eGPU experiences [version 2.0]

[hbomb2k]

I have the most recent 13 inch Macbook pro with 8gb of ram an i5 and Intel Iris graphics. I want an eGPU but i am not sure if these are the proper parts or if there is something better. I am running Bootcamp with Windows Server 2008 as a free alternative to Win 7. Will Windows Server create any issues? And if so what operating system should i switch to (Win 7/Win 8.1)?

Parts:

PE4C V2.0 (PCIe x16 Adapter)

http://www.amazon.com/Echopro-Expresscard-Thunderbolt-Adapter-Reader/dp/B0080MQJJ6

GIGABYTE GV-N760OC-4GD REV2.0 GeForce GTX 760 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Video Card - Newegg.com

Thanks for any help!

[dishon97]

Hey guys whats the difference between running an egpu on x1.20 opt and without any setup.

[Innovation]

Hi everybody. As you can see I'm new, but I'll try to be as good as I can.

I've a Lenovo G570 with an I7 Quadcore (recently upgraded from a pentium) and 6gb of ram (win 7 64bit). I really thought it was gonna help with gaming, but of course, the integrated Intel HD3000 sucks and kills the performance. So, this took me to investigate on this subject, vidocks and external graphic cards. Of course, I read all the info at the begining of the blog, but still I've some questions.

My laptop hasn't got Express card slot or pcie at the outside, but it does have one free pcie slot on the inside. I know this would take some extra work, because I'd need to "wire" this slot to the outside, in order to connect the Vidock. But I'll worry about this.

Do you think it is possible to make a vidock work in this slot? Im thinking of a EVGA 610 or 620 with 2gb ddr3. I know, I know, it is not that good, but guys, I live in Argentina, so don't expect me to spend 300 dollars in a card wich you get for 150.

Is the Pe4l really necessary? Can't I just connect the card to the pci slot? Of course, with a Power Source.

Sorry to bother, and thanks for the help.

PS: I just payed $100 for an I7. I'm not giving up on this Laptop.

[jacobsson]

Hey guys whats the difference between running an egpu on x1.20 opt and without any setup.

What does "without any setup" mean?

[artixalpha]

Hmm, will this possibly work on this laptop with a I5-3335/7 u ( Aspire V5-572P-6646 ). It's an UltraBook.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Hmm, will this possibly work on this laptop with a I5-3335/7 u ( Aspire V5-572P-6646 ). It's an UltraBook.

If you can find an accessible mPCIe slot, as used by the wifi card, then yes, you could do a mPCIe eGPU implementation. There are several examples listed at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-thunderbolt-expresscard-mpcie-egpus.html#post89707. Look for mPCIe in the ports column.

[Mr Baccano]

Been reading a lot on this forum and I've been thinking about using an external GPU project, although I think I still have some questions. First I want to know which parts I'd need in total. So far I know:

EVGA GTX 770 2 GB (313 €)

350 Watt PSU (~35 €)

ThunderTek/PX (~190 € with shipping)

PCIe powered riser (~20 €)

ZBook 15 (i7-4700MQ, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 500 GB 7200 RPM HDD, K1100M, could be either Windows 7 or 8.1) for 1000 €.

- I think I still don't entirely understand how and if it would work. So the idea would be that the GPU and the PCIe powered riser would both be powered by the PSU, since otherwise booting up would be a problem?

- Furthermore, do I have to worry about TOLUD? Because this is still something I only have planned, so I don't actually own the laptop yet, but would that likely to be a problem or not?

- Also, in this I exclude the monitor I'd have to buy, since having an extra monitor is pretty handy anyway. But if this would work, I assume I have to reboot to get back to using my dGPU (and therefore using my monitor as a second screen)?

I hope I can be given some feedback on what I would be lacking and what the risks are, since from what I could see from the benchmarks this set-up could be in the range of what a gaming laptop with a 880m can achieve. Since this set-up would costs ~1560 € versus the ~2000 € which seems to be the costs of a laptop with a 880m, it would be a pretty good deal. However, if the risks are too large, I'd rather go for a mid-range gaming laptop at the same price.

[P4TCH]

Afternoon gentlemen (and gentleladies if any),

I've set my sights on an Acer v3-772g. Long story short, 17" with 2 HDD bays and 1 mSATA. Bottom can be opened and I guess it has a mPCIe because it does have a wifi card, and it also has a dGPU (GTX 850M). Could we set up an eGPU project on that one?

As far as I know, if it has a mPCI port it's possible, and being 17 it could very well have one of those laptop PCI ports, but unfortunately it costs around 700€ so I'm not going to ask for that.

Any help will be very appreciated, I'm going to get it as a desktop replacement, in case anyone wonders about the size, because I'm moving from house to house and the desktop is becoming a burden...

[jacobsson]

@P4TCH

Hmm 850M is quite a nice card, could be pretty hard to beat in real life performance via 1.2opt eGPU.

There shouldn't be a problem using the eGPU via wlan mPCIe slot, this works for almost any notebook.

If I were you i would make all benchmark tests for gaming with the 850M so that you can compare performance to the higher-end eGPU write-ups from the leader board.

What games are planning to run? Look in the write-ups, find gaming benchmarks and compare these with your system.

[P4TCH]

@P4TCH

Hmm 850M is quite a nice card, could be pretty hard to beat in real life performance via 1.2opt eGPU.

There shouldn't be a problem using the eGPU via wlan mPCIe slot, this works for almost any notebook.

If I were you i would make all benchmark tests for gaming with the 850M so that you can compare performance to the higher-end eGPU write-ups from the leader board.

What games are planning to run? Look in the write-ups, find gaming benchmarks and compare these with your system.

I don't have a problem with that gpu, but I want to be ready in case I need an upgrade. If any laptop can get a 1.2Opt link with the mPCIe slow, I'm cool with that.

Right now I only run Dota and Skyrim mostly, so the laptop's going to be okay. If in 3 years there's another elder scrolls title I'm going to want to get what could be an NVidia 1160 or something

Thank you, that answered my question pretty much, if I need more firepower I have an MSI GT series at hand, could swap the GPU (currently a 570m) for that one and my GF gets my computer to play Sims 3 lol

[teo777full]

You'd want the latest 1.30 version bannered on the first page. Simple installation instructions are included.

thanks for the fast answer

is it totally work with my macbook?

i will buy pe4l 2,1 sonnet echo pro r9 280x and i need an external monitor right?

and obviously DIY egpu

[johan123jo]

---

Edited June 18, 2017 by johan123jo

[Fardavid]

Hi!

After a while, I changed my GPU to ASUS GTX 760 OC, everything else remaind the same (Fujitsu AH531 I5-2410M, 8 GB RAM, GT525M - PE4L), so see my results below:

file:///C:/NVIDIA/Unigine_Heaven_Benchmark_4.0_20140620_2333.html

[Tech Inferno Fan]

thanks for the fast answer

is it totally work with my macbook?

i will buy pe4l 2,1 sonnet echo pro r9 280x and i need an external monitor right?

and obviously DIY egpu

Yes, your 2011 Macbook Pro with HD6750M has no iGPU. Means Optimus or Lucidlogix cannot be installed to transparently route display traffic to the internal LCD.

All the Macbook eGPU implementations are listed at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-thunderbolt-expresscard-mpcie-egpus.html#Thunderbolt . It's recommended to opt for a native 10Gbps TB1 solution over the 5Gbps TB-to-expresscard ones for best performance. You get double the bandwidth for surprisingly less cost, eg: US$199 Thundertek

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6723-%5Bguide%5D-14-asus-g46vw-gtx780ti%4010gbps-tb1-thundertek-win8-1-a.html

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6858-%5Bguide%5D-14-asus-g46vw-gtx670%4010gbps-tb1-thundertek-3d-enclosure.html#post93872

Or adapting a $310 Sonnet Echo Express SEL is outlined at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6689-%5Bguide%5D-2013-15-macbook-pro-gtx780ti%4016gbps-tb2-sonnet-echo-express-iii-d-win8.html#post91184 .

Been reading a lot on this forum and I've been thinking about using an external GPU project, although I think I still have some questions. First I want to know which parts I'd need in total. So far I know:

EVGA GTX 770 2 GB (313 €)

350 Watt PSU (~35 €)

ThunderTek/PX (~190 € with shipping)

PCIe powered riser (~20 €)

ZBook 15 (i7-4700MQ, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 500 GB 7200 RPM HDD, K1100M, could be either Windows 7 or 8.1) for 1000 €.

- I think I still don't entirely understand how and if it would work. So the idea would be that the GPU and the PCIe powered riser would both be powered by the PSU, since otherwise booting up would be a problem?

- Furthermore, do I have to worry about TOLUD? Because this is still something I only have planned, so I don't actually own the laptop yet, but would that likely to be a problem or not?

- Also, in this I exclude the monitor I'd have to buy, since having an extra monitor is pretty handy anyway. But if this would work, I assume I have to reboot to get back to using my dGPU (and therefore using my monitor as a second screen)?

I hope I can be given some feedback on what I would be lacking and what the risks are, since from what I could see from the benchmarks this set-up could be in the range of what a gaming laptop with a 880m can achieve. Since this set-up would costs ~1560 € versus the ~2000 € which seems to be the costs of a laptop with a 880m, it would be a pretty good deal. However, if the risks are too large, I'd rather go for a mid-range gaming laptop at the same price.

ZBook 15 has no TOLUD issues as per http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/3739-tolud-size-2.html#post93619 . You would not have to reboot to use your NVidia dGPU. We've seen examples of an iGPU+dGPU+eGPU coexisting happily. Only time you'd consider disabling the dGPU would be to pass the Optimus internal LCD functionality over from the dGPU to the eGPU.

[Mr Baccano]

ZBook 15 has no TOLUD issues as per http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/3739-tolud-size-2.html#post93619 . You would not have to reboot to use your NVidia dGPU. We've seen examples of an iGPU+dGPU+eGPU coexisting happily. Only time you'd consider disabling the dGPU would be to pass the Optimus internal LCD functionality over from the dGPU to the eGPU.

It will come without an iGPU. As far as I understand this will only mean it lacks the option to use the internal monitor, but I doubt I would've used that anyway looking at how it affects the performance. Thanks for the reply, I'll go for the eGPU implementation as it seems to be the better option for me. Hopefully I'll be able to post the results when I do.

[nothinkelse]

Hello,

This forum about eGPUs is amazing. Please, recommend some setup to me.

I have a Lenovo W540 20BH.

It has QM87 Chipset, i7-4900mq CPU, 32gb of RAM, ssd, hdd

integrated gpu is HD Graphics 4600 and additional dedicated gpu is Nvidia quadro K1100m.

It has expresscard 2.0 and also thunderbolt port.

What hardware would you recommend (or maybe a few options in different price levels)? Is it reasonable to invest into eGPU with a machine like that?

What performance increase can I expect, compared to integrated K1100m? Can you estimate what kind of games would I be able to play and what details? Now, with k1100m, I am able to play witcher 2 on high details and lower resolution (720) (estimated around 20-30fps).

Edit: I am aiming for cheaper variants. I do not need this to be portable (I will just have it at/under my desk). I will be using external lcd screen (displayport or dvi connector (i also have hdmi->dvi adaprer) so hdmi is also ok).

[dj_khalsa]

Hello Nando,

It has been a while since I dropped by into this forum to say Hi

I have already build my eGPU on MBA 13.3". Its using 5GBPS PE4L. My DX11 benchmark score is 6000. I am using GTX 680, so obv its bottle-necked!!

My Q - what is more beneficial to increase the graphics processing:

a. Upgrade my eGPU setup to use 10 GBPS bandwidth

or

b. Build a complete desktop PC (for utilizing the entire bandwidth)??

How much % boost should I expect in both?

[brightbulb]

I found myself unable to chainload after installing Ubuntu in a separate partition. I have completed setup-disk-image-linux.bat and added the entry to GRUB2 as instructed, however none of the chainloading options are able to get me back to GRUB or either OS.

Using the first MBR entry of the chainloader brings up a promising-looking dark-purple tinted background, which may indicates that this partly works, however it quickly disappears as my machine resets.

Is there anything I can try to remedy this?

[johan123jo]

---

Edited June 18, 2017 by johan123jo

[thomas_price1]

Hello Nando,

It has been a while since I dropped by into this forum to say Hi

I have already build my eGPU on MBA 13.3". Its using 5GBPS PE4L. My DX11 benchmark score is 6000. I am using GTX 680, so obv its bottle-necked!!

My Q - what is more beneficial to increase the graphics processing:

a. Upgrade my eGPU setup to use 10 GBPS bandwidth

or

b. Build a complete desktop PC (for utilizing the entire bandwidth)??

How much % boost should I expect in both?

a. http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/3062-%5Bguide%5D-2012-13-mbp-gtx660ti-hd7870%40x2-2-th05.html#post42483

I don't think that the upgrade to 10 gbs worth it. Your score is only 6000 because of your low cpu score.

b. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Review - Performance

You can compare with your graphics score.

[brightbulb]

I actually got it to boot directly to my GRUB2 boot menu, but the problem is, after that when I try to boot into Windows 7 (From Grub), I get this. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19991857/eGPU/2014-06-23%2000.38.58.jpg.

Would be very interested in hearing how to fix this..

Does windows work if you don't go into setup1.x? Does it work if you go into setup1.x and chainload (without compaction)?

Have you tried other graphics cards?

[Arise]

Why 306.97 driver?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jacobsson]

Why 306.97 driver?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

"since newer drivers no longer engage the x1 pci-e compression. Notice the loss of 3dmark11 performance with the 340.43->306.97 downgrade." I guess this only applies for the old 4500MHD? Too bad we haven't figure out how the optimus compression is implemented in SW. @Tech Inferno Fan

[linh1987]

Just one quick question, as far as I understand, as long as I use my external monitor with 3D application, it doesn't matter if I have Optimus enabled or not?

My current setup is Macbook Pro Retina 13" => Sonnet Echo Expresscard (non-pro) => PE4L 2.1b => GTX 660 with Setup 1.30, I have both external and internal monitor work but I only use external monitor for gaming.

The reason why I asked is I mistakenly buy the Sonnet Echo Expresscard which only run at PCIE 1.0, but I think upgrading to Sonnet Echo Expresscard Pro / Thundertek should help only when playing game on internal LCD so I would rather wait until Thundertek release their TB2.0 version instead of cashing out 200bucks for a TB1.0 version.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

"since newer drivers no longer engage the x1 pci-e compression. Notice the loss of 3dmark11 performance with the 340.43->306.97 downgrade." I guess this only applies for the old 4500MHD? Too bad we haven't figure out how the optimus compression is implemented. @Tech Inferno Fan

Yes, NVidia decommissed x1 pci-e compression (x1.Opt) with 4500MHD iGPUs after driver 306.97. Intel HD, HD3000, HD4000 or newer are not affected yet. This does indicate that those iGPUs will suffer the same fate at some later date. Nobody has yet patched the c:\windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys file to circumvent NVidia's protection mechanism or extend x1 pci-e compression for other iGPUs like X3100. See more info at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6253-t500-compat-q-4500mhd-optimus-ends-306-97whql-2.html#post89243 .