eGPU experiences [version 2.0]

[unixz]

With usb connected reboot your Mac

Hold down alt key at boot until disk selection

Are there anything showup?

[Shelltoe]

Yes I have tried it, the USB works on a normal Windows laptop. Just won't boot on my MacBook.

I have tried, and still am trying to install Win 8 EFI. At the end of the install process, it errors with "Windows couldn't update the boot configuration".

The furthest I got in installing Win 8 EFI was by following this link, ending in a black screen.

Also, am I to apply the startup.nsh, prior or after installing Win 8 EFI?

startup.nsh is basically the last step. You should wipe your MacBook. Your BCD error indicates something is messed.

[useafo]

Wow, It's good to be back. I hope all of you are doing fine. I got busy with my university studying.

Anyway, I got my PE4H back into the operation after 6 months of dust collecting, and I can't remember how to fix crashes when starting up a game or doing WEI (Windows Experience Index). Anyone reminds me how to fix it?

[Robert Garland]

@Ivxy

Now the red LED has been staying on all the time. Also I'm having a hard time understanding what you are saying about the red LED.

I checked the BIOS settings, ExpressCard was already set to Automatic. I tried booting a few times with the new sw settings and even tried plugging in at different times but it still hasn't been detected yet.

[mikoflip]

startup.nsh is basically the last step. You should wipe your MacBook. Your BCD error indicates something is messed.

Alright, I finally managed to install Mountain Lion and Win 8 EFI dual boot, have rEFIt. The startup.nsh doesn't seem to work. Though, I have not installed the drivers for the dGPU (HD6750m) and have the dGPU disabled in Device Manager, and I am running the iGPU without the igdkm64.sys file, otherwise I get a black screen during boot. eGPU drivers are installed.

At the moment it gives error 43 on the eGPU (GTX660) (and error 39 on the iGPU (HD3000)). Rebooting into Windows without the startup.nsh, gives error 12 sometimes instead of 43.

[Ivxy]

[MENTION=11972]Robert Garland[/MENTION]

The reason why I started with the LED, it's simple to find the Problem. In my case, the red LED shine only, if my X220 is turn off, but the PE4L with the GPU is connected. If I start my X220 the red LED terminated. Have you tested your Expresscard Slot? If your System started with the eGPU, detect your System the GPU?

@Quadrider10

Yes, I OC only my GPU. But if you OC the FSB, I would be happy If you can report how you did it.

[kingkad]

Hi Guys

Came here for some specialist advice as this seems to be the place in the know.

I'm looking to connect a Blackmagic Decklink Studio 2 or a Blackmagic Intensity Pro

Blackmagic Design: DeckLink Tech Specs

&

Blackmagic Design: Intensity Models

To a HP laptop with a Express Card/34 slot. Looking for a neat solution as this is used for on the road video streaming

Looking at the PE4H range & the Netstore stuff.

Any tips and recommendations from guys here? PE4H 3.2 looks nice with the enclosure & powered from a compact power supply, but these cards are PCI-1x I believe?

Ideally want something all in one in a nice enclosure which just needs connecting to power & Express Card slot.

Thanks for the advice

[angerthosenear]

'video streaming' -> will you be doing video editing or just video playback?

'HP laptop' -> what model laptop? does it have a dedicated GPU (dGPU) ?

Give a little bit more info and I can give you some suggestions.

[Quadrider10]

@Robert Garland

The reason why I started with the LED, it's simple to find the Problem. In my case, the red LED shine only, if my X220 is turn off, but the PE4L with the GPU is connected. If I start my X220 the red LED terminated. Have you tested your Expresscard Slot? If your System started with the eGPU, detect your System the GPU?

@Quadrider10

Yes, I OC only my GPU. But if you OC the FSB, I would be happy If you can report how you did it.

i have to take appart my MOBO and see what kind i have. but im going to try and use a program called "SetFSB"

what PCI link do you have? what resolution do you game on and do u get any lag at all?

[kingkad]

Hi

It will just be live video capture and streaming with Flash Media Live Encoder or Wowza or similar.

Ideally would like it to be compatible with as many laptops as possible to avoid being tied down to using a paticular one. Currently using a HP 4530s.

[Robert Garland]

@Ivxy

Okay so since the red LED is staying on, your saying its not getting enough power? My PSU is 305W with 18A max on the +12V rail. I've heard that more current is suggested for this card, but I thought it would still run anyways, just maybe have a hard time running at high performance.

My laptop has never detected it if that is what you are asking, but I was able to get it detected on a friend's X230T but it wouldn't detect any monitors attached to it. I don't have any other ExpressCard equipment to test the slot, but I could try to borrow one. I've just been assuming it works because the PE4L LEDs will light up when only attached to the laptop and not the PSU.

[angerthosenear]

If that is all you are doing, getting the Intensity Shuttle for USB 3.0 would probably be a better option. Certainly cheaper than a whole eGPU project, and it would be widely compatible.

[chakvr2]

Hey guys, I'm getting an error when booting windows 7 with my egpu connected. It always shows a blue screen (something about a fatal error) and starts dumping memory.

My setup is:

Dell Inspiron n5050

8gb RAM

PE4H + PM3N

CPU: Core i5 2430m

iGPU: Intel HD 3000

eGPU:Sapphire HD 7750

Anyone else have this problem before? I have ran the DSDT override so I shouldn't have any issues with error 12 and setup 1.x seems to recognize my egpu but windows does not (when I try going into standby mode and plugging it in). My tolud seems to be ok too.

I have the PM3N plugged into my wifi slot and quite strangely, windows (used aida64) doesn't recognise that the pm3n is plugged in.

Not really sure what is wrong but some help would be great, I've attached my setup 1.x screen if that helps.

SCN001.BMP

[daver160]

Hey guys, I'm getting an error when booting windows 7 with my egpu connected. It always shows a blue screen (something about a fatal error) and starts dumping memory.

My setup is:

Dell Inspiron n5050

8gb RAM

PE4H + PM3N

CPU: Core i5 2430m

iGPU: Intel HD 3000

eGPU:Sapphire HD 7750

Anyone else have this problem before? I have ran the DSDT override so I shouldn't have any issues with error 12 and setup 1.x seems to recognize my egpu but windows does not (when I try going into standby mode and plugging it in). My tolud seems to be ok too.

I have the PM3N plugged into my wifi slot and quite strangely, windows (used aida64) doesn't recognise that the pm3n is plugged in.

Not really sure what is wrong but some help would be great, I've attached my setup 1.x screen if that helps.

[ATTACH]7255[/ATTACH]

Try running a crashdump analysis software, like WhoCrashed, to read out what the BSOD was caused by. It will help yo udetermine what caused the crash, and point you in the right direction. Almost all BSODs are caused by a Fatal Error of sorts, that's why Windows threw the BSOD screen at you, to prevent any damage to the OS (or even hardware).

[chakvr2]

thanks for the advice, i ran whocrashed and it does have a few reports but i am not too sure what is wrong to be honest.

it mentions something about malware but all i did was plug in the egpu. it seemed to be the same file every time though.

it gave me this report:

On Tue 07/05/2013 18:40:22 GMT your computer crashed

crash dump file: C:\windows\Minidump\050713-15834-01.dmp

This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x75C40)

Bugcheck code: 0xC000021A (0xFFFFF8A00CFC9AC0, 0xC0000189, 0x0, 0x0)

Error: STATUS_SYSTEM_PROCESS_TERMINATED

file path: C:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

company: Microsoft Corporation

description: NT Kernel & System

Bug check description: This means that an error has occurred in a crucial user-mode subsystem.

There is a possibility this problem was caused by a virus or other malware.

The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

[daver160]

That crash dump isn't 100% accurate, it's merely trying to say "this is what we think". In this case, if you have the same message for the past few crashes, that might mean there's something wrong with your core Windows installation. It might be ccaused by malware, it might not be. It only suspects malware because it's usually the first suspect in problems with Windows itself. Have you got an antivirus on your machine? If you do, give your system a scan, just to make sure it's not a virus or some such.

[chakvr2]

i managed to figure it out in the end. i looked up ntoskrnl.exe and it seems to handle the ram and hdd side of things so i checked my dsdt override.

apparently i didn't need to do the dsdt override (thought my tolud changed after i applied it but was wrong) so when removed it from the registry, everything went fine

all is well now, thanks a lot for the help ^^

[daver160]

Glad to have helped

Are you able to boot into Windows normally now? Does your eGPU work now?

[chakvr2]

yeh thanks!! everything works really well now, i can boot into windows with my egpu connected.

tried g2 speeds to see if i could get more out of it but that crashed it. i wanna ask though, in aida64 it says i can use 2.0 x1 since i have a sandy bridge. is there a way to check if it's using 2.0 instead of 1.1?

[useafo]

Hello, guys. I have a question: I am planning to upgrade my laptop's processor, which is i3-390M, to i5-580M. Will I see some significant differences?

[Ivxy]

@Robert Garland

Ok, if your Laptop never detected the GPU i think your Expresscard in your Laptop is broken. The power I refer to the Power of the Expresscard Slot, I think this is the reasion why the red LED shine/not shine if all work. Don't forget that the Expresscard has a PCI-e and a USB 2.0 connection, if you test the Expresscard.

But It's strange that your eGPU don't work at your friend's X230T, have you look if they have detected the GPU and could you read the GPU information with GPU-Z? This would make sure that your PE4L is not defect and the PCI-e 1.0 or 2.0 was correct set. Maybe they/you need a Nvidia graphic card driver to detect any monitors that ist attached to it.

@chakvr2

If you get GPU-Z you would see in "Bus Interface" that PCI-e you have. I have there "PCI-E 2.0 x16 @ x1 2.0" -> this makes a x1.2 connection. And if you can use your Laptops Display with your eGPU you have Optimus.

[daver160]

Hello, guys. I have a question: I am planning to upgrade my laptop's processor, which is i3-390M, to i5-580M. Will I see some significant differences?

Definitely not "significant differences". Both processors (i3 390, i5 580) have a 2.66 GHz clock speed with 3M L3 cache. Performance-wise, they are probably neck and neck. In same edge cases, the i5 will show a reasonable improvement over your i3, but not in day to day usage. If you ask me, that upgrade is not worth it.

While you'll see a boost in certain games that require lots of CPU power, you're still going to be bottlenecked in most games through your eGPU (if one currently exists with your eGPU configuration).

[useafo]

Definitely not "significant differences". Both processors (i3 390, i5 580) have a 2.66 GHz clock speed with 3M L3 cache. Performance-wise, they are probably neck and neck. In same edge cases, the i5 will show a reasonable improvement over your i3, but not in day to day usage. If you ask me, that upgrade is not worth it.

While you'll see a boost in certain games that require lots of CPU power, you're still going to be bottlenecked in most games through your eGPU (if one currently exists with your eGPU configuration).

Can you recommend me a cpu that is more powerful than i3-390M?

[daver160]

I think you won't get much more out of the Arrandale line of processors. You might want to look at a i7 640M, which clocks in at 2.8GHz, but honestly that extra 200 MHz will be negligible in most cases. On top of that, I don't know if your motherboard would support the i7 640M anyways (it's possible, but I just don't know if it is or not).

Again, the only major benefit of having a "faster" processor in games is mostly for stuff like RTS or games that use a lot of CPU time to work out things like physics (e.g. telling Nvidia to use CPU for PhysX processing, instead of GPU) and objects.

For all intents and purposes, the i3 390M you have now is the i5 580M you considered earlier. The i7 640M will give you a clock speed boost, but nothing more, IMO.

If you want a faster machine, consider picking up a used Sandy Bridge quad core, for cheap. Even a i7-2630QM would be more than enough power for workaday tasks and all the games you could throw at it. Again, if gaming performance is what you're after, it's the GPU you should be looking to upgrade, not the CPU.

In any case, you should probably present this question to the guys in the Lenovo subsection - they'll be able to help you determine whether or not you can drop an i7 640M into your motherboard or not. If not, and you still really want to get a better processor, I suggest looking at a new laptop altogether. I think your current processor is actually about as good as it gets.

[chakvr2]

@chakvr2If you get GPU-Z you would see in "Bus Interface" that PCI-e you have. I have there "PCI-E 2.0 x16 @ x1 2.0" -> this makes a x1.2 connection. And if you can use your Laptops Display with your eGPU you have Optimus.

It says I have @x1 1.1 in gpu-z. The x1 is fine i think but I shouldn't the 1.1 be 2.0?

In aida64 it says I have PCI-e 2.0 x1 slots so maybe I have to do something with the port setups in setup 1.x? But when I looked in setup 1.x, I could only see options for x1, x2 and that sort of thing and nothing for the PCI-e 2.0 slot.

edit: also yeh i can use my laptop display with my egpu too. not sure what optimus is though

edit2: just looked up optimus, it looks promising but i am using an amd card which i don't it works with those modded drivers