eGPU experiences [version 2.0]

[testedandbaked]

Just a heads-up for future reference in case anyone's doing a search on it: another source of Code 43 error is having the PCI-Express power cable not plugged into the card! Just got my new GTX 660 replacement in and fired her up and spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out why I was getting this error now when it worked with my other card. So yeah, don't be stupid like me and forget about the cable.

- - - Updated - - -

I bought a Fractal Core 1000, but it hasn't arrived yet. My only concern was the cable length and if it will reach to where my laptop is in my setup. I believe it will with this case.

Unless you've got an 8800 GTX and you forget to plug in the PCI-Express power cable, that thing will nearly give you a heart attack with it's built-in air raid siren...

[Darvon]

I got my X230T to run 1.2x optimus on Windows 8 pro with 8GB of ram on the first try. I originally setup 80gb of space for a dual boot setup with Windows 7 pro and installed Windows 8 pro onto the unallocated space. While I booted up to run the cd to install the OS, I decided to keep my pci card connected with the power on for the card, thinking that I might get lucky and it could allocate the resources at the install to run it. Turns out it must have done just that, as while in Windows 8, I unplugged and replugged back in and got a strange amount of endless lag. However, by repeating the process a second time, it actually picked up the card correctly and ran the external with the internal.

I also noticed that I have an almost flawless response to restarting and booting up while the card is connected and powered on before getting to the flag loading screen for bootup OS choice since once I enter into Windows 8, the second screen while actually on will become powered automatically. Logging in gets me both displays right off the bat. This is really epic in comparison to the Windows 7 pro issues I encountered.

I will eventually try out 16GBs next to verify if the lenovo comp lagging still exists in this version of the OS.

Update: 16GB is a no go. The lag still exists in windows 8, so going with 8GB is best. Also, while reinstalling again, I noticed that this time I had to go to system hardware and actually tell it to update the basic adapter driver that was currently showing as it did not seem to install on its own. Windows found the driver and properly installed it. A reboot was needed, but after that, all working well like before.

[gz10]

Unless you've got an 8800 GTX and you forget to plug in the PCI-Express power cable, that thing will nearly give you a heart attack with it's built-in air raid siren...

My GTX 660 was silent

[Renovatio]

Dear eGPU-experts,

I really need your help. My new Lenovo E330 somehow doesn´t want to work with an eGPU setup at all.

First of all here is my hardware lineup:

Lenovo E330

Intel HM77 Chipset

Intel i3-3110M (Ivy Bridge)

iGPU Intel HD4000

4 GB Ram (1600 DDR3)

eGPU connection: via PE4H 2.4a + PM3N (I am using this with my old laptop and wanted to test my new laptop with it)

I installed Setup 1.x and got the message that my chipset could not be identified. (-> Imageshack - scn000.png)

So far I managed to update Setup 1.x and now it recognizes my chipset.

Now the first really weird thing is my TOLUD. (-> http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/3694/toludissue.png) It seems to be 3.5 GB although I only have 4 GB installed. What is even more confusing is that Setup 1.x doesn´t know at all what my TOLUD is [@N/A] (-> http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8261/scn001.png) and it tells me that my chipset has 8 ports but it only has 4!

I tried PCI-compaction and got the following: Whenever I select compaction for all devices it results in a black screen with a blinking whicte cursor on the top left corner of my screen and just nothing else happens.

Choosing compaction mode 32-bitA and running that on the iGPU results in even less allocated space [32MB instead of 64MB] (-> http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3795/scn003.png)

Choosing compaction mode 32-bit and running that on the iGPU doesnt change the allocated space at all [still 64MB] (-> http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/8837/scn004.png)

Choosing compaction mode 36-bit and running that on the iGPU and allocating it into the 32-bit space results in 265MB allocated space BUT upon loading Windows and checking under device manager I still have the same TOLUD.

Moreover, my Laptop doesn´t recognize the eGPU at all. I am using the PM3N connector with PE4H 2.4 (all LEDs are green) on port 1. No matter which boot timing I use it doesn´t recognize the eGPU. I tried all timer setting on the PE4H itself and also on the PM3N. Nothing works. Is this because my TOLUD is screwed up or is this another issue?

As you can see, I am completely lost and would appreciate any help greatly! Thanks

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Dear eGPU-experts,

I really need your help. My new Lenovo E330 somehow doesn´t want to work with an eGPU setup at all.

First of all here is my hardware lineup:

Lenovo E330

Intel HM77 Chipset

Intel i3-3110M (Ivy Bridge)

iGPU Intel HD4000

4 GB Ram (1600 DDR3)

eGPU connection: via PE4H 2.4a + PM3N (I am using this with my old laptop and wanted to test my new laptop with it)

I installed Setup 1.x and got the message that my chipset could not be identified. (-> Imageshack - scn000.png)

So far I managed to update Setup 1.x and now it recognizes my chipset.

Now the first really weird thing is my TOLUD. (-> http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/3694/toludissue.png) It seems to be 3.5 GB although I only have 4 GB installed. What is even more confusing is that Setup 1.x doesn´t know at all what my TOLUD is [@N/A] (-> http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8261/scn001.png) and it tells me that my chipset has 8 ports but it only has 4!

I tried PCI-compaction and got the following: Whenever I select compaction for all devices it results in a black screen with a blinking whicte cursor on the top left corner of my screen and just nothing else happens.

Choosing compaction mode 32-bitA and running that on the iGPU results in even less allocated space [32MB instead of 64MB] (-> http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3795/scn003.png)

Choosing compaction mode 32-bit and running that on the iGPU doesnt change the allocated space at all [still 64MB] (-> http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/8837/scn004.png)

Choosing compaction mode 36-bit and running that on the iGPU and allocating it into the 32-bit space results in 265MB allocated space BUT upon loading Windows and checking under device manager I still have the same TOLUD.

Moreover, my Laptop doesn´t recognize the eGPU at all. I am using the PM3N connector with PE4H 2.4 (all LEDs are green) on port 1. No matter which boot timing I use it doesn´t recognize the eGPU. I tried all timer setting on the PE4H itself and also on the PM3N. Nothing works. Is this because my TOLUD is screwed up or is this another issue?

As you can see, I am completely lost and would appreciate any help greatly! Thanks

Setup 1.1x's PCI compaction doesn't alter TOLUD. It simply compacts pci devices in available PCI space in an effort to free enough to host an eGPU. In your case, TOLUD is 3.5GB and your root bridge extends to 32-bit space only, so it will not have sufficient 32-bit space to work with.

36-bit PCI compaction is not going to help you as Windows would shuffle devices back into 32-bit if the root bridge only extends to 32-bit space. Next Setup 1.1x version will have a lot better guidance about 36-bit PCI compaction to lessen the confusion there.

The fix for you is you either need a new bios from Lenovo that lowers TOLUD to 3.0 (or 3.25GB) to liberate 32-bit PCI space for eGPU use or perform the DSDT override to extend the root bridge into 36-bit PCI space. Unfortunately I can't see Lenovo producing a new bios as they have for expresscard-equipped systems as they didn't intend the mPCIe slot to be used for eGPU purposes. So then start reading up on the DSDT override.

As for your eGPU not being detected, it's likely a whitelisting issue. Boot Setup 1.1x with the wifi card in the wifi slot, power on the eGPU then *carefully* hotplug the PM3N end (mPCIe) it into the wifi slot. Hit F5 to rescan the system details. If it's detected then play around with the Anti-whitelist methods to see if can get eGPU detected without doing such hotplugging.

As for your other concerns, the HM77 chipset has up to 8 pci-e ports on the southbridge so is showing correctly. TOLUD isn't reported with that version of Setup 1.1x since it was released prior to the Series-7 chipset's release. It's a minor cosmetic issue that doesn't affect compaction in any way that will be fixed in the next version.

Ensure you set the eGPU port to Gen1 speed using PCIe ports->Link speed.G1/G2 for it to work with the PE4H 2.4. Once it all works with your pci-e 1.x PE4H 2.4 then I recommend you upgrade to a PE4L-PMxxxA 2.1b to get pci-e 2.x performance.

Noteworthy point about which budget business notebooks still have expresscard slots

Lenovo removed the expresscard slot in their budget Series-7 Thinkpad Edge systems, though the 13" in the previous series didn't have it. HP's Probook 4x40s and Dell's Vostro 3x60 budget business notebooks following the same trend by too no longer coming with expresscard slots.

Only HP's Probook 6470b/6570b budget business still keeps the expresscard slot.

The premium Series-7 business notebooks: Lenovo Thinkpad T/X, Dell Latitude/Precision and HP Elitebooks still have expresscard slots.

If one of these companies decided to connect the Series-7 pci-e 3.0 northbridge to the expresscard slot rather than the pci-e 2.0 southbridge pci-e ports, then we'd get the same 10Gbps bandwidth as current Thunderbolt does if using a pci-e 3.0 eGPU.

[Renovatio]

The fix for you is you either need a new bios from Lenovo that lowers TOLUD to 3.0 (or 3.25GB) to liberate 32-bit PCI space for eGPU use or perform the DSDT override to extend the root bridge into 36-bit PCI space. Unfortunately I can't see Lenovo producing a new bios as they have for expresscard-equipped systems as they didn't intend the mPCIe slot to be used for eGPU purposes. So then start reading up on the DSDT override.

As for your eGPU not being detected, it's likely a whitelisting issue. Boot Setup 1.1x with the wifi card in the wifi slot, power on the eGPU then *carefully* hotplug the PM3N end (mPCIe) it into the wifi slot. Hit F5 to rescan the system details. If it's detected then play around with the Anti-whitelist methods to see if can get eGPU detected without doing such hotplugging.

Ensure you set the eGPU port to Gen1 speed using PCIe ports->Link speed.G1/G2 for it to work with the PE4H 2.4. Once it all works with your pci-e 1.x PE4H 2.4 then I recommend you upgrade to a PE4L-PMxxxA 2.1b to get pci-e 2.x performance.

Nando thank you for your quick reply. I successfully managed to do the DSDT-Override (-> http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/5595/successfuldsdtoverrride.png)

However I did not fully understand how to do the anti-whitelist. First of all why do I need to use the wifi? My wifi is on Port 2 and Port 1 is empty. I would like to use the PM3N on Port 1. Changing Port 1 to Gen1 did not help unfortunately (-> http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/2307/scn006p.png).

Moreover I can´t put the wifi into Port 1 because one of the two antenna cables is too short to do that. The Port 2 slot is very tiny (half-card) so the PM3N + cable will have problems fitting in there.

I cannot anti-whitelist the damn Port 1 right? Or is there a way to do that?

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Nando thank you for your quick reply. I successfully managed to do the DSDT-Override (-> http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/5595/successfuldsdtoverrride.png)

However I did not fully understand how to do the anti-whitelist. First of all why do I need to use the wifi? My wifi is on Port 2 and Port 1 is empty. I would like to use the PM3N on Port 1. Changing Port 1 to Gen1 did not help unfortunately (-> http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/2307/scn006p.png).

Moreover I can´t put the wifi into Port 1 because one of the two antenna cables is too short to do that. The Port 2 slot is very tiny (half-card) so the PM3N + cable will have problems fitting in there.

I cannot anti-whitelist the damn Port 1 right? Or is there a way to do that?

The long mPCIe slot in a Lenovo E330 is a mSATA/WWAN slot. It doesn't have pci-e pins connected so cannot be used to host an eGPU. See Review Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E330 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews . You'll need to use the wifi slot then. The PM3N has perforations allowing it to be broken in half to use such a half-height slot.

[Renovatio]

The long mPCIe slot in a Lenovo E330 is a mSATA/WWAN slot. It doesn't have pci-e pins connected so cannot be used to host an eGPU. See Review Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E330 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews . You'll need to use the wifi slot then. The PM3N has perforations allowing it to be broken in half to use such a half-height slot.

I am a bit confused here because in that review you posted it states in the text and below the corresponding picture: "In addition to this, users also have a free port available, which is suitable for mSATA as well as miniPCIe cards, and therefore can be fitted with a cache SSD or WWAN card." and "In addition, there is still an mSATA/miniPCIe slot available."

so miniPCIe is NOT equiped with pci-e pins?!

Another issue with the Port2 half-card length: if I break my PM3N to test it with this slot, I cannot mount it properly anymore in my other laptop (ASUS g71v @2x via 2x PM3N). I would break the PM3N and then have it just losely connected if in use with my other laptop. It could be very easily unplugged :/

Btw: I tried to put the wifi-card into Port1 (the long one) and got following error on startup: "Unsupported network card is plugged in - power off ...."

I tried to connect the PM3N in Port2 (the short one) without breaking it to half lenght and therefore not fixing it with a screw. -> On start-up my screen just stayed black but the hdd and cooling system was definatly running.... weird...

Was it because I did not solder the PM3N with a screw? Or is Port2 also not capable of running an eGPU?

[Quest Ng]

On a x1 1.0 link, AMD cards do better in 3dmark06 (DX9) that NVidia cards. You would get 3dmark06 of 12-15k if using a HD7870. I got 3dmark06=18432 using a pci-e 1.x link, i5-3320M and HD7870 here. Just be aware in that testing the AMD card no longer exhibited half-duplex crippled performance as seen with older AMD cards + Intel chipsets. I'm not sure if it was Intel or AMD that fixed that handshaking problem. So it would be best if you can borrow a HD78xx card to test to confirm performance is satisfactory.

Otherwise yes, $180 for a TH05 TB adapter + extra $$ for a TB-equipped notebook that would get you double the bandwidth of a Sandy/Ivy Bridge expresscard solution. Not worth the considerable $$$ outlay for TB over expresscard imho.

but thats 1.1 not 1.0, no? my laptop is a 1.0

[Renovatio]

As for your eGPU not being detected, it's likely a whitelisting issue. Boot Setup 1.1x with the wifi card in the wifi slot, power on the eGPU then *carefully* hotplug the PM3N end (mPCIe) it into the wifi slot. Hit F5 to rescan the system details. If it's detected then play around with the Anti-whitelist methods to see if can get eGPU detected without doing such hotplugging.

@Tech Inferno Fan: This hotplugging with the wificard and PM3N seems to me rather dangerous! I do not want to brick my brand new laptop... What if it results in a electric shock and my motherboard is bricked... :/ Is there no risk-free way to un-whitelist my port?

I managed to connect the PM3N into the wifislot (Port2): if I try to boot with eGPU powered on then my screen just stays black. If I power it up first time in Setup 1.x then it doesn´t get recognized and nothing happens.

[Jelle Bout]

Hello all,

So I think I checked everything I need to check:

Have the PE4H adapter with express card config

Going to order the HIS HD7870 Ice q turbo

Have a laptop

have a suitable TOLUD,

And have a psu to drain the house its energy supply.

I'm sure this is going to work, and if not a setup 1.1x will be done

HOWEVER!

I'm still not sure about one thing.. and thats how to link pci-e ports 1+2 or 3+4?

The description about creating a x2E connection (which I'm trying to make) says link these ports and set the setup 1.1x to 4x.

''x2E being similar but requires a port1+port2 setup, with either lane3 or lane4 or both having NO physical device attached to them. port1 is set to x4 mode, running with only the first 2 lanes. x2E also offering 15-30% faster performance than x2 alone.''

How do you link these ports? and will having NO phisical devices attached link these ports automatically?

The reason why I like this connection is of course to get the most out of the HD7870.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Good building fellas

[testedandbaked]

@Tech Inferno Fan: This hotplugging with the wificard and PM3N seems to me rather dangerous! I do not want to brick my brand new laptop... What if it results in a electric shock and my motherboard is bricked... :/ Is there no risk-free way to un-whitelist my port?

I managed to connect the PM3N into the wifislot (Port2): if I try to boot with eGPU powered on then my screen just stays black. If I power it up first time in Setup 1.x then it doesn´t get recognized and nothing happens.

Unfortunately, you will most likely have to hotplug the eGPU at least once to be able to save the port configuration with the detected eGPU. What you can possibly try without hotplugging (someone correct me if I'm wrong) is to plug in the WiFi card, boot Setup 1.x, save the port, turn off laptop, plug in the PM3N (eGPU off), boot into Setup 1.x, turn on the eGPU and restore the port.

Curiously, my laptop does the exact opposite of yours, it boots up to a blank screen if the eGPU is off and boots up fine with it on.

[testedandbaked]

Hello all,

So I think I checked everything I need to check:

Have the PE4H adapter with express card config

Going to order the HIS HD7870 Ice q turbo

Have a laptop

have a suitable TOLUD,

And have a psu to drain the house its energy supply.

I'm sure this is going to work, and if not a setup 1.1x will be done

HOWEVER!

I'm still not sure about one thing.. and thats how to link pci-e ports 1+2 or 3+4?

The description about creating a x2E connection (which I'm trying to make) says link these ports and set the setup 1.1x to 4x.

''x2E being similar but requires a port1+port2 setup, with either lane3 or lane4 or both having NO physical device attached to them. port1 is set to x4 mode, running with only the first 2 lanes. x2E also offering 15-30% faster performance than x2 alone.''

How do you link these ports? and will having NO phisical devices attached link these ports automatically?

The reason why I like this connection is of course to get the most out of the HD7870.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Good building fellas

The ports do not link themselves automatically unfortunately. You will need to use Setup 1.x to set the port to x4, having your

7870 plugged into the PE4H and to ports 1 and 2. Ports 3 and 4 MUST be unoccupied for this to work. Once you set x4 in Setup 1.x, it will use 2 of the 4 lanes at full speed, i.e. x2E. I don't believe that setting x2E will affect you however since the 7870 is a newer card that isn't affected by the crippling of the older intel chipsets. So you could in theory just set x2, using ports 1+2 and leaving port 3 free to plug in WiFi, etc. Port 4 would act as the 2nd lane of the x2 link if you have an older intel chipset however, so you would not be able to use that.

What chipset does your laptop have or what is your laptop model? That is crucial.

[testedandbaked]

A question of my own, I've soldered the x2 part of my home-made adapter, which consists of the 2 differential pairs (i.e. PET1p, PET1n, PER1p, PER1n) connected to a second blank mPCIe card.

Unfortunately, when this is connected to port 3+4, the card is only ever recognised in x1 mode; i.e. when I set the x2 link (card still detected) then retrain port 3, the card is not detected.

However, when switching back to x1, the card is instantly recognised again.

I've made sure to triple check my connections and shield all differential pairs in this case and I am fairly certain I have not made any wiring mistakes since I have checked with a multimeter and 2 separate cards which work fine at x2 in a desktop.

I've also tried all combinations of hot reset and retraining as well as the hotplug method nando mentioned earlier, yielding the same results. Curiously, the Setup 1.x instructions mention that the M1530 has whitelisting, which I can't see any evidence of as the card is detected in x1 mode on all 3 mPCIe ports (ports 2,3,4).

Is there anything I'm somehow doing that's preventing x2 from engaging (e.g. I need to be connecting clkrun, #perst on the 2nd mPCIe etc.)?

[sutton101]

Hi

I have been looking at the idea of building an egpu for a while now and just want to check I'm on the right track before making the final call.

My laptop is a Dell Vostro 3560, it has a 7670m dgpu.

At the moment I'm thinking of getting a pe4L, is that the right one?

For a gpu currently I'm looking at gtx 650 or gtx 460, can pick both up second hand for similar prices, and want to know what would be the more suit able.

Last for the power supply can to 12v cables be used to make up to the total amps needed?

[Tech Inferno Fan]

A question of my own, I've soldered the x2 part of my home-made adapter, which consists of the 2 differential pairs (i.e. PET1p, PET1n, PER1p, PER1n) connected to a second blank mPCIe card.

Unfortunately, when this is connected to port 3+4, the card is only ever recognised in x1 mode; i.e. when I set the x2 link (card still detected) then retrain port 3, the card is not detected.

However, when switching back to x1, the card is instantly recognised again.

I've made sure to triple check my connections and shield all differential pairs in this case and I am fairly certain I have not made any wiring mistakes since I have checked with a multimeter and 2 separate cards which work fine at x2 in a desktop.

I've also tried all combinations of hot reset and retraining as well as the hotplug method nando mentioned earlier, yielding the same results. Curiously, the Setup 1.x instructions mention that the M1530 has whitelisting, which I can't see any evidence of as the card is detected in x1 mode on all 3 mPCIe ports (ports 2,3,4).

Is there anything I'm somehow doing that's preventing x2 from engaging (e.g. I need to be connecting clkrun, #perst on the 2nd mPCIe etc.)?

I found x2 mode to be a little strange. The most successful way to ensure the video card lane1 was connected last and had not previously been attached to the port. So the sequence would be: (1) ensure lane2 is attached (2) switch into x2 mode (3) attach lane1, hotplugging if necessary.

Worth noting some other Dell users have had success by switching to x2 mode, then rebooting the system upon which the eGPU runs in x2 mode. Set x2 link but mPCIe Port2 or Port4 enabled after reboot? talks about this.

The ports do not link themselves automatically unfortunately. You will need to use Setup 1.x to set the port to x4, having your

7870 plugged into the PE4H and to ports 1 and 2. Ports 3 and 4 MUST be unoccupied for this to work. Once you set x4 in Setup 1.x, it will use 2 of the 4 lanes at full speed, i.e. x2E. I don't believe that setting x2E will affect you however since the 7870 is a newer card that isn't affected by the crippling of the older intel chipsets. So you could in theory just set x2, using ports 1+2 and leaving port 3 free to plug in WiFi, etc. Port 4 would act as the 2nd lane of the x2 link if you have an older intel chipset however, so you would not be able to use that.

What chipset does your laptop have or what is your laptop model? That is crucial.

Yes, telling us what chipset the system in question uses is vital. Furthermore, I can't be sure that it's the HD7870 that solves the half-duplex issue. It might be the Series-7 chipset. What I do know from first hand experience is that Series-4 & Series-5 Intel chipsets had crippled performance with HD5xxx cards requiring x1E or x2E mode to get full duplex performance. Will need users with older chipsets to pair up with newer HD7xxx cards and give us performance stats to see what component, the chipset or the video card, solved the problem.

Hi

I have been looking at the idea of building an egpu for a while now and just want to check I'm on the right track before making the final call.

My laptop is a Dell Vostro 3560, it has a 7670m dgpu.

At the moment I'm thinking of getting a pe4L, is that the right one?

For a gpu currently I'm looking at gtx 650 or gtx 460, can pick both up second hand for similar prices, and want to know what would be the more suit able.

Last for the power supply can to 12v cables be used to make up to the total amps needed?

A GTX560Ti performs better than a GTX650, with better overclockability than a GTX460. It's the one to aim for in the s/h market. You'll need a pcie 2.0 capable PE4L 2.1b for best performance and an ATX PSU capable of at least 12V/17A on it's first rail. You might be able to dumpster dive in your business district to find one of those PSUs. I'd suggest acquiring your PE4L 2.1b from Harmonic Inversion since you get Setup 1.1x software with it. You may need that software to disable your dGPU if there is no bios option to do so AND you find TOLUD or INTEL+AMD+NVidia driver issues.

[Renovatio]

Unfortunately, you will most likely have to hotplug the eGPU at least once to be able to save the port configuration with the detected eGPU. What you can possibly try without hotplugging (someone correct me if I'm wrong) is to plug in the WiFi card, boot Setup 1.x, save the port, turn off laptop, plug in the PM3N (eGPU off), boot into Setup 1.x, turn on the eGPU and restore the port.

Curiously, my laptop does the exact opposite of yours, it boots up to a blank screen if the eGPU is off and boots up fine with it on.

Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately this did not work aswell. I tried saving the specific port, saving root, saving all ports. Neither of that worked with the PM3N powered up after restoring the saved configuration.

Since I am not willing to risk my brand new laptop (via hotplugging) just to try a possible (second) eGPU-Setup, I can only say that this particular modell is absolutly not made for eGPUs! I think that a msata-ssd (128gb) would be a great upgrade at least for the Lenovo.

Regarding eGPU I will stick to my main laptop ASUS G71V with n560-gtx-ti @2x

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately this did not work aswell. I tried saving the specific port, saving root, saving all ports. Neither of that worked with the PM3N powered up after restoring the saved configuration.

Since I am not willing to risk my brand new laptop (via hotplugging) just to try a possible (second) eGPU-Setup, I can only say that this particular modell is absolutly not made for eGPUs! I think that a msata-ssd (128gb) would be a great upgrade at least for the Lenovo.

Regarding eGPU I will stick to my main laptop ASUS G71V with n560-gtx-ti @2x

Saving/restoring port is a anti-whitelisting method. Before doing that I'd suggest boot with wifi (so pass the whitelist check with mPCIe port is enabled) then first try inserting the PM3N with eGPU powered off, then power on. If not detected, then power on the eGPU and insert the PM3N. I've *never* had a problem doing so but the sounds of it you may have a tight fit.

So then you'd want to break your PM3N to be half-height to have more confidence in the process. Consider you can easily make the PM3N full height again by purchasing a extender plate available on ebay for a few dollars. See half to full mini card bracket | eBay

[a.akhtarirad]

Hi nando i have a asus x54hr, core i3 2350 without expresscard. what's your suggestion for eGPU. Best Regards Amir

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Hi nando i have a asus x54hr, core i3 2350 without expresscard. what's your suggestion for eGPU. Best Regards Amir

We can see at Review Asus X54HR-SO060V Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews that you do have an accessible wifi mPCIe slot. So you could do a mPCIe eGPU implementation. You also don't have a HD3000 iGPU but rather have a HD7470M dGPU only.

You'd need a PE4L-PMxxxA 2.1b + video card of your choice + PSU matched for the eGPU. A AMD HD7xxx AMD card is recommended over a NVidia card for your system since having no iGPU means you can't get Optimus pci-e compression or Internal LCD mode.

Be sure to check your TOLUD per Pre-purchase FAQ item 2. How can I check if my notebook is compatible with an eGPU? so you know if additional steps will be necessary to get the eGPU working (Setup 1.1x software or DSDT override).

[testedandbaked]

I've tried all of your suggestions to no avail unfortunately. Has anybody else trying for an x2 setup ever run into such a barrier before at all? If they have, then perhaps the M1530 simply isn't capable of running at x2 which would be a shame. Perhaps as a last ditch effort I'll try using SATA cable, which is properly shielded...

For the record, a Dell M1530 running with an 8800GTX at x1 gets an abysmal 3DMark06 score of... 3976. Yes gentlemen, that is even lower than the paltry 8600m GT dGPU. I'm surprised nobody else has gotten a M1530 running an eGPU with more than 3GB RAM. It has a TOLUD of 3.5GB but already has the 36-bit root bridge. I got 4GB working by using Setup 1.x 36-bit PCI compaction of both dGPU and eGPU, not forcing either into 32-bit space.

[Jelle Bout]

The ports do not link themselves automatically unfortunately. You will need to use Setup 1.x to set the port to x4, having your

7870 plugged into the PE4H and to ports 1 and 2. Ports 3 and 4 MUST be unoccupied for this to work. Once you set x4 in Setup 1.x, it will use 2 of the 4 lanes at full speed, i.e. x2E. I don't believe that setting x2E will affect you however since the 7870 is a newer card that isn't affected by the crippling of the older intel chipsets. So you could in theory just set x2, using ports 1+2 and leaving port 3 free to plug in WiFi, etc. Port 4 would act as the 2nd lane of the x2 link if you have an older intel chipset however, so you would not be able to use that.

What chipset does your laptop have or what is your laptop model? That is crucial.

Thank you,

Its an ASUS G50V

I have a ICH9 chipset which has the following free ports:

Intel® ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 1 - 2940

Intel® ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 2 - 2942

Intel® ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 3 - 2944

Intel® ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 6 - 294A

And I don't know which port number this is the port my gpu is attached to:

Mobile Intel® 4 series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2A41

Nvidea Geforce 9700M GT

Can't find port 4 and 5 so I'm guessing one of them is the wi-fi.

So Setup 1.x allows to assign two ports (or more) to the PE4H?

I should just purchase and try I guess.

In theory I could have a x4 connection if wifi would be on port 4 and I disable the wifi?

[aaurnab]

Please share the experiences of PE4L on T420, I can not find any thread of my Lenovo T420

[a.akhtarirad]

Thanks nando for you quick and complete reply.

for test i have an old 4890. later i will buy a brand new gpu.

is it suitable for test?

amir

[testedandbaked]

Thank you,

Its an ASUS G50V

I have a ICH9 chipset which has the following free ports:

Intel® ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 1 - 2940

Intel® ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 2 - 2942

Intel® ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 3 - 2944

Intel® ICH9 Family PCI Express Root Port 6 - 294A

And I don't know which port number this is the port my gpu is attached to:

Mobile Intel® 4 series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2A41

Nvidea Geforce 9700M GT

Can't find port 4 and 5 so I'm guessing one of them is the wi-fi.

So Setup 1.x allows to assign two ports (or more) to the PE4H?

I should just purchase and try I guess.

In theory I could have a x4 connection if wifi would be on port 4 and I disable the wifi?

Your 9700M GT dGPU is attached to the Northbridge at x16. We're trying to utilise the PCIe lanes of the Southbridge (ICH9M) to plug in the eGPU to.

Those ports you have listed (if you got that from device manager) are the ports that are currently active and not disabled, i.e. ports 4 and 5 are disabled by the BIOS. Your WiFi card is connected to ports 1, 2, 3 or 6.

You can do an x4 on the condition that Ports 1, 2, 3 and 4 are all accessible via either miniPCIe or ExpressCard. Very few notebooks are physically capable of doing this; your notebook seems to only have 1 miniPCIe slot and 1 ExpressCard slot, so you'd be limited to doing an x2 setup, but only if the mPCIe and EC are ports 1,2 or ports 3,4. If not, then you'd be limited to x1.

To find out what occupies which port, do the following: Device Manager > View > Devices by Connection > ACPI xx PC > etc, until you get down into PCI bus then check the ports you gave above for any attached devices.