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M.2 NGFF eGPU Possible?


kwyjibo

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  • 3 weeks later...
I was wondering if the m.2/ngff to pcie extender could be used for a egpu solution

link is below

P11S-P11F

Could it possibly be used for x2 2.0?

I'm not an expert nor do I have any experience with this actual hardware, but I've been scrounging the internet for about a week now trying to find information regarding M.2 with the types of "Keyed" slots that are available and the physical pinouts (haven't found this yet...)

Based on the pictures provided, the type of M.2 slot required for the P11S card is either a Key-A or Key-E slot, not a Key-B slot as indicated in the description.

An A-Key slot should be able to provide PCIe x2, however, a Key-E slot I believe is only supposed to provide PCIe x1. When a card is keyed for A and E that would make me assume that it would only be able to provide PCIe x1. Regardless of that, the P11F part of the link product provides 2 PCIe x1 slots, so no, this would not get you up to x2 2.0, but rather, allow you to hook up two PCIe x1 cards to the one M.2 connector.

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Anybody wanting to investigate NGFF M.2 eGPU solutions should be aware that the vendors can wire through either SATA III or pci-e 2.0. Only way to find out would be to probe the system with the NGFF M.2 SSD installed to see what architecture is used. The lack of standards is not making it easy for us.

REF: Understanding M.2 NGFF SSD Standardization (Or The Lack Of) | The SSD Review

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  • 4 weeks later...

I tried a bunch of 2013 drivers and with them my framerate is literally divided by 7 compared to a year old driver. My egpu is a Sapphire 5770 running at 1x. So I'm thinking either the driver is made primarily for the latest cards and they didn't try it on 5xxx or they messed with pci-e bandwidth on purpose or something's wrong on my side. At one time I got sick of reinstalling the drivers back and forth...

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Hi! Nit sure if you saw that, but I've tested HD6850 eGPU at x1 bandwidth. Drivers used were 13.9. No severe slowdowns caused by drivers, I think. You could check out my Crysis 3 benchmarks (FPS logs) in the main topic.

Since 5770 and 6850 are based on the same old architecture, I think the same drivers apply to them, so the performance loss shuold be comparable. But the performance I've got is quite as expected from such eGPU setup.

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  • 6 months later...

I have read that key B+M at least is supposed to support up to 4x connection (url), and i.e. using P14S-P14FP (M.2 to PCIe X2 Edge Extender Board) adapter we could also get 4x PCI express. I maybe would be willing to try similar adapters.. but I am still not sure if its better to remove mPCIe wireless card and connect eGPU into that slot (then I would need to buy ngff m.2 -> mPCIe adapter to use wireless) OR leave wireless in its place and get the extender board from NGFF m.2 to PCI express to connect the eGPU. As y510p SLI is still good enough for all the games, I am not in a hurry to try that, but rather slowly gathering information and seeing whats happening in this area.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

I just wanted to know if somebody already tried or is going to try out to connect a PCI-Express GPU via M.2 NGFF Slot.

I found this adapter (P14S-P14FP (M.2 to PCIe X2 Edge Extender Board)) but i dont know if it works with the eGPU Setup.

M.2 supports PCIe x4 so it should be faster than mPCIe and Expresscard right?

Thanks

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Yes it is theoretically possible. However it would share many of mPCIe's problems such as mounting. However I suggest not to use bplus' adapter it wastes the bandwith of m.2, the protocol and many laptops support full x16 throuput from m.2 sockets. If you want to wait I could build you a kit of my egpu for m.2 connectivity. forum

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Are you sure with the support of 16x?On wiki it says m.2 supports only up to x4. I am interested in an m.2 egpu kit but it depends on the price and i don't need an case for it.

Whats the mounting matter with mpcie? Do you just mean the effort of plugging and unplugging while half of the laptop is took apart? I havent tried an eGPU setup yet so i havent any expierences with that.

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Yeh sorry, was thinking of MXM. My big issue with using mpcie and m.2 is that every time you want to use an egpu you have to remove the bottom cover. If you are considering using a laptop as a desktop and just leaving it there, then m.2 is fine i just suggest getting one of the cooling pads that has a hole in the middle for cord management. If you have soldering experience you can rewire the mpcie or m.2 to external ports you dont use (i did one of the display ports and a usb 2 since my laptop had usb3) it makes portability much more feasable and keeps the setup neater.

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  • 1 month later...

Am looking to setup an egpu on a HP elitebook 820 and would really like some help, am aware I am reposting some of this stuff, so will be last time.

The 820 has two M.2 ports, one for 'flask cache' / ssd the other for wwan and was wondering if it is possible it tell if either is pcie wired. @Tech Inferno Fan suggested trying wlan card in M.2 ports to see of it was registered, but have tried and unless there is something I a missing, or miss understanding, it will not fit, let alone the pins line up.

820 ports - mpcie, 'flash cache' M.2 and wwan(?) M.2

post-8324-14494998549052_thumb.jpg

(sorry about picture quality)

Also playing round in HWinfo64 and noted second pcie port with slot implemented, could it be M.2? or something else?

post-8324-14494998549424_thumb.jpg

The second thing, is trying to get a M.2 setup even worth it from a performance point of view? If my understand in correct a pcie M.2 will offer an 8Gbs x2.2 link, which will allow optimus for internal display, but not compression, however the link will still get better performance than 4Gbs + c, am I correct in this thinking?

Lastly does anyone know how the i5-4300u will affect performance, will it bottle neck cards like 660ti/570/760 making something like a 750ti a better option?

Thanks

post-8324-14494998548846_thumb.jpg

post-8324-14494998549236_thumb.jpg

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Am looking to setup an egpu on a HP elitebook 820 and would really like some help, am aware I am reposting some of this stuff, so will be last time.

The 820 has two M.2 ports, one for 'flask cache' / ssd the other for wwan and was wondering if it is possible it tell if either is pcie wired. @Tech Inferno Fan suggested trying wlan card in M.2 ports to see of it was registered, but have tried and unless there is something I a missing, or miss understanding, it will not fit, let alone the pins line up.

820 ports - mpcie, 'flash cache' M.2 and wwan(?) M.2

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12848[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]12850[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]12849[/ATTACH]

(sorry about picture quality)

Also playing round in HWinfo64 and noted second pcie port with slot implemented, could it be M.2? or something else?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12851[/ATTACH]

The second thing, is trying to get a M.2 setup even worth it from a performance point of view? If my understand in correct a pcie M.2 will offer an 8Gbs x2.2 link, which will allow optimus for internal display, but not compression, however the link will still get better performance than 4Gbs + c, am I correct in this thinking?

Lastly does anyone know how the i5-4300u will affect performance, will it bottle neck cards like 660ti/570/760 making something like a 750ti a better option?

Thanks

Port6 hosts the hidden Intel LAN adapter. In addition it's listed as a x1 width link, not x2 as you desire. I'm 95% sure that you have a SATA NGFF.M2 slot, which unfortunately makes it unsable for eGPU purposes. Which only then leads your mPCIe2 wifi slot which can be used to host a 4Gbps+c link using a NVidia card.

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You can easily check what type you have and what it can.support. go on the wikipedia page for m.2 and they have pictures of all the key formats and what functions they have. Pretty sure most of the laptops out now have B key which has x2 pcie

Unfortunately not so. The 820 G1 has a 42mm SATA M.2 connector. From M.2 NGFF SSD Compatibility List | My Digital Discount.

42mm SATA M.2 NGFF (2242)

HP Chromebook 14

HP EliteBook: 820 G1, 840 G1, 850 G1

HP EliteBook Revolve: 810 G2

HP ProBook: 430 G1, 430 G2, 450 G2, 640 G1, 650 G1

HP ZBook 14

Furthermore, from the many PC notebooks with a M.2 connector, it's only the pricier Sony VAIO Pro 13 and just released HP ZBook 15/17 G2 that have it in x2/x4 PCIe form at this time. Most PC notebooks are using SATA lines to the connector making it unusable for eGPU purposes.

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Thanks for all the help with trying to sort out the ports, but am most likely going to leave it tho.

I feel I should point out thought, the exp gdc ngff cable appears to have an A slot ending, from product description and counting pins, so will not be usable with B and/or M ngff ports

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Thanks for all the help with trying to sort out the ports, but am most likely going to leave it tho.

I feel I should point out thought, the exp gdc ngff cable appears to have an A slot ending, from product description and counting pins, so will not be usable with B and/or M ngff ports

Actually looking at the chart again all currently used keys are electrically pcie 2x. So there is a high probability that it would work. If you end up having a slot that is not A. I can make adapters for M B and E. I have the m.2 spec for my m.2 daughterboard so it wouldn't be too much trouble to make an x4 cable. Though I'd have to force output into multiple cables for use on pe4c, I'm developing one with minidp but its in the pipeline for after I mass produce my main board.

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  • 2 months later...

Someone pushing the envelope further...or at least trying!

**Official Clevo P650SE/SG - P651SE/SG / Sager NP8651 - NP8652 Owner´s Lounge** - Page 364

quote_icon.png Originally Posted by HTWingNut viewpost-right.png

Great idea! I have been wanting to do this for a while, but unfortunately M.2 runs off 3.3V I believe which is why the adapter won't work. You can try something like this to up convert from 3.3v to 5V:https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10255

And where did you get that adapter board?

I just wish there was an adapter that would just convert from mPCI-e to USB. So many possible applications.

Both of these already exist?

P32S-P32F (M.2 to USB3.0 Extender Board) Indeed powered with a sata power cable

P34SF-USB (USB to mPCI-e Extender)

They sell mutch more usefull tools like that, for example

P15S-P15F (M.2 to mPCIe Extender Board) M.2 to mPCI-e

P4SM2 (PCIe X4 to M.2 Adapter) M.2 to PCI-e 4x

Especially the last one is interesting for us, as we have one of maybe 5 laptop types that have a 4x speed M.2 slot, you can make a external gpu setup with that adapter and a x4 to 16x adapter. For now who is going to need a faster GPU then a GTX98/70m? But maybe in the future it could be interesting. Its less then 5% loss over 16gbps vs normal 16x slot in a desktop

hmm, maybe a sli config with a mxm gtx98/70m is possible? No idea how SLI Bridges work in the mobile GPU's. I know AMD does it over pci these days and doesn't need a bridge anymore.

Food for thought"

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Someone pushing the envelope further...or at least trying!

**Official Clevo P650SE/SG - P651SE/SG / Sager NP8651 - NP8652 Owner´s Lounge** - Page 364

quote_icon.png Originally Posted by HTWingNut viewpost-right.png

Great idea! I have been wanting to do this for a while, but unfortunately M.2 runs off 3.3V I believe which is why the adapter won't work. You can try something like this to up convert from 3.3v to 5V:https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10255

And where did you get that adapter board?

I just wish there was an adapter that would just convert from mPCI-e to USB. So many possible applications.

Both of these already exist?

P32S-P32F (M.2 to USB3.0 Extender Board) Indeed powered with a sata power cable

P34SF-USB (USB to mPCI-e Extender)

They sell mutch more usefull tools like that, for example

P15S-P15F (M.2 to mPCIe Extender Board) M.2 to mPCI-e

P4SM2 (PCIe X4 to M.2 Adapter) M.2 to PCI-e 4x

Especially the last one is interesting for us, as we have one of maybe 5 laptop types that have a 4x speed M.2 slot, you can make a external gpu setup with that adapter and a x4 to 16x adapter. For now who is going to need a faster GPU then a GTX98/70m? But maybe in the future it could be interesting. Its less then 5% loss over 16gbps vs normal 16x slot in a desktop

hmm, maybe a sli config with a mxm gtx98/70m is possible? No idea how SLI Bridges work in the mobile GPU's. I know AMD does it over pci these days and doesn't need a bridge anymore.

Food for thought"

Thats me!

Was planning to post here but was searching on NBR and couldn't find the thread, well back on the right track again :P

A list with laptops that have a M.2 Type M slot that support PCI-e 4x

Asus Zenbook nx500jk

Hp Zbook 15/17 G2

Hp Omen gaming laptop, but its M.2 slot seems to be the ONLY slot for a hard drive

Sony Via Pro 13, but its M.2 slot seems to be the ONLY slot for a hard drive

Clevo P650, P651

Clevo P670, P671

Clevo P751ZM, P771ZM laptop with Desktop CPU, 2x slots, possibly for 8x or PCI-e 3.0?

Problem with the clevo laptops is that they already have performance comparable to a desktop so why try to make a external system. T

We need a MSI Gs30 like laptop, small, light, quad core, socketed cpu, intel iris or GTX 850 ish gpu onboard and a free M.2 type M slot.

Haven't found more laptops that support the M.2 Type we need, hope CES brings more but getting actual specs from internal connectors seems to be hard.

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And what about the Lenovo Thinkpads W540, T540p, L540, ...? They also have a M.2 slot. Is it connected to SATA or PCIe Interface?

You will have to google that yourself.

However unless those are new laptops for 2015 the chance they have a M.2 Type m slot is almost none.

Found 2 new laptops for the list of fresh coming of CES

Both have M.2 type M

Hp Zbook 14g2

Hp Zbook 15u

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  • 1 month later...

Found this thread and it seems to be the only thing going with any information on M.2 as an eGPU solution. What I am planning is to hook up the new i5 NUC (NUC5i5RYH) to BPlus' 4x PCIe adapter and am wondering if there are any obvious problems with this before I spend money. The NUC uses a M-Keyed M.2 Slot according to it's Tech sheet. The point of this is going to be to make a super small form factor gaming rig with a 970 or 980.

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  • 1 month later...

#1:

Actually there is an adapter for what we have bin searching: PCI-e 1X/4x Card to NGFF M.2 M Key PCIe Slot Adapter

The only thing needed is an NGFF key M externder board with a 30cm cable to make it useful.

#2:

For the list of laptops with A keyed NGFF you can add the Lenovo Flex 2 14inch with i5 4100u, 4gb of RAM, 500gb SSHD, 1080p touchscreen display and without NVIDIA graphics.

I read somewhere, that lenovo uses different boards on the Flex 2. That's why I posted the full specs of my laptop.

#3:

It also would be useful to get the pin description for NGFF. That way we can get the four lanes outside of the laptop for eGPU without SATA and USB.

Edit: I just found out, that my laptop is with key A, not with M, sry ...

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And what about the Lenovo Thinkpads W540, T540p, L540, ...? They also have a M.2 slot. Is it connected to SATA or PCIe Interface?

The W540, T540p, L540 all have

one M.2 Key A (or E) pcie according to Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 7260 7260NGW WIFI Bluetooth For THINKPAD T540P W540 L440 L540 lenovo yoga2 pro AC 876m-in Network Cards from Computer & Office on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group - At the Wifi slot

and one M.2 Key B(+M?) pcie according to Amazon.com: Sierra Gobi5000 EM7355 LTE/EVDO/HSPA+ 42Mbps NGFF Card 4G Module for Lenovo Thinkpad T431s T440 T440s T440p T540P W540 X240 FRU 04W3801: Computers & Accessories (Key B WWAN) and msata(?) for NeweggBusiness - Transcend MTS400 TS256GMTS400 M.2 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (SSD Key B+M) both using same port

All parts for compatible for those laptops.

I also found this post-31610-14494999687665_thumb.gif

I´m looking for a new laptop and I´m on a budget (as always) so I was looking for the L540. Turns out a few new Haswell laptops are using M.2 ports instead of mpcie, so it´s time to get this going!

What I´m confused with is that yoybuy already sells exp gdc with M.2 cable (they say themselves that it can use M.2 Key A for egpu purposes) but has someone already realised it?

Another question is

I already have a Exp Gdc beast and i have a spare mpcie to hdmi cable. A friend of mine said he could, if I buy the L540, put out the Wifi M.2 card and crack out the Wifi element and solder the M.2 Key board to the hdmi cable.

Would that settup work? I guess if I ask herocloud, they would ship me that cable anyways but it takes ages to ship and you know, just for a cable?

And am I assuming right that it if at the key B(?) port a WWAN card key B male is connected, it is using pcie and if at the same port a ssd card with B+M male is connected, it is using msata (like saying at M.2 NGFF SSD Compatibility List | My Digital Discount) ?

Correct me if I´m wrong, its superconfusing!

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I think that the EXP GDC only is capable of using PCIe x2. Make sure, you get a laptop with M keyed NGFF.

You could solder a cable but do you know which pins you have to connect?

If you just wonder how you could get your EXP GDC back working, use this:

P15S-P15F

Or something else that does the same: Converting NGFF to mPCIe.

The NGFF to PCIe x4 adapter I found, really is capable of doing x4 3.0 Speeds.

http://www.amazon.de/Express-PCI-E-Female-Adapter-Converter/dp/B00OQ1Y5E6

And it is the same adapter also available in US (just look at the numbers on the board):

http://www.amazon.com/WBTUO-LM-141X-V1-0-Drive-Adapter-Desktop/dp/B00UKWWARY/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1427736012&sr=8-15&keywords=pcie+ngff+x4

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