ThinkPad W530 - eGPU Questions

tl;dr looked at DIY thread, still confused. How much for a basic eGPU, card and all? Can it display on the internal monitor without additional hardware, via Optimus?

I've looked at the DIY eGPU thread, but i still don't quite understand most of this eGPU stuff, as there is a lot of material to cover, but I have a couple questions.

If I wanted to have an eGPU solution for the ThinkPad W530, how much would i need to spend, bare minimum for performance equivalent to a 650M total, meaning, including the graphics card, PSU, etc.?

Would I be able to get something good enough for $150? What about $250? Would I be able to get something more powerful for those prices, or am I being unreasonable? When I say those prices, I mean for everything I would need that I wouldn't have bought with the laptop itself.

And I don't follow when the thread talks about feeding the video back to the internal monitor. Can it be done without additional, costly hardware, or no? I could always used my external monitor, but I'm thinking if I could make a small enclosed eGPU solution, and I wanted to go to a LAN party or something, it would be awesome to not need to take my monitor with me. From what i read I just can't tell if I need extra hardware, or if Optimus can do it right from the expresscard. Just a bit confused.

 

Yes w530 can use internal monitor via internal screen via optimus drivers. (because the w530 has an internal Intel GPU)

For costs, do the next math:
-PE4L adapter (works via expresscard)
-Graphics card
-Power supply (choose Xbox360 adapter for portability)

 

Would I want the PE4L or the PE4H? PE4H looks more like for a high-end GFX card. I understand they are different connections, but is one adapter better than the other, due to speed limitations of Expresscard or something? And when you say Xbox 360 adapter, you mean the PSU, but would the terminating end not need a new connection?

EDIT: Found the thread about the Xbox PSU, and I don't think I'd feel comfortable pulling apart a power supply and rewiring everything. I'll just grab a cheap or old PSU, make sure everything works the way i want, then get a better PSU. Then find a box with some padding and throw everything in there.

Also was looking at the PE4L vs PE4H. I was confused because the PE4L is a lot smaller, so I didn't think it would take a full-sized card. I see pictures of it, though, with the card having just the one end in the adapter. Still confused as to which gives better performance, however. But it's not like it matters right this instant. down the road, I'll look closer.