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eGPU experiences [version 2.0]


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I'm thinking of upgrading my base hardware (from an HP ProBook 6460b) to an HP ProBook 640 G1 Notebook PC. Three questions:

1. I checked the quick specs, and it says it has a Smart Card reader, but no mention of an Express Card slot. I checked the service guide and it does mention ExpressCard, but has "(depending on the configuration)" in the component title. Can anyone confirm if this laptop model supports PCMCIA / ExpressCard for our eGPUs?

Quick Specs: HP ProBook 640 G1 Notebook PC HP ProBook 650 G1 Notebook PC (QuickSpecs/c04126035.pdf)

Data Sheet: http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/html/pdfs/US_CA_English_HP_ProBook_640_Datasheet.pdf

Service Guide: http://h20628.www2.hp.com/km-ext/kmcsdirect/emr_na-c04030196-1.pdf

2. From a value POV, maybe the i7-4700MQ is the best CPU for this, but am curious to know what's the most powerful chip that I can put in this laptop? Will an i7-4910MQ work (Max TDP = 47W)?

PassMark - Intel Core i7-4910MQ @ 2.90GHz - Price performance comparison

3. I noticed the Haswell chips support PCI Express 3.0. Is this backwards compatible with our Express 2.0 eGPU cards?

- Haswell supports PCIe 3.0 on the Northbridge. The Soutbridge from which expresscard/mPCIe and in some cases THunderbolt chips hang off are still PCIe 2.0

- The 640/650 G1 has no expresscard slot. The Service Guide pictures a slot saying next to it "ExpressCard slot or smart card reader". The slot picture is so thin that it can only be a smart card reader.

I've documented which Haswell systems still have expresscard slots in http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4109-egpu-candidate-system-list.html#post57511 . The budget one being able to host i7-quad CPUs being Lenovo L440/L540 or Dell Latitude E6440/E6540. The Latitude's having the expresscard only on some models.

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I'm thinking of rigging up my own eGPU by early next year. Thing is, I'm quite a noob in computers and I don't know if my laptop supports it. Any help is appreciated.

Specs are:

HP ProBook 6450b

Intel Core i5 M 520 @ 2.4GHz

Intel HD Graphics

2GB memory

Windows 7 Home Edition 32-bit

Any suggestions? (best setup etc)

Wanna keep the cost as low as possible, on a very tight budget.

Thanks!

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HP have made a point of introducing PCIe SSDs in their just released top-of-the-line ZBook Gen2 range. They refer to it as "Turbo PCIe SSD", a x2 2.0 link. It's therefore very unlikely their lesser 820 G1 would have that performance feature and more likely that it's a mSATA slot. You could confirm by slotting in the wifi card and seeing if it's detected and show in device manager.

Little confused as how to do this, open laptop up and the wireless card is to large to fit other slots, there a three slots, one with wireless, mpcie I assume, and two smaller/narrower ones in assuming are ngff, one is labelled flashcard and the other looks set for wwan or wlan, has aerials taped in it.

Also how much of a bottle neck will the processor be, will it be ok with something like gtx760/gtx660ti/gtx670 or would these card just be wasted and something like 750 ti be better?

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I'm strongly considering doing an egpu setup for my next laptop purchase, but internal lcd use is important to me.

Looking over the FAQ, I am still confused when the internal lcd can be used. It seems that a nvidia egpu (kepler or newer) is much preferred. Does it still work if the laptop has a igpu + dgpu? I saw that the macbook pro 750m has issues using the internal lcd, but is that just because of apples firmware issue for optimus support in windows? I also heard nvidia removed internal lcd cloning support for older intel igpu in the latest drivers. Is that true?

I'm shooting for a laptop with a high quality/resolution IPS screen, and thunderbolt 2 (or 3 when it comes out). The laptops that feature these are quite limited, being the macbook iris pro as the best solution. But I strongly dislike apple and their locked down hardware. I'd prefer to wait for lenovo's new thinkpad, hopefully it will have TB3. But it also comes with a quadro dgpu, so I gotta know if that will mess up the internal lcd function with optimus.

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Optimus internal LCD mode requires an Intel 4500MHD or newer iGPU, a GTS450 or newer video card and no active dGPU.

4500MHD is from the older core2duo days with NVidia deciding to stop Optimus support for that iGPU as of drivers newer than 306.97WHQL: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6253-t500-compat-q-4500mhd-optimus-ends-306-97whql-3.html#post89243

Users with a iGPU+dGPU system need to disable the dGPU for Optimus functionality to engage. Typically done via the system BIOS or Setup 1.30.

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Since I seem to need another lane, anyone know if I could convert my msata DVD connector to a mpcie slot? Would an adapter like this really work or is it just for disks? http://www.amazon.com/mSATA-PCI-E-PCIE-Converter-Adapter/dp/B00ARB624U

Whoah this is some news! Yes it might be possible but crossfire and sli for DIY eGPU still not fully supported unfortunately only undet linux and sone nerd level tinkering, why not try it for the community buddy? I am sure that adapter is cheap I guess.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

- - - Updated - - -

Hey guys,

I am looking at getting an refurbished lenovo g505s. the one without dual graphics. i have seen that the AMD A10-5750performs somewhere around the same as the lower i7-4k's so i believe that i can avoid bottlenecking from the cpu. my question is if the lenovo has pcie gen 2 or 1. i would prefer gen 2. and another question is how would i be able to tell if the slots can be configured for more than one lane. a 2x slotwould be great. a 4x would be ideal. i know that i have one i can use since the bluetooth module is in one. i would gladly remove it. i just need to know if it has gen two and if they can be configured for more lanes(if so how?)

This is your notebook right?

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-G505s-20255-Notebook.99459.0.html

csm_G505s_UnterseiteOffen_c95bf507e1.jpg

It has the similar layouts for my G500 except for the mini pcie slot which is oddly placed in the middle, I think you can do a eGPU setup but I am not sure if the AMD apu will support it, otherwise, I do have the same dGPU which is the 8750M disabled when eGPU is mounted and proper desktop catalyst drivers are installed in a proper way.

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After setting everything up, powering up the eGPU, launching my laptop and installing the latest drivers, I see my GPU in the Device Manager, but with the following message: "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)" I have an old external screen plugged into the GPU but it gets no signal.

This is my setup:

  • Laptop: Lenovo x220i Tablet Intel Core i3, 8.00 GB RAM, Windows 7 x64
  • GPU: KFA2 Geforce GTX 580 Anarchy
  • Adapter: PE4L 2.1b (with ExpressCard adapter), with a 12V 5A power supply
  • PSU: Chieftec 850w 80+ Modular (with paper clip fix)

When launching GeForce Experience that I got with the latest drivers, it gave me this message "Sorry, GeForce Experience could not find a driver for this PC". I'm guessing this is because of the "error code 43", and not vice versa, because the first thing I tried was to install older an older driver, and when launching GeForce Experience with the old drivers, I didn't get the previous message, but simply "Your GeForce driver is up to date", but still with the "error code 43".

As stated it is a KFA2-card and I thought maybe they need special drivers, but on their website they link to NVIDIA's driver page.

I read somewhere about replacing the nvam.inf in the drivers for x1.Opt-support, but I can't find a dowload link to the file. Does anyone have a link to the file, or the actual file that they could upload and share?

Does anyone know what might be the problem here? Does anyone know how to fix it? It would make me inhumanly happy if I could get my eGPU setup to work! Thank you in advance!

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Thanks for the reply. I cannot remember where I saw it but I found information on how an apu can be forced to run only as a cpu and the gpu cores also take the role of cpu. I do know that you can turn off the crossfire in my laptop but the apu and the dgpu are about the same in capabilities. I would have no problem in making a custom mpcie extension that would allow the replacement of the sd card reader with an mpcie slot. I actually am in the process of making a prototype.

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I'm just trying to make my mind up as to if I should go ahead and send a donation over to Nando or not [for Setup 1.30]. If I use this, will it allow my Dell M6500 to use the LCD instead of having to hook everything up to a monitor all the time? Thoughts? That would be the only reason to use this.

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I'm just trying to make my mind up as to if I should go ahead and send a donation over to Nando or not [for Setup 1.30]. If I use this, will it allow my Dell M6500 to use the LCD instead of having to hook everything up to a monitor all the time? Thoughts? That would be the only reason to use this.

Does a Intel HD graphics item appear in Device Manager or can you get one by playing with BIOS settings? If so, does it appear with an LCD attached to it? I believe the answers here are no, so you wouldn't be able to use NVidia Optimus to provide an accelerated internal LCD mode. The best you could do is drag *windowed apps* from the external LCD to the internal one. There is the Chung-gun or Ultramon method to set up a dummy external LCD and then drag a phantom window to the internal one.

Only benefit Setup 1.30 could have for your implementation: http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides/7563-%5Bguide%5D-17-dell-m6500-gtx670%402gbps-ec1-pe4l-2-1b-win7-64-a.html#post103826 then would be to activate the dormant iGPU under Windows 8.1 That would engage x1 pci-e compression accelerating DX9 apps considerable. Example of doing that is 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 .

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Does a Intel HD graphics item appear in Device Manager or can you get one by playing with BIOS settings? If so, does it appear with an LCD attached to it? I believe the answers here are no, so you wouldn't be able to use NVidia Optimus to provide an accelerated internal LCD mode. The best you could do is drag *windowed apps* from the external LCD to the internal one. There is the Chung-gun or Ultramon method to set up a dummy external LCD and then drag a phantom window to the internal one.

Only benefit Setup 1.30 could have for your implementation: http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides/7563-%5Bguide%5D-17-dell-m6500-gtx670%402gbps-ec1-pe4l-2-1b-win7-64-a.html#post103826 then would be to activate the dormant iGPU under Windows 8.1 That would engage x1 pci-e compression accelerating DX9 apps considerable. Example of doing that is 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 .

Thanks, I thought that might be the case. My dGPU does a fairly good job with DX9 titles, so I guess there is no gain for me. I might investigate the Dummy Display thing though. Cheers!

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Hey guys,

I've been lurking a lot around here, but most of the solutions are kinda unaesthetic to me, with the need for an external power supply. The card I want to use would be either a 780GHZ or a 970.

So basically what the title says ;)

Cheers!

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@gabt

Are you referring to external PSUs such as ATX or even DC adapters? I'd love to see a different slicker approach with inbuilt power that doesn't have the footprint of a desktop. I always strive for a portable solution.

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Hey guys, need some help here.

A friend is coming over from the US by end of november so I can order parts at good prices. At the moment I am faced with building a desktop or setting up an eGPU setup over EC with a W520 (2820qm + 8gb ram) I have.

I will be gaming over external display at 1080P.

For a diy egpu, which would give the best performance?

GTX 780 Ti ($390)

r9 290x (~$340 to 370)

GTX 970 (~$340 to 360)

Also, I wanted to get the opinions of the forum users about reliable figures for the power consumption of these cards, both stock and with reasonable, stable OC's, so I know which PSU i can get away with for cheapest.

I play all kinds of games, but important to me is performance in MP shooters (BF4 etc) and open world games (GTA 4 and upcoming 5, Assassins Creed Black Flag) and later Arkham Knight.

Much thanks in advance.

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@Tech Inferno Fan @jacobsson Guys Apple launched some new devices few days back and I noticed that there is an updated (not sure though) Mac Mini with two thunderbolt 2 ports, yes you read it correctly two thunderbolt 2 ports! Can this be a very good candidate for having an DIY eGPU setup? Sounds good to me but I don't know the common obstacles for apple devices in implementing an eGPU. If prices will be scrutinized one can already have a good entry to mid level pc build with the current Mac Mini prices. I would like to know your thoughts on this new model.

here it is; [URL]https://www.apple.com/mac-mini/design/[/URL]

And see guys how cheap it is to have a Thunderbolt 2 Chip controller from intel; [URL]http://ark.intel.com/products/76721/Intel-DSL5520-Thunderbolt-2-Controller[/URL]

"
Recommended Customer Price T&R : $9.95 TRAY: $9.95
"
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Hello there,

I have the PE4L for a while and I like it, but it has some trouble.

When I watch youtube vids I can only watch smoothly at 720p, at 1080p it has low framerate.

My specs (acer aspire 5741):

i3-350M

8GB DDR3 1066MHz

PE4L v2.1b PM3N + R7 240 MSI LP 2GD3

On my iGPU I can watch 1080p without problems.

My second problem is when I boot my pc with the pe4l inserted, it turns on, then tuns off (no display).

I can only do the swap trick when it is in sleep mode.

How can I remove the wifi whitelist of my mPCIe to be able to boot with pe4l?

Or isn't it a wifi whitelist problem?

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@Tech Inferno Fan @jacobsson

Guys Apple launched some new devices few days back and I noticed that there is an updated (not sure though) Mac Mini with two thunderbolt 2 ports, yes you read it correctly two thunderbolt 2 ports! Can this be a very good candidate for having an DIY eGPU setup?

Sounds good to me but I don't know the common obstacles for apple devices in implementing an eGPU. If prices will be scrutinized one can already have a good entry to mid level pc build with the current Mac Mini prices. I would like to know your thoughts on this new model.

here it is;

https://www.apple.com/mac-mini/design/

Unfortunately the latest mac-mini specs list "Up to 3.0Ghz dual-core i7 processor". This being a slower CPU than previous gen mac-minis that packed a quad-core. This is highlighted in the article New, improved, slower Mac Mini | ZDNet . However, the 2014 version does have two 16Gbps-TB2 ports. Previous gens had 10Gbps-TB1.

We have some existing Mac Mini eGPU implementations. UEFI http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-hub-tb-ec-mpcie.html#Thunderbolt

Neither the 2012 nor the 2014 Mac Mini can give the optimum maximum 16Gbps-TB2 eGPU performance together with a quad-core CPU. Need to look at a 15" Macbook Pro or 15/17" HP ZBook 15/17 G2 for that (REF: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4109-egpu-candidate-system-list.html#4th ) . Am hopeful the upcoming Broadwell release will see a larger selection of 16Gbps-TB2 equipped notebooks.

- - - Updated - - -

Hey guys, need some help here.

A friend is coming over from the US by end of november so I can order parts at good prices. At the moment I am faced with building a desktop or setting up an eGPU setup over EC with a W520 (2820qm + 8gb ram) I have.

I will be gaming over external display at 1080P.

For a diy egpu, which would give the best performance?

GTX 780 Ti ($390)

r9 290x (~$340 to 370)

GTX 970 (~$340 to 360)

Also, I wanted to get the opinions of the forum users about reliable figures for the power consumption of these cards, both stock and with reasonable, stable OC's, so I know which PSU i can get away with for cheapest.

I play all kinds of games, but important to me is performance in MP shooters (BF4 etc) and open world games (GTA 4 and upcoming 5, Assassins Creed Black Flag) and later Arkham Knight.

Much thanks in advance.

I'd get the Gigabyte GTX 970 Gaming G1 over the GTX780Ti GTX 970 Comparison: STRIX vs MSI Gaming vs Gigabyte G1 . That card can be overclocked to > 1500Mhz boost clock overperforming the GTX780Ti.

The AMD versus NVidia question is more complex. Some games can be optimized more for one than the other. Consider reviewing some comparative benchmark results http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2109-diy-egpu-experiences-%5Bversion-2-0%5D.html#ati+nvperf . AMD doing some serious cost cutting since the release of the GTX9xx. Means might pickup a serious performance bargain. Though do note that there is no accelerated internal LCD akin to NVidia Optimus with AMD cards unless you pay for LucidLogix Virtu, which even then may not offer mobile support: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2967-lucidlogix-virtu-internal-lcd-mode-amd-egpus.html

Best would be if you could buy a GTX970 and R9 290x, run your important games on both and compare framerates and return the slower one.

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Unfortunately the latest mac-mini specs list "Up to 3.0Ghz dual-core i7 processor". This being a slower CPU than previous gen mac-minis that packed a quad-core. This is highlighted in the article New, improved, slower Mac Mini | ZDNet . However, the 2014 version does have two 16Gbps-TB2 ports. Previous gens had 10Gbps-TB1.

We have some existing Mac Mini eGPU implementations. UEFI http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-hub-tb-ec-mpcie.html#Thunderbolt

Neither the 2012 nor the 2014 Mac Mini can give the optimum maximum 16Gbps-TB2 eGPU performance together with a quad-core CPU. Need to look at a 15" Macbook Pro or 15/17" HP ZBook 15/17 G2 for that (REF: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4109-egpu-candidate-system-list.html#4th ) . Am hopeful the upcoming Broadwell release will see a larger selection of 16Gbps-TB2 equipped notebooks.

@Tech Inferno Fan

It seems that they really have listed it officially in this link;

https://www.apple.com/mac-mini/specs/

Two thunderbolt 2 ports sir Tech Inferno Fan, kindly look into it, I might buy it soon LOL!

Pesky hipster apple site does not want me to post image URL here hence I can't show any image

excuse me here it is out of DIY LOL;

Ah yes there is no quad core i7 Haswell only a dual core i7 that sounds like an i5 performer jeez...

MacMini2014Thunderbolt2_zps73fa0af8.jpg

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RE: http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides/6851-%5Bguide%5D-12-hp-2540p-gtx750ti%402gbps-c-ec1-win7.html#post93637

Hi i have the same laptop as you (2540p) and i am thinking of buying the 750ti 2gb super clocked and the egpu kit, also a 220w dell power supply

I'm on windows 7 professional 64bit, i have 4gb ram.

My questions are

1) Where do i buy the setup 1.3 software

2) What do i do in the setup 1.3 software and when should i use it?

3) Should i just plug the egpu in my laptop when i first boot laptop then install drivers ? Or do i have to connect egpu after windows logs on

4) What is hotplugging

5) Will 220w be enough?

6)Is the express card suitable with my laptop? EXP GDC Laptop External External PCI E graphics card ARES Series Expresscard Set ATX-in Laptop Docking Stations from Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

7)if you have spare time can you write a simple step by step guide on how to set it all up, it will be such a great help if you did so.

Sorry for alot of questions, the reason im asking many are because i am worried about the errors that will occur and if i am not able to solve them then my money will go to waste.

-Regards-

-Saiem

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Hello, everyone! I want to make my choice what adapter to choose. I am prone to save money at the moment and to see whether the proposed adapters are feasible for my laptop. But if everything is ok, that would be good to have effective solution for eGPU.

My laptop is HP 530 with Intel Core Due 2.1 GHz CPU. It has mPCIe (probably gen2 and not just gen1) and slow PC card slot (133 MB/s). The PC card slot could in principle be used as a slow variant of expresscard after the corresponding adapter is bought.

I plan to buy a GPU like GTX 550-570 with possible further overclocking. So the power supply greater than 220W (as in PE4C v2.1 package) might be needed.

Is there any model where power supply could be added, not just somehow selected one, when more than one source is plugged in? From PE4C v2.1 description I find "Power Supply: ATX PSU, DC adapter, 8PIN connector (for D220P AC adapter),Three select one". The PE4C v1.2 is badly described. On its picture I see 4 pinholes near a switcher and 4-pin slot. Are not they for power supply? But it seems to be not a big problem if you have PSU with 6 and 8 pins, though its overall power should be high enough. And does not the cable from the adapter to the mPCIe plug require to solder it? :) There 3 cables in tha package and I don't see how do they stick into.

Also I want to use laptop's LCD, not a cumbersome external monitor. It seems that all models can grant this possibility. From http://forum.techinferno.com/enclosures-adapters/3100-pe4h-vs-pe4l.html I find "PE4L 2.1 and PE4H 3.2 have 1.2 Opt support". Is there an additional support for nVidia Optimus in the mentioned adapters and if so which one has the best support?

And about bandwidth. Gen1 mPCIe can pass 250 MB/s. Let's suppose we have 1280x800 32bit (I don't have larger) resolution with 25fps. Then we need 100 MB/s bandwidth if we want to transfer these uncompressed frames back to the laptop's LCD. Even if we have 1000 objects to render (game developers can give more realistic number) and to send them to the GPU, this seems to be a small percent of 100 MB/s. Then 250 MB/s seems to be enough for all the modern games and probably for the ones to appear in 5-10 years provided we use the mentioned resolution.

Taking the above mentioned into account I would buy the PE4C v1.2. It is the cheapest one and can allow up to 500 MB/s bandwidth for a larger resolution. And the cables from its package look certainly different than the PCIEMM-060A cable which is said to be for gen1 PCIe. For, say, PE4H both PCIEMM-060A and PCIEMM-060B cable are proposed but I could not find how to choose PCIEMM-060B.

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