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15" HP ProBook 4540s + R9_280X@4Gbps-mPCIe2 (EXP GDC Beast) + Win10/64 [deathwingbg]


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Hello everybody,

After being scammed with a GPU, testing this on two more laptops, spending 3+ weeks trying to figure this out just to find that the PSU OCS SXS 600W it somewhat faulty and i have been scammed with it too :( ...

It turned out my configuration is as simple as plug-and-play.

My laptop: HP ProBook 4540s

- i7-3630QM 2.4Ghz

- 8GB RAM (2x4GB 1333Mhz)

- AMD 7650m dGPU/HD4000 iGPU

- Windows 10 64bit

My eGPU:

- R9 280X Vapor-X 3GB GDDR5

- EXP GDC Beast

- Fortron FSP 750W

- external LG FLATRON W2442PE 24" (1920x1080)

Picture:

12045409_10205556515177288_8517396837204701114_o.jpg

Configuration:

I did not use Setup 1.x at all, my card is well detected, everything seems to be fine out of the box.

The Intel card gives error 12, but who cares... i just disabled it.

Here are the steps I have taken:

- Dont plug the EXP GDC to your laptop yet

- Uninstall the AMD drivers

- RESTART

- Boot Bios

- Disable "Switchable Graphics" this will disable the integrated 7650m

- Restart

- Shutdown, plug in the EXP GDC in the mPCI-e (Turn on The PSU)

- Boot Windows (EXP GDC starts powers the GPU as soon as you press the power button on the laptop)

- Install latest AMD drivers.

- Reboot, and voila there you have it!!!

Benchmarks:

3dMark 2006 - 23165

3dMark 2011 - 9585/P8667

3dMark 2013 - 7575/(6525)

I am monitoring the Wattage at the PSU plug:

Windows normal usage: 20-55W

3dMarks: 100-200W

Heroes VII: 200W

Furmark: 330W :02:

Many thanks to Nando for his advice and his 1.3 setup, when i have time i will try to do DSTD override and play more with some of the Setup 1.3 settings.

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  • 3 weeks later...

congrats !!

i have same notebook(4540s) with just intel hd graphics. i bought this notebook for egpu setup but i couldn't.

how did you do that ?

i tried in the past but egpu didn't appear on device manager. didn't appear on egpu setup too.

which bios are you using?

i think my bios has a whitelist. there must be a way !! we have same notebooks...

how its your gaming performance ?

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Ah sorry mate, been busy lately.

I installed the latest bios from the HP website. F.60 A15 Jan 2015.

Recently I reinstalled everything on SSD. Just to confirm that everything is as simple as plug and play.

As i said i have disabled switchable graphics from the bios so the laptop behaves more or less like it only has the Intel video. By the way i tested to swap the wireless with another brand and i had no problem with that. So you may check for whitelist.

My Intel video gets "error code 12", but i could not care less. Still before final configuration the image is displayed both on the laptop and the external monitor, but i leave the display to show only on the external monitor.

Performance is great.

I am playing Wither 3, FHD on High (not Ultra) with 24+ FPS ( i mean average 30 and it never drops below good 24 frames, no lags observed). No problems found so far. Tested the Fallout 4 ... it detected ultra settings automatically.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Ah sorry mate, been busy lately.

I installed the latest bios from the HP website. F.60 A15 Jan 2015.

Recently I reinstalled everything on SSD. Just to confirm that everything is as simple as plug and play.

As i said i have disabled switchable graphics from the bios so the laptop behaves more or less like it only has the Intel video. By the way i tested to swap the wireless with another brand and i had no problem with that. So you may check for whitelist.

My Intel video gets "error code 12", but i could not care less. Still before final configuration the image is displayed both on the laptop and the external monitor, but i leave the display to show only on the external monitor.

Performance is great.

I am playing Wither 3, FHD on High (not Ultra) with 24+ FPS ( i mean average 30 and it never drops below good 24 frames, no lags observed). No problems found so far. Tested the Fallout 4 ... it detected ultra settings automatically.

Have you tried with different game ? How is your performance, i am going to do this but i'm afraid :)

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Have you tried with different game ? How is your performance, i am going to do this but i'm afraid :)

As you see i tested with 3 very demanding games... ?!? No Problems found so far. Everything works as a charm. No flickering, no crashes, no problems.

I am playing Witcher almost every day.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi, I've got a ProBook 4540s as well, same specs as yours except the RAM which I have is 6GB, I haven't bought a GPU yet nor an EGPU kit, but what I'd know is how you connected the kit to your laptop (Can't see it in the pic).

As far as I know that 4540s doesn't have an Express Card slot nor an additional mPCIe slot, so I'd appreciate your time for explaining me how you did it :)

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1 hour ago, KhaledJ said:

Hi, I've got a ProBook 4540s as well, same specs as yours except the RAM which I have is 6GB, I haven't bought a GPU yet nor an EGPU kit, but what I'd know is how you connected the kit to your laptop (Can't see it in the pic).

As far as I know that 4540s doesn't have an Express Card slot nor an additional mPCIe slot, so I'd appreciate your time for explaining me how you did it :)

 

It's explained already in the title. @deathwingbg used the 4540s' wifi mPCIe slot for the eGPU implementation. If you need concurrent wifi with eGPU then consider getting a USB wifi dongle.
 

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On 12/26/2015 at 7:23 AM, Tech Inferno Fan said:

 

It's explained already in the title. @deathwingbg used the 4540s' wifi mPCIe slot for the eGPU implementation. If you need concurrent wifi with eGPU then consider getting a USB wifi dongle.
 

The funny and good (not too good though xP) thing is that my internal wifi's cables are cut in the middle (Cause I broke the screen hinges while I slept on the laptop xDD) so it doesn't function well and I was forced to get a USB wifi dongle to connect to far networks, so I'm one step forward :) All respect to you and thank you for explaining Mr. Moderator, I read that, but making sure is always better than being sorry xD

Can't wait to "EGPU" my laptop...

Oh and I have one more question, I'm still noobish and confused : Can I use an Nvidia GPU? If the answer is yes (including modification stuff like turning off dual GPUs functionality) then I'll research for it, if no, I'll stick with AMD.

Thanks again, a lot.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You can use Nvidia GPU. No problem with that either NVidia or AMD. 

With nVidia you may be able to use it even on the laptop screen.

 

Btw was able to upgrade the laptop with SSD 240GB and 12GB RAM (11.6GB). The 2TB HDD i put instead of the DVD in a SATA caddy. 

It seems all the 4540s laptops have some glitch with RAM greater then 8GB so if you want to upgrade to more than 8GB open a command prompt as administrator and enter this " bcdedit /set {current} removememory 256"

source: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Boot-and-Lockup/Performance-degrades-in-Probook-4540s-after-memory-upgrade/td-p/2268503/page/4

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Thanks a lot deathwingbg! Your information is really helpful, also thanks for the RAM fix.
Right now I got two HDDs since I got a SATA caddy few months ago, I put 2TB HDD as main and 1TB as secondary, I don't need SSD cause space volume matters more for my work.

Going to get nVidia GPU btw, it's better in performance and enables me to use the internal screen (Though I heard it reduces performance by a specific percentage).

Also, could you PM me some of your experiences or even post them here? Like a game you're running or video/3D rendering, I'd really appreciate that.

Thanks again and have a great day!

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As I previously explained it is as easy as plug and play. Connect the EXP GDC to the laptop (not sure if it will be as simple as  that with other connectors such as PE4L, but i assume so)

Then when i power up the laptop it automatically turns the eGPU. When it loads windows the eGPU is detected in "Device Manager" as "unknown video adapter" (this is only before i install the drivers). 

Tested it both on Windows 8 and Windows 10.
If you have some problems update your bios to the latest version. Write here what is your configuration etc. what are your problems.

 

Never had any issues with it regarding video playback or gameplay. I have some issues with the sound sometimes as my external monitor has speakers and the system sometimes gets confused and plays the music from the laptop instead from the monitor. Also the screen on the laptop is always lit and never goes completely dark. When the monitors are turned off and i wake up the computer first the laptop screen starts showing the content but then very fast switches to the external monitor.

 

So far i have played Heroes VII, Witcher 3, Fallout 4, NFS Rivals... all maximum settings and absolutely no issues.

Also tested with 3dMark 2006, 2011, 2013 and Furmark.

 

 

 

 

 

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I see, thank you before.

 

So my laptop have bios which is i don't have any access to configure my bios (still locked), especially configuring graphics settings.

 

Maybe that's the reason my eGPU still undetected although the eGPU fan rotates and EXP GDC lamp indicator is 'blue'.

 

 

 

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Upgrade your bios to  F.60 A 15 Jan 2015

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=5229456&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4132

It does not give you any graphics settings ... HP bioses are locked. You can only disable "switchable graphics" this will disable the dGPU 7650M if you have one. Some laptops do not have it.

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  • 8 months later...

I have a GTX 1060 graphics card and will it work with EXP GDC Beast v8.0 on Hp probook 4540s. I have tried it and it stucks at boot "Black Screen". I have done all the steps that you have shown above. It still doesnt work :(:(

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok. I have the same laptop. The exact same components.. except the processor. I have that one just slightly better. Got the dock v0.8. Did all your steps with my gtx 660. No go.. Tried EVERYTHING. I even took out the wifi card and put in the dock while laptop was running to see if it's a whitelist issue. No go... I was desperate so I just allowed back the "switchable graphics" in the bios. Guess what, works like a charm. Plug n play. Even no issues with the integrated intel card.. no error12, nothing. Just flawless. Why would it work so completely different from you? :D Btw Win8 or Win10, whatever, irrelevant. But still thank you. You convinced me into buying and setting up the eGPU. cheers.

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