eGPU starter questions.

These last past couple of days i've been considering this eGPU solution for having desktop cards work on portable systems. I have some questions though.

-What is the throughput of expresscard and thunderbolt, and what is the throughput generated from the graphics card. Will it be enough? I mean will the card perform like it was running on a desktop or how much less?
-Can any system that has a slot do this? I mean BIOS Wise, i've even read of systems not having such slots openly, can still do it, but if you have an expresscard slot, or a thunderbolt, is it 100% that it will work? I have found a windows tablet (iconia w700) with thunderbolt port. Will it work even there?
-Can you work with the latest hiegher end models the likes of gtx 680 and 7970?

 

Check the Egpu experience thread here and in tech inferno.

 

I have been doing this for the past hour. As i'm a newb i can only understand so much

So it Seems theres PE4l which is x1, and PE4H which is x16. Also i see some gen1 and gen2 classifications. Is gen1 meant to be pcie1.0 and gen2 pcie2.0? So if you have an expresscard you go for gen1 and if you have a spare mpcie you go for gen2? As for thunderbolt, i think the best it offers is x4 3.0. None of the boards offer 3.0 so far, and none of the laptops have any x16 interface (TB being x4 should be the best).

So all in all the limitation is what pcie revision and multiplier the laptop uses? Other than that the graphics card operates at the maximum bus it can travel on?

Am i getting this right, or am i still in the dark?

 

pretty much, I believe the two most practical setup is either use optimus enabled machine w/ expresscard for 1.2 opt or thunderbolt, however the cheaper thunderbolt adapter is discontinued.

you can see the performance hit in those thread as well

 

I still dont understand why expresscard is prefered since thundrbolt gives more speed. Whys is thunderbolt adapter discontinued?

 

thunderbolt is better but the choice of machine is rather limited and adapter is rather expensive. express card is "plug and play" , which is "still" better than opening back panel for mpcie slot(s).
The formal reason from the manf is that the tb adapter is not up to standard or w.e. The speculation from user is that it has something to do with intel license/certification. The adapter sold at sub 200 iirc, Google thunderbolt- pcie adapter and you get the picture.

 

expresscard is based on pci-e specs. no license required.

thunderbolt needs to be licensed. it's an intel product and btw they produce thunderbolt chips.
intel sells loads of cpu and chipsets to notebook manufacturers. the ones that don't want egpu's to exist. because just like upgradable graphic cards if they exist the lifetime of a notebook is much higher. they want you to sell a new notebook instead of upgrades.
so if you are a company and wants to make a thunderbolt egpu you need the intel approval. they are the ones that sell the thunderbolt chips and the ones that license it. if you want they'll let you do it but you have to pay a ridiculous amount of royalties. the product will be expensive and limited. and that happens and since there are only a few products it's great to exploit the consumer even more.
btw thunderbolt was never made with egpu in mind. it just happens to have a high bandwidth. if egpus were meant to exist then notebook manufacturers would implement external pci-e connectors and cables which the spec has been around since many years ago.
moreover there's just a very few notebook models with thunderbolt.
that's why expresscard is cheaper and preferred.

 

Also, HWTools seemed to have stopped giving people the necessary parts to make a diy e-gpu. There are tons of people who cannot contact them and unable to get their money back. Here's the link: Summary: dealing with HIT's abandoned eGPU commitments [customer thread]

For expresscard, you can check out VillageTronic who makes the ViDock, which is a great product. They recently posted that they really want to bring the starting price for the ViDock down to $99 dollars, but can only do so with more sales. I also believe they are making a $99 diy vidock which is essentially what HWtools had so it's a viable replacement.

 

I dun see how hwtools is involve there, and hwtools is Taiwanese company.

 

The rock was looking at purchasing the PE4L or PE4H, which is kind of out of the question lol