edit2:

That address actually seems to be wrong. It doesn't follow the formula Nando4 came up with.

Edit3:

K I think the addresses are 0xBFE04E6E and 0xBFE04E6A. Trying to copy nando4's code but I get the error that the "pt" command is not recognized. Even running his batch file gave me this error.

Edit4:

Nope still wrong addresses even though i followed nando4's formula. Gave me memory all at FFFFFFFF values.

 

That's the x16 link coming off the used to attach dedicated graphics. Doing what your suggesting would have some performance improvement if you have a dedicated graphics system AND the manufacturer has set the link to x16 1.0 speed. Seems the MSI GT627 here does have it's 9800M running at x16 1.0 speeds. So maybe Moral Hazard can try switching his system to 2.0 speeds using following script? Not sure what will happen in DOS when the gpu link is disabled/enabled, but I figure at least the LCD would blank for at least a microsecond.

pcie20.bat

Code:

:: Disable x16 pci-e link
setpci -s 0:1.0 B0.l=10:10

:: pci-e link Max Link Speed (MLS)
:: 0/1.0 AC-AFh, bit 3:0 0001=2.5Gbs, 00010=5Gbps/2.5Gbps
setpci -s 0:1.0 AC.l=2:3

:: Enable the x16 pci-e link. Does automatic Linkx retraining
setpci -s 0:1.0 B0.l=0:10

DIY ViDock uses the expresscard/mPCIe slot that runs off the I/O controller So look at the ICH9M datasheet instead. Link control/status of the pci-e ports is at RCBA+01A4h and RCBA+01AA, bit 3:0 (01=2.5GT/s). I tried setting that to the (10=5GT/s) and it just reverts back to 01=2.5GT/s mode.

 

Yeah I know it's for the internal graphics card. I was thinking that maybe changing the graphics card to 2.0 might affect the x1 slots as well. It's not supposed to run at 2.0 speeds anyway so who really knows what would happen. I get bored on the weekends so I do odd stuff like this.

Also when you tried setting to 5.0 GT/s mode did you turn off the PCI-E first? It specifically states in the datasheet that before making changes that PCI-E link must be turned off or else any change will be ignored.

 

Hey guys, ive been readong some pages of these products because i too am looking for external solutions to the downfalls of having a laptop. I see alot of the testing has been done with GFX cards, but the reason why i have been searching for such a product is that i want to add a PCI-E capture device to my laptops Expresscard Slot.

first would a HD PCI-E capture device work with PE4L-EC2C or PE4H-EC2C?
Would the speed be fast enough for the capture to be smooth and viewable?

hope someone can help because i need a solution for my University work.

 

x1.0 is 2.5Gbps in each direction. Ie: 250MB/s TX and RX=500MB/s total.
1920x1080x32bit=8MB per frame, 30FPS requires 240MB/s to capture uncompressed raw video. Just below the 250MB/s RX limit. Any real-time compression would reduce the bandwidth requirements.

To have confidence in such a solution I would advise confirming the candidate system can do a x1E link if it has a intel chipset. A x2 1.0 link would have bandwidth sufficient to do 60FPS full uncompressed HD video capture.

 

thank you, i have a intel chipset..your explanation for me is quite complex (sorry), i understand the first part easy. just confused about what you mean by "x2 1.0 link" and how would i confirm whether my system can do a x1E link?

the capture card that im thinking of being compresses te video its not uncompressed raw HD.

AVerMedia MPD USA - PCTV tuner card - HDTV tuners - ClearQAM - TV Tuner Card - AVerTV HD DVR

above is the link to the card im thinking of buying if everything adds up

edit: would the 2.0 be the mini pci where the wireless card might be?

 

if that capture card is meant for 1x pci-e slot then it'll probably work

 

yeh it is, im hoping it will work. i emailed the HWtool company and received a reply about 40 mins ago. and even they stated that it should work fine. recomended me the PE4H + EC2C.

really interested to try this, but will they be releasing a newer model of the PE4H any time soon?

 

just opened the bottom case of my laptop, i found the wireless card plugged into the mini PCI card slot but i also discovered another mini PCI card slot right next to the processor...so i have 1x expresscard slot and 2x mini pci slots. is that good?

 

What notebook is it? If it's an Intel chipset, try swapping over the wifi card and seeing what port it comes up as in Motherboard->Chipset->Southbridge. It may happen the second mPCIe slot is WWAN and only has USB pins.

To do a x2 link requires combining port1+port2 OR port3+port4 OR port5+port6. Intermediate combinations are not possible, eg: port1+port4. You won't know what the expresscard slot is until you plug something into it like USB 3.0 or e-sata and it's shown, but often the bios will disable unused ports (port2-6) so may be able to deduce from there. port1 is enabled and may be a phantom port since it acts as a root port to control the others.