eGPU experiences [version 2.0]

[coyote]

"Internal screens perfectly usable. As long as you use an NVidia card and have an intel igpu such as the hd3000 or hd4000, you're set to go. My setups in the signature."

External GPU?

So basically the only thing you need to run on internal screen is Intel iGPU and switchable graphics option if the laptop comes with a dGPU.

[jacobsson]

...So basically the only thing you need to run on internal screen is Intel iGPU and switchable graphics option if the laptop comes with a dGPU.

That is correct!

Optimus is engaged when a intel HD3000/4000 (now also Haswell iGPU's) is combined with an Nvidia eGPU.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Did a PM3N (mPCIe) test with the PCIEMM-060B and updated the results. It too failed to maintain a consistent Gen2 link.

[Eisbrecher99]

So, here are my new benchmark results. Probabyl I'm going to by a new GPU this month... I' very interested in the Herculez 2000s of Inno3D which has a very compact design (200.2mm x 111mm). I'm not sure if I should invest in a GTX660TI or the new GTX760. The difference in performance is only 5-7%.

- 21668 points in 3dmark06 (1280x1024)

- 15382 points 3dmark vantage (1280x800)

- other benchmarks will follow

Specs:

Lenovo T530

Intel i7-3630QM, 8GB DDR3 RAM, HD4000 + Quadro 5400M

NVIDIA GTX 460 1GB (MSI HAWK) - DirectX11 - [email protected]

Windows 7 Prof. / 64 Bit

eGPU setup:

PE4L v2.1b with EC2C (100cm)

450W SFX-PSU

Setup 1.x (110b5) with Update for Intel7-Chipsets

external: 22" 1680x1050 LCD

Nvidia driver 320.49

[jacobsson]

Did a PM3N (mPCIe) test with the PCIEMM-060B and updated the results. It too failed to maintain a consistent Gen2 link.

I claimed a refund a couple of minutes ago, let's hope they do the right thing.

[coyote]

That is correct!

Optimus is engaged when a intel HD3000/4000 (now also Haswell iGPU's) is combined with an Nvidia eGPU.

Whay do you think of this Fujitsu LIFEBOOK AH532 15.6 inch laptop (black) Intel Core i3-3120M Processor (3M Cache, 2.50 GHz) 4GB RAM, 500GB hard disk, DVDRW SM, Intel HD graphics 4000, Intel Centrino N2230 802.11b/g/n WLAN, Bluetooth v4.0, HD webcam, Windows 8 64-bit: Amazon. ?

Good to go?

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Whay do you think of this Fujitsu LIFEBOOK AH532 15.6 inch laptop (black) Intel Core i3-3120M Processor (3M Cache, 2.50 GHz) 4GB RAM, 500GB hard disk, DVDRW SM, Intel HD graphics 4000, Intel Centrino N2230 802.11b/g/n WLAN, Bluetooth v4.0, HD webcam, Windows 8 64-bit: Amazon. ?

Good to go?

You've found like one of the last consumer notebooks with an expresscard slot. Two reasons to avoid that Fujitsu:

1. It has a i3 CPU. I'd suggest pay a bit more for a turbo-capable i5.

2. Fujitsu set a high TOLUD requiring a more complex DSDT override to work with a eGPU.

If those issues don't phase you then go for it. Otherwise best value is to go back one-gen for a Lenovo E520, HP 4530s or Dell Vostro 3550. Unfortunately the current gens of those systems no longer have expresscard slots.

here is my score :

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

+12000 pts on the graphic score

@grichka59, would you mind doing full benchmarking to be included on the first post? That would be 3dmk6/vantage/11, RE5, dmcv4, heaven all of which are detailed in the implementations section. I'd like to include it fully.

You have an ultrabook (or Macbook Air) thin system with a quad-core CPU and almost a Titan attached as an eGPU. It's pound-for-pound the most powerful implementation we've seen so far. A good one for potential Macbook Air/Retina fans who might want a TB enclosure to consider too.

@bjorm and @MikjoA - you guys have done great writeups for the SVZ, HP 2570P/8460P and Lenovo X220. Would you mind splitting the posts off from the DIY eGPU experiences thread into their own standalone threads to gain some more visibility?

[jacobsson]

PE4H 2.4a + EC2C/PM3N + PCIEMM-060B are not Gen2 compatible

...

1. BPlus should investigate further why the Gen2 link is failing when using a socketted cable paying more attention to the mHDMI connectors.

2. BPlus could at least solder that new flexible cable onto the unsocketted PE4L 2.1 in their next revision to give us a product that's easier to work with. Given the PM3N showed some positive signs of initiating a Gen2 link, it may be enough then to just have the one free socketted end that plugs into the EC2C/PM3N.

3. Anybody who acquired this PCIEMM-060B for Gen2 use should seek a refund as it's not Gen2 compliant as advertised.

I've advised BPlus of my findings further confirmed by T|I user Splitframe's test here.

[coyote]

You've found like one of the last consumer notebooks with an expresscard slot. Two reasons to avoid that Fujitsu:

1. It has a i3 CPU. I'd suggest pay a bit more for a turbo-capable i5.

2. Fujitsu set a high TOLUD requiring a more complex DSDT override to work with a eGPU.

If those issues don't phase you then go for it. Otherwise best value is to go back one-gen for a Lenovo E520, HP 4530s or Dell Vostro 3550. Unfortunately the current gens of those systems no longer have expresscard slots.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

I've requested one of these setups in exchange for the "faulty" stuff I've got earlier.

Let's hope they can make one for me =)

Yep.. based on my testing that configuration has the best chance of holding a Gen2 link while still giving the convenience of one socketted EC/mPCIe mHDMI end. If that still fails then we know for sure that even a single mHDMI connector+socket pair introduce signal problems that BPlus need to investigate further.

Thanks for the advices but I can't find any of the models you mentionned, the very few I've found doesn't have the Intel HD graphics, so I'll just stick with the Fujitsu. I don't know anything about the TOLUD/DSDT but I don't think I'll need more than 4 Gb, if yes I'll then try your fix. The i3 will do fine for me.

Every one of those modes: HP 4530s, Lenovo E520 and Dell Vostro 3550 have an Intel HD3000 and expresscard slot allowing an NVidia Optimus (Fermi/Keplar) internal LCD mode to work. Some models coming with an additional dGPU component. The iGPU-only Fujitsu will require a DSDT override to run with 4GB or more of RAM. A 3GB configuration wouldn't have any issues.

[coyote]

Yep.. based on my testing that configuration has the best chance of holding a Gen2 link while still giving the convenience of one socketted EC/mPCIe mHDMI end. If that still fails then we know for sure that even a single mHDMI connector+socket pair introduce signal problems that BPlus need to investigate further.

Every one of those modes: HP 4530s, Lenovo E520 and Dell Vostro 3550 have an Intel HD3000 and expresscard slot allowing an NVidia Optimus (Fermi/Keplar) internal LCD mode to work. Some models coming with an additional dGPU component. The iGPU-only Fujitsu will require a DSDT override to run with 4GB or more of RAM. A 3GB configuration wouldn't have any issues.

[jacobsson]

Yep.. based on my testing that configuration has the best chance of holding a Gen2 link while still giving the convenience of one socketted EC/mPCIe mHDMI end. If that still fails then we know for sure that even a single mHDMI connector+socket pair introduce signal problems that BPlus need to investigate further. .

[Arise]

I've requested one of these setups in exchange for the "faulty" stuff I've got earlier.

Let's hope they can make one for me =)

[jacobsson]

Where do you buy one of those kits from?

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

[neon7153]

Hi, I'm using a 1x.Opt link and I'm wondering whether it can handle 1600x900 resolution because I've ordered a new LCD monitor and its native resolution is 1600x900. Up until now, I've used 1366x768 as the maximum resolution.

At 30 fps, it's well under the 250MB/s limit, but at 60 fps it's over the limit. I'm wondering whether the Optimus compression can handle it. I know I could use 16-bit color depth, but there are some things (like madVR) that don't like 16-bit color.

((1600*900*32)*30 fps) /(8*1024*1024) = 164.8 MB/s

((1600*900*32)*60 fps) /(8*1024*1024) = 329.6 MB/s

[Khenglish]

Hi, I'm using a 1x.Opt link and I'm wondering whether it can handle 1600x900 resolution because I've ordered a new LCD monitor and its native resolution is 1600x900. Up until now, I've used 1366x768 as the maximum resolution.

At 30 fps, it's well under the 250MB/s limit, but at 60 fps it's over the limit. I'm wondering whether the Optimus compression can handle it. I know I could use 16-bit color depth, but there are some things (like madVR) that don't like 16-bit color.

((1600*900*32)*30 fps) /(8*1024*1024) = 164.8 MB/s

((1600*900*32)*60 fps) /(8*1024*1024) = 329.6 MB/s

A x1.1opt link doesn't handle internal LCD very well at all, even at just 1366x768. You are going to have a tough time passing 30fps at 1600x900. I suggest picking up a cheap external monitor, or dropping optimus for x2 if possible. x2 links handle internal lcd better than x1opt.

[neon7153]

A x1.1opt link doesn't handle internal LCD very well at all, even at just 1366x768. You are going to have a tough time passing 30fps at 1600x900. I suggest picking up a cheap external monitor, or dropping optimus for x2 if possible. x2 links handle internal lcd better than x1opt.

I'm sorry. I meant I ordered a external monitor, so I'm just wondering whether 1x.Opt can handle it. I don't use the internal LCD.

[MikjoA]

@grichka59, would you mind doing full benchmarking to be included on the first post? That would be 3dmk6/vantage/11, RE5, dmcv4, heaven all of which are detailed in the implementations section. I'd like to include it fully.

You have an ultrabook (or Macbook Air) thin system with a quad-core CPU and almost a Titan attached as an eGPU. It's pound-for-pound the most powerful implementation we've seen so far. A good one for potential Macbook Air/Retina fans who might want a TB enclosure to consider too.

@bjorm and @MikjoA - you guys have done great writeups for the SVZ, HP 2570P/8460P and Lenovo X220. Would you mind splitting the posts off from the DIY eGPU experiences thread into their own standalone threads to gain some more visibility?

Hi Nando,

I'm sorry, I wasn't very active, but I will be less busy this summer now that I can enjoy my holidays which started today. So I will update my SVZ / Z2 thread, there are many new things to add. I will also add grichka59's scores and implementation eventhough it very very similar to mine since I've guided him. By the way, I'm sure he will do the full benchmarking soon, he already showed us enthousiastic scores which are already much better than the titan's score from nbr (I guess there was an issue anyway in that setup, which looked like to be gen1 limited).

Also, grichka59 had a fantastic idea, and we may have now a mcuh better implementation for internal wifi, because the only one WLAN card known to be able to connect on WWAN port isn't that good... And a big problem was the loss of bluetooth feature, and the wifi signal reception isn't very good.

But Grichka suggested to use the PM3U from hwtools and with this tiny USB WiFi (N! no more G only) and bluetooth combo ! Lindy USB Bluetooth & HS WLAN 11n Combo Adapter: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

We are going to try that really soon, we may have to dissassemble these parts and do some soldering if a USB is too thick for the Z, but I'm sure it can works and maybe we could even plugg antenna on the card directly.

I can't wait to test it and to get back my bluetooth mouse

[MikjoA]

Also I had a question, do you guys have ever managed to get PhysX working ?

I haven't have been able to, it is always handled by the CPU whatever I do. I had one of the latest driver (314.22 + the physx one in the driver package) installed and PhysX set to my GTX 670.

But every games or benchmarks with PhysX were handled by the CPU. I wanted to play again Mirror's Edge, the FPS is very good easily 100+ maxed out, but whenever it involves too much of physX --> 8 FPS

I have made clean uninstall with driver sweeper, then reinstalled without success, I also tried older physX driver but it is the same every time...

Well I have no idea why is that, and I don't remenber if PhysX was active on my previous laptop...

May be it has something to do with how I set up, DiY eGPU Setup 1.X ? lol that is a bit random... but I do a PCI compaction, 32/64 bit method, but I only do compaction on eGPU. I prefer mention it eventhough it probably have nothing to do with it lol

[daver160]

I'm sorry. I meant I ordered a external monitor, so I'm just wondering whether 1x.Opt can handle it. I don't use the internal LCD.

Shouldn't be a problem. I have a GTX 650 To on 1.1Opt and I can get over 60 fps in some games at 1920x1080. For example, I get between 30 - 80 fps in Borderlands 2 with mostly high settings (30 in open areas, 70-80 when indoors). No AO or AA though. I also get 20-60 fps in Tomb Raider with med to high settings at 1920x1080 and vsync (disabling TressFX increases to about 30-60).

[jacobsson]

Also I had a question, do you guys have ever managed to get PhysX working ?

I haven't have been able to, it is always handled by the CPU whatever I do. I had one of the latest driver (314.22 + the physx one in the driver package) installed and PhysX set to my GTX 670.

But every games or benchmarks with PhysX were handled by the CPU. I wanted to play again Mirror's Edge, the FPS is very good easily 100+ maxed out, but whenever it involves too much of physX --> 8 FPS

I have made clean uninstall with driver sweeper, then reinstalled without success, I also tried older physX driver but it is the same every time...

Well I have no idea why is that, and I don't remenber if PhysX was active on my previous laptop...

May be it has something to do with how I set up, DiY eGPU Setup 1.X ? lol that is a bit random... but I do a PCI compaction, 32/64 bit method, but I only do compaction on eGPU. I prefer mention it eventhough it probably have nothing to do with it lol

Hi MikjoA, welcome back!

I just recently started to think of that when I ran borderlands 2 for the first time on eGPU (It ran like crap if physx were higher than low). How do I check whether physx is handled by CPU or GPU? (except for the obvious: 'set GPU/CPU in Nvidia Control Panel').

[Laukess]

Hi again. I've been busy with exams and stuff, so haven't spent much time trying to fix my egpu the last 1-2 months. I had a problem where I wasn't able to boot the epgu-setup, but I've fixed that. I do get an error when I try to [setup-disk-image] however. I ignored it and tried to boot the software, it seem to work, but the changes I do in there doesn't seem to have an affect (I imagine that's do to the error). The error is:

[PCI BUS section NOT found. If you are using a non-English language, than please edit the v:\config\devcon.txt file and remove the "PCI BUS" section. Otherwise that *whole* section will be excluded from allocation when performing compaction and compaction will fail.]

I'm from Denmark, but I always install windows as English, so I'm not sure why I get the error. I can't find the PCI BUS section in the file ether. this is the file:

ACPI\PNP0000\4&3567F8A9&0

Name: Programmable interrupt controller

Device has the following resources reserved:

IO : 0020-0021

IO : 0024-0025

IO : 0028-0029

IO : 002c-002d

IO : 0030-0031

IO : 0034-0035

IO : 0038-0039

IO : 003c-003d

IO : 00a0-00a1

IO : 00a4-00a5

IO : 00a8-00a9

IO : 00ac-00ad

IO : 00b0-00b1

IO : 00b4-00b5

IO : 00b8-00b9

IO : 00bc-00bd

IO : 04d0-04d1

ACPI\PNP0C02\1

Name: Motherboard resources

Device has the following resources reserved:

MEM : fed1c000-fed1ffff

MEM : fed10000-fed17fff

MEM : fed18000-fed18fff

MEM : fed19000-fed19fff

MEM : f8000000-fbffffff

MEM : fed20000-fed3ffff

MEM : fed90000-fed93fff

MEM : fed45000-fed8ffff

MEM : ff000000-ffffffff

MEM : fee00000-feefffff

MEM : fffff000-ffffffff

ACPI\PNP0C02\2

Name: Motherboard resources

Device has the following resources reserved:

IO : 002e-002f

IO : 004e-004f

IO : 0061-0061

IO : 0063-0063

IO : 0065-0065

IO : 0067-0067

IO : 0070-0070

IO : 0080-0080

IO : 0092-0092

IO : 00b2-00b3

IO : 0680-069f

IO : 1000-100f

IO : ffff-ffff

IO : ffff-ffff

IO : 0400-0453

IO : 0458-047f

IO : 0500-057f

IO : 164e-164f

IO : 0068-0077

ACPI\PNP0C0A\1

Name: Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery

Device is not using any resources.

ACPI\PNP0C0B\1

Name: ACPI Fan

Device is not using any resources.

ACPI\PNP0200\4&3567F8A9&0

Name: Direct memory access controller

Device has the following resources reserved:

IO : 0000-001f

IO : 0081-0091

IO : 0093-009f

IO : 00c0-00df

DMA : 4

ACPI\PNP0103\0

Name: High precision event timer

Device has the following resources reserved:

MEM : fed00000-fed003ff

ACPI\PNP0C04\4&3567F8A9&0

Name: Numeric data processor

Device has the following resources reserved:

IO : 00f0-00f0

IRQ : 13

ACPI\PNP0C0D\2&DABA3FF&1

Name: ACPI Lid

Device is not using any resources.

ACPI\PNP0A08\0

Name: PCI Express Root Complex

Device is currently using the following resources:

MEM : 000a0000-000bffff

MEM : bfa00000-feafffff

IO : 0000-0cf7

IO : 0d00-ffff

ACPI\PNP0C09\4&3567F8A9&0

Name: Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Embedded Controller

Device is currently using the following resources:

IO : 0062-0062

IO : 0066-0066

ACPI\PNP0100\4&3567F8A9&0

Name: System timer

Device has the following resources reserved:

IO : 0040-0043

IO : 0050-0053

IRQ : 0

ACPI\PNP0C0C\2&DABA3FF&1

Name: ACPI Power Button

Device is not using any resources.

ACPI\PNP0B00\4&3567F8A9&0

Name: System CMOS/real time clock

Device is currently using the following resources:

IO : 0070-0077

IRQ : 8

14 matching device(s) found.

to refresh your memory, my problem was running Gen 1 and not Gen 2.

cheers.

[MikjoA]

Hi MikjoA, welcome back!

I just recently started to think of that when I ran borderlands 2 for the first time on eGPU (It ran like crap if physx were higher than low). How do I check whether physx is handled by CPU or GPU? (except for the obvious: 'set GPU/CPU in Nvidia Control Panel').

Thanks, I have no accurate manner to know if the CPU handles physX instead of the GPU in a game, but the first hint was the bad performance with physX, I'm sure borderlands 2 would run fine with physX high and a GTX 670. I had only 8 fps in some area with Mirror's Edge weither I set physX to CPU or GPU.

I've decided to run FluidMark 1.52, a PhysX benchmark, and to compare my result with others, there it's very clear, others get 10 times more performances. And I had exactly the same performances without my eGPU.

[grichka59]

Some scores :

3DM11 :

- Nvidia GTX 780@ 1150 /3105 (stock for my card) : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

- Nvidia GTX 780@ 1240 / 3405 (not the max but not too far) : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

3DM13 firestrike extreme :

- Intel HD 4000 (3632qm) : Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

- AMD 7670m@ 725/900 (stock) : AMD Radeon HD 6770M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

- AMD 7670m@ 900/1000 ( Max rock stable) : AMD Radeon HD 6770M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

- Nvidia GTX 780@1150/3105 (stock) : Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

- Nvidia GTX 780@ 1240/3405 (not sure of the frequency) : Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

I don't know why i have less with the PMD , but in game and in 3DM11 , the graphic power is approx 35~50% more.

The score in 3Dm13 is particulary awesome , a Titan should get more than 4600 i think and , with a better cooling than the ref nvidia cooler , more than 5100 with a great o/c.

Nando4 dissection>>

3dmk11.gpu (stock - 1150 /3105) = 12088

3dmk11.gpu (OC - 1240/3405) = 12718

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Some scores :

3DM11 :

- Nvidia GTX 780@ 1150 /3105 (stock for my card) : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

- Nvidia GTX 780@ 1240 / 3405 (not the max but not too far) : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

3DM13 firestrike extreme :

- Intel HD 4000 (3632qm) : Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

- AMD 7670m@ 725/900 (stock) : AMD Radeon HD 6770M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

- AMD 7670m@ 900/1000 ( Max rock stable) : AMD Radeon HD 6770M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

- Nvidia GTX 780@1150/3105 (stock) : Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

- Nvidia GTX 780@ 1240/3405 (not sure of the frequency) : Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3632QM,Sony Corporation VAIO

I don't know why i have less with the PMD , but in game and in 3DM11 , the graphic power is approx 35~50% more.

The score in 3Dm13 is particulary awesome , a Titan should get more than 4600 i think and , with a better cooling than the ref nvidia cooler , more than 5100 with a great o/c.

Nando4 dissection>>

3dmk11.gpu (stock - 1150 /3105) = 12088

3dmk11.gpu (OC - 1240/3405) = 12718

Thank you for the scores. I'm itching to get you on the leaderboard. Would you mind doing the other benchmarks per the initial post? (3dmk6/11/vantage, RE5/dmcv4). I anticipate you'd be taking pole position for most except the benchmarks that are have some CPU component to them (3dmk6/RE5).