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eGPU experiences [version 2.0]


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OK, so going to need to make a cut-out in the bottom of this laptop then. Thank you.

Not sure if you have to. I screwed back my bottom-cover wth the PM3N connected, it works pretty good even though it bulges a little. Try that first if you don't want to make holes in your laptop.

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Albert, this is great news. Would you mind doing a complete implementation writeup with benchmarks? From earlier posts I understand you have a first gen i7-quad XPS1645 running a HD7950@x4 1.0 running where some INF driver modifications where necesary to get the HD4670 dGPU to cooperate with it. It's impressive because you'd be seeing the same bandwidth as the TH05 native Thunderbolt solution (x2 2.0). Moreso since it's a 2009 notebook as you point out.

Likely related to you using a PE4L 1.5b on a Gen2-capable X220. That product requires that you downgrade the pci-e expresscard link to Gen1 in the bios for reliable operations. Remko78 gives an example of a Gen2 X220 solution at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4532-portable-low-profile-egpu-setup-lenovo-x220-pe4l-2-1b-case.html

The most time consuming part was to modify the driver and to make two versions of Catalyst coexist, I tried a dozen INF files and finally it worked out.

I did it this way :

Extract Catalyst 13.4 Legacy (latest version for legacy cards HD2000 - HD4000)

Find the INF file appropriate to your system (Vista, 7, 8 / x86 or x64), in my case win7 x86 = CW156445.inf

Extract and rename all file listed in the INF (in my case all file except difxapi.dll) to some thing like xxx_134L.xxx (134L for 13.4 Legacy). Don't know if it is necessary to extract them or not, but extracting can't do wrong so I did it.

Delete all parts non necessary in the INF file (find your device ID and delete parts who are not related/used by this Device ID), doing so also makes sure that it will not be installed on other Radeon cards like eGPU

Delete digital signature and catalog related lines in INF, delete MSI and CAT file

Modify all file names mentioned in INF to xxx_134L.xxx

In some REG lines (notably DX related parts), when it comes to a file name without extension, don't hesitate to add the extension, for example atiumdva >>> atiumdva_134L.dll

Then for installation, make sure to clean all old Catalyst files in the system (\Windows, \system32, \system32\drivers, \system32\DriverStore\FileRepository, \WinSxS, etc.), you can manually do it and/or use the AMD clean up utility

Manually install the driver, ignore the digital sign warning, restart <<< this may be skipped, but I didn't try

Install 13.6 Beta2 or any version later than 12.4, restart

After installation of new Catalyst you will find old card not working, so reinstall modded driver for legacy card, restart

Then you will find your legacy and new AMD card using 2 sets of Catalyst files, in dxdiag, it shows 2 set of files for 2 cards, in CCC or GPU-Z, also 2 different versions of Catalyst

On benchmark side : 13.6 Beta2 shows 33% improvement on DX11 benchmarks compared to 12.4, so it is clear that this solution is working.

Dual screen (extend the desktop), hot plug eGPU (plug and unplug) are working, and everything was fine for me till now.

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The most time consuming part was to modify the driver and to make two versions of Catalyst coexist, I tried a dozen INF files and finally it worked out.

I did it this way :

Extract Catalyst 13.4 Legacy (latest version for legacy cards HD2000 - HD4000)

Find the INF file appropriate to your system (Vista, 7, 8 / x86 or x64), in my case win7 x86 = CW156445.inf

Extract and rename all file listed in the INF (in my case all file except difxapi.dll) to some thing like xxx_134L.xxx (134L for 13.4 Legacy). Don't know if it is necessary to extract them or not, but extracting can't do wrong so I did it.

Delete all parts non necessary in the INF file (find your device ID and delete parts who are not related/used by this Device ID), doing so also makes sure that it will not be installed on other Radeon cards like eGPU

Delete digital signature and catalog related lines in INF, delete MSI and CAT file

Modify all file names mentioned in INF to xxx_134L.xxx

In some REG lines (notably DX related parts), when it comes to a file name without extension, don't hesitate to add the extension, for example atiumdva >>> atiumdva_134L.dll

Then for installation, make sure to clean all old Catalyst files in the system (\Windows, \system32, \system32\drivers, \system32\DriverStore\FileRepository, \WinSxS, etc.), you can manually do it and/or use the AMD clean up utility

Manually install the driver, ignore the digital sign warning, restart <<< this may be skipped, but I didn't try

Install 13.6 Beta2 or any version later than 12.4, restart

After installation of new Catalyst you will find old card not working, so reinstall modded driver for legacy card, restart

Then you will find your legacy and new AMD card using 2 sets of Catalyst files, in dxdiag, it shows 2 set of files for 2 cards, in CCC or GPU-Z, also 2 different versions of Catalyst

On benchmark side : 13.6 Beta2 shows 33% improvement on DX11 benchmarks compared to 12.4, so it is clear that this solution is working.

Dual screen (extend the desktop), hot plug eGPU (plug and unplug) are working, and everything was fine for me till now.

Great work there sorting out the driver issues. Would you mind consolidating this info into a complete writeup for your XPS 1645 along with benchmarks (at least 3dmark06 and RE5-dx9-1280x800)? i7-quad (first gen) + [email protected] should give some pretty impressive performance results.

Idea being that you writeup would serve as a reference for any other XPS 1645 owners that may want to extract maximum possible performance on that platform. Consider we have ronvalencia's XPS1645 in the implementations area already but it's at x1 1.0.

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This is My Laptop Specs:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

System Model: Dell Xps 14z (14 inch)

Processor: Intel® Core i7-2640M CPU @ 2.80GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.8GHz

RAM: 4GB (dunno what kind of DDR is it)

Integrated VGA 1: Intel HD 3000

Integrated VGA 2: nVidia GT 520m

Resulotion: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

PSCe 2.0

I'm planning on buying GTX 660 ti as it enable me to play on Laptop Screen. This is Why: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbJZDC_DWX0)

Thanks!

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Likely related to you using a PE4L 1.5b on a Gen2-capable X220. That product requires that you downgrade the pci-e expresscard link to Gen1 in the bios for reliable operations. Remko78 gives an example of a Gen2 X220 solution at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4532-portable-low-profile-egpu-setup-lenovo-x220-pe4l-2-1b-case.html

You are correct, changing the expresscard link to Gen 1 fixed the problem. Thanks very much!

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Hi Guys,

This is a superb project and just what I've been looking for. Well done guys.

I've got a late 2011 i7 2.5Ghz Macbook Pro, PE4H, Sonnet Express and GTX770 as an eGPU, which I want to run with an external monitor (temporarily, while I build a new PC). Can you help me out with the pci.bat file for win 7?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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Hello e-GPUsers!

I've finally managed to configure an e-GPU for my Dell E6530 laptop. Much thanks to the following instructions:

12.5" Dell E6230 + [email protected]/[email protected] (PE4L-EC060A 2.1b)

Some notes:

  • OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit;
  • Intel Core i7-3720QM Processor + 16GB RAM;
  • Hybrid setup with a secondary internal graphics card;
  • I had to disable Optimus in BIOS;
  • While the graphics card worked with just the 12V adapter in desktop mode, you really needed a PSU for anything more advanced;
  • It's possible to hot-plug, but apparently not to "hot-unplug" (leaves the screen black.);
  • As someone else noted: the MSI GTX 660 TwinFrozrIII card is really quiet.

My 3DMark score

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2012 13" Macbook Air + PE4L-EC060B + Sonnet Echo Expresscard adapter in BIOS/MBR (bootcamp) mode eGPU requires the following to eradicate error 12 against the eGPU in Device Manager:

Nando,

Will a mid 2010 13" macbook pro require require a different .bat file to prevent error 12?

Thanks,

K

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Nando,

Will a mid 2010 13" macbook pro require require a different .bat file to prevent error 12?

Thanks,

K

2010 13" Macbook Pro has no expresscard or Thunderbolt port. So no eGPU connectivty. Well advanced users might want the challenge of attaching via the wifi mPCIe slot which I'd even avoid. Instead, I'd suggest offloading your MBP for a 2011-2013 11/13" MBA or 13" MBP/rMBP which have an active iGPU for NVidia Optimus support and a Thunderbolt port to allow eGPU attachment.

Though if you are comfortable with the size/weight of your current system and don't need MacOSX then I'd suggest skip Macbooks altogether and upgrade to a ODD-equipped 12.5" HP 2560P or 2570P instead. It has an expresscard slot so eGPU connectivity is cheaper than for Thunderbolt. Both are i7-quad upgradable, though the 2560P only to Sandy Bridge spec. 2570P is RAID-0 SSD upgradeable too, giving slightly faster performance than the latest and featured pci-e SSDs in the 2013 MBA systems. 2560P/2570P purchased on ebay is cheaper than 2012/2013 MBA/MBP systems too.

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here is my new score :

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

gtx 780 classified on air

My config :

13" Sony vaio SVZ

I7-3632QM @2.9 ghz on each 4 cores

8 gb of ram

2*128 SSD in Raid 0

Full HD

HD4000 + AMD 7670m with the PMD

My Egpu :

GTX 780 Inno3D HerculeZ ultra X3 ( stock is 1006/1053/3105)

PE4L V2.1b via mPCIe slot as per http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2158-diy-egpu-guide-sony-vaio-vpc-z2-svz13.html

Alim Silverstone Micro ATX 450 W modular

a notebook cooler

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This is My Laptop Specs:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

System Model: Dell Xps 14z (14 inch)

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2640M CPU @ 2.80GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.8GHz

RAM: 4GB (dunno what kind of DDR is it)

Integrated VGA 1: Intel HD 3000

Integrated VGA 2: nVidia GT 520m

Resulotion: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

PSCe 2.0

I'm planning on buying GTX 660 ti as it enable me to play on Laptop Screen. This is Why: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbJZDC_DWX0)

Thanks!

Dell XPS 14z has no expresscard slot or Thunderbolt port on the system. Then the question is, how accessible is the mPCIe slot used to host your wifi card? If you can access it reasonably easily then consider doing a mPCIe-based eGPU implementation using a pci-e 2.0 capable PE4L-PM060A 2.1b adapter.

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2010 13" Macbook Pro has no expresscard or Thunderbolt port.

Damn, I really got shafted with this computer, old C2D cpu, weak 320m gpu, no eGPU possibility....

Thanks for the heads up though. Looks like console gaming will continue to be my mainstay. Disappointing as I was looking to get in to dota2. Will check out some of your suggested laptops.

-K

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Hello e-GPUsers!

I've finally managed to configure an e-GPU for my Dell E6530 laptop. Much thanks to the following instructions:

12.5" Dell E6230 + [email protected]/[email protected] (PE4L-EC060A 2.1b)

Some notes:

  • OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit;
  • Intel Core i7-3720QM Processor + 16GB RAM;
  • Hybrid setup with a secondary internal graphics card;
  • I had to disable Optimus in BIOS;
  • While the graphics card worked with just the 12V adapter in desktop mode, you really needed a PSU for anything more advanced;
  • It's possible to hot-plug, but apparently not to "hot-unplug" (leaves the screen black.);
  • As someone else noted: the MSI GTX 660 TwinFrozrIII card is really quiet.

My 3DMark score

Your Dell E6530 is running a slower x1 2.0 rather than a x1.2Opt link

Your 3dmark11 score indicates that that secondary card is the NVS5200M. MY understanding is the E6530 has gpu settable modes in the bios:

Optimus-enabled = iGPU-active + dGPU-active

Optimus-disabled = iGPU-disabled, dGPU-active

So what is happening on your system with Optimus-disabled in the bios is your iGPU is disabled and dGPU are enabled. That means your eGPU misses out on Optimus' internal LCD mode and x1 pci-e compression instead giving you straight x1 2.0 performance. The x1 pci-e compression is particularly important for DX9 apps accelerating them anywhere from 20-300%. You can confirm this by running 3dmark06. If you result is < 10k then pci-e compression isn't engaged. The difference in performance between x1 2.0 and x1.2Opt is shown at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2747-%5Bguide%5D-12-dell-e6230-gtx660%40x1-2opt-hd7870%40x1-2-pe4l-ec060a-2-1b.html .

To get the better x1.2Opt performance change the bios setting to Optimus-enabled and configure Setup 1.x to disable the dGPU, then chainload into Windows via Setup 1.x. There you'll have the iGPU+eGPU active netting you superior x1.2Opt performance.

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Got a problem here... Got my hardware up and running flawlessly, installed my drivers and it doesn't work. I get error 37 in Device Manager, saying that the driver couldn't be initialized. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the driver numerous times, tried rebooting, everything I can think of and no luck. This is frustrating as hell, I'm so close. Any help would be appreciated. Edit: Fixed this by disabling my NV GPU, but now nothing at all happens. Device manager says my card (7950) is working but it isn't. Nothing on the display and any OpenCL application crashes instantly. What the hell.

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Got a problem here... Got my hardware up and running flawlessly, installed my drivers and it doesn't work. I get error 37 in Device Manager, saying that the driver couldn't be initialized. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the driver numerous times, tried rebooting, everything I can think of and no luck. This is frustrating as hell, I'm so close. Any help would be appreciated. Edit: Fixed this by disabling my NV GPU, but now nothing at all happens. Device manager says my card (7950) is working but it isn't. Nothing on the display and any OpenCL application crashes instantly. What the hell.

What is your system (model, ram, cpu, iGPU/dGPU) and eGPU hardware configuration?

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Running a Lenovo W530 (8gb RAM, i7 3740qm, NV Quadro K1000m, Intel 4000) with Win8 and a 7950. I'm using PE4l 2.1b, everything except OpenCL is working now. Whenever GPUz opens it tells me there's a bug with OpenCL, and certain games crash on startup. Also, another question, sometimes Metro Last Light drops to about 15 fps, no matter the settings, and GPU and CPU usage also drops to about 30%. What could be causing this?

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Running a Lenovo W530 (8gb RAM, i7 3740qm, NV Quadro K1000m, Intel 3000) with Win8 and a 7950. I'm using PE4l 2.1b, everything except OpenCL is working now. Whenever GPUz opens it tells me there's a bug with OpenCL, and certain games crash on startup. Also, another question, sometimes Metro Last Light drops to about 15 fps, no matter the settings, and GPU and CPU usage also drops to about 30%. What could be causing this?

8304636720_34ce1a3c6a_z.jpg

You have numerous GPU options as shown above. The way these work is:

Integrated graphics - iGPU only

Discrete graphics - dGPU only

NVidia Optimus - iGPU + dGPU with dGPU display to LCD via iGPU

Now there may be another option where your eGPU becomes the primary display adapter if the BIOS detects it on bootup. The way to make it secondary is to hotplug it after boot.

I'd suggest test the following configurations, testing for functionality after each.

1. Power eGPU, then power notebook. Is the eGPU the primary adapter?

2. Set the bios to iGPU only mode and hotplug the eGPU after bios post. Does it work without error 12? If not, check TOLUD and consider using Setup 1.x PCI compaction.

3. If TOLUD is high (eg: 3.5GB), then set NVidia Optimus and use Setup 1.x to disable the dGPU so the eGPU can use it's pci-e space.

Request 'experience' writeup with comparative benchmarks

We have only a few AMD eGPU implementations. If GPU-Z confirms you are running x1 2.0 then would you mind fully documenting your configuration along with benchmarking? Best would be if you could do the DX9, DX10 and DX11 tests like here. You can see there are some existing 3rd gen i7-quads NVidia eGPU implementations to compare it against.

You may even consider piggybacking the existing W530 guide: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/3728-%5Bguide%5D-thinkpad-w530-egpu.html .

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Hi ! Thank you on what you did, I looked for a tutorial like this one for a long time. First of all, I would like to know if this is possible with my Macbook Pro 17" mid-2009 (Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz, 4Gb ram). I have no thunderbolt port so I just have to not buy the sonnet echo ?

Thanks in advance for your anwser.

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Did a eGPU a while back, here are my specs and results. Everything was pretty much plug and play with the X220t, easy to setup.

Specs:

Thinkpad X220t

Core i5 2520m @ 2.50GHz

16gb ram

320gb 5400rpm HDD

Intel HD graphics 3000

eGPU:

Nvidia GTX 560 SE 1gb

PE4L 2.1b Express card

Seasonic 550W ATX PSU

"Enclosure": (Not pretty, but it works:05.18-flustered:).

post-16981-14494996004479_thumb.jpg

Benchmarks:

Stock clocks (GPU 736, Memory 1914, Shader 1473)

3DMark Vantage: 10677

3DMark 11: 3038

OC clocks (GPU 835, Memory 2113, Shader 1671)

3DMark Vantage: 11517

3DMark 11: 3299

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Hey Tech Inferno Fan,

I've got a Asus N550JV and though it has neither got any free mPCIe slots nor Expresscard/Thunderbolt i want to try a eGPU setup with it.

I wanted to change the BD drive to a HDD bay with an SSD anyway and saw on a picture that the mPCIe slot with the wifi card is placed under the end of the thinner part of the BD drive which makes it very easy to access and made me curious.

The difficult part is: I need it to stay mobile thus i need a solution that is possible to be unplugged from the outside.

I started thinking of the PE4H 2.4 as it has plugable cable but got reminded that it only has PCIe 1.1 instead of the still praised PCIe 2.0 support and i then was linked to the KZ-B26 and KZ-B22.

While KZ-B26 doesn't work because of the 30cm cable(? is it changeable?) the KZ-B22 shall not work at all with 2.0 as said by some user in this forum(found it via google).

So i reread the first page of this thread and found that KZ-B21 shall work with 2.0 as it was successfully tested(7-07-2012 on first page where the statement about KZ-B26 is found as well).

Sooo, would you think this might work with PCIe 2.0: Internal mPCIe of wifi card <- KZ-B21 with 20cm(i think 10cm are a bit too short, sadly) <- PE4L 2.1b with mPCie <- Graphics card and fun ;-)

My TOLUD is fine (3.48 gb, CFE00000) but I'd need Setup 1.x as i've got both iGPU and dGPU, so this part should work.

PCIe 1.1 isn't really an option as i'd like to remove my desktop and use the notebook as the only machine but the 1.1 is having FPS issues with newer games(DX10 and above, 3DMark Vantage, 3DMark11 etc.) as far as i read in benchmarks.

If you say you think it'll work and have no known doubts about the KZ-B21 part(have you tested this? or anyone else you may know?) i'll finally order it because i'm struggling with myself about this as i don't know if it'll work.

Ultimately I'd like to have the blessing of the master for this :stung:

Also, everybody who knows about this might help me too, of course. :smug:

Greetings and thanks for all the informations and courage on this area.

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Hey Tech Inferno Fan,

I've got a Asus N550JV and though it has neither got any free mPCIe slots nor Expresscard/Thunderbolt i want to try a eGPU setup with it.

I wanted to change the BD drive to a HDD bay with an SSD anyway and saw on a picture that the mPCIe slot with the wifi card is placed under the end of the thinner part of the BD drive which makes it very easy to access and made me curious.

The difficult part is: I need it to stay mobile thus i need a solution that is possible to be unplugged from the outside.

I started thinking of the PE4H 2.4 as it has plugable cable but got reminded that it only has PCIe 1.1 instead of the still praised PCIe 2.0 support and i then was linked to the KZ-B26 and KZ-B22.

While KZ-B26 doesn't work because of the 30cm cable(? is it changeable?) the KZ-B22 shall not work at all with 2.0 as said by some user in this forum(found it via google).

So i reread the first page of this thread and found that KZ-B21 shall work with 2.0 as it was successfully tested(7-07-2012 on first page where the statement about KZ-B26 is found as well).

Sooo, would you think this might work with PCIe 2.0: Internal mPCIe of wifi card <- KZ-B21 with 20cm(i think 10cm are a bit too short, sadly) <- PE4L 2.1b with mPCie <- Graphics card and fun ;-)

My TOLUD is fine (3.48 gb, CFE00000) but I'd need Setup 1.x as i've got both iGPU and dGPU, so this part should work.

PCIe 1.1 isn't really an option as i'd like to remove my desktop and use the notebook as the only machine but the 1.1 is having FPS issues with newer games(DX10 and above, 3DMark Vantage, 3DMark11 etc.) as far as i read in benchmarks.

If you say you think it'll work and have no known doubts about the KZ-B21 part(have you tested this? or anyone else you may know?) i'll finally order it because i'm struggling with myself about this as i don't know if it'll work.

Ultimately I'd like to have the blessing of the master for this :stung:

Also, everybody who knows about this might help me too, of course. :smug:

Greetings and thanks for all the informations and courage on this area.

Welcome! Unfortunately only PE4L-PM060A 2.1b, with cable soldered on both ends, is confirmed as Gen2-compliant. Any other combination of cables/adapters has so far show the link then only being able to reliably transmit pci-e 1.1. Though a extender adapter to avoid mPCIe wear at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2958-pe4l-pm060a-mini-pcie-extender.html was able to pass Gen2 link speed.

You may be interested at this guide showing how to convert an internal mPCIe port to an external port accessible via the optical bay slot: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2682-%5Bguide%5D-13-sony-vaio-sb-sa-convenient-mpcie-egpu-mod.html#post36391

Hi ! Thank you on what you did, I looked for a tutorial like this one for a long time. First of all, I would like to know if this is possible with my Macbook Pro 17" mid-2009 (Core 2 Duo 2.8GHz, 4Gb ram). I have no thunderbolt port so I just have to not buy the sonnet echo ?

Thanks in advance for your anwser.

There are some older Macbook DIY eGPU implementations here which you can reference. Though you may consider offloading the Macbook for a much better eGPU candidate system like say a 15" HP Probook 4530s. It's available for low $$ on ebay, has a pci-e 2.0 expresscard slot, a iGPU so can get x1.2Opt internal LCD mode with NVidia Fermi/Keplar cards along with x1 link pcie-compression, has a lot of support by the Hackintosh community, can be upgraded to a i7-quad Sandy Bridge CPU and can have a 1080P LCD aftermarket LCD installed. Just ensure you purchase a PE4L-EC060A 2.1b to mate with the 4530s to get full Gen2 pci-e link speed.

Haswell HP ZBook 15 and 17 workstations have an expresscard slot and Thunderbolt port

Good news for eGPU implementations using an external LCD. Unfortunately it appears HP are continuing doing dGPU implementations without using the iGPU. No iGPU means no NVidia internal LCD mode or x1 pci-e compression.

These two have been added to http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4109-egpu-candidate-system-list-%5Bthin-light%5D.html#post57159

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Hello!

I have been looking at getting an EGPU solution for a while now and have settled on a PE4L + Sonnet TB adapter for my Asus G75VX. Right before submitting the order I decided to just double check the pre-purchase guide and this kind of got me worried. "If the system has a dGPU then ensure it's switchable with the Intel 4500MHD/HD/HD3000/HD4000 providing primary video if you want to do a higher performance Optimus x1.Opt setup with allows accelerated graphics to the internal LCD as well as an external LCD."

From the previous couple posts I see that you can switch the GPU through the BIOS. From my understanding though my Asus will not be able to do this due to Asus locking the bios and something to do with the iGPU being locked for 3d (I might be entirely wrong about this. If so I apologize been reading to much info and might be getting stuff confused)

So I guess my question is: To get an EGPU to work would I just be able to disable the dGPU from the device manager, plug my eGPU in and use an external monitor from the card? Would that just mean that I would not get Optimus support? Would the lack of Optimus render this a waste?

Thank you for your time and for all the people contributing to this thread, been learning a lot. I hope this hasn't been talked about earlier, tried looking and couldn't find anything.

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Hello!

I have been looking at getting an EGPU solution for a while now and have settled on a PE4L + Sonnet TB adapter for my Asus G75VX. Right before submitting the order I decided to just double check the pre-purchase guide and this kind of got me worried. "If the system has a dGPU then ensure it's switchable with the Intel 4500MHD/HD/HD3000/HD4000 providing primary video if you want to do a higher performance Optimus x1.Opt setup with allows accelerated graphics to the internal LCD as well as an external LCD."

From the previous couple posts I see that you can switch the GPU through the BIOS. From my understanding though my Asus will not be able to do this due to Asus locking the bios and something to do with the iGPU being locked for 3d (I might be entirely wrong about this. If so I apologize been reading to much info and might be getting stuff confused)

So I guess my question is: To get an EGPU to work would I just be able to disable the dGPU from the device manager, plug my eGPU in and use an external monitor from the card? Would that just mean that I would not get Optimus support? Would the lack of Optimus render this a waste?

Thank you for your time and for all the people contributing to this thread, been learning a lot. I hope this hasn't been talked about earlier, tried looking and couldn't find anything.

According to Review Asus G75V Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews the Asus G75V has no iGPU. With no iGPU present, the NVidia driver won't allow driving the internal LCD or x1 pcie compression. So while you can still drive an external LCD I'd recommend you up your bandwidth to 10Gbps to get decent performance. Consider a Sonnet/OWC Helios native TB solution instead as shown at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4570-%5Bguide%5D-2012-13-rmbp-gtx660-sonnet-echo-express-se-%40-10gbps.html . You can still use the Chung-gun/Ultramon method to move a windowed app running on a virtual external LCD to the internal LCD as a workaround.

Before going any further I recommend you peruse the following for an idea of performance differences between x1.2Opt, x2.2 (~native TB), x1.2 (what you'd get with your intended eGPU hardware solution):

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2747-%5Bguide%5D-12-dell-e6230-gtx660%40x1-2opt-hd7870%40x1-2-pe4l-ec060a-2-1b.html#post37197

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/3062-%5Bguide%5D-2012-13-mbp-gtx660ti-hd7870%40x2-2-th05.html#post42483

An alternative would be to offload the G75VX and get a smaller more portable eGPU candidate system with an active iGPU, expresscard slot that is x1.2Opt capable. 12.5" HP 2570P meeting all those along with i7-quad CPU and RAID-0 storage upgradability making it a performance powerhouse. It's also available at a good ebay price. x1.2Opt is the best bang-per-buck at this time.

eg: consider an expresscard pci-e 2.0 eGPU implementation costs substantially less than a native Thunderbolt one. You're up for US$92-shipped for a expresscard PE4L-EC060A 2.1b versus US$310+TBcable+shipping for a OWC Helios Thunderbolt-to-pcie enclosure.

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