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DIY eGPU - x2 on Lenovo T61 - possible? help?


falcontx

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Greetings!

I have a Lenovo T61, which has 5 PCIe ports. Ports 1, 2 and 3 are mPCIe and port 4 is ExpressCard. I don't know where port 5 is, but it doesn't matter in this case. I want to use the PE4H to run my GTX 570 at x2. I understand that I'll either need to use ports 1+2 or ports 3+4. My laptop's wireless card is currently on port 2. Because of this, I'd rather use ports 3+4 for the PE4H, but I understand that if I set ports 3+4 to x2, ports 1+2 get changed to x2 as well, and that may cause my wireless card to stop working, even if I moved it to port 1.

Ideally, I'd like to do some testing before I purchase any hardware, as I'll need to know whether I need to buy 2 mPCIe adapters or 1 mPCIe and 1 ExpressCard. I'm pretty sure I could accomplish this testing using the DIYeGPU Setup software that I've read about, but it seems that it costs $25 if you buy it without hardware. The thing is, I plan to purchase the hardware, which would include the software, but I don't know which hardware I need, yet, and I don't want to spend $25 to get something that I'll end up getting for free later. It's a catch-22!

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I can definitely swap my wifi to port 1 to make sure it will work there, but is there any way to see if it will still work on port 1 if ports 1+2 are set to x2 without the eGPU Setup software? In other words, is there any other way, outside of that software, to set the ports at x2?

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To answer my own question, yes, it is possible to enable x2 without using the DIYeGPU Setup software, but it involves using some utilities (bar-edit/pt.exe, pcitools, etc.) to change various memory addresses. I'm in the process of working it out. Once I do, I'll post how I did it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, I pulled my wifi card from port 2 and moved it to port 1 and it no longer works. Basically, it's detected and everything, but when I go to the adapter settings page, there is a red X over the signal bars and it reads "Not Connected". If I click on the signal bars to connect, the list never populates with any access points.

So, I tried pressing Fn+F5 to see the status of the radio. Sure enough, it was set to "Off" despite the switch on the front of the laptop being turned on. However, when I click the "Radio On" button in the dialog, the radio remains off.

Essentially, something is forcing the radio off when the wifi card is moved from port 2 to port 1. Moving it back to port 2 returns it to normal.

Has anyone seen this behavior before? How can I get the radio to turn on with the card in port 1?

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So, I pulled my wifi card from port 2 and moved it to port 1 and it no longer works. Basically, it's detected and everything, but when I go to the adapter settings page, there is a red X over the signal bars and it reads "Not Connected". If I click on the signal bars to connect, the list never populates with any access points.

So, I tried pressing Fn+F5 to see the status of the radio. Sure enough, it was set to "Off" despite the switch on the front of the laptop being turned on. However, when I click the "Radio On" button in the dialog, the radio remains off.

Essentially, something is forcing the radio off when the wifi card is moved from port 2 to port 1. Moving it back to port 2 returns it to normal.

Has anyone seen this behavior before? How can I get the radio to turn on with the card in port 1?

Good news that wifi registers when moving over to the other mPCIe slot as port1. Means you could do a x2 eGPU port1+port2 configuration using your two mPCIe slots. In fact, if using an older AMD card (HD4xxx/HD5xxx) you could run x2E mode (port1+port2 electrically connected, but port1 set to x4 mode) which would give full duplex x2 1.0 performance. It's a way to rectify some handshaking bug between your Intel ICH8M IO chipset and these cards. I am not sure if HD6xxx/HD7xxx are equally affected.

To force enable the radio on your wifi card just put cellophane tape over pin20. That should see it working in port1.

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Putting tape on pin 20 worked like a charm.

I was actually planning on trying to do the x2 eGPU port3+port4 configuration using the 3rd mPCIe half-slot and the ExpressCard slot. I was trying to move the wifi card to port 1 because I read that when I set port3+port4 to x2, it would change port1+port2 to x2 as well, meaning that the wifi card would no longer work on port 2. Of course, it may not work on port 1 with x2 enabled, either. That's the next step of my testing.

I'll be using my GTX570, so I don't think the x2E thing would work.

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Putting tape on pin 20 worked like a charm.

I was actually planning on trying to do the x2 eGPU port3+port4 configuration using the 3rd mPCIe half-slot and the ExpressCard slot. I was trying to move the wifi card to port 1 because I read that when I set port3+port4 to x2, it would change port1+port2 to x2 as well, meaning that the wifi card would no longer work on port 2. Of course, it may not work on port 1 with x2 enabled, either. That's the next step of my testing.

I'll be using my GTX570, so I don't think the x2E thing would work.

I see.. that would be a convenient configuration. Your wifi card should work OK in port1 in x2 mode.. it will just use the first lane. Yes, x2E doesn't apply to you when using a GTX570.

There are lots of T61 users out there. Having a confirmed x2 eGPU configuration extending their lifespan. There's also a dual-IDA bios getting you another free 200Mhz: See middleton's Ultimate R61/T61/X61/X300 BIOS (inc SATA-II)

If wanting to take it a step further, you could put a X9100-E0 stepping CPU into it giving 1st gen i5 levels of performance when overclocked using Throttlestop software and unlocked multipliers.

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I was aware of middleton's BIOS, but I hadn't heard about the X9100-E0 CPUs.

Does the upgraded CPU have any further effect on the performance of the eGPU setup? Or is it just done to gain overall system performance?

Also, is there a well-known source for them? Or is scavenging eBay my best bet?

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I was aware of middleton's BIOS, but I hadn't heard about the X9100-E0 CPUs.

Does the upgraded CPU have any further effect on the performance of the eGPU setup? Or is it just done to gain overall system performance?

Also, is there a well-known source for them? Or is scavenging eBay my best bet?

Overall system performance would improve. RickiBerlin lists advantages/disadvantages with his X9100-E0 CPU (QHBQ) installed in a HDX9000: *HP HDX 9000 DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 2* - Page 457 . The X9100 is a Series-4 CPU that can be made to work in a 965PM system by doing a 266->200Mhz socket pin mod. It's the coolest/fastest CPU you can get for your box. Cheapest I've seen them is on aliexpress for US$140-shipped: wholesale & retail Intel Dual Core X9100 QHBQ laptop cpu QS Version-in Processors from Computer & Networking on Aliexpress.com . You might get lucky on fleabay.

When evaluating all of this, consider what an complete system swapout would cost to a s/h Sandy Bridge system. Eg: Lenovo E420/E520/T420/T520, HP 4430s/4530s/6460b/6560b/8460p/8560P, Dell 3450/3550/E6420/E6520. There you'd get x1.2Opt performance from your GTX570 which would outperform your x2 1.0 with the T61 and be a simpler single-cable solution. The eGPU parts are cheaper too. The notebook itself would be considerably faster and give better battery life. Only downside I see is you'd be going to a 16:9 LCD.

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Thanks for the info. I'm not willing to spend $140 to upgrade the processor. It's a T9300 @ 2.5Ghz, so not great, but not terrible.

I've already looked into buying a new laptop, but I don't have the money to get what I want. The eGPU parts will cost me around $110-120, which is doable, albeit with a bit more work required.

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  • 2 weeks later...

To follow up on this, I purchased the mPCIe and ExpressCard combo from Harmonic Inversion. Thus far, I'm able to get the card working at x1 using only the ExpressCard slot, but not the half-size mPCIe slot (Port 3). Although the card is installed and everything is hooked up, Windows doesn't detect anything, and AIDA64 reports the slot as "Empty". Is there something I need to to in order to enable this slot? It's original intended use is a rare Wireless USB option for the T61.

I should add that I am using Middleton's BIOS and I haven't tried anything with DIY eGPU Setup because it didn't come with my parts from HIT. I understand that it's supposed to, so I emailed them. Maybe they forgot to send me the download link or something? Anyhow, once I get that software, I may be able to get it to work somehow... though if "Port 3" is already detected in Windows, I'm not sure that enabling it in eGPU setup will make any difference. I figured I'd post my results so far in the hopes of getting some advice before my copy of eGPU Setup arrives. Any advice would be appreciated.

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hi falcontx,

I have two T61 computers and I'm interested in doing eGPU setup as well. Can you post some 3DMark06 scores of your setup running via ExpressCard only?

from your posts you're using T9300 CPU and doing eGPU with GTX570 over PE4H, but what OS are you using ?

thanks

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To follow up once again, I finally got the eGPU software and no matter what I try, the card can not be detected on port 3, despite the fact that the eGPU shows green on all 3 of the LEDs. So, is it possible that port 3 is enabled but somehow can only be used for certain devices? Or maybe a certain pin needs to be taped? Should I try taping pin 20 on this one, too, or does that only apply to wireless cards?

EDIT: This morning, I tried my eGPU mPCIe card on port 2 and it worked fine. I also tried my wireless card on port 3 and it didn't work. So, basically, nothing I put on port 3 seems to work. I am running middleton's BIOS and I triple-checked everything in there, but didn't really see anything that would be causing port 3 to be detected, but not work.

Any ideas, troubleshooting tips, things to try would be greatly appreciated. I suppose I could live with x1 on port 4, but I'd really like to get this x2 thing working.

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Still no luck. eGPU Setup mentions if eGPU isn't detected to try a 32-bit compaction and iport bridge to set everything manually. I tried the compaction, which didn't work, but I didn't quite understand how to use the iport bridge command. I'm not really convinced it would work anyways, at this point. :/

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Bump.. Anyone have any insight at all as to why the third mPCIe slot wouldn't be working or how to fix it?

Boot with wifi card in port3 and lane2 of your eGPU connected to port4, confirm the wifi card is detected. This will bypass any mPCIe whitelisting that Lenovo may have implemented.

Switch port3 into x2 mode then power on the eGPU and *carefully* hotplug the PM3N end into port3. Hit F5 to list how the eGPU is detected. It should show [email protected] [eGPU]@x2.1 if all goes well.

In which case you can then proceed to avoid such hotplugging by using the Setup 1.1x anti-whitelisting features.

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Boot with wifi card in port3 and lane2 of your eGPU connected to port4, confirm the wifi card is detected. This will bypass any mPCIe whitelisting that Lenovo may have implemented.

Switch port3 into x2 mode then power on the eGPU and *carefully* hotplug the PM3N end into port3. Hit F5 to list how the eGPU is detected. It should show [email protected] [eGPU]@x2.1 if all goes well.

In which case you can then proceed to avoid such hotplugging by using the Setup 1.1x anti-whitelisting features.

As I mentioned above, I already tried booting with the WiFi card in port 3, but without the eGPU plugged in at all, and the WiFi card was not detected on port 3. It's like port 3 exists physically and in the chipset, but it's still somehow not functioning...

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As I mentioned above, I already tried booting with the WiFi card in port 3, but without the eGPU plugged in at all, and the WiFi card was not detected on port 3. It's like port 3 exists physically and in the chipset, but it's still somehow not functioning...

If a *whitelist compatible* wifi card isn't detected on port3 then an eGPU won't work using that port. First thing is to get the wifi card registered. Check if there are any bios settings to enable that port. If that fails then you still have the option of getting a port1+2 x2 configuration going and acquire a USB wifi stick. One other idea is to try a HD7xxx as it may give the best performance on your system as discussed.

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If a *whitelist compatible* wifi card isn't detected on port3 then an eGPU won't work using that port. First thing is to get the wifi card registered. Check if there are any bios settings to enable that port. If that fails then you still have the option of getting a port1+2 x2 configuration going and acquire a USB wifi stick. One other idea is to try a HD7xxx as it may give the best performance on your system as discussed.

Yes, the wifi card I have is whitelisted, as it works on both ports 1 and 2 without any issues. I have thoroughly checked the BIOS multiple times, and I don't see anything that enables/disables specific PCIe ports. I was trying to avoid port1+2, as I'd have to have the keyboard removed from the laptop anytime I wanted to use it, but it might be my only option if I can't figure this thing out with port 3. :/

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idea: get advanced dock and use its external PCI port to combine with the expresscard slot to use 2x eGPU speeds.

That's a good idea, but it wouldn't work. In order to use x2, the two ports have to be subsequent (i.e. ports 1+2 or ports 3+4). Since the built-in ExpressCard is port 4, the external one couldn't be used for x2.

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That's a good idea, but it wouldn't work. In order to use x2, the two ports have to be subsequent (i.e. ports 1+2 or ports 3+4). Since the built-in ExpressCard is port 4, the external one couldn't be used for x2.

I found a T61 schematic that tells us what's what:

t61ports.png

port1=WWAN

port2=wifi

port3=bay device?

port4=expresscard

port5=dock

port6=lan

The bay device appears to be some sort of legacy 32-pin connector. Maybe something to do with the ultrabay?

t61baydevice.png

Don't see any mention of a third mPCIe slot on the schematic. Wonder what it is?

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I found a T61 schematic that tells us what's what:

port1=WWAN

port2=wifi

port3=bay device?

port4=expresscard

port5=dock

port6=lan

The bay device appears to be some sort of legacy 32-pin connector. Maybe something to do with the ultrabay?

Don't see any mention of a third mPCIe slot on the schematic. Wonder what it is?

According to this, it was originally intended to be used for Wireless USB:

forum.thinkpads.com • The elusive T61 wireless usb device (found)

Also, it only appears on the 15.4" version of the T61, not the 14" version. Maybe the schematics are for the 14" version, which is why it doesn't show up anywhere?

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  • 1 month later...

Hi, I would like to report a successful eGPU implementation for t61 with nvs 140m and 9800GT with verde drivers force installed for both gpus. Best performance with x1 setup on 275.33 mod drivers and overclocking dGPu in p0 state.(win experience index jumped from 4.2 to 5.5 (general index) win7 x64, and graphics jumped from 4.3 to 5.9(performance).

I was also looking for x2 solution and started looking for some free ports that will make it possible and I stumbled into this thread. And this what i got from the info on free ports from sw SiSandra:[ATTACH=CONFIG]6215[/ATTACH]

And this is the setup 1.x conf displ; [ATTACH=CONFIG]6216[/ATTACH]

And by reading your experince in this thread it looks that my port 1 is free or WWAN, and it gives me an option of doing x4 on port 1. So is it possible by unplugging the wwan card and plugging in the mPcie to hdmi adapter on that position and connecting it with pe4h 2.4 with x4 enabled, I mean is it possible to even consider this option?

And a big thanks to nando and others for this info on eGPU.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi, I would like to report a successful eGPU implementation for t61 with nvs 140m and 9800GT with verde drivers force installed for both gpus. Best performance with x1 setup on 275.33 mod drivers and overclocking dGPu in p0 state.(win experience index jumped from 4.2 to 5.5 (general index) win7 x64, and graphics jumped from 4.3 to 5.9(performance).

I was also looking for x2 solution and started looking for some free ports that will make it possible and I stumbled into this thread. And this what i got from the info on free ports from sw SiSandra:[ATTACH=CONFIG]6215[/ATTACH]

And this is the setup 1.x conf displ; [ATTACH=CONFIG]6216[/ATTACH]

And by reading your experince in this thread it looks that my port 1 is free or WWAN, and it gives me an option of doing x4 on port 1. So is it possible by unplugging the wwan card and plugging in the mPcie to hdmi adapter on that position and connecting it with pe4h 2.4 with x4 enabled, I mean is it possible to even consider this option?

And a big thanks to nando and others for this info on eGPU.

- - - Updated - - -

sorry for double posting, forum logged me in but did not apply my replies. sorry

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