MSI external GPU solution for notebooks

Source: www.bit-tech.net

Looks awesome, and it uses ATI Radeon HD 5670. (Not mobile card btw)
Future version will probably take use of USB 3.0 rather than Expresscard interface.

 

So far none of these seemed to have worked. I really hope they can come out with one that works well.

 

Wow if they make it and sell it for that price, no need to buy the Vidock2 or even make one as that is pretty cheap !!! Hopefully they will be out soon. God Bless

 

Unless this can drive the internal display, I won't even bother with it.

 

+1. Great value. Looks good too. I'm curious:

- can it take double-width cards? 84W would allow up to a HD5750 atm which could be routed like this internally.

- will they be providing pre-boot OS software to configure the PCI space to host a desktop video card? That is sometimes needed to overcome the "error 12: cannot allocate resources" as shown in the DIY ViDock Experiences thread, depending on your bios.

It's possible using the Win7 3drender's cloning mode, but does so at a fixed ~25FPS rate. Not sure if there's a registry setting to increase that. See here.

Expresscard 2.0 and USB 3.0 are both rated at 5Gbps, so wll be the same performance with either. I'd prefer to keep the USB port available to be attached a HDMI frame grabber to allow full speed internal LCD rendering.

 

The only difference I an see from Vidock2 is that it has a different casing...

Judging by the preview pic which is using an external monitor, nope, can't drive the internal display.

I would get one if it could power up a 5970 or something. Why don't they ever include external power supply in those external graphics solutions so that it won't be limited to lame low wattage desktop cards.

 

MSI GUS photos from Computex Taipei





Youtube video commentary showing it in action provided by an attendee.. It's using a Villagetronic cable.

MSI's GUS makes an attractive, cheaper alternative to ViDock2.

If requiring more substantial video cards then the hwtools' PE4L or PE4H can use external ATX power. The PE4H can do a x2 link as well if you system is capable of it offering a subtantial performance boost. See DIY ViDock thread. The hwtools products have no enclosure and can be used naked but some people are also creating DIY ViDock enclosures, which can be as simple as a shoebox to a proper full plastic or metal enclosure.

A HD57xx or HD58xx, preferably with 2GB, are better performance matched to the limited bandwidth environment. A GTX4xx appearing even better than a HD58xx based on these P8600+GTX480@x1 results.

 

with that product would i be able to plug in other PCI-e cards..whether there graphics cards or even capture cards?..or is that product exclusivly built for grahics only

 

It's getting closer...but looking at Nvidia's specs, it can't take more than a 9600 GS or a GT 240 with the power supply. If I could get at least a 9800 GT (105 watts, no additional power cable) I'd be tempted...same shader count as my GTX 260m so I could use the external card with better cooling to drive a display and allow the internal card to run Physix, as well as having a single cable docking solution. Add a six-pin power cable and it could possibly handle a 9800 GTX or a GTS 250...either would be a bit better than I have now. I may even consider it with an ATI card, since it appears that the 257.15 Nvidia driver restores the ability to run Physics while an ATI card runs the display.

I like that (at least according to the Youtube video) it has a mount to attach a monitor (I'm assuming using the wall mount holes) since that would tidy up my desktop a bit as well.

 

Either with USB 3 or ExpressCard it would suck, even theoretical speeds of them sucks, practical even more.
To this make sense a proprietary pci-e external connector needs to be developed.

 

Well does it suck now:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...18851-diy-vidock-experiences.html#post5324240

 

Any new updates?
I heard it only works on MSI laptops, is it true?

 

I completely agree, those theoretical speeds aren't even good for 640x480. You're better off buying a brand new laptop

 

It is called XGP, essentially an external PCI-E 2.0 X16 connector

And that failed miserable too even though the performance is good. (only 2 notebook equiped with XGP, and the XGP graphic hub is very hard to find)

The MSI GUS would work on other brand notebook, there is one Lenovo notebook which got internal screen working with GUS, but then not all notebook are compatible (less % than MSI's notebook for sure)

 

But the point is that it will be bandwidth limited due to the expresscard slot (or USB 3.0 for that matter). So anything more powerful wouldn't be utilized to its potential and most likely wouldn't garner much better framerates. With USB 3.0 perhaps running two cables could parallel the data somehow and allow for use of faster cards. I'm glad to see the price affordable. Great option for aging laptops or ones without much GPU muscle to begin with.

 

Seems the reviewer agrees since says, anything faster would have been wasted, not enough bandwidth in the express card port. I agree it's good for an aging system since an older CPU shouldn't slow it down much. But for future laptops, would need something better.

 

Have a look at http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...18851-diy-vidock-experiences.html#post5324240 . There are some other performance factors to consider with older notebooks:

x1E/x2/x2E capability (check port layout )
x1.Opt capability (4500MHD/Intel HD graphics + NVidia Fermi card)

 

so did this ever work?

 

The answer is an unflattering no.

 

what about vidock 4.0+ would that work for something like a dell d820, using an nvidia gtx560 ti card?

 

Suggest read this thread to set realistic performance expectations http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam.../418851-diy-egpu-experiences.html#post5324240 . Summary: The D820 doesn't have an Optimus-capable iGPU so the cost-to-performance ratio would be low of doing a VD4+ + GTX560Ti setup. This is partly because a VD4+ costs $307 delivered. If you are ultra thrifty and can obtain a free ATX PSU, the DIY hardware to do the same thing can cost as low as $65-delivered.

So in this case you'd be better off getting a i3-2310M Lenovo Y470 with a GT550M for $615 which would outclass your D820 VD4+ setup by quite a significant margin.

There is quite an art of matching the right candidate notebook to the eGPU. It is possible to create a i3-2310M 15.6" $410 HP 4530s +$213 [email protected] DIY eGPU that would cost the virtually the same as the above Y470 and convincingly outbench it to an external LCD.