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

i have a acer aspire 5920 and yes intel chipset. the wifi card has wires attached to it and i dont think it will reach the other mini pci slot due to wire restriction, but ill have another little fiddle tomorow morning.

so by combing ports do you mean something like the following:

e.g. having a outlet from PE4H to both expresscard slot and mini pci? aslong as there either 1-2 3-4 5-6.

hope you can clear that up for me.

 

Those wires are the wifi antennas. They can likely be disconnected and you can see if the system recognizes the card in the other slot.

 

nando4 whenever I try your memory writing commands (pt mem write 4, setpci -s) I get that the command is not recognized when trying to run files in windows, and off of a USB drive which I tried with win98 and freedos. Basic commands like echo work, but those do not.

edit:
nvm. Finally realized that those were calling external files that I needed to have on the USB drive.

 

OK DOS also doesn't like losing its connection to the graphics card. I tried the batch file that you wrote below (I deleted the comments):

setpci -s 0:1.0 B0.l=10:10
setpci -s 0:1.0 AC.l=2:3
setpci -s 0:1.0 B0.l=0:10

Running the batch file would result in "setpci -s 0:1.0 B0.l=10:10" being displayed, followed by a blinking cursor on the next line and the system would be unresponsive. Avoiding the file and entering "setpci -s 0:1.0 B0.l=10:10" only (which disables the PCI-E link and does nothing else) had the same exact result as the pci2 batch file.

I Also commented out the line in the batch file that changes the max link speed so all it would do was turn the link off and on, and it had the same result.

The system does not completely hang when trying to turn the link off. If I do ctrl+alt+del it restarts fine.

Seems odd that even simple DOS would crash over this. Maybe there are additional commands to stop/start sending data in addition to disabling/enabling the link?

 

Moral Hazard performed the same test with a GT627 using a MXM 9600GT. It too would hang if the x16 pci-e link was downed. Just setting the link speed to 5Gpbs did not alter any gpu-z reporting. It was still x16 (no 2.0) so not sure if the MXM card itself can do pci-e 2.0.

 

Hello everyone, I'm new in the forums... I tried to order the PE4L... but after some calculations... I discovered a lovely surprise...

PE4L + Shipping + Taxes =~ $200 (usd)

which is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of discussion...

I wanted to know if there is an EC2C version of the schematics without the USB... to build it myself

cause I was reading the PE4L manual, and there is no even one note about the usb port... So I want to build the express card extension + PE4L... without the USB features
cause in my country I can't find the required components either, I'm from Argentina, and I'm not that good at electronics to replace the components myself.


Thanks for reading this far, and for your efforts in this project!

 

Unless you have US$123 import fees it cannot be US$200.

PE4L is US$55, worldwide packing+shipping is US$22. Total is US$77-shipped. It comes with a USB port. Just need to add a video card and an appropriate PSU to drive it.

 

I was going to use an extra service to ship it.
There is a local company that does all the dirty work for you. We have serious problems with customs... sometimes they let your product arrive... other times (if the product has a value around 20 usd or more) they hold it and you have to pay 50% the value of the product to get it back (I'm not kidding)

so that whould be 77 + 38
But I was going to use the services from this company to get the product, which adds 10% to the value of the product..
so yeah, it's not 200 usd, it's about 130 usd... which is still twice the price...

I'm interested anyway. But how could I be sure that it will arrive? I mean... are customs included in the price?


I actually took the time to do a better research... and I don't ahve good news for me

Source:
http://www.afip.gov.ar/english/postalSystem.asp#d

 

Aloha ppl!

Been out of the country for a while, back and ready to play.

@Nando and Khenglish

If you disable the link that the OS you are currently in is using, you will crash. It needs to be accomplished before your OS is loaded.

 

is this compatible with a Dell Studio 1558

My specs are
core i3
3g RAM
ATI Radeon 4570HD 512

 

HP Pavilion G70-467CL
HP G70-467cl Refurbished Notebook PC - Intel Pentium T4300 2.1GHz, 4GB DDR2, 320GB HDD, DVDRW, 17" WXGA+, Vista Home Premium 64-bit at TigerDirect.com

is this also compatible?

 

3GB shouldn't be a problem. It's only if you install 4GB that it might. Why? Dell tend to be tight with their TOLUD setting so no room to free up a 256MB window to host a desktop video card. Also the 4570 won't let you relocate it. The Intel HD graphics version would be a better candidate for 4GB or more operation.

Yes. 4500MHD is 64-bit relocatable if needed. HP tend not to be tight with their TOLUD setting so probably don't need it.

 

thanks a lot

 

is it still working that way ?

 

wow did you guys see the engadet link? They are giving all the credit to HardOCP and that other guy.

PCIe Radeon HD 5850 connected to Lenovo T410s, great gaming ensues -- Engadget

Tip Endgadget and let them know that nando4 and moral hazard and who ever else was involved in the processes gets credit for there work.

 

Hmm... seriously thinking about doing this.

So after reading 50 or so pages I still cant determine:

1: Do ANY current notebooks support pcie 2.0 over expresscard or minipcie?
2: If so, which ones?

I would like to get a 12" or 13" max notebook and hook up 2gb HD5870 in a home made dock.

I dont want to use it in a 1x1.0 link though.

I read bits here and there about an nvidia chipset working in 2.0 and an ati chipset working in 2.0 but couldnt find any specific notebook model numbers.

Any help?

Thanks

-Ash

 

There are current 2 systems listed as running x2 1.0 (combining 2 ports) and another in the works (x2 1.0 Clevo with a HD5850). There are no expresscard 2.0 notebooks available atm. ASUS informed me expresscard 2.0 will be released "later this year". Intel i-core chipsets advertise pci-e 2.0 compliance, but that's *just* for the power consumption. They don't do a 5Gbps (x1 2.0) link.

Worth noting, Intel's x1 1.0 pci-e notebook ports are not running at full speed. They benchmark at only 70-80% of what other NVidia/AMD x1 1.0 links produce. Likely the ports are running half duplex.

We have a x1E workaround to obtain full speed, but that only applies if you are using an odd-numbered port. No solution yet for those wanting full x1 1.0 performance on a Intel even numbered pci-e port.

 

Can I have a link to the clevo thats currently in development?

Thanks

-Ash

 

Start here. It works with 2GB. Only issue now is getting it going with 4GB. We discovered the 9800M GTS sets up a 512MB bar, likely a SLI compliant BIOS, so no free room to host the HD5850 in 32-bit space. Relocating the 9800M GTS into 64-bit space didn't work, so am asking JB007 to use a vbios that sets up only a 256MB BAR. That was our last comms.

 

What cards are compatible with the dell xps m1530 with Nvidia 8600m gt onboard

 

There's a M1530+HD5770 implementation here. If you have 4GB of RAM, recommend download the DIY ViDock Setup and see if reports, or can make via compaction, a free 256MB window for ATI cards in 32-bit space. If not, then a NVidia card is the way to go since we've been able to relocate desktop 9600GT to 64-bit space. ATI drivers appear to still be in stuck in 32-bit land.

The M1530's expresscard slot is port5, so could run a x1E link. Means it's worthwhile getting a faster video HD57xx class card. ATI cards offer better x1 1.0 link performance and are cheaper. Better bang-per-buck than NVidia atm.

 

Ok, I have done some more reading.

I am interested in an alienware m11x (but not the current model, the upcoming corei7 upgraded model).

Now, assuming they are lazy (they probably are) they will keep the internal layout and just do a circuitry/chipset/cpu upgrade.

If so:

Notebook Reviews - Laptop Reviews and Netbook News Picture

Thats the inside of the m11x.

Am I able to put in 2 of the mpcie -> p4Eh (physically) into this board?

I dont know much about the software/chispet limitations, but I assume optimus is involved with the next model - how does optimus fare with P4Eh solution?

-Ash

 

The M11x has a wifi slot, a wwan slot and an expresscard slot. Need to know the port numbers of those since Intel chipsets allow a x2 link using port1+port2, port3+port4, port5+port6 ONLY. Can't do a port1+port3 x2 link for example. Everest will tell you the port numbers but you need a pci-e device plugged into the expresscard slot (eg: e-sata/usb 3.0), or in the mPCIe (wifi/turbo memory).

Consider too a 12" Lenovo X20x. Much thinner/lighter than a m11x and appears to have port layout to do x2 (ie: turbo memory slot3 + wifi slot 4). That's using 2xPM3N (mPCIe) products. Not sure how accessible those slots OR what kind of whitelisting Lenovo implement. Had to do a whitelisting workaround for a HP 2510P, so it might be the same. Need a pioneer to demonstrate a Lenovo x20x implementation.

Maybe Lenovo can donate a unit? Would make a great sales lead for thin/light/powerful gpu.

 

I had a look at those lenovo units. While thinner and lighter, they have no character.
They are akin to an old man in a second hand suit.
The alienware is more neo/morpheus looking by comparison.

Also, i wasnt aware the alienware had an expresscard slot?

-Ash

 

I also have an XPS 1530 with 8600GT (I have 3GB ram) and I just used the DIY ViDock Setup tool and got these results:

"largest empty PCI range < 4GiB @ c0000000, size 512.00 MiB"
So should I use Nvidia or ATI?

and iport scan returned:
"p1@x1 11ab:4354x1
p2@x1 8086:4229@x1 (intel)
P5@X1"
..what does that mean?

Everest shows that only port #2 is in use by the video card.
Could this mean I'll be able to get x1E speeds?

 

Plenty of room to host a ATI card with 3GB installed. If you connect 4GB then might hit problems where PCI compaction is required.

p1=onboard ethernet, p2=wifi, p5=expresscard slot. p5, which you'll use to host your ATI card can run as a x1E link, so worth getting a faster card. HD5770 offering a lot of bang-per-buck.

 

SWEET!

Thank you very much nando4!

 

Does it have to be an Intel Chipset,

I have HP Pavillion dv5 1002nr, which is AMD Chipset, i looked and i have PCI-E 2.0 open (Expresscard) was wondering if DIY ViDock would work?

 

MSI GUS photos from Computex Taipei

 

i am so sorry to ask this..is this thing about make the DIY vidock already been made by one of you..is it really working??..cause the thread is so long..i only end up reading to page 45 only..sorry for the laziness..and is there any problem if connecting it to expresscard of XPS m1530??i noticed a reply before me..but just want a confirmation..and i see your recommendation is ATI HD5770..is there any risk..

sorry for being lazy to read all the reply..thank you..

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-vidock-experiences.html

 

Did some testing of the PCI reallocation program and it can give me 256MB with 4GB ram, but the OS will crash when loading whenever I do so. Also it will only load my xp install and not my win7 (the xp is 32bit while the win7 is 64bit). If i edit the startup.bat from xp to w7 it loads neither.

When you say that intel's x1 ports only give around 75% of the performance they're supposed to, does that mean that in an x2 setup they'll also only provide 75% performance, or will they be full speed?

Update:
I actually can't load either OS even if I don't change anything with the program. w7 says an error occured and it can't find /BCD/boot and I should get my installation disk. xp just bsods with a bunch of mumbo jumbo.

 

i have question sorry the topic is so long im not even sure where to find it in here

i have a Toshiba sat l305-s5921 running windows 7 2 gigs ram intel gm4500


if i got a PE4H + atx12v + ati hd 5770 and a monitor will these mean im done and i just plug it in a play or do i really need to do some software type stuff and what about the vidock 2 is that really all the same and is that plug and play

sorry for being such a noob and if u answer can u dumb it down abit for me to understand

 

1. It will work. It might be plug and plug or it might not. It depends on what the Toshiba bios does when it encounters a HD5770 on a pci-e port. ViDock 2 and PE4L being treated the same by the bios.

2. If encounter error 12: cannot allocate resources, or want to use higher performance x1E mode on an odd-numbered expresscard port, then use DIY ViDock Setup 1.x (USB).

3. NVidia desktop graphics has no problems with 64-bit PCI allocation. So would not encounters error 12 with them. Also latest GTX480@x1 DIY ViDock benchmarks has it seriously outperforming a HD58xx on a x1 1.0 link.

Suggest a US$280 GTX465 over a HD5770 for it's superior x1 1.0 performance and no error 12: cannot allocate resource issues.

 

im really thinking fo getting the gtx465 but i wonder is there a diff from using a PE4L or a PE4H and will i need a dif power supply trying to get this all right before i regret what i buy

 

GTX465 has 2x6-pin connectors. So you need 75W+75W plus another 75W for the slot, total=225W.

PE4H has x4 capability and onboard 15-20V to 12V voltage regulation for the slot if using the DC jack to drive it. I believe you don't need either of those features, so can just buy a US$77 PE4H and put the rest towards a GTX465.

Can't wait for someone to post GTX465 benchmarks results at x1 and x1E.

 

Brand/Make: Asus A8SR
CPU: Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2 GHz
RAM: 3 GB DDR2 (667 MHz)
Platform/Chipset: Santa Rosa, Intel Crestline-PM PM965, ICH8M
Laptop Graphics card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2400 128mb
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit

Ok, i am trying to make an external GPU and i bought PE4H from hwtools, and bought a 19V 4.74A 90W PSU. I think i will be buying ATI HD5670 but i am still not sure. DO you guys recommend other card?

Below is the screenshot of everest showing the pci e ports...so do i know beforehand which one is for expresscard or i can only know after i plug one in?


I would want to know will it be plug and play for me?
Would like to know when i should plug in the expresscard, when to reboot and etc....
How do i change between direct x 9 and 10? seems that both gives different performance boost so which one is better for me?
Does x1E means just plugging in EC2C and configure using USB Bootdisk(in my case)?

If you need any more info, i will try and get it and post it so it will be easier for you...

I am sorry, i am noob in this, i read around 20 pages here, there are some stuffs i could grasp but some are too technical for me....

hope someone can help....i am still awaiting the things to come(PE4H and PSU) since i just bought them today...

Any help is appreciated...THANKS!

 

ASUS F8SA has exact same port layout with it's expresscard as port5 as shown in this post. Likely yours is too. If so then can apply x1E tweak.

Your 12V/6A (72W) PSU won't work using the PE4H's DC connector. You'll need to connect up via it's floppy molex plug with some sort of adapter OR get a PE4L instead which allows a DC adapter jack (2.5mm/5mm or 2.5/5.5mm) to plug in via it's DC jack.

72W will limit you to a HD5670. If can go 12V/80W AC adapter then could do a 12V/80W HD5750 implementation. The extra bandwidth liberated by the x1E tweak making it worthwhile to consider. Or for same price could do a ATX PSU + HD5770.

Beyond a HD5770 gets into more $$$ territory where I recommend a GTX465 over a HD58xx. Recent GTX480 benchmarks showing NVidia GTX4xx having superior performance on a x1 1.0 link. It also has no Win7 driver restrictions to 32-bit PCI allocation as is the case with ATI, so is more likely plug'n'play. The only downside is the GTX465 starts at US$280.

 

yeah i looked into the F8SA and it is quite similar to mine...do i only need to hook ec2c into the express card slot for the x1E tweak?

hmmm looking properly at the pictures, so i need a 80W 12V DC (notebook AC adapter) 5.5mm 2.5mm to connect into the PE4H, then connect the graphic card to a 32W 12V DC (external DVD writer caddy)[not sure what is this since i just copied it from then F8SA post]?

I have paid for the PE4H so i cant go back now, but i hvnt paid for the 12v/6a 72w PSU so i would be able to change it....so if i just change the order to a 12v/80w then i can plug it into the PE4H?
Do i still need to connect PE4H and the graphic card via the floppy molex plug?

 

Yes. Port5 is an odd numbered port so can apply x1E tweak.

Can't plug 12V/72W or 12V/80W AC adapter via the DC jack. The regulated PE4H DC Jack requries 15-20V. So to use your AC adapter would need to use the floppy molex plug to drive 12V straight, requiring some sort of adapter.

If you haven't paid for the 12V AC adapter yet then consider getting a small ATX or 1U PSU instead + HD5770. A better way to use the PE4H. PE4L is a better one for direct use with a 12V/72W or 12V/80W adapter use if needing a more portable DIY ViDock.

 

Is this ok?

i realise some of the psu have different output connector diameter for its external and internal diameter. which diameter fits the PE4H dc jack?

What i dont understand is, is it that i have to connect the a 19v 90w ac adaptor to the PE4H then a floppy molex plug to the graphics card? OR do i just need a 19v 90w.....

the 1U PSU doesnt seem convenient and complicated for noobs like me...

i just want to simply do a simple PE4H to the expresscard slot, dvi-d from the graphics card(i might go for either hd 5670,5750 or 5770 depending on which you recommend to work for me better) to the external monitor and 19v 90w PSU to the PE4H, is it possible?

 

US$9-delivered 19V/4.74A (90W) 2.5/5.5mm will do the job straight into the PE4H DC jack. No need to do any floppy molex adapters. It will run your HD5670. The PE4H's voltage regulation will deduct 1.4V, so will supply ~12V/80W.

No problem. The 19V/90W PSU (12V/80W after regulation) will mean a 112W HD5770 is out. 65W HD5670 can be driven OK. Low power HD5750 might be able to accomodated, but it's more complicated. See here.

Go Green! HD5750 would be straight plug and plug. Gigabyte HD5750 would need a patch lead from the 12V floppy molex (using it as *output*) to the 6pin pci-e power plug on the HD5750. It needs 81W total at absolute peak load which the PE4H+19V/90W PSU would supply off regulated 12V rail.

HD5750 is 50% faster on a x16 2.0 link than a HD5670. See here.

 

THANKS nando4 you are the best =) however, will it be able to run HD5750 or HD5770? edit: Thanks for the answer.

So actually i might be able to use HD5750(either gigabyte or powercolor go green) using this psu(without the complexity of using floppy molex adapters)?(Actually looking at F8SA, he seems to use an additional PSU) so it seems the 5750 cannot be powered only with the 19v 90w psu...am i right?

is there a big difference between HD5670 and HD5750? edit:Thanks for the answer.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After i read review on HD5670, it seems it's not quite worth going for given the price...so i will go straight to HD5750 =D (Oh wait! after 6hours strolling around the internet, i think connecting a psu to the 6-pin connector of the graphic card is not that hard actually.....am thinking of getting a HD5770 now lol)

So i guess the best choice would be powercolor go green HD5750 which would only need to be powered using the 19V 90W ac adaptor?
Is there performance difference between powercolor and gigabyte HD5750?
Only around $10 difference between the 1GB HD5670 and 1GB HD5750 sold at my local store so i might be getting HD5750 if it will only need a 19V 90W ac adaptor and nothing else to run, since it is better than HD5670 without needing more complicated wires.

i am thinking of doing this with the PE4H V2.0, 19V 90W PSU and the gigabyte HD5750 with the connections like this(just basically substitutes some words from the original description)

- 19V/90W supplied by AC adapter is going in via the PE4H's DC jack
- the PE4H then has up to ?W it can deliver from it's ?V rail
- power is split off via the floppy molex to the 6-pin pci-e plug(erm, what is the use of connecting the PE4H to the 6-pin pci- connector of the HD5750? is it because to transfer more power to the graphic card as not enough power is transferred by only plugging the graphics card to the PE4H board?)
- total power needed by Gigabyte HD5750 is ?W at full load
(? means i dont know how much W and V it will be, too noob for these but i will try my best)

am i describing it right? and will i have success with it or what are the chances i might succeed in doing it?


any help? thanks.

 

Clevo x8100 has HDMI INPUT and HDMI output so it may be possible to connect a videocard to it directly. It uses some kind of player that only accepts pal/ntsc so I don't know if it'll work
http://www.xxodd.nl/manuals/XNi8100x.pdf

 

Businessweek review of the Clevo X8100 tells us:

So yes, there is a possiblity the desktop video card could be integrated nicely to use an external GPU to drive the internal LCD. I hope they've provided a switch so the notebook can remain on and running when using this rather than just act as only a LCD with no working system.

 

Does this X8100 come with ExpressCard 2.0. BTW, X7200 will too be shipping with HMDI-in. Maybe, this standard is going to spread?

 

X8100 uses PM55 chipset here. All current series-5 Intel chipsets used with i-core CPUs: HM55/57, PM55, QM57, QS57 all run 2.5GBps pci-e 2.0 ports. Need Intel to release a chipset with 5Gbps pci-e 2.0 ports. Likely will feature the 5GBps USB 3.0 along with it.

 

Hi

I been reading this forum for a while and i seems to be little confused on the pcie. My laptop got two free pcie 2.0 x 1, one for expresscard and the other one is somewhere inside.So my expresscard is not expresscard 2.0 even though it got pcie 2.0 x1 connection? Is it true that the HM55 motherboard is running the pcie at 2.5gbps instead of 5gbps, so the perfomance loss is 20 or 60 percent? Also does a gtx 260 core 216 require memory allocation?

 

Hey guys, I'm trying to follow some of the things that you have discussing here as well.

So first off, I plan to buy an Alienware M15x for college very soon. It seems like its my perfect balance between minimum portability (~3 hours battery) and maximum laptop performance.

I'm trying to figure out, though, if I can get an external video card solution to work for my M15x. Why, with that beast of a mobility 5850 inside the laptop? For the possibility of running an eyefinity setup when I am plugged in at home. I would plan on buying either a desktop 5870 or 5970 card connected to a PE4H input. I would probably be able to function with just an expresscard x1.0 link, but I would prefer to get the x2 link with the PE4H connected to both an expresscard and a mPCI-e (PM3N) link.

So, now to the Alienware M15x. I know that the M15x has an expresscard slot. So I can for sure link the PE4H to the expresscard and get ~50% of performance of a 5870, from what I've read.

What I'm trying to figure out is if the Alienware M15x has a mPCI-e (PM3N) link available inside it to hook it up that way. Can anyone help me with this?

I have heard discussion here: that the mPCI-e inside the M15x is only a half mini slot.

Can anyone say if the Alienware M15x has a PM3N link inside of it? Or, if the slots inside the Alienware M15x are only half mini cards (what does that mean, exactly), are they compatible with a PM3N link back to the PE4H?

Thanks so much for any help guys!

 

PM3N is designed so can be snapped in half along the shown perforations to function as half mini slot. You need the port layout to confirm x2 is possible as x2 can only be done by combining port1+port2, port3+port4, port5+port6. See
2. Can my system use PE4H's x2 1.0 link for superior performance shown in PCI-E Scaling Analysis? in the FAQ section. Some systems have more than 1 mPCie slot.