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BPlus PE4C V3/V2 discussion


useafo

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You can't do the swap that you propose because the mPCIe adapter only wires through USB.

I'm not sure what you mean. If you look at the components in both the links I posted, they both use USB. The main challenge would be finding an mPCIe adapter that uses USB 3.0.

From my perspective, it's worth paying more from the get go to get better Gen2 signalling.

Yes, if I'm going to end up buying it eventually anyway there's no reason to waste money on cheaper hardware that may fail. I'm just wondering if it would be a better idea to put the money toward buying a whole new computer instead of rigging a card to my laptop. I will have to see what my financial situation ends up being in a month or so.

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I'm not sure what you mean. If you look at the components in both the links I posted, they both use USB. The main challenge would be finding an mPCIe adapter that uses USB 3.0.

Yes, if I'm going to end up buying it eventually anyway there's no reason to waste money on cheaper hardware that may fail. I'm just wondering if it would be a better idea to put the money toward buying a whole new computer instead of rigging a card to my laptop. I will have to see what my financial situation ends up being in a month or so.

Your mPCIe board wires through USB (pins 36/38). That's not going to help a PCIe eGPU. You want it to wire through PCIe (pins 23, 25, 31,33) + REFCLK (11, 13).

post-33944-0-69218700-1363360171.png

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Tech Inferno Fan? Do you happen to know what makes the system Gen2 or Gen3 capable? I'm curious, could the 2570p make use of that 8Gb/s on tap?

All of Intel's current chipsets have their southbridge ports (mPCIe/EC) specced to Gen2. Only their Northbridge ports that hosts dGPUs are Gen3. So no, a 2570P cannot run 8Gbps Gen3 nor can any other current notebook's EC/mPCIe slot.

BPlus advertise the adapter as Gen3 compliant moreso for the HP060A adapter. That's a x1 PCIe card that slots into desktop systems allowing a video card to be hosted externally. Recent desktop systems have Gen3 PCIe slots.

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What if we soldered traces from the northbridge to the expresscard connector? Or is it too unlikely to maintain signal quality with such a hackjob?

Thread discussing that idea is at http://forum.techinferno.com/general-notebook-discussions/10100-help-request-adding-pciex16-port-laptop-soldering.html#post134686 . You'd want to first make sure the dGPU port is unlocked and can be enabled whether that be with the factory bios or with a modified bios. If it's locked and can't be enabled then there's no point in creating the electrical link for it.

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You can't do the swap that you propose because the mPCIe adapter only wires through USB.

There is no different in speed between mPCIe and expresscard (EC). As strange as it may sound, I actually found mPCIe to give a better Gen2 signal than EC when testing on a 2570P Elitebook and a more flakey adapter. REF: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2109-diy-egpu-experiences-%5Bversion-2-0%5D-142.html#post55765

I understand your concern about pricing. What I can say is some ppl have posted no issues with their EXP GDC adapter. Others, inc myself, have had issues with both EXP GDC and PE4C. My conclusion was that for Gen2:

PE4L 2.1b > PE4C 2.1 > EXP GDC > PE4H 2.4

PE4C 3.0 uses the same cabling as PE4L 2.1b and has the same Gen3 compliance. Means that it's the best adapter to get for cleanest Gen2 signal? It comes down to whether you are prepared to risk the cheaper adapter and if affected, either downgrade the link with Setup 1.30 software to Gen1 or then payup to get a better Gen2 adapter.

From my perspective, it's worth paying more from the get go to get better Gen2 signalling.

Though I can see for mPCIe users with more cumbersome access may want a socketted connector. Just a shame it's on the eGPU adapter and not the mPCIe end (though HDMI is a bit big for that!).

i wonder when EXP GDC have Gen3?? I prefer EXP GDC than others eGPU :)

And is it possilbe eGPU SLI/CF in one adapter

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All of Intel's current chipsets have their southbridge ports (mPCIe/EC) specced to Gen2. Only their Northbridge ports that hosts dGPUs are Gen3. So no, a 2570P cannot run 8Gbps Gen3 nor can any other current notebook's EC/mPCIe slot.

BPlus advertise the adapter as Gen3 compliant moreso for the HP060A adapter. That's a x1 PCIe card that slots into desktop systems allowing a video card to be hosted externally. Recent desktop systems have Gen3 PCIe slots.

So realistically, as much as I'd like to have the most recent variation, I'd likely see no benefit getting a V3 (when they're back in stock :-\ ) versus a V2.1, when running with my 2012 15" MBP (with Nvidia 650M) and Thunderbolt 1? I've already got the Sonnet Echo Expresscard dock for video data management purposes, so I'm deciding to go that route.

I'm going to wait for Thunderbolt 3 to start showing up in laptops, and the various companies' desktop GPU chasis to be released likely next year, before I spend the big bucks and invest in a more powerful eGPU rig.

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Hi,

Yeah I'm curious too. I want to knew if PE4C v3 is realy better then PE4C v2 with real experience.

I checked the Bplus web site to buy PE4C v3 to test it and compare it to EXP GDC but it's sold out :/ I contacted Bplus but no response yet :/

Do anyone gave any informations ?

Thx

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Hey, I have good news. The PE4C v3 is released and just ordered one with adapter for 90$ (shipping included). Few days before I ordered the EXP GDC from beast to compare them and keep the best one and sell the other. I'll share results if I can.

Here the 2 mails I've recieved form bplus :

Hello Sir,

Please tell me when the PE4C V3.0 will be available ? And how much time will it take to be shipped to France ?

1. PE4C V3.0 will release end June,

2. We use DHL to shipping, usually it will take 3~4days.

3.

If you have any more question,

Please feel free to contact us,

Thanks again

BR

Derek

Hi Sir,

You may order on our web shop now. Delivery day will be 3-4 days ship to France depend on each global express company.

Best Regards,

Lain

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  • 2 weeks later...

On the site they said

PE4C V3.0 is PCIe 1-Lane 8.0Gbps bandwidth limit passive adapter in compliance with Expresscard 3.0 specification.

But in the Installation Guide (pdf file), they said

PE4C V3.0 is PCIe 1-Lane 5.0Gbps bandwidth limit passive adapter in compliance with Expresscard 2.0 specification.

So which is correct?

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On the site they said

But in the Installation Guide (pdf file), they said

So which is correct?

PE4C V3.0 has the same soldered cabling as PE4L 2.1b. They are both rated as PCIe 3.0 8Gbps compliant. However, notebooks currently have only PCIe 2.0 5Gbps mPCIe or expresscard slots limiting their performance.

You'd only be running PCIe 3.0 8GBps if attaching a video card to a desktop system using the x1 slot adapter (PE4C-HP060A 3.0).

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PE4C V3.0 has the same soldered cabling as PE4L 2.1b. They are both rated as PCIe 3.0 8Gbps compliant. However, notebooks currently have only PCIe 2.0 5Gbps mPCIe or expresscard slots limiting their performance.

You'd only be running PCIe 3.0 8GBps if attaching a video card to a desktop system using the x1 slot adapter (PE4C-HP060A 3.0).

Thanks Tech Inferno Fan, I've just read your #104 post. Now I understand the reason why. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello everyone.

I have a question about the bplus website or the hwtools.net for ordering a kit :

I don't trust this site because they ask for my paypal information to pay before asking anything else via the web-shop, like my adress, name, etc.

Maybe they will ask that just after but I wanna be sure. Anybody recently order something from them using these sites ?

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bplus is legit. but if youre having doubts, just order from amazon. They carry bplus products

Nice idea, but I'm living in France and they don't seem to be able to ship this product here :/

I think I will just use the hwtools.net website. Thanks for you advice though.

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Hello everyone, I have some questions about setting up a Thinkpad X220, r7 370 eGPU with PE4C V3.0 EC. My system comes with win7/64, 8gb, i7-2620m, and Samsung evo SSD(not sure if these matter). I have the AMD graphics card set up properly with PE4C. System is able to detect the card and installed windows drivers. I rebooted, installed MSI graphics drivers, then rebooted again. Now the system shows the card has a code 12 error, where every other X220 users that I've read up about doesn't encounter this issue. Any ideas what's gone wrong, and how can I possibly fix this problem?

Thanks in advance!

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