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eGPU experiences [version 2.0]


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So fedit gives full edit capabilities without keys getting mangled? If so, I'll change pedit with fedit for the next version. Yes, please do try some other hotkeys in \bin\capture (snarfit screencapture utility) and advise if can get another good one to work. I avoid ones like ALT+S since they are editors to search or save, preferring ones like ALT+ or ALT+DEL.

I am unaware of any other bootloader that allows direct image writes like grub4dos does. Other utils like grub2 use memdisk so read the image into memory and writes occur to memory too. The disk image being a way to avoid needing to repartition the harddisk to boot. A couple of workarounds to the failing disk image writes come to mind, listed in order of complexity below:

No problems with fedit at all. had no luck with snarfit hotkey. also no luck using tsr programs which require only 1 hotkey. image viewers hang after starting correctly.

rEFit works like an extansion to BootCamp and will pop before grub4dos is loaded at all. its also great for mbr issues and such.

I'm actually fine with my stick. 4. is what i'm talking about but this shouldn't be to hard on a mac using disk utility and rEFIt :P

<dl><dt>gptsync.efi</dt><dd>A tool that synchronizes the legacy MBR partition table with the GPT partition table. This gives legacy operating systems and boot loaders access to hard disk partitions. Also available directly in the rEFIt menu.

</dd></dl>

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Hi Nando4! :48_002:

I've actually been following your thread every so often since it started on NBR as the "let's figure out how to make a DIY Vidock" to the tremendous success that it has become as the "DIY eGPU". It's also nice to see "DIY eGPU 2.0" up and running here on Tech Inferno. I honestly think that this is the perfect home for you. Kudos to all your efforts, to the countless number of people you have helped and most importantly MORE POWER to you and ALL the DIY eGPU Users All Over the World!

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Hey guys, finally to see some familiar people here:

I have already asked my questions to Tech Inferno Fan, and now it's your turn to answer it:

I have another laptop, which is Dell inspiron 1501, and I have recently upgraded its amd processor from sempron +3000 1.8GHz to turion 64 x2 tl-68 2.4 GHz, which is significantly good.

After the upgrade, its specs have become:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

RAM: 2.5 GB

Processor: AMD turion 64 X2 TL-68 2.4GHz

iGPU: ATI Radeon Xpress 1100, which is the weakest iGPU I have ever seen in my life.

And my eGPU:

PE4H-EC2C 54mm

PSU:Silverstone ST-ST50F-ES 500W with +12V/34V rail output

eGPU: AMD Radeon HD 7750

I have many questions:

1- It's my first time doing it on AMD processor and ATI iGPU, Will it work without disabling iGPU?

2-I have LG Flatron M1717S monitor, which has a VGA output. The screen is pretty good, and I don't want to spend money for another monitor. Unfortunately, the graphics card only supports DVI, HDMI, and Display port. Will DVI-to-VGA adapter work for my eGPU setup?

3- What type of driver shall I install for eGPU in order to make it work?

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Hey guys, finally to see some familiar people here:

I have already asked my questions to Tech Inferno Fan, and now it's your turn to answer it:

I have another laptop, which is Dell inspiron 1501, and I have recently upgraded its amd processor from sempron +3000 1.8GHz to turion 64 x2 tl-68 2.4 GHz, which is significantly good.

After the upgrade, its specs have become:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

RAM: 2.5 GB

Processor: AMD turion 64 X2 TL-68 2.4GHz

iGPU: ATI Radeon Xpress 1100, which is the weakest iGPU I have ever seen in my life.

And my eGPU:

PE4H-EC2C 54mm

PSU:Silverstone ST-ST50F-ES 500W with +12V/34V rail output

eGPU: AMD Radeon HD 7750

I have many questions:

1- It's my first time doing it on AMD processor and ATI iGPU, Will it work without disabling iGPU?

2-I have LG Flatron M1717S monitor, which has a VGA output. The screen is pretty good, and I don't want to spend money for another monitor. Unfortunately, the graphics card only supports DVI, HDMI, and Display port. Will DVI-to-VGA adapter work for my eGPU setup?

3- What type of driver shall I install for eGPU in order to make it work?

No reason why it shouldn't work. Possible issues being (1) error 12 - you'd need a strategy to deal with it if encounter it and (2) ensure a Win7 driver exists for your iGPU as the HD7750 Win7 driver will only work if the primary video card's Win7 driver is functional. The DVI wiki tells us that your passive DVI-to-VGA adapter will work:

In addition to digital, the DVI connector includes pins that carry an analog signal, compatible with the RGBHV signals in a VGA connector. This allows a VGA monitor to be connected with a passive plug adapter and offers a universal solution for the DVI interface.
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No reason why it shouldn't work. Possible issues being (1) error 12 - you'd need a strategy to deal with it if encounter it and (2) ensure a Win7 driver exists for your iGPU as the HD7750 Win7 driver will only work if the primary video card's Win7 driver is functional. The DVI wiki tells us that your passive DVI-to-VGA adapter will work:

What I meant in my question was, Should I download notebook, or the desktop graphics card driver?

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First try the desktop driver. If there is any problem running the notebook (iGPU-ATi) and desktop (eGPU-AMD) drivers together then try the DNA-drivers which unify the two together.

I don't know why, but dna-driver website is not working for me. Why?

I have heard that with method, you can run eGPU with Internal Monitor, is that true?

Anyway, thanks for your support. It was their loss that they banned you from NBR. You are a valuable person.

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I checked bios and the expresscard slot is enabled, when I go into setup 1.1x it says to cold boot past bios and set 7/15s pci delay, what does that mean and how do i "cold boot". The pci card was originally set to 6.9 delay and i moved it to 15 and still no change. should I try putting at 0 delay?

Also, I attempted to follow your directions, everything went fine until I tried to disable the dGPU. I click on video cards, and then hit enter on dgpu, the screen switches to the DOS screen and says that dGPU is being disabled, but it just hangs there and doesn't change at all, even when I hit f3 nothing happens.

Edit: I restarted the computer and "cold booted" the gpu past the bios which I assumed meant to turn on the eGpu after the bios option came up. After that the eGpu was recognized, but my dGpu card is still not disabled, should I still try to disable it?

Is simply installing drivers for the eGPU the only thing left for me to do?

If you have switchable integrated graphics card, try to disable it from diy eGPU setup.

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If you have switchable integrated graphics card, try to disable it from diy eGPU setup.

It will not disable, if I hit enter on the dGPU in the set up it just switches to the DOS screen and stays there, I've left it there for hours on end and nothing happens. The only way for me to exit that is to shut down my computer with the power button.

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Hi all, I read about eGPUs a week ago, and decided to give it a shot for my relatively old laptop. Since I'm not all that tech savvy, I'm sure I'll have many questions before I'm through.

First, I wanted to see what you guys think of my plan.

My laptop is an HP HDX16t the following specs:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Processor:Intel Core2 Duo P8700 @2.53GHz

RAM: 6 GB

iGPU: GeForce 9600M GT

Now my plan is to install the following:

eGPU: GeForce GTX 660 MSI OC

PSU: 900W ATX

along with the HDMI to expresscard adapter

My reasoning was that the GTX 660 OC needed a minimum of 450W, and serialk11r recommended getting an ATX that would be running close to 50% of max load...

Now I'm beginning to wonder if I went a bit overboard in terms of the ATX, though. :( On the other hand, the fact that it's overclocked by MSI means it should need more Watts than the average GPU. Maybe someone can help me out here...?

I didn't want to have to buy a separate display, so I opted to get the HDMI to expresscard adapter, even though that might cost me some efficiency out of the eGPU.

From what I can tell from my PC, I will be able to utilize a 2x link via ports[1+2] or ports[5+6] (port 3 is my wireless card, so no 4x for me |sigh| )

I know I'm going to need the DSDT override, since I have 6 GB of RAM.

Now, I should probably mention that I don't have any of this stuff on hand, but they should be at my front door by about next Wednesday. I can also return anything if I happen to have made poor choices. Any suggestions? Anything I've missed?

Let me know what you all think!

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Hi all, I read about eGPUs a week ago, and decided to give it a shot for my relatively old laptop. Since I'm not all that tech savvy, I'm sure I'll have many questions before I'm through.

First, I wanted to see what you guys think of my plan.

My laptop is an HP HDX16t the following specs:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Processor:Intel Core2 Duo P8700 @2.53GHz

RAM: 6 GB

iGPU: GeForce 9600M GT

Now my plan is to install the following:

eGPU: GeForce GTX 660 MSI OC

PSU: 900W ATX

along with the HDMI to expresscard adapter

My reasoning was that the GTX 660 OC needed a minimum of 450W, and serialk11r recommended getting an ATX that would be running close to 50% of max load...

Now I'm beginning to wonder if I went a bit overboard in terms of the ATX, though. :( On the other hand, the fact that it's overclocked by MSI means it should need more Watts than the average GPU. Maybe someone can help me out here...?

I didn't want to have to buy a separate display, so I opted to get the HDMI to expresscard adapter, even though that might cost me some efficiency out of the eGPU.

From what I can tell from my PC, I will be able to utilize a 2x link via ports[1+2] or ports[5+6] (port 3 is my wireless card, so no 4x for me |sigh| )

I know I'm going to need the DSDT override, since I have 6 GB of RAM.

Now, I should probably mention that I don't have any of this stuff on hand, but they should be at my front door by about next Wednesday. I can also return anything if I happen to have made poor choices. Any suggestions? Anything I've missed?

Let me know what you all think!

900w PSU is overkill, unless it's something you just have lying around.

I'm running a mini ITX machine with SSD+HDD/ GTX 680 using a 450w silverstone PSU.

Not sure where you got 450w minimum, I'd think the 660 wouldn't require such power but I could be mistaken.

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You shouldn't need more than 250W at full stress using a GTX 660 (probably less than 150W without stress). GTX 660 Ti has 2 power connectors so 75-100W should be added.

Your CPU will most likely bottleneck your GPU anyways.

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I'm getting the 450W minimum requirement from here. If you click on the image of the box with minimum system requirements, it says it needs a 450W or greater system power supply. Keep in mind that this is not the stock GTX 660, but MSI's overclocked version.

I just noticed it also says min 12V rating of 24A. So it looks like I want around 12V rating of 40A. This looks like a better option.

As for CPU bottlenecking, should I try to find a replacement?

Hey, someone's done my work for me! Unfortunately, this looks like it's going to need ~$300 and some fiddling with my laptop's hardware (gulp).

I'll worry about CPU bottlenecking after I get my eGPU in and set up.

Thanks for the quick replies! Anything else I'm missing?

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It's only the GPU that needs an PSU. The article says the whole system used 350W during tests. the card itself 181W (page 17). cann't find 450W anywhere. Found another TwinFrozor review telling the same.

EDIT: OH you're talking about what the packaging says? Donn't care about that.

I wouldn't replace the CPU cause it's only a small upgrade compared to an i5 or i7 which won't fit your system. i'd probably choose a smaller GTX 6xx card but the GTX 660 is fine too.

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It's only the GPU thats needs an PSU. The article says the whole system used 350W during tests. the card itself 181W (page 17).

AHHHH.... I actually couldn't find the original article I used, so I grabbed a random one with the box listings on it, nice catch!

Err... reading the graph says the whole system used 347 while at max and 181 while idling, so we have 347-181+idle wattage=166+idle=~176W

(yes, that's close to the answer you gave me, but it looked like you were reading the graph wrong) I don't know why the other article said only ~108W...

Anyway, thanks! That certainly helps. Erring on the safe side with 125%x175W=~220W

Looks like I can save quite a bit from before!

I wouldn't replace the CPU cause it's only a small upgrade compared to an i5 or i7 which won't fit your system. i'd probably choose a smaller GTX 6xx card but the GTX 660 is fine too.

I dunno, passmark rates the T9900 as almost a 50% improvement over the P8700, but as I said, I'll leap that hurdle when I get there.

Thanks for the help! I can't wait to get this up and running!

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From what I can tell from my PC, I will be able to utilize a 2x link via ports[1+2] or ports[5+6] (port 3 is my wireless card, so no 4x for me |sigh| )

I just realized this is completely false. After finding AIDA64 (Everest's successor) online to find my PCI ports, I discovered my PCI-E ports are

1: Intel Wi-Fi Link

2: Realtek Ethernet

4: Empty

5: JMicron Firewire

6: Empty

so a 2x config is out of the question... unless I take out the Firewire, which I never use anyway. Is that possible (from a software perspective, I know I'll probably have to modify the outside of my laptop)? Based on PanzerHauptmann's experience, I know my 4 port is the ExpressCard, so if I can repurpose the Firewire, I could run a 2x config after all!

Also, out of curiosity, does anyone know why do I not have a 3 port?

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I just realized this is completely false. After finding AIDA64 (Everest's successor) online to find my PCI ports, I discovered my PCI-E ports are

1: Intel Wi-Fi Link

2: Realtek Ethernet

4: Empty

5: JMicron Firewire

6: Empty

so a 2x config is out of the question... unless I take out the Firewire, which I never use anyway. Is that possible (from a software perspective, I know I'll probably have to modify the outside of my laptop)? Based on PanzerHauptmann's experience, I know my 4 port is the ExpressCard, so if I can repurpose the Firewire, I could run a 2x config after all!

Also, out of curiosity, does anyone know why do I not have a 3 port?

The systemboard designers chose those ports to which to attach devices. They would not have been thinking "let's make port1+port2 available so a user can do a x2 DIY eGPU implementation". Repurposing the Firewire would need to be done at the chip level. Ie: identify the pci-e lines to it and rewire it to be able to connect the mHDMI cable to it. So far nobody has done this as it's quite a technical challenge to complete.

My suggestion is to grab a budget Sandy Bridge notebook like a Lenovo E520, Dell Vostro 3550/3750 or HP Probook 4530s/6560b/4730s and enjoy the faster and more convenient x1.2Opt performance.

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Repurposing the Firewire would need to be done at the chip level. Ie: identify the pci-e lines to it and rewire it to be able to connect the mHDMI cable to it. So far nobody has done this as it's quite a technical challenge to complete.

Err... what I meant was something more along what is described here. Then, I'd put a PM3N where the firewire port was. As I said, I know it'll require some disfiguration of the area around the port, but I think it'll actually work!

EDIT: Oh, and a new laptop is a little pricey for my taste. Maybe whenever I decide to improve my processor I'll consider it as an alternative.

EDIT2: So, I just tried seeing if I could pull out my firewire port (opening up the internals and what-not, comp's 3+ yrs old, so no worries on warranties). Turns out Tech Inferno Fan was right. I apologize for having doubted you. Guess I'll just be happy with a 1x config...

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Hey nando,

Did you check my recent PM?

Also, is there any alternative for HD 5770? Because I believe that I won't be able to find one in order to create another eGPU. Please respond ASAP because I'm buying a GPU tomorrow.

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quote_icon.png Originally Posted by Shelltoe viewpost-right.png

1. get a tool to create a bootable usb drive (eg. win32 image write) and use "eGPU-Setup-110b5.img" as source (which should be in c:\eGPU)

2. start your system with the usb drive plugged in and alt (option) - key pressed to fire up bootcamp

3. select your usb drive

4. start your egpu (make sure your egpu isn't started while you select the boot partition or put your TH05's SW1 to 3 which will give you 7 seconds for selection. else your mac will freeze)

5. hit "2" to enter menu based setup (nothing else or you'll be stuck aswell)

6. in menu based setup you're fine using arrowkeys and so on; besides the fact the build in text editor wont work. so you'll have to edit your files in windows

Great thanks. So I imagine you generate the pci.bat file from the compaction process using this method, then go back to the regular boot method?

I tried making the bootable USB image using the the above mentioned tool, however it did not appear in the boot options when holding down "option" at the grey startup screen. Any ideas?

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