Do I have the right mPCIe port?

[Keboose]

Hi! I just started researching eGPU's, and I love the prospect of doing away with my desktop in favor of my laptop and eGPU (one hell of a space saver!)

My laptop (ASUS Vivobook V551LB-DB71T) doesn't have an expresscard slot or a Thunderbolt port, but it does have an extra mPCIe port. The only thing is, I've read in the stickies that "WWAN" mPCIe ports don't work, and I'm wondering if mine are that type.

Here is a picture of the ports in my laptop. I'm assuming that because the one with the wireless card in it labeled "WLAN" is the wrong kind, and wouldn't work. However, the second (unused) one appears to be labeled "SSD," which looks like a good sign. Would the second one work with an eGPU?

[angerthosenear]

Hi! I just started researching eGPU's, and I love the prospect of doing away with my desktop in favor of my laptop and eGPU (one hell of a space saver!)

My laptop (ASUS Vivobook V551LB-DB71T) doesn't have an expresscard slot or a Thunderbolt port, but it does have an extra mPCIe port. The only thing is, I've read in the stickies that "WWAN" mPCIe ports don't work, and I'm wondering if mine are that type.

Here is a picture of the ports in my laptop. I'm assuming that because the one with the wireless card in it labeled "WLAN" is the wrong kind, and wouldn't work. However, the second (unused) one appears to be labeled "SSD," which looks like a good sign. Would the second one work with an eGPU?

Welcome to T|I. As I mentioned on reddit, you'd have to test by putting your wifi card into the SSD slot and see if it works. See if there is an option in BIOS about that port if it does not work. You really cannot tell just by looking at it (they share the same pins to operate.

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edit:

Saw your post on reddit. You will have to connect your eGPU in the slot where the wifi card is. You can use a USB wifi device if you require wireless.

[Keboose]

Alright, we'll continue on here. I tried moving the card, and it didn't work anymore. Sometime today I'll check the BIOS, but I don't think there will be anything. Also, are you sure the slot labeled WLAN will work? Again, one of the stickies here said that WWAN (and I assume that that is similar to WLAN) style ports don't work, because they only have the throughput of a USB connection.

[angerthosenear]

Alright, we'll continue on here. I tried moving the card, and it didn't work anymore. Sometime today I'll check the BIOS, but I don't think there will be anything. Also, are you sure the slot labeled WLAN will work? Again, one of the stickies here said that WWAN (and I assume that that is similar to WLAN) style ports don't work, because they only have the throughput of a USB connection.

WLAN is almost always mPCIe. I haven't seen a single laptop (and I work computer repair) that has a non-mPCIe base wifi card.

WWAN is almost always USB based. I think I've may have seen one mPCIe based WWAN card - and that was by Googling for one.

Think of it this way:

WLAN = WiFi

WWAN = Cell phone data network

[Keboose]

Thank you, that's a relief!

Now onto the business of the card itself. I'm probably going to buy the PE4H adapter, and I have a spare card to test with, an AMD HD6950. Is that too demanding for the throughput of mPCIe? What do you consider the 'maximum' for for an mPCIe slot, the GPU where, above that, the mPCIe slot limits the performance of the card? (I wand to go NVidia for the real deal, because that's what's in my laptop already.)

[angerthosenear]

Thank you, that's a relief!

Now onto the business of the card itself. I'm probably going to buy the PE4H adapter, and I have a spare card to test with, an AMD HD6950. Is that too demanding for the throughput of mPCIe? What do you consider the 'maximum' for for an mPCIe slot, the GPU where, above that, the mPCIe slot limits the performance of the card? (I wand to go NVidia for the real deal, because that's what's in my laptop already.)

You would want to get the PE4L-PM060A, this allows for Gen2 performance (a bit more reliably).

PE4L V2.1 (PCIe Adapter )

Nvidia will allow you to get Optimus compression as well which gives a significant performance boost.

I've used a GTX 660Ti as an eGPU and a R9 280X. Some users have used up to a GTX Titan.

[Keboose]

Are you saying that I can fully utilize a Titan with the compression and mPCIe? Are you sure? Because if my test with the AMD is successful (no compression, but proof that the system works,) then I will almost certainly sell my gaming desktop and have $1500 in my pocket to buy what I want, and I want a card that will perform best without exceeding the limits of the PCI adapter.

[angerthosenear]

Are you saying that I can fully utilize a Titan with the compression and mPCIe? Are you sure? Because if my test with the AMD is successful (no compression, but proof that the system works,) then I will almost certainly sell my gaming desktop and have $1500 in my pocket to buy what I want, and I want a card that will perform best without exceeding the limits of the PCI adapter.

Not full utilization of it, but a pretty good percentage. @MikjoA has his super insanely modded Skyrim running off his eGPU Titan. He manages to use upwards of 5.25GB VRAM. I don't have links of his benchmarks handy, but they are quite impressive.

In my tests, the R9 280X far outperformed my GTX 660 Ti.

[Keboose]

Wouldn't an Nvidia GPU work better than an equal AMD GPU on my computer, since I have Optimus already installed? I will probably buy a 780TI if my test works out.

And I should buy the PE4L adapter, correct? It supports PCIe 2.0, and can accept up to 16x cards?

[angerthosenear]

Wouldn't an Nvidia GPU work better than an equal AMD GPU on my computer, since I have Optimus already installed? I will probably buy a 780TI if my test works out.

And I should buy the PE4L adapter, correct? It supports PCIe 2.0, and can accept up to 16x cards?

Yes it would.

PE4L yes. It is an edgeless 1x slot. So you will have 15x hanging out. It looks really odd at first, and you'll think "this cannot work", but it does !