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eGPU experiences [version 2.0]


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@Draulon When your eGPU is connected to your laptop, and you have the green and yellow lights, what do you see in the device manager under "display adapters"?

@amarD I'm not sure if it's a power issue indeed. Do you have a PSU from a frien or laying around to make the test?

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@Draulon When your eGPU is connected to your laptop, and you have the green and yellow lights, what do you see in the device manager under "display adapters"?

Nope, and this is my problem. It doesnt detect it even though i tried almost everything.

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4. These are the lights which are on when the PE4L and GPU are connected to the laptop, The Yellow and Orange one, (A red light shows up when the PE4L ISNT connected to the computer, but goes away once I connect it): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40343524/Photo%2006-04-14%2011%2016%2027.jpg

You shouldn't get the red light when the PE4L isn't connected to the laptop. It should ALWAYS be yellow and green. Please have a look again.

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I tried to take a picture of everything possible.

First of all, here are my system specifications: http://puu.sh/7XZe7.png

And here is my setup.

1. This is my power adapter, an AC 230V: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40343524/Photo%2006-04-14%2011%2015%2056.jpg

2. My power adapter is connected to the swex with a 24 pin, as seen here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40343524/Photo%2006-04-14%2011%2016%2006.jpg

3. This is my r7 260x in a powered state and connected to the laptop and the PE4L, the fans are running: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40343524/Photo%2006-04-14%2011%2016%2019.jpg

4. These are the lights which are on when the PE4L and GPU are connected to the laptop, The Yellow and Orange one, (A red light shows up when the PE4L ISNT connected to the computer, but goes away once I connect it): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40343524/Photo%2006-04-14%2011%2016%2027.jpg

5. The PE4L is connected to the power adapted by a 4 pin as seen here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40343524/Photo%2006-04-14%2011%2016%2046.jpg

6. This is the mini HDMI i believe which connects the PCI-E port and the PE4L: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40343524/Photo%2006-04-14%2011%2017%2000.jpg

7. Same as above but closer, in case its hard to see on the previous picture: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40343524/Photo%2006-04-14%2011%2017%2006.jpg

8. Yet again the same as above, but with the original wifi card installed: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40343524/Photo%2006-04-14%2011%2021%2029.jpg

9. A picture of the PE4L itsself in case someone is interested: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/40343524/Photo%2006-04-14%2011%2022%2035.jpg

Here are the properties of the Wifi Card when installed, which PCI port it uses, ect: http://puu.sh/7XZCU.png

Im really grateful for your help, and bigup on the Elfen Lied profile pic.

Hehe, I have a huge Elfen Lied poster on my wall too.

You shouldn't get the red light when the PE4L isn't connected to the laptop. It should ALWAYS be yellow and green. Please have a look again.

Actually, I've always had yellow+green+red when the eGPU was powered but laptop was off. The red light goes away as soon as the laptop was powered on.

--

Everything hardware wise looks fine. Personally, I never had that two wire cable connecting the PE4L and the SWEX, some do, some don't - don't think it'll make a difference though.

Have you tried updating your BIOS?

Is your eGPU detected when you enter Setup 1.x? If so, then it'll just require some fiddling to get it working in Windows, but it should show up in Windows if that was the case (at least with an error).

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Actually, I've always had yellow+green+red when the eGPU was powered but laptop was off. The red light goes away as soon as the laptop was powered on.

Weird. My setup wouldn't run when red light would show up...

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Hehe, I have a huge Elfen Lied poster on my wall too.

Actually, I've always had yellow+green+red when the eGPU was powered but laptop was off. The red light goes away as soon as the laptop was powered on.

--

Everything hardware wise looks fine. Personally, I never had that two wire cable connecting the PE4L and the SWEX, some do, some don't - don't think it'll make a difference though.

Have you tried updating your BIOS?

Is your eGPU detected when you enter Setup 1.x? If so, then it'll just require some fiddling to get it working in Windows, but it should show up in Windows if that was the case (at least with an error).

Didn't update by BIOS yet, and Setup 1.x doesn't detect it either, which is the root of the problem :(

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@amarD I'm not sure if it's a power issue indeed. Do you have a PSU from a frien or laying around to make the test?

Unfortunately, no. I might have to buy one ...

The 750 Ti is supposed to take at most 80-something watts ...

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hi.I want to buy PE4L-PM060A v2.1b (PCIe to Mini Card adapter)(PE4L-PM060A v2.1b (PCIe to Mini Card adapter) - M-FACTORS Storage)

I have a laptop.Is properties,

Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ 4-Cores; 6MB L3; 2.40GHz > 3.40GHz; 47W; 22nm

Chipset Intel® HM86 Express Chipset

8GB (1x8GB) DDR3L 1600MHz SODIMM

VGA Belleği 2GB VGA Memory Bandwidth 128-Bit

VGA 2GB GDDR3 nVIDIA® GeForce® GT750M 128-Bit DX11

Resolution 1920 x 1080 Screen 15.6" Full HD ( 1920 x 1080 )

mSATA Slotu 1x mSATA SSD Slotu

802.11n Wi-Fi kablosuz a￰; IEEE 802.11a/b/g uyumlu Bluetooth 4.0

USB 2.0 Portu 1

USB 3.0 Portu 2

eSATA Portu 1

HDMI Portu 1

VGA Portu 1

and High Power Plus Serisi 500W 80+ (HPC-500-G12S+)WTS PSU HIGHPOWER HPC-500-G12S 80+ 500W | Kaskus - The Largest Indonesian Community

SAPPHIRE HD 5830 Xtreme 1GB GDDR5 http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/product_index.aspx?pid=1153&lid=1#(ıf ı have good result,ı buy better.)

But Ihavent got any express card and thunderbolt.so ı think PE4L-PM060A v2.1b (PCIe to Mini Card adapter)

is best choice for me.what do you think must ı buy it ? ı want to play games without problems graphics card

on laptop :confuse:

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So the 12V 8A power brick finally arrived.

Right now I'm looking at ...

An express card PE4L

A GTX 750 Ti

A 12V 8A AC adapter

A T60p with an express card 54, internal ATI FireGL V5200, 2 GB DDR2 RAM, Windows 7 32-bit

I'm still looking at laptops to replace the one I have.

So I plugged everything in, and ... nothing. I tried all the switch configurations, and I couldn't find an express card configuration menu in the BIOS. There were some sparks when I plugged in the AC adapter and graphics card to the PE4L, which I thought was disconcerting, but nothing happened. If the card isn't plugged in and the PE4L is connected to the laptop and set to x2/4/8/16 mode, it lights up, but the LEDs turn off as soon as the card is plugged in. From my understanding, it's more or less plug in, install drivers, and go? I'm thinking maybe it's because it's such an old CPU? Or does the card require more power (there's no lead for the PSU on it, as it's a low-power card)? If anyone could provide input, that'd be great.

Hi Amad!

Sorry to hear that. When you say sparks, you meant from the wall socket right?

Does the GPU fan spin when turning power on?

I usually start my eGPU like this (step 1 to 4):

1. plug in everything but the EC.

2. turn on the power on the psu -> GPU fan starts

3. booting up laptop

4. just before win- boot logo I insert the EC

---First time install, add the following steps---

5. Check device manager if I see the 'standard VGA adapter' under display adapter

(If yes, then your adapter and card are recognized by the system.)

6. Asked to restart system -> Unplug EC, then restarts system (with EC unplugged)

8.Before win- boot logo I insert the EC

9. booting up laptop (EC now pluged)

10. Install latest Nvidia drivers

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Thanks, nice reading!

Seems like some people had more than 3-4 FPS increase in different DX11 games, for me that counts like significant increase (especially on the min fps).

" Tested Hitman Absolution, the only one I remember

334.89 -> 72fps

337.50 -> 79.randomdecimal fps

And I have my frames capped at 80, so this is just brilliant!"

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Thanks, nice reading!

Seems like some people had more than 3-4 FPS increase in different DX11 games, for me that counts like significant increase (especially on the min fps).

" Tested Hitman Absolution, the only one I remember

334.89 -> 72fps

337.50 -> 79.randomdecimal fps

And I have my frames capped at 80, so this is just brilliant!"

Increase in minimal FPS are very welcome indeed, I've tested it on Sleeping Dogs and FPS never drops below 30 FPS on Max Settings. Not bad. Didn't test BF4 yet.

EDIT: Crysis 3 Welcome to the Jungle, Min FPS 25, +10 FPS from previous driver. :encouragement::encouragement:

Edit2: BF4 is capped at 60 FPS, never dropped below that. That's impressive.

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hi.I want to buy PE4L-PM060A v2.1b (PCIe to Mini Card adapter)(PE4L-PM060A v2.1b (PCIe to Mini Card adapter) - M-FACTORS Storage)

I have a laptop.Is properties,

Intel® Core™ i7-4700MQ 4-Cores; 6MB L3; 2.40GHz > 3.40GHz; 47W; 22nm

Chipset Intel® HM86 Express Chipset

8GB (1x8GB) DDR3L 1600MHz SODIMM

VGA Belleği 2GB VGA Memory Bandwidth 128-Bit

VGA 2GB GDDR3 nVIDIA® GeForce® GT750M 128-Bit DX11

Resolution 1920 x 1080 Screen 15.6" Full HD ( 1920 x 1080 )

mSATA Slotu 1x mSATA SSD Slotu

802.11n Wi-Fi kablosuz a￰; IEEE 802.11a/b/g uyumlu Bluetooth 4.0

USB 2.0 Portu 1

USB 3.0 Portu 2

eSATA Portu 1

HDMI Portu 1

VGA Portu 1

and High Power Plus Serisi 500W 80+ (HPC-500-G12S+)WTS PSU HIGHPOWER HPC-500-G12S 80+ 500W | Kaskus - The Largest Indonesian Community

SAPPHIRE HD 5830 Xtreme 1GB GDDR5 SAPPHIRE HD 5830 Xtreme 1GB GDDR5(ıf ı have good result,ı buy better.)

But Ihavent got any express card and thunderbolt.so ı think PE4L-PM060A v2.1b (PCIe to Mini Card adapter)

is best choice for me.what do you think must ı buy it ? ı want to play games without problems graphics card

on laptop :confuse:

does anybody help me.I cant decide

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Hi Amad!

Sorry to hear that. When you say sparks, you meant from the wall socket right?

Does the GPU fan spin when turning power on?

I usually start my eGPU like this (step 1 to 4):

1. plug in everything but the EC.

2. turn on the power on the psu -> GPU fan starts

3. booting up laptop

4. just before win- boot logo I insert the EC

---First time install, add the following steps---

5. Check device manager if I see the 'standard VGA adapter' under display adapter

(If yes, then your adapter and card are recognized by the system.)

6. Asked to restart system -> Unplug EC, then restarts system (with EC unplugged)

8.Before win- boot logo I insert the EC

9. booting up laptop (EC now pluged)

10. Install latest Nvidia drivers

Actually, no, it shot sparks when I plugged the cylindrical socket into the PE4L, which is why it's so disconcerting. But that only happened once. The PCIe x1 port also has a small but visible ESD whenever I plug in the graphics card with the AC adapter plugged into the PE4L. And the fans don't spin, either.

I know the basic steps to set up the eGPU, but unfortunately the card doesn't power on and the computer doesn't recognize the PE4L ...

One other thing that I noticed was the AC adapter has a little LED that lights up when it's connected to the power, but it turns off as soon as a video card is plugged into the PCIe x1 port.

Right now I'm thinking either the AC adapter doesn't deliver enough power, or the graphics card burned out when the power brick shot sparks ...

Also, does the USB slot on the PE4L supposed to work?

Thanks!

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Thanks, nice reading!

Seems like some people had more than 3-4 FPS increase in different DX11 games, for me that counts like significant increase (especially on the min fps).

" Tested Hitman Absolution, the only one I remember

334.89 -> 72fps

337.50 -> 79.randomdecimal fps

And I have my frames capped at 80, so this is just brilliant!"

Have you also tested with some benchmarks? Obviously 3Dmark11 and 13 showed up at the end that the driver can't be recognized. The results are quiet the same as with the old driver. Only with Vantage I got a 17,67% better result... from 24.062 (334.89) to 28.314 (337.50). In addition I had some problems with Optimus recognizing my TFT. Beta driver... ;)

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my current specs:

Intel Core i7 2920xm Extreme Edition 2.5Ghz (4c/8t Sandy Bridge)

Intel HM67

(1x4GB + 1x2GB)6GB DDR3 1600

AMD Radeon HD 6990m 2GB GDDR5

Killer n-1103 802.11n

1920x1080 60Hz

about 2-3years ago, i purchased a PE4H v2.4 + EC2C(express card) to do an eGPU on my ancient laptop but I didn't manage to do it successfully (due to abysmal perf gain thanks to pcie 1.0 @1x)

as of right now, the performance of my GPU (6990m) is enough for me to play most games at 1080p at high or max.

The reason I want to do an eGPU is I want to get one of Korean 1440p monitors because I hate how glossy the screen of my laptop is. I also want to get a bigger working space on my screen and have better color accuracy. I would also want to be able to overclock the Korean 1440p to 120h+ for smoother motion.

unfortunately, my laptop doesn't have an ad-board to handle the pixel clock of the display of the Korean 1440p so I need to get a desktop GPU.

right now, I could get this combo:

-AMD Radeon R9 290

-PE4L-PM060A (mPCIe and claims to be PCIe GEN 3.0)

-Seasonic SS-FL2 460w 80PLus PLatinum Fanless ATX12v / EPS12v

according to AIDA64, i could remove my wifi card and should have a free mPCIe 2.0 @1x on port 3

sb60r7.jpg

additional info:

-my laptop is set at Muxed Fixed Scheme

-I prefer to get the Radeon R9 290 instead of any nvidia gpu because of Mantle, mining, etc...

-is the PE4L-PM060A backwards compatible with PCIe 2.0?

-how much performance loss should I expect running the r9 290 on PCIe 2.0 @1x?

-will the bandwidth of PCIe 2.0 @1x be enough for 2560x1440 for atleast 120hz?

update 1:

I found this product called EXP GDC v6.0 278.

http://easy-taobao.com/item/37107780625#

T1hYhJFuNdXXXXXXXX_!!0-item_pic.jpg

it looks like it is better than PE4L-PM060A as it looks to be better built (it has metal cover, usb slot, 'modular psu', etc...)

would the EXP GDC a better product then PE4L-PM060A?

is there any difference or draw back to it?

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Actually, no, it shot sparks when I plugged the cylindrical socket into the PE4L, which is why it's so disconcerting. But that only happened once. The PCIe x1 port also has a small but visible ESD whenever I plug in the graphics card with the AC adapter plugged into the PE4L. And the fans don't spin, either.

I know the basic steps to set up the eGPU, but unfortunately the card doesn't power on and the computer doesn't recognize the PE4L ...

One other thing that I noticed was the AC adapter has a little LED that lights up when it's connected to the power, but it turns off as soon as a video card is plugged into the PCIe x1 port.

Right now I'm thinking either the AC adapter doesn't deliver enough power, or the graphics card burned out when the power brick shot sparks ...

Also, does the USB slot on the PE4L supposed to work?

Thanks!

1. Are you powering the PE4L with 5V via usb (besides the AC-adapter for PCI-slot)? (like this dude)

2. You don't happen to have a desktop pc to check your GPU?

3. If you read on the adapter, does it say 12v 8A, just so the seller didn't just send you a ~80W 19.5V adapter or something?

4. Also, do any led on the PE4L light up when connecting the ac-plug?

The reason I really don't think you could have fried something is because the PE4L wants 12V (and 5V) and your GPU wants 12V, so if the AC-adapter is rated 12V you can't really burn something. The only thing logical test left for you now is of course to power your PE4L and GPU from a desktop PSU using floppy cable, SWEX and 6pin PCI-E power.

The result would then reveal if your PE4L/GPU are still healthy.

EDIT: Oh and one more thing, some AC-adapters seem to have a remote/connect handshake pin that requires GND to power on. This could be elaborated on later!

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...it looks like it is better than PE4L-PM060A as it looks to be better built (it has metal cover, usb slot, 'modular psu', etc...)

would the EXP GDC a better product then PE4L-PM060A?

is there any difference or draw back to it?

I have the v6.0 and will put out a write-up for it soon!

It's better than PE4L in all practical aspects, performance-wise they're equal.

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Hello to everyone!

I've been reading these forums/threads for a couple of weeks now, and after getting set up an eGPU adapter with a Lenovo T420 (only iGPU), nVidia GTX 460, and 400W corsair PSU, I need to ask a couple of questions..

I am using bios 1.15, and EC set to Gen 1.

What I did:

- booted to windows

- plugged in eGPU

- win detected standard VGA, reboot

- install nVidia drivers, reboot

- windows detects GTX 460, I set it as my primary display on external LCD, iGPU as second display on laptop LCD.

After running 3dMark06, I get something above 6000 points (2k+ with iGPU). This seems very low even with Gen1, considering the results I've seen other people posting on this thread with similar CPU/GPU. I would expect the result to be somewhere above 13k, 14k.

Am I missing something? I don't use setup1.

I also tried powering off the laptop, removing egpu, start laptop, press F8 to get windows startup menu, plug in eGPU, then let windows start. Sometimes I get blue screens by doing this, but when windows boots up, then I still get the same slow results. 3dMark runs on the eGPU, because I see in GPU-z that the GPU load for GTX 460 is 99-100%.

If I set the EC to Auto in bios, then I either get BSOD or system freeze, or some other anomaly. That is unstable (Gen2), and I don't know why, I've read other people managing to get it work with 2.0.

I have also tested with AMD Firepro V3900, I get similar results. If I set the EC to Auto with the V3900, then I don't get BSOD or system freeze, but the system freezes up from time to time, and the graphics are very very slow. GPU-z shows 2x link in this case.

Any ideas, suggestions, on what am I missing or doing wrong?

Thank you!

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I have the v6.0 and will put out a write-up for it soon!

It's better than PE4L in all practical aspects, performance-wise they're equal.

where did you buy your exp gdc?

i am googling it but every seller seems to be quite questionable (payment is only accepted through bank transfer or western union).

there seems to be one seller that seems ok (on aliexpress) but he is selling the old version (5.8)

also, can you confirm does it come with a power supply (220w dell)?

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I have the v6.0 and will put out a write-up for it soon!

It's better than PE4L in all practical aspects, performance-wise they're equal.

performance equal... hıım .exxp gdc new product and dealers are little.which one do you suggest?If I buy PE4L-PM060A,ıts poor choice for me?because ım new this and ım very excited.ı dont expect more

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I just recently bought an PE4H-EC060A module V3.2 and paired it with Gigabyte GTX 660 and it's working great. Plugged it in, installed drivers and voilà.

X220, i5-2520M, 8GB, SSD

~18500p in 3dmark06

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm06/17572649

~5200p in 3dmark11

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8208499

But has someone tried a Quadro K2000 (or K600) setup? I bought the GTX660 on the assumption that it beats K600 in specviewperf 12 (based on a test - SPECviewperf® 12 - GPU Scores | PC foo), but I can't even come close to those numbers.

The K2000 and GTX650 are both GK107, is there a chance of "error 12"?

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1. Are you powering the PE4L with 5V via usb (besides the AC-adapter for PCI-slot)? (like this dude)

2. You don't happen to have a desktop pc to check your GPU?

3. If you read on the adapter, does it say 12v 8A, just so the seller didn't just send you a ~80W 19.5V adapter or something?

4. Also, do any led on the PE4L light up when connecting the ac-plug?

The reason I really don't think you could have fried something is because the PE4L wants 12V (and 5V) and your GPU wants 12V, so if the AC-adapter is rated 12V you can't really burn something. The only thing logical test left for you now is of course to power your PE4L and GPU from a desktop PSU using floppy cable, SWEX and 6pin PCI-E power.

The result would then reveal if your PE4L/GPU are still healthy.

EDIT: Oh and one more thing, some AC-adapters seem to have a remote/connect handshake pin that requires GND to power on. This could be elaborated on later!

Oh wait, so the PE4L has to be powered by an additional 5V USB power supply? That's probably it ...

Unfortunately, I don't have a desktop on me at the moment, so I can't test it. But I'll try to borrow one if this doesn't work.

As of right now, the PE4L lights up when connected to the laptop via EC without the graphics card in the PCIe x1 slot and with the switch on "2-3" (PCIe x2/4/8/16 mode).

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Oh wait, so the PE4L has to be powered by an additional 5V USB power supply? That's probably it ...

Unfortunately, I don't have a desktop on me at the moment, so I can't test it. But I'll try to borrow one if this doesn't work.

As of right now, the PE4L lights up when connected to the laptop via EC without the graphics card in the PCIe x1 slot and with the switch on "2-3" (PCIe x2/4/8/16 mode).

No actually the PE4L shouldn't have to have a separate 5V, but you never know it sounds like your gpu takes more power than stated.

Please report back as soon as you tested!

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