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    docking station connector carrying PCIe (16x) signal?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by tom212, Aug 20, 2010.

  1. tom212

    tom212 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi All

    One question I had was if the docking station connector, at the bottom of the current thinkpad models (T410,...), carries a PCIe x16 signal.
    Apparently, the previous series (T400,...) did, as can be seen from the advanced dock station, which can be equipped with a fullsized desktop graphics card, ATI Radeon X1300, as described on the page for the advanced dock (link below).
    Now, the advanced dock station is not offered anymore, and the connector shape also changed, but I am still hoping that a full width (x16) PCIe is at this connector in the current models.

    Lenovo Support & downloads - ThinkPad Advanced Dock - Overview

    Thanks
    Tom
     
    tom212, Aug 20, 2010
    #1
  2. lead_org

    lead_org Purveyor of Truth

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    the advanced dock uses an PCIe x16 slot at 1x speed.
     
    lead_org, Aug 20, 2010
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  3. tom212

    tom212 Notebook Enthusiast

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    You know of any documentation on this?

    Thanks
     
    tom212, Aug 21, 2010
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  4. lead_org

    lead_org Purveyor of Truth

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    lead_org, Aug 21, 2010
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  5. User Retired 2

    User Retired 2 Notebook Nobel Laureate NBR Reviewer

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    Each lane has a TX/RX pair plus a GND shield around them. So that's 8 wires per lane. x16 would mean 128 lines plus some additional handshaking and power leads. No way Lenovo would route that many leads to give full x16 functionality.

    If there is no longer a dock, consider a DIY ViDock. You might be able to combine ports to do a x2 1.0 link. Recent implementations with Fermi gpus and Optimus-enhancements giving very impressive results.

    NBR will be doing a proper T410s+GTX460 DIY ViDock review quite soon.
     
    User Retired 2, Aug 21, 2010
    #5
  6. tom212

    tom212 Notebook Enthusiast

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    thanks for your insights on this. the docking station connector has quite a few pins, looks like many more than 128. anyway.
     
    tom212, Aug 23, 2010
    #6
  7. lead_org

    lead_org Purveyor of Truth

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    In short the Thinkpads don't support 16x speed for the external PCIe.
     
    lead_org, Aug 24, 2010
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  8. hceuterpe

    hceuterpe Notebook Evangelist

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    They did away with that option when the new docking stations came with the dual-head option.
     
    hceuterpe, Aug 29, 2010
    #8