ViDock 2 - My experiences so far

Yes. We are getting some real-world data now. See link below:

Resident Evil 5 and Crysis FPS pci-e scaling analysis x16 2.0, x1 2.0, x1 1.0
for a HD4870-1GB and HD3850-256MB

 

ViDock2 does work with VISTA IF:

1. Your laptop has an ATi video card
2. Your BIOS is properly written to allocate resources to the ExpressCard slot according to ExpressCard.org (PCMICA.org) standards.

 

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad with ATI switchable graphics between the ATI Mobility Radeon HD3650 and the Intel 4500 integrated graphics. The Bios can switch between integrated, discrete and switchable graphics.

So could I use Vidock 2 with Vista on my Thinkpad T500?

 

As long as it meets both conditions I wrote above...yes.

There is no way for me to know if #2 has been met by IBM, but even if you find it does not work you can return it for a full refund, less shipping costs.

 

Ok thnks, but given the Vista restrictions how would it work? Would I have to keep reinstalling the ATI 4670 and ATI (switchable graphics) 3650 drivers every time I wanted to switch between using the Thinkpad with or without the Vidock 2?

 

No, the ViDock2 works through the ExpressCard slot and is connected to one or two external monitors. You don't have to reload anything.

 

Donald, thanks for being patient with me.

Yes I now see from the ATI Catalyst driver release notes that my ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650, the desktop ATI Radeon HD 4670 as well as the new HD 4890 all use the same Catalyst driver for Vista 32.

So Steiner32 had to use Windows 7 for his benchmark of Vidock 2 on Lenovo Thinkpad T400 with Intel integrated graphics only. Whereas I on my Lenovo Thinkpad T500 with ATI switchable graphics between ATI HD 3650 and Intel 4500MHD can use Vista because I already have the right ATI graphics driver installed for the ATI desktop card inside the Vidock 2.

Think you sold me on getting the new Vidock 4 when it ships -- the Bios of T400 and T500 will be very similar so if it works on Steiner32's T400 I am pretty sure it will work on my T500.

 

this thread came to a screaching halt... can some one wake it up? any new news? any new awesome theories that cant be proven and mini flame wars can be started? (NO FLAME WARS PLZ! WAS KIDING).

 

The performance credentials of ViDock2 should be double-checked. I cannot see how it's possible to get only get Villagetronics claimed of only 6% performance drop going from x16 2.0 to x1 1.0. We have documented over 50% performance drop in Crysis as shown here and here. Expressport 2.0 would reduce that to only a 16.5% drop.

 

I did post this under another forum, but just as a test i ordered the Vidock 2 system without a video card. The next few days i will be getting a ATI Radeon HD 4850. This card is maxed supposedly at 110watts. The Vidock system PWR is good up to 100W. I will test this out to see if it works, in the meantime i will be looking to get a more powerful Pwer supply. My laptop is a 3yr old, Dell E1705 with an ATI Radeon X1400 and a DualCore 2.33MHZ i think (T7900) which is upgraded from a 1.8MHZ(t5700) processor. My card is very limited to new games..i could have upgraded from dell to a Nvidia 7900go to the tune of $400. Refurbished. I saw this solution to be better due to the fact you can upgrade video cards in it, not only that if i build a desktop it will take the card as well. Yes i can afford to buy a new high end gaming laptop. But if i can save $2000 with this for close performance or at least playable then i see huge benefits. Plus im deployed in Iraq and a little bored so i needed a little project to kill some time.

 

I would be careful with the information that the ViDock2 PWR is good up to 100W. The power supply is 72 Watts.

Also, the ATi 4750 will not fit in the ViDock2...it is too long, the board and cooling system is not made for it.

The ViDock2 is designed for the ATi 4650 and subsequent cards of that class.

 

Just plug an external PSU (do the "paperclip mod" to boot it)to your card via the sooo called 6 or 8 pins , put one or two more fans over there and attach them to the external PSU and leave the card cool itself with the fans.

The vidock 2 is simply a PCI-E 1X to ExpressCard / 34 adaptor with a built-in PSU oh yeah and also an USB jumper...

 

If it is longer its OK, the ends of the Vidock screw off allowing for that..also the adapter slides easily in and out allowing for adjustment, if the fan does not align to the card, i will remove the fan from the Vidock and use the one that comes with the card.(you have to remove anyway to fit in the Vidock) Like i stated im testing this so as soon as the card gets here i will keep you informed.

 

well to start this post off, ur pic is freaking hilarious mexican snake. loll

i wish u luck with the vidock and iraq. hope it works cuz that 4850 is awesome.


now... to wait for the vidock 4

 

ViDock users may be interested. Some very impressive DIY ViDOCK results. A Dell T7500-2.2 Dell M1330 with the DiY ViDock using a GTX260 got 53.3FPS in Resident Evil 5 1280x1024 32-bit benchmark. Benchmark results suggest product has integrated a x2 1.0 pci-e link (still to confirm).

 

Well hopefully this works as I have a M1530m, similar to the 1330, so I am assuming that if it works on the 1330 I should be gtg on my 1530. Will this be available for sale in a kit in the near future?

 

Just curious... haven't seen this come up so sorry if I missed it.

Has anyone tried this on an AMD system? If so, does it work with the internal laptop screen? Because AMD said that it should work with the internal screen on their chipsets.

Or how about trying to use the Fujitsu Amilo drivers? I think the internal display works on that system, but dont know if Fujitsu developed the drivers themselves or if it will only work on that system.

Thanks

 

did the vidock flop and die yet?

 

Not at all.

As a matter of fact sales are quite brisk, particularly now that the price has been reduced.

 

Paladin, I have a question about the vidock2 that I'm not sure has been asked yet. When you boot up your system, can it be booted up automatically to the external screen? By this I mean can you access the bios screen on the external monitor? I'm looking into using this type of interface with a desktop gpu for a project I'm working on.

 

on some notebooks yes, but others no.
The only way I can think of for you to find out would be to try it.

Please see this post though:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5122549&postcount=159

It is a cheaper and better solution.

 

Yes, once you have completed the original set up, thereafter all three screens will be active every time you reboot. It will even remember which screen you want to be primary.

If you have other questions, or I didn't answer this one correctly, please give me a call toll free at 877-711-1777 between 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM Pacific Time Monday through Friday.

 

I am wanting to test this product out on my laptop which is a HP G-60 series. However, I'm not sure that it has a express slot on it. I was wondering if there is any type of usb to express slot adaptor or something like this if so would this work with this product?

Also i currently have windows vista and my intergraded card is a nvidia geforce 8200m g so if i was to get say the ATI version of this product would I be able to use it with my computer?

I read somewhere that it isn't currently compatible with nvidia cards just yet with windows vista..if i'm to upgrade to windows 7 would it then be compatible?


Thanks for all answers!

 

@Donald0551, you must have a miniPCIe port (usually has wifi card in it).

If you do then read this post (and the rest of the thread):
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5122549&postcount=159

you can use your miniPCIe port for this if you dont have an express card slot.

 

I don't think I have a minipcie port...the only thing I have on my laptop that looks similar to that is a SD card reader slot which I don't think is the same thing.

Would something like this not work then?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186058

 

It appears that the HP G-60 series does not have an ExpressCard slot, so the ViDock2 will not work with them.

Vista will not support more than one brand of video card in a single computer, however Windows 7 will.

It is very doubtful that the USB to ExpressCard adapter will work.

 

i see...would there be any way to place an express card slot into my laptop somehow?

 

the miniPCIe port is usually on the motherboard. you can't see it unless you do a bit of dissasembly.

Are you 100% sure you have no miniPCIe port?
because most notebooks have them.

EDIT: look if you can see you wifi card, you do have internal wifi don't you?

 

What would I be looking for? I'm uncertain as to what it looks like exactly..its possible that I do I just don't know what to look for.

 

I do have something on the right side of my computer next to two usb ports that has a sorta round slot and next to it it has a picture of a lock kinda

Edit: okay that's just some way of locking my computer...sorry. I don't see any slots other than the SD MS/PRO slot

Edit: Yes its internal wifi but I'm not sure where the card would be located.

 

The do it yourself solution that Moral Hazard is recommending is only for the most capable computer technician, and as you can see from the pictures and instructions in thread he links to it is a bit of a conglomeration of parts that may be beyond your abilities.

 

Yeah I see that. I was wondering what would cause the usb to express card adaptor to not work?

 

because it doesn't have a PCIe lane. You can only use a port that has a PCIe lane.

your only option is to remove your wifi adapter and replace it with a $60 adapter called a PE4L or a PE4H.

you would also need a simple AC adapter (like the one from your notebook) to power the card.

then you would also need to buy a graphics card.

The card is usually under the keyboard. or if you have any panels on the bottom of your notebook, it may be under a panel.

 

Well that stinks...thank you for your help though. Does anyone know of any other hardware that will allow me to connect to an external Graphics card via USB or something of that effect?

 

you can connect external graphics through USB, but it will not give better performence than the internal graphics you have ATM.

In fact I think it would be much worse...

 

The downside I find in vidock is that one has to use an external LCD. Asus XG station could be used with the laptop screen.

 

no, it couldn't

 

Nope. Still uses external LCD. See here.
Only way can access the internal LCD is to hijaak it's LVDS wires (complicated, requires conversion to LVDS) OR use some sort of VGA to USB frame grabber which takes the desktop graphics output image, runs it via USB to be redisplayed using your onboard graphics to the LCD. The latter not a performance option for gaming. Cheaper to just get an external LCD/TV for such purpose and keep such usage at a fixed location.

 

I thought I ordered a Vidock2, but apparently it was a Vidock2 Box labeled as a full Vidock2. Anyway, I ran out to Fry's and bought a 4670 card to install, but I'm having trouble getting it running.

The Control Center doesn't recognize a second display, but I'm not sure that's bad. However, the device manager is obviously problematic, and I can't enable an external display using the tray icon.

I know this isn't correctly worded, but I'm not very knowledgeable on the vidock2 or video cards. Does anyone have any advice?

Also, does the vidock2 box not come with VT MultiDisplay?!

 

Which OS are you running? How much RAM? What's the onboard graphics on your notebook? Without knowing more detail, would suggest you review the PCI Config Scripts in the DIY ViDock - My experiences so far thread.

 

Sorry, just unboxed Studio XPS 16

64b Vista, 4gb, ATI 4670 1gb (with updated, scrubbed drivers)

 

ViDock's compatibility guide mentions Vista. You are already running a HD4670.. and trying to run another desktop HD4670. Win7/XP's driver model is different. If you have no success, do you either to try instead?

Your system is a good one to get some back-to-back performance data, Mobile 4670 versus Desktop 4670 (at x1 1.0).

 

I thought running the same card series was a good idea, but I guess the same card isn't? Both show up in the tray so it recognizes it.

I have XP. Have a free upgrade to 7, but would rather not install either at the moment. I'm getting ready to head overseas, and honestly just want to get it running as fast as possible. I have a ton of applications installed that I need, and don't want to deal with installing them on a new OS right now.

I don't see any problem with using Vista:

 

Could try ATI Mobility Modder with the latest ATI Catalyst driver. Might get both 4670s working that way using a single driver.

 

I agree. Did that before trying to install the Vidock though.

 

Quick question, you mentioned the GTX 280M in your youtube review.

Was it the one on your Lenovo that you demoed?

If so, is it really that bad? I have a pair of SLi enabled GTX 260M's coming and I don't want them to be horrible

 

Try DIY ViDock's PE4H with x2 1.0 mode. You'll get horrible performance with Villagetronic ViDock because of the x1 1.0 pci-e link speed limiting your performance. Nvidia being worse than ATI since ATI have done more work to minimise pci-e traffic.

 

nando4, since you have never used the Villagetronic ViDock it is a bit disingenuous for you to defame it with your claim that the performance is "horrible", particularly since those who HAVE used it report great performance.

Further, you are infringing on their Trademark and Copyright by calling your contraption DIY ViDock. I have been able to keep Villagetronic in check regarding pursuing you legally for this, but if you continue to bash their product while promoting your contraption using their legally protected name I may change my advice and encourage them to follow the appropriate legal action.

Please improve your behavior

 

See query with "horrible" wording by Alien_M4v3r1kk:

ViDock uses an expressport x1 1.0 link to connect to an external video card. That would become x2 1.0 when expressport 2.0 equipped notebooks appear sometime perhaps in 2010.

Will it be "horrible" relative to x16 2.0 performance? See PCI-E Scaling analysis to get an idea. ATI HD4870/3850 cards shown get > 50% performance drop going from x16 2.0 to x1 1.0. Nvidia cards would be worse since they require more bandwidth. We can safely say then there will be > 50% performance drop going from SLI GTX280 at x16 2.0 to GTX280 x1 1.0. Which is why I suggested the hwtool's PE4H as the better performing offering if the OP is prepared to combine two mini pci-e/expressports together. In the link above we see a 20% drop from x16 2.0 to x2 1.0.

Any recent desktop video card at x1 1.0 will however be an improvement in performance to integrated graphics so I agree with paladin44, some users will report great performance.

PE4H provided as an option to alleviate "horrible" performance. If you have an issue with any threads I have started with the ViDock in the title, feel free to ask a moderator to rename them. FYI: hwtool's PE4L/PE4H is a NBR creation and is officially a mini pci-e/expressport to pci-e adapter. You can attach whatever pci-e card you wish to it: soundcard, RAID, TV tuner, etc, it's just that in the DIY ViDock thread we are looking at attaching video cards.

 

FWIW, I was able to get it working. Forced the installation of the 4600 series drivers from the device manager. Then disabled the laptop adapter, got the 30" running at 2560, and then re-enabled the laptop adapter.