eGPU experiences [version 2.0]

[will97]

First of all, Thanks for the reply but I still doubt the EXP GDC 7.0 not the height of the other two ? On the forum you speak well because this I ask you I just wan...

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First of all, Thanks for the reply but I still doubt the EXP GDC 7.0 not the height of the other two ? On the forum you speak well because this I ask you I just want to be sure of choice , including on what is the absolute best buy

Thanks again for attention

[davide445]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this community and to forums and blogs in general. I have a Lenovo X220 Tablet with 2nd gen core i7 and the following open ports that I'm hoping to somehow use to connect this laptop to an eGPU: PCI express card slot, DisplayPort++, USB 2.0. I also just got an nVidia GTX 970 with 3 open DisplayPorts that I will be installing into my desktop and then connecting it to my new Samsung 4K UN55HU6830FXZA via HDMI 2.0. I wish to connect my laptop to the nVidia card while it's in the desktop to have the nVidia card drive 4K graphics to the 4K TV. I don't plan on using the laptop for gaming, just web surfing, general productivity (not video or image editing), and trading and charting. Everywhere I look online, I only see solutions for connecting laptops to adapter kits to drive graphics via an eGPU. However, I do not wish to have a separate eGPU sitting outside of my desktop. I wish to use the desktop-installed nVidia card while it's in the desktop. I do not plan on simultaneously outputting graphics from the desktop and the laptop to the 4K TV, just switching between the two depending on my productivity needs. However, if there's a way to do picture in picture where both the laptop and desktop can show, I'd like to learn how, but this is not a priority or necessity. My priority is to drive laptop video output to the 4K TV via the nVidia card because my HD3000 internal graphics chip on the X220 laptop is not capable of 4K resolution, even for web surfing, to my understanding. Can someone please guide me on how to do this?

Others more expert than me can answer if I'm wrong, but what you ask is not possible.

The card in your desktop will be connected to desktop motherboard using his PCIe interface, that's exactly what you need to make it work with your laptop.

So to use it you will need to disconnect from the mobo and connect to laptop using the adapters you look at, meaning to bring it outside the desktop.

If that was your idea you can't also connect it using the DisplayPort interface, that's just a specialized interface to transmit graphics data and not control graphics card logic.

[JakoobCZ]

See replies above about switching to Gen1 for testing purposes and then considering a BPlus PE4L 2.1 or PE4C 2.1 over a EXP GDC adapter if Gen2 signalling proves to be the problem causing your hangs. If Gen1 is OK, then there could be power starvation issues with your PSU or even a faulty HD7950.

Today I tried older Radeon HD 4xxx and it worked from the start, even drivers were installed automatically, unfortunately my HD 7950 is still not. I set in BIOS gen1, but it didn't help. Maybe there isn't enough power in the PSU rails, but I thought Enermax 500 W will have enough voltage and current to drive this 3fan beast. Is there anyone else running this card? I'm curios what PSU you have...

[davide445]

Today I tried older Radeon HD 4xxx and it worked from the start, even drivers were installed automatically, unfortunately my HD 7950 is still not. I set in BIOS gen1, but it didn't help. Maybe there isn't enough power in the PSU rails, but I thought Enermax 500 W will have enough voltage and current to drive this 3fan beast. Is there anyone else running this card? I'm curios what PSU you have...

From my experience on these card:

- did you first uninstall other card drivers

- you need to connect the card the first time only after the laptop is up and running

- after the card is recognized you need to reboot with the card already connected

- didn't try to extend desktop before boot is fully complete and catalyst cc is loaded

[will97]

So, I would like to know which is better between EXP GDC v 7.0 (or Beast) and PE4C V2.1?

Because on PE4C V2.1 (PCIe x16 Adapter) tells me that PE4C V2.1 is not compatible with the gtx 770 or gtx 970. What I'm supposed to do?

Thank you for your patience.

[davide445]

So, I would like to know which is better between EXP GDC v 7.0 (or Beast) and PE4C V2.1?

Because on PE4C V2.1 (PCIe x16 Adapter) tells me that PE4C V2.1 is not compatible with the gtx 770 or gtx 970. What I'm supposed to do?

Thank you for your patience.

Hwtools table is too conservative/outdated, i.e. state HD 7950 is not suggested and I'm using it without any problem.

Look at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-hub-tb-ec-mpcie.html or Guides section if you can find others using your card or laptop and follow their experiences.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

So, I would like to know which is better between EXP GDC v 7.0 (or Beast) and PE4C V2.1?

Because on PE4C V2.1 (PCIe x16 Adapter) tells me that PE4C V2.1 is not compatible with the gtx 770 or gtx 970. What I'm supposed to do?

Thank you for your patience.

The PE4C V2.1 compatibility list is based on purchase of it with the 220W Dell DA-2 PSU. Purchasing the unit without that PSU if a less expensive option that allows attaching to a higher power rated ATX PSU. Doing that will ensure compatibility with a GTX770 or GTX970 that you seek.

[ivan_xiao]

Please review the multiple performance posts at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2109-diy-egpu-experiences-%5Bversion-2-0%5D.html#ati+nvperf . There's a number of Sony SZ2/SZ3 guides at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-hub-tb-ec-mpcie.html#dx11

Thanks Nando4

I already checked the link you mentioned

Somehow I was amazed. I saw some benchmark review of 780 and the score for 3Dmark13 ist approx. 12000. That it is almost no performance lost if using GTX 780 with PE4C V2.1 even in just x1 from the link you send ( 3Dmark13 14069 )

Correct me if I am wrong

Thanks

[chr]

I am trying to fix the code 12 errror but so far i had no succes. The laptop i am using is an old acer extensa 5230e model. T7700 intel dual core and 4 GB ram. I must say, for an old laptop with an SSD drive, the thing is actually not so bad at all. It's just the integrated graphics are very poor. So what i did was

a bought an external adapter. I tested 3 different cards. All 3 where detected, latest drivers,... alway's code 12. I known for sure that it can be done.

(Everything made by humans can be fixed by humans) I am for sure the cards are working fine, and ofcourse an extra monitor and psu. That's not the problem.

Now i've tried to override the DSDT (tread i found on this site) but unfortunately i am stuck in my cmd. I put a link below with a screenshot. It say's missing input filename.

What did i do wrong? Yes, i am still learning about DSDT but i think it's very interesting. Mayby someone can help me to better understand it.

Chris

Zippyshare.com - a.jpg

[will97]

Thanks for answering me, i'm going to buy the PE4C v2.1 for my MSI GE-60, matched with a gtx 970. Hoping that everything will be fine.

[davide445]

Thanks for answering me, i'm going to buy the PE4C v2.1 for my MSI GE-60, matched with a gtx 970. Hoping that everything will be fine.

Just for you to know with a TDP of 145W for that specific card you don't need an ATX PSU and you can use the Dell DA-2 power brick sold with the adapter.

[Ashihtaka]

Hey guys, I feel like I'm so close to getting this egpu to work. I just need some assistance.

I got this GTX 760 to be recognized by my Sony VPCF120FD. I'm using a PE4C 2.1b with expresscard.

The GTX 760 shows up on my device manager as "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter".

I tried to update the driver, but it gave the this error message after downloading and trying to install:

Also, here is what I see on GPU-Z

As you can see, my gtx 760 shows up as another gt 310m (my dgpu). I'm running Windows 8.1 64 bit. My laptop also has an i5-430m CPU, 2x4gb 1066 ram.

Can anyone tell me what to do about this driver installation error? I used the "let windows search online" option to download the driver. Couldn't find a physical gtx 760 driver file to manually update.

Is this an OS problem (should I switch to windows 7) or can I do something about it?

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Hey guys, I feel like I'm so close to getting this egpu to work. I just need some assistance.

I got this GTX 760 to be recognized by my Sony VPCF120FD. I'm using a PE4C 2.1b with expresscard.

The GTX 760 shows up on my device manager as "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter".

I tried to update the driver, but it gave the this error message after downloading and trying to install:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13298[/ATTACH]

Also, here is what I see on GPU-Z

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13299[/ATTACH]

As you can see, my gtx 760 shows up as another gt 310m (my dgpu). I'm running Windows 8.1 64 bit. My laptop also has an i5-430m CPU, 2x4gb 1066 ram.

Can anyone tell me what to do about this driver installation error? I used the "let windows search online" option to download the driver. Couldn't find a physical gtx 760 driver file to manually update.

Is this an OS problem (should I switch to windows 7) or can I do something about it?

You need download and install the GTX760 Win8.1 driver from NVidia's website: Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

Enabling your dormant iGPU to extract more eGPU performance

Your system has a i5-430M with a dormant Intel HD iGPU, a non-switchable GT310M dGPU and is running Windows 8.1. This combination has some higher performance potential with a bit of tweaking.

Consider, enabling the dormant iGPU like was done at http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides/6792-%5Bguide%5D-15-acer-aspire-5742g-gtx660ti%402gbps-c-mpcie1-pe4c-1-2-win8-1-a.html#post92801, the NVidia driver enables x1 pci-e compression (x1.Opt or 2Gbps+c) that accelerates mostly DX9 apps anywhere from 30-300%.

[Ashihtaka]

You need download and install the GTX760 Win8.1 driver from NVidia's website: Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

Enabling your dormant iGPU to extract more eGPU performance

Your system has a i5-430M with a dormant Intel HD iGPU, a non-switchable GT310M dGPU and is running Windows 8.1. This combination has some higher performance potential with a bit of tweaking.

Consider, enabling the dormant iGPU like was done at http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides/6792-%5Bguide%5D-15-acer-aspire-5742g-gtx660ti%402gbps-c-mpcie1-pe4c-1-2-win8-1-a.html#post92801, the NVidia driver enables x1 pci-e compression (x1.Opt or 2Gbps+c) that accelerates mostly DX9 apps anywhere from 30-300%.

Thank you very much for the detailed post Nando. I was hoping you would be able to help me with this.

Regarding the driver download - this is downloaded as an exe. Should I run the exe file instead of manually installing a driver under device manager? I don't know if this will conflict with my gt310m driver.

UPDATE: I downloaded the .exe driver which was "344.75-desktop-win8-win7-winvista-64bit-international-whql".

After it installed, the GTX 760 was recognized by my PC as a gtx 760 (which made me very excited).

I restarted the computer, however it got BSOD when the egpu was plugged in, with the following error:

I took out the egpu, but it wouldn't load windows and started windows automatic repair.

So I had to "repair" by going back to an earlier point when the driver wasn't installed.

I think the .exe might have installed incompatible components, or removed some important files.

How should I proceed? Is there any way to download JUST the 760 driver and install manually through device driver? (I couldn't find a driver that wasn't an executable file online).

[keshet1]

Hi Guys, I've been through this thread a lot but I have a question, I ordered the EXP GDC Laptop External PCI-E Graphics Card last monday ( Might have made a mistake, Maybe should of ordered the PE4C 2.1b...)

So anaway, I also ordered the vga geforce gtx 650 1024mb. I am planning to use my expresscard slot in my X220 ( 8Gb ram, i5 i5 2520m)

So that is my question. Do I need to order a psu? and if yes, can you tell me which one? ( I'm not in the field yet, started to do my research about a week ago)

[davide445]

Hi Guys, I've been through this thread a lot but I have a question, I ordered the EXP GDC Laptop External PCI-E Graphics Card last monday ( Might have made a mistake, Maybe should of ordered the PE4C 2.1b...)

So anaway, I also ordered the vga geforce gtx 650 1024mb. I am planning to use my expresscard slot in my X220 ( 8Gb ram, i5 i5 2520m)

So that is my question. Do I need to order a psu? and if yes, can you tell me which one? ( I'm not in the field yet, started to do my research about a week ago)

Standard GTX 650 it's stated with a 65W TDP, if you ordered the EXP GDC with the 220w Dell DC-2 power brick you didn't need a different PSU.

In any case you need an external power supply since the ExpressCard interface didn't provide any power.

[keshet1]

Standard GTX 650 it's stated with a 65W TDP, if you ordered the EXP GDC with the 220w Dell DC-2 power brick you didn't need a different PSU.

In any case you need an external power supply since the ExpressCard interface didn't provide any power.

Ok thank you so much for helping

[freddellmeister]

Sounds like your connection "crashes" when it lowers the connection to x1.1 to save energy. If you have stuff running that uses your eGPU you have the x1.2 link and while being idle it turns down to x1.1 which might cause this. Though I don't know a further reason for the BSODs, maybe check the energy settings for pcie in your energy profile.

Update: It seems my instability was caused by bad Memory SODIMM, eGPU seems stable now.

[Morv]

Update: It seems my instability was caused by bad Memory SODIMM, eGPU seems stable now.

Well, well, wouldn't have thought that this might be the reason. But good for you it wasn't the eGPU or anything else involved with it, as SODIMM is easy to fix :-)

[Tech Inferno Fan]

[GUIDE] 14" Alienware M14x + GTX560Ti@4Gbps-mPCIe2 (PE4C 2.1) + Win7/64

RiderTM shows how it's done over at vozforums (vn), quoted below:

<td class="alt1" id="td_post_73239334"><!-- message, attachments, sig --><!-- icon and title --><div class="smallfont"> <span style="" class="notranslate" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()"><span class="google-src-text" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left"> <strong>Buy the EGPU-PE4C mPCIe for laptop</strong></span> </div><hr style="color:#FFFFFF; background-color:#FFFFFF" size="1"><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --><div id="post_message_73239334"><!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: ad_showthread_firstpost_start --><!-- END TEMPLATE: ad_showthread_firstpost_start --> <span class="notranslate" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()"><span class="google-src-text" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left"> Adversity bored and now wants to sell the port PE4C mPCIe.</span> <table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset"> <span class="notranslate" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()"><span class="google-src-text" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left">Attached to the machine like this:</span> <br><img src="http://i.imgur.com/T6jv3Jq.jpg" alt="" onload="NcodeImageResizer.createOn(this);" border="0"><br> <span class="notranslate" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()"><span class="google-src-text" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left"> Total world:</span></span> <br><img src="http://i.imgur.com/j5p60uc.jpg" alt="" onload="NcodeImageResizer.createOn(this);" border="0"><br> <span class="notranslate" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()"><span class="google-src-text" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left">Run Smooth</span> <br><img src="http://i.imgur.com/Omjna6Q.jpg" alt="" onload="NcodeImageResizer.createOn(this);" border="0"><br><img src="http://i.imgur.com/PvBMAhj.jpg" alt="" onload="NcodeImageResizer.createOn(this);" border="0"><br><img src="http://i.imgur.com/bgW8oGI.jpg" alt="" onload="NcodeImageResizer.createOn(this);" border="0"><br> <span class="notranslate" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()"><span class="google-src-text" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left">In the game TR ultra setting</span> <br><img src="http://i.imgur.com/Ooip45M.jpg" alt="" onload="NcodeImageResizer.createOn(this);" border="0"></td></tr></tbody></table></div><!-- END TEMPLATE: bbcode_quote --> <span class="notranslate" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()"><span class="google-src-text" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left">Let's leave the PE4C mPCIe 2m1 <br> <span class="notranslate" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()"><span class="google-src-text" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left">MSI 560Ti TFII 1G / OC, BH 2015 to t5 1m9</span> <br> <span class="notranslate" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()"><span class="google-src-text" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left">SSeasonic 620W Active PFC G3, buy new 1m4 2 months</span>

[Tech Inferno Fan]

15" Lenovo W541 has a Thunderbolt2 port

Just been alerted to the new 15" Lenovo W541, a refresh of the Lenovo W540, now has a Thunderbolt2 port. It's been added to http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4109-egpu-candidate-system-list.html#post57511 . Thank you kakashisensei.

Hi,

Just wanted to let you know that lenovo is making a refresh version of the w540 called w541. From the techsheet here, it says it will have 1 TB2 port. I think this is the best alternative to the 15" mbp retina, since it is ~$1100 ($1300 with 1620p ips screen), and has more upgrade-ability to power users (cpu, ram, 2x storage bays). Too bad it seems lenovo is one year late to TB2 addition, hopefully they will have TB3 laptop relatively soon after TB3 is released.

https://www.thinkworkstations.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/ThinkPad-W541-Datasheet-1.pdf

[Ashihtaka]

I downloaded the .exe driver which was "344.75-desktop-win8-win7-winvista-64bit-international-whql".

After it installed, the GTX 760 was recognized by my PC as a gtx 760 (which made me very excited).

I restarted the computer, however it got BSOD when the egpu was plugged in, with the following error:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13314[/ATTACH]

I took out the egpu, but it wouldn't load windows and started windows automatic repair.

So I had to "repair" by going back to an earlier point when the driver wasn't installed.

I think the .exe might have installed incompatible components, or removed some important files.

How should I proceed? Is there any way to download JUST the 760 driver and install manually through device driver? (I couldn't find a driver that wasn't an executable file online).

Any advice on this guys?

[dadadu]

15" Lenovo W541 has a Thunderbolt2 port

Just been alerted to the new 15" Lenovo W541, a refresh of the Lenovo W540, now has a Thunderbolt2 port. It's been added to http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4109-egpu-candidate-system-list.html#post57511 . Thank you kakashisensei.

I hope there will also be 12-14" models coming with a thunderbolt port. Else there is no real alternative for the 13" mpb :-)

[roy]

Hello guys, I'm pretty new to this eGPU method for laptops, but I have read through many threads and what not before I decided to spend a bit of money on it. My setup is an Acer Aspire V5 552P-X617 with AMD cpu @3.5G + Radeon built in card@512MB DDR3 OS is Windows 8.1 64bit and 8 gigs of ram. My egpu adapter is an EXP GDC ARES V7 + Radeon 7950 by XFX

Ok, now let me explain my problems, my setup is working COMPLETELY fine, it works right out of the box and I can run some games pretty well, but some games not. I researched and realized that I could increase my link speed to increase performance. I bought the DIY EGPU setup and copied it to a USB, and managed to boot into it. (BTW my mPCI slot is 3.0) When I got into the menu I selected the status option, and it turns out that my eGPU is NOT detected, but detected flawlessly when im in windows. I have tried various methods and none of them worked. Could anybody or Nando4 help me out with this? Thanks! (eGPU is still working in windows)

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BTW, if I change the link speed, does the configuration still last if I reboot? or do i still have to boot into DIY EGPU setup?

PS: When I type "lspci" I see the sound card for my GPU(7950) and the GPU by itself, but when i type status it doesnt see it... weird.

[ivan_xiao]

Hallo TI Member

I just installed my eGPU System with this spesification :

- Sony Vaio SVZ

- i7 3612QM

- HM77 CHipset

- Intel HD 4000

- Asus GTX 780 6GB Strix OC Edition

- PE4C V2.1

After I got it, I did a bis flash mod. Everything just go smooth. But after some time after booting ( aprox. 20 or 30 min after laptop booting ), sometime I got a BSOD. On the BSOD I saw something about Video Card it self, but I can not read everything, since after BSOD, my system just shut down

Then I check the Mini Dump File, and read it with WinDBG and I got a information from that Mini Dump like I posted. Its being said, that the cause was : nvlddmkm.sys ( nvlddmkm+921828 )

May be have you got some experience like this..? Or is this because my PSU dont give enough power..? Or it is because a Bios mod flash...?

thanks for your help