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Toshiba Satellite L755D-12L (PSK32E) + AMD Radeon HD7950 + EXP GDC Beast v8.4d (mPCI-e version)


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System specs:

 

Chipset: AMD Torpedo

APU: AMD A8-3500M w/ Radeon HD 6620G graphics

RAM: 8Gb dual channel Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600Mhz (limited to 1333Mhz by hardware)

SSD: Drevo X1 Pro 128Gb SSD

HDD (in optical bay): Seagate 750Gb 7200rpm

OS: Windows 10 Pro

 

Additional purchases for eGPU purposes:

 

GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Boost edition 3Gb DDR5

eGPU interface: EXP GDC Beast v8.4d

PSU: ACE Artic Blue 750W PSU

Display: 32" LG FHD TV w/ HDMI input (had spare)

 

My steps:

 

1. Remove wifi card from mPCI-e slot on motherboard (behind central cover on underside of laptop) and wrap antenna ufl connectors in tape to prevent shorts. Place these out of the way.

2. Insert mPCI-e to HDMI cable into x1 slot (where you just removed wifi card from) on motherboard and secure with screw.

3. Remove case from EXP GDC Beast and switch power selections switch (the one closest to the edge) to ATX power. Reassemble EXP GDC Beast.

4. Connect HDMI end of cable from laptop to HDMI port on EXP GDC Beast.

5. Using supplied cable for EXP GDC Beast; connect the 20 pin and 4 pin to equivalent outputs on the PSU. Connect other end to the 8 pin input socket on the EXP GDC Beast.

6. Insert GPU into EXP GDC Beast and supply power from the PSU via 2x 6 pin connectors to the GPU. Connect GPU to display using regular HDMI cable.

7. Plug both laptop and PSU into mains electricity and power on the PSU - EXP GDC Beast should light up (green in my case) and GPU fans should start to idle. Also power on external display and ensure it is set to correct input.

8. Turn on laptop. Windows should boot normally. In my case Windows detected and downloaded drivers automatically for the HD7950, albeit not the most recent ones.

9. After a required restart the external display should now be working and Windows had automatically installed Radeon Settings for me. The internal display's resolution will now be all screwed up.

10. To prevent a black display on both internal and external with just mouse cursor - with eGPU powered off start laptop and in device manager navigate to 'Display adapters' and right click > uninstall on the Radeon HD 6620G (inbuilt graphics).

11. Prevent Windows from automatically downloading drivers for devices (Google the process) to prevent the uninstalled inbuilt graphics drivers from reinstalling. Shutdown.

12. With eGPU powered; turn on laptop and navigate to AMD's driver update site (internet will now have to be got to via ethernet port or using USB tethering on mobile phone). Do not download the 'Automatic Detect' tool. Use the manual search function and download the latest driver for your GPU and OS (~530Mb).

13. Attempt to run the .exe - it will extract all the required files to a directory, make a note of this location, and then it will attempt to install the drivers but will fail with 'Error 174: Unexpected configuration' or something along those lines. This is fine, cancel out of the installer.

14. Back in device manager; right click GPU under 'display adapters' and select 'update'. Opt to install manually and browse to the top level 'AMD' folder where everything extracted to before and let Windows search for the latest driver in there. This will update drivers to their latest version.

15. To use the latest version of Radeon Settings that came with the ~530Mb download; uninstall the old version in the usual Windows way and in Explorer, navigate to the AMD folder again and in the search box at the top right of the window type "cnext". Run cnext.exe (or cnext64.exe if appropriate) when the search has finished and this will be the version that starts with Windows from here on in.

 

And that is it! Really simple, no setup1.x required, no extending 32 bit space, no chainloading :)

 

GPU-z confirms that the mPCI-e interface is running @ x1 2.0 which is good news also.

 

I have also purchased a x1 PCI-e 15cm extension which is basically a riser connected via a ribbon cable to a x1 PCI-e connector which I have ran through the chassis and secured the riser to the outer edge of the laptop where the optical drive used to be (since this has been replaced by a HDD caddy). Since I need the laptop to still remain portable this prevents me from having to have fragile cable hanging out the bottom of my laptop when I'm on the move. Additionally I have purchased a midi-ATX desktop tower to contain the EXP GDC Beast, GPU, PSU and cabling. Space was not a concern for me with this build, price was my main concern, and this case looks smart, has additional cooling and was cheap so suited my requirements. It also gives me a platform on which to build a desktop gaming rig down the line as and when I can afford to buy parts, at which point I will return my laptop to it's standard form.

 

I have successfully played BF4 on ultra settings (but with textures set to lowest setting to help with bandwidth bottlenecking) @ 1080p for 3 hours straight with no issues. I have done similar with FarCry Primal but had to reduce resolution to 720p to get a solid 60fps. Seems bullet proof so far!

 

If you have any questions or want me to run any tests or benchmarks then please let me know.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hmmm... It's hard to say really, yours was released around a year and a half after mine and Toshiba started whitelisting the mPCIe slots at some point. I don't think it's a show stopper as I obtained a modded BIOS after asking in the requests forum and I think these can remove that whitelisting if you specify that as a requirement.

 

I think off the bat, I couldn't say yes or no since yours was manufactured later and features a completely different chipset and processor brand but that's not to say it won't work. I took a punt as there was no info on this site from anyone trying with my laptop and it paid off, but maybe I got lucky?

 

Good luck with it though!

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Thanks for your input! I'm going to try on an inexpensive card first to see if it works if not I'll do what I can but like you said, the info isn't out there so all we can do is try. Thanks a ton for the help and insight!

Edited by ju1c3alm16h7y
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No worries mate. Are you UK based and have you bought your EXP GDC yet? I'm selling mine as have been bitten by the bug and now building a desktop, plus my wife wants the laptop back to normal! It's as new, with all cables and boxed and can do it for £35 delivered.

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