ASUS XG external GPU with "non-ASUS" laptop

Hi,
I have Acer Aspire 5930G (C2D P7350, 3GB RAM, GeForce 9600M GT, Vista HP) and I'm trying to use it with ASUS XG Station. XG drivers have been installed, but graphics card is still as "VGA compatible" with exclamation mark, so I can use only integrated USB hub and Xonar U1 audio. If I install gpu driver manually, Windows crashes in BSOD and I can only start Windows in safe mode.

Is it possible to use this device with non-asus laptop? Has anyone experience with XG?

 

it should work on any notebook with expresscard.

 

Might I inquire why you're using an XG Station when your laptop already has a perfectly good GPU?

 

ASUS said that only W5F, W6F, U5F, U1E, F3SA, F3SV, U6S, R1E, U3F, Lamborghini are supported and that must be a support in BIOS.

I tried the acer recovery and new drivers from laptopvideo2go.com - no BSOD, but external GPU still not works. If I connect XG to booted laptop, the card not works ( Code 12: This device cannot find any free resources to use.). If I connect XG and then power on laptop, I hear only beep code (like PC without video card) and laptop hangs. I think that problem is really in incompatible BIOS.

 

Because this add another 2 DVI outputs with full 3D/OpenGL support.

 

I believe you can get dual DVI support with your notebook if you get a Matrox DualHead2Go. (the DVI version)

 

where did you get that from?

 

I heard it was already being sold in a few countries already with 8600M GT.

Heres one vendor:
http://www.retailblue.com/asus-xg-station-multimedia-docking-station-en8600gt-256-pr-10307525.html

 

Laptop and XG station are promo samples from CZ Acer and ASUS. I have some friends there. I will try another laptop - I think that it is imposible to use XG with this Acer 5930g.

 

Seriously, go get yourself a Matrox DualHead2Go Digital edition if you want 2 DVI out ports:

It uses your current videocard, utilizes it to expand the display.

 

Hmmm, it is likely that the XG Station might require some sort of support in the BIOS... Did you manage to find any sort of documentation along with the XG like a step by step guide ?

 

I know this solution, but I'm not sure, that laptop VGA can produce sharp image at 3840x1200 (many laptops have ghosts and other defects even in 1680x1050 or 1920x1200).

mujtaba: only very simple quick installation guide: "connect & enjoy"

 

So this really only works on select Asus notebooks? Thats disappointing.

Are there any other competitors to this out or coming out?

 

Anyone want my old DVI DualHead2Go?

 

Do a trade with OP, then do a review on the XG! Brilliant no? OP is in the Czech republic though, that might be a problem.

 

Haha, I have shipped to worse places before. No place is too far or too expensive (well as long as I am not paying shipping)

 

@Kevin - How much for the dual head to go?

@rahulnirmal - Yes, it's called the ViDock by Village Tronic. It's not yet out.

 

1) It's not for sale. it's only borrowed from czech ASUS .
2) "OP"?

I will try XG with 14" FSC Esprimo M9400 (C2D 1.5GHz, 2GB RAM, GMA X3100) tomorrow, but I think that it will be unsuccessful. Luckily ASUS promised one laptop for XG testing.

 

Swarm, OP means Original Poster, in this case - you)))

If XG works only with Asus, then this looks like a shot in their own foot...

 

Great! FSC Esprimo M9400 works with ASUS XG. If you turn on laptop with connected XG, external GPU is enabled as primary. Now I must install testing WinXP...




Definitively it's not needed to have ASUS laptop, but some BIOS support is required.

 

So...

Booting in XP on FSC Esprimo M9400 causes BSOD (no drivers installed). In Vista - boot is ok and VESA driver is enabled. If I install drivers from ASUS CD, it causes BSOD (every boot when XG is connected). After installing generic drivers from nvidia.com, graphics card works fine (with Aero and 3D acceleration), but display on XG box doesn't show anything.



Intel GPU can't be used simultaneously with XG NVIDIA card. Windows said: Code 43 - Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems.


ASUS lent one 14" laptop (engineering sample, so I can't tell it's name and specs) for XG testing, but it's not compatible. Keyboard is not reponding and boot process is stopped on this screen (with connected XG). ASUS promised new laptop next week .



I am not sure, that ASUS fixed all compatibility issues on this XG Station.

 

Quite the understatement there.
That Asus laptop you're disallowed from disclosing information on seems very interesting though.

 

the XG station is huuuggge, does it use desktop card?

 

Yep. A 8600 GT I believe.

 

Yes, there are some disassembling photos: http://translate.google.com/transla...142705/default.aspx&hl=cs&ie=UTF8&sl=cs&tl=en (machine translation from Czech languange)

I don't think so. New series, but typical lowend ASUS with poor battery life and noisy fan.

 

OK I still must ask, what is the point of using a device I don't care if it had a 9800 GTX. With a bus that has a bandwidth of 250MB/s (PCIe) or 60MB/s (USB) vs PCIex16 that has 4000MB/s? I mean from that I don't see even as good as IGP? I am asking as I don't know much about these?

 

That's too bad.

Powerpack

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/vidock-expresscard-graphics,1933.html

Based on Vidock, another external graphics solution, you get substantially better than IGP 3dmark06 scores, particularly compared with the X3100/X4500.

 

There is a huge difference between XG and IGP. It's 4x-5x faster (not only in 3Dmarks).

XG/8600GT:
01:13887
03:9036
05:4368
06:2564

X3100: (FSC Esprimo M9400)
01:4845
03:1539
05:808
06:538

X4500: (Clevo StyleNote M740T)
01:6621
03:2604
05:1644
06:960

...but laptop with GeForce 8600M GS is slightly faster :-(. It's very pathetic when compared with current mainstream GeForce 9600M GT:

9600M GT: (Acer Aspire 5930G)
01:23214
03:16300
05:10335
06:5514

 

Test with HP Compaq nx6125 - laptop hangs in BIOS screen.

 

The XG isn't looking to be very compatible with non-Asus systems right now.

 

The problem is not in XG, but in laptops that "don’t follow PCMCIA configuration/booting procedures as strictly as they could in their BIOS". It's funny that many new ASUS laptops also have these problems.

 

Last tests:
- DELL Vostro 1310 (Intel / GMA X3100) works ok
- FSC Esprimo M9400 (Intel / GMA X3100) GPU works but same problems as U9200
- Sony VAIO SR19VN ( Intel / ATI HD3470) XG not detected
- ASUS U6V (Intel / GF 9300M GS) XG not detected
- Acer Ferrari 1100 (AMD / Xpress1250) works ok

...now XG is back at ASUS... nothing that I want...

 

Where can I buy the xg station?, since the older link doesnt work anymore...
I really, really want one so bad .

 

I don't think the XG Station has really been released for retail, I think only a few prototype, promotional units have been released.

 

What about this?
http://www.shopbot.com.au/p-80897.html


Btw only Australia, looking for international shippers .

Btw it seems that these things were added on September 11 to the catalogs.

Omg

The Product has officially been announced to come to stores in North America on September 7th of 2008.[citation needed]

Update: The XG Station has been delayed to the middle of September, also it has been announced that the product will not have the nvidia 7900, instead a different and a higher quality one, with many more advancements. The Product is ready to be shipped and will be in specific stores.

"We need a few weeks to finalize this product and consumers will be able to purchase it in September, hopefully," apologized Asus for the delay.

from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XG_Station

 

That is great news then, thanks for posting it MexicanSnake.
I really want to see more external graphics solutions to come for laptops.

The XG Station probably can't use more powerful videocards than the Geforce 8600 because of the limited bandwidth the Expresscard slot offers.


I'm excited about the ATI XGP external graphics technology but its only limited to AMD Puma laptops. But it does have much higher bandwidth than the XG Station because it uses a proprietary connector.

I want to see a ATI XGP solution or similar for Intel notebooks.

 

Im not really sure but I saw somewere that they would enable compatibility for intel laptops later(via express card)... But is just a rumour, also it would limit the badwidth.

I would like to see if it works with my m1330 also I wonder if I can fit an ati HD4870 X2 into it , we will see later.

 

That would be really awesome, but sadly, I don't think we should count on it just yet.

I do think this will be a reality in the near future, hopefully with the M1330's replacement?

I feel that external graphics for laptops is a HUGE market and will be very successful for whomever successfully capitalizes on it first. So many people have laptops with powerful specs except for the videocard that would love to just plug in an external videocard and play.

 

Exactly, thats the main point of external video cards, laptops with powerful processors but weak videocards, indeed its a huge market, just think in the ease of choosing almost any current laptop and having the power to run the latest videogames.

For example in my case, if this works wit my m1330, or there is a way to make it work with it, Ill buy it right away.

But we should wait and see if this is possible first.

 

Any other news on asus xg or other extrenal graphic solutions(except ati xgp)?

 

My reseller in australia is offering a XG Station with a 9600 GT for $700 AUD.

 

I don't think it's worth his money...until tehy don't come up with something to improve Bandwidth.
BTW what do you think about PCI and PCI Express Expansion from a company called ''Magma''

 

Hi guys.
First of all I'm new here and I was not sure how to start so I decided to renew this topic rather than creating a new one.

I've got an XG Station and tried to use it with Acer Aspire 5685 (it has gf7600 inside). It kinda works except a one but painful problem. No support for DirectX 10.
I have Vista 32 and Win7 beta 64 on my notebook and i tried both. The problem is always the same. All the applications I've tried to run dispaly a blank black screen for some time (usually about a minute) and then hang. Nevertheless all DX9 applications work fine with nice perfomance. I'm not sure that it's a BIOS incompatibility as it was mentioned above 'cause everything is fine with DX9 and OS (both of them) report no problems. Any ideas that can help? It could be cool to see my old notebook running dx10 graphics and this 'almost works' condition is pretty confusing..

P.s. sorry for my english if I do stupid mistakes, this is not my primary language.

 

Well, a small update.
I've just managed to run a DX10 application on Win7. The most funny part is that ASUS has no officially released drivers for Win7 even the 'beta' ones.
Here's my solution. It's tricky and somewhat painful but it is just an experiment anyway. First we should have an XG set and running. Then the idea is to remove all the XG drivers (video for sure; I've left sound as is) except the actual 'XG Station' one that provides a link between notebook and external video card since it has no alternative in Windows. Then we should remove NVidia drivers (if any). I'm actually talking about ASUS drivers shipped with the XG but in my case it removed absolutely everything NVidia related, even drivers for my built-in 7600. Next step is to get the current driver (mine is: version 7.15.11.7816 from 20.09.2008) and to install it. It will show up in Device Manager as 'NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT Microsoft Corporation (WDDM v1.1)'. Now we have an external video available because the system still knows about XG driver and is able to detect an external card.
After that external monitor connected to the XG should work just after reboot. Note, that if you loose your internal video card driver (like me) you should reinstall it or multimonitor configuration will not be correctly detected.

Currently I have rather bad perfomance with DX10 because i've removed the XG control panel and thus I have no access to GPU clock control. So I have to reinstall it somehow ore find another way to access GPU clocks. LED also doesn't work since the XG1 application is missing. But still the main point is that XG actually works with aspire 5680 series. Obviously the problem is caused by the driver.
If someone 's interested in this topic I can share my experience with more detailed guide and post some proof pics.
I did this just like an experiment and it worked for me.

 

I guess everybody is curious how it behaves in games

 

this. right here.

 

Well it made Unreal Tournament 3 playable with 'all to max' and 1280x1024. I had less than 1 fps with built in video and now fps is about 15. Not so good for that speed-fragging game style but still a nice progress. I have about 30 fps with 1024x768 and that's enough imo. Currently looking for Crysis distro to check it with DX10 renderer. XG station really makes gaming available =)

 

What tipe of video card do you have in the XG?

 

I have an XG with 8600 GT inside. AFAIK this is the only configuration that is released by ASUS but I may be wrong. Anyway it is the only option I had in my country.

 

Im wanting to get the Asus XG station so bloody bad as most of my games are running at 3 fps lol


I have a HP Pavillion dv2700 laptop.. hope it works