eGPU experiences [version 2.0]

[Smorejohn]

The modded driver page highlights in RED that they are no longer necessary. The standard desktop driver has Optimus support.

One other thing is to try with 8GB instead of 16GB. For whatever reason 16GB is problematic on Lenovo systems.

Finally, what eGPU hardware are you using and how have you got the board switches set?

Where do I get support for Villagetronic products?

As previously advised here:

Geez man I thought people were supposed to help each other out. Unfortunately that's not the case with the world anymore. I'm not looking for support with their product but with setup1.x that I paid for. I haven't had any luck with villagetronic support anyways. They are a bunch of tools. What's the deal @Tech Inferno Fan? It's like you personally don't like me because I bought their product? What a effing joke. Thanks anyways.

[naturbo2000]

I have a reasonably new T420 which I bought explicitly for running with an egpu - a 560ti448 on a pe4l 2.1.

It already had the most recent bios, so has literally been plug and play. Connect it all up, power up the graphics card then cold boot the laptop. Once into windows 7, the card was spotted so I just download the latest geforce drivers from nvidia and was all done. Optimus works if using the laptop screen is important to you, but an external monitor allows better performance. Gaming on a 1680x1050 screen, I've yet to see bandwidth issues.

I haven't played around with hot plugging it - I tend to hibernate my laptop and it absolutely cannot cope with coming out of hibernation with a hardware change.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Geez man I thought people were supposed to help each other out. Unfortunately that's not the case with the world anymore. I'm not looking for support with their product but with setup1.x that I paid for. I haven't had any luck with villagetronic support anyways. They are a bunch of tools. What's the deal @Tech Inferno Fan? It's like you personally don't like me because I bought their product? What a effing joke. Thanks anyways.

Important point. Setup 1.1x software comes with no implied support or warranty as is noted on the HIT Setup 1.1x donation page. See F2. Why is a $25 donation required to access this software? Why have previous free versions been removed? for a background on why this came about.

Villagetronic state at Village Instruments : Return Policy, giving you assurance that they are prepared to work with customers to solve their issues or get a refund. Ie:

If a Village Tronic product does not work in the customer's system after working with technical support, customer could return their product and get the refund/full refund when the product is received in good condition.

Hello guys :-)... | Facebook shows us that Villagetronic are using the Setup 1.1x software and DSDT overrides from our support repository to help their customers. Pls followup with Villagetronic in getting a timely and appropriate response to your support needs for your Villagetronic ViDock product.

[Smorejohn]

Thank you so much @Tech Inferno Fan I had no idea about any of that......

I came to this community because I had the utmost respect of the knowledge from the people here. Most of all you. I once again have had no luck with Vt support. That is why I came here.....

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Thank you so much @Tech Inferno Fan I had no idea about any of that......

I came to this community because I had the utmost respect of the knowledge from the people here. Most of all you. I once again have had no luck with Vt support. That is why I came here.....

Thank you. I'd like to think that my last response was helpful in your situation. There's another background read from the CEO of Villagetronic captured here about his support structure, pricing, product and liasons with DIY eGPU community which may help you decide if you want to keep it (and work with them) or ditch it and get DIY eGPU hardware instead.

[doom1337]

@Tech Inferno Fan, i appreciate all the time you have put into this but non of the methods you described work, neither did downgrading to 8gb of ram from 16. do you have any other ideas how to stop this error 43

[EpicBlob]

Villagetronic support is here. You paid a premium for that product so are entitled to the vendor support with it. If you get nowhere there then may I suggest seeking a refund via their return policy, Paypal buyer protection or visa insurance to purchase a PE4L-2.1b instead.

Hey Nando, I hate to start anything, but with that logic does that mean Apple users would only be able to get support from the official Apple website? Or any other product for that matter. I think this community as a whole is great and don't see why some are unable to receive the same amount of help.

[sgogeta4]

If Apple had a product that does what this thread is doing, then yes. But since they don't, current Mac users have to build their own eGPU and hence here we are. The difference is that Villagetronic has a product that does all the DIY stuff (other than buying your own video card) for you. If you have a problem with their product, then you should go to them to help because that's why you paid them instead of DIY. What if we offered a solution but it made things worse? What if Villagetronic doesn't cover whatever we suggested? You paid for a product, so they should provide assistance that won't ruin their warranty.

[EpicBlob]

Definitely not saying people shouldn't go to VillageTronic for help; they are a business. It just seems a bit harsh to say that if they aren't able to figure out your problem, get a refund even though there is this amazing guide for the exact same people that experience at times the exact same problems. Even with how far external graphics have come, there are still many problems, and the only way these issues will fix themselves is trying. I own a vidock and received help from both ends, so I don't see why this would be an issue with others.

[Ryan Bui]

Hey all, I've been running my PE4L 2.1B+GTX680 on my HP 2560P for about 2 weeks and for the most part, the experience was nothing but pleasant. However, out of the blue, I've been getting problems in regards to my wifi. It started about 2 days ago when I ran the automated startup.bat like usual in Setup 1.1x, which is only set to run a 32-bit PCI Compaction to get me 128MB (it's 64MB without it). At first, my wifi was just TERRIBLY slow and unuseable as it would disconnect and re-connect every 5 seconds. I have an Intel 6205 with the latest drivers installed. I booted up the 2560P without the eGPU and to my surprise, I was getting perfect wifi speeds/reliability! I was getting 14-20MBPS consistently and stayed connected the whole day. To confirm my suspicions, I rebooted with/without the eGPU 5 more times and the result was all the same, without the eGPU, wifi is perfect, with it...it's horrible.

Suspecting that maybe something in 1.1x was messed up, I uninstalled and re-installed, which made the problem even worse. Now when the 2560P boots with an eGPU, the wireless card is detected but will show as an X in Windows! However, boot without the eGPU and it's perfect.

Any ideas guys?

[ruhtraeel]

Hello, I'm back 4 years later after getting my own desktop (whose parts were mainly free) to ask another question.

Is there a way to hook up an external GPU to my desktop? The dilemma I face is that since I am using two Radeon 5870's right now in my desktop, I want to create a hybrid PhysX solution, but the last PCI-E slot on my motherboard will only allow a single-slot GPU to fit in my case, it makes my Quadro FX 4600 useless right now. I was just wondering, is there a way to connect the Quadro externally, either by USB 3.0 or some other method? I'm hoping that there will be enough bandwidth so the card doesn't get bottlenecked too much.

I still have my PE4H and EC2C from all the way back then.

My desktop specs:

Intel Core i5 2500k

16GB DDR3 RAM

ATI Radeon 5870x2 Crossfired 1GB VRAM

Biostar TZ77XE3 Motherboard

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

[Ryan Bui]

Also, I am getting some "Vector Probe Error" right after startup.bat runs. The computer still boots with the eGPU but with the aforementioned wifi problems. The "Vector Probe Error" screen blinks so quickly that I cannot read what it says, hope this helps in any way possible.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

I believe a GTX680 should be plug'n'play on a 2560P with no need for Setup 1.1x at all. Pls try that. If you do get an error 12 against the GTX680 then:

* boot Setup 1.1x and do a !Save Diags -> !Compact_fails, follow instructions and post the resultant \diag folder as a linked archive.

* consider doing a DSDT override. There the GTX680 could be hosted in 36-bit PCI space so the wifi wouldn't have to be relocated.

[Shelltoe]

Hey Nando, I hate to start anything, but with that logic does that mean Apple users would only be able to get support from the official Apple website? Or any other product for that matter. I think this community as a whole is great and don't see why some are unable to receive the same amount of help.

Actually every time I have a problem that is covered by Apple I contact them directly (not their homepage) and usually have an answer within minutes, that's what I paid for. It's the same for Adobe Creative Suite, my car or what ever...

It's pretty rare that you are a paying customer, have a serious problem, professional vendors can't help but some enthusiasts on the webs can.

For sure you'll find lots of infomation regarding anything... some might actually be usefull... but most will be trash filled with smattering.

Even Open Source projects (eg Linux) are mostly supported by professionals.

Don't get me wrong communities are great especially for experimental stuff and you' probably find what you're looking for but if i have a professional at hand i'll ask him.

Installing Windows EFI mode and trying to switch graphics of my MacBook is not really intended by Apple. Thats why I'm here. Apple will just say its not supported and point at Bootcamp.

If you want to pimp your SLR AMG, Mercedes-Benz will laugh at you if you ask them for further instructions. Anyways... that's just my point of view. I don't know Villagetronic and won't comment on it.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Update 2-2-2013: PE4H 2.4 fails Gen2 testing, disregard info below

Per zsph's testing, PE4H 2.4 fails Gen2 testing here. That means the message below is not accurate.

<strike>PE4H 2.4 supports pci-e 2.0

Good news for PE4H 2.4 owners. According to a new update at PE4H (PCIe passive adapter ver2.4) where they've soldered the EC2C/PM3N end but left the other end detachable, PE4H 2.4 owners can now get pci-e 2.0 performance if attached to expresscard/mPCIe 2.0. PE4H 2.4 has a nice and study base so was my favorite as an open, free standing device.</strike>

Definitely not saying people shouldn't go to VillageTronic for help; they are a business. It just seems a bit harsh to say that if they aren't able to figure out your problem, get a refund even though there is this amazing guide for the exact same people that experience at times the exact same problems. Even with how far external graphics have come, there are still many problems, and the only way these issues will fix themselves is trying. I own a vidock and received help from both ends, so I don't see why this would be an issue with others.

Was extensively discussed circa April 2012 with your involvement and summarized: DIY eGPU experiences - Page 987, main image captured below but requires an update.

<A HREF="http://www.mediafire.com/file/up6zgx33dloyrs3/DIYeGPU-vs-others.xls"><img src=http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/4668/diyegpuvsothers.png></A>

Main distinction between DIY eGPU and Villagetronic being price and profit-taking. It was already suggested that if Villagetronic wants a community to rally around his product and self-support it then give us one worth supporting (at his cost + 10%). Let that product not be a foot-in-the-door for the premium/profitable products to get supported.

Hello, I'm back 4 years later after getting my own desktop (whose parts were mainly free) to ask another question.

Is there a way to hook up an external GPU to my desktop? The dilemma I face is that since I am using two Radeon 5870's right now in my desktop, I want to create a hybrid PhysX solution, but the last PCI-E slot on my motherboard will only allow a single-slot GPU to fit in my case, it makes my Quadro FX 4600 useless right now. I was just wondering, is there a way to connect the Quadro externally, either by USB 3.0 or some other method? I'm hoping that there will be enough bandwidth so the card doesn't get bottlenecked too much.

I still have my PE4H and EC2C from all the way back then.

My desktop specs:

Intel Core i5 2500k

16GB DDR3 RAM

ATI Radeon 5870x2 Crossfired 1GB VRAM

Biostar TZ77XE3 Motherboard

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

You want the HP4A (x4 1.0) shown below or HP060A component shown at the start of this post (x1 2.0).

[Ryan Bui]

I believe a GTX680 should be plug'n'play on a 2560P with no need for Setup 1.1x at all. Pls try that. If you do get an error 12 against the GTX680 then:

* boot Setup 1.1x and do a !Save Diags -> !Compact_fails, follow instructions and post the resultant \diag folder as a linked archive.

* consider doing a DSDT override. There the GTX680 could be hosted in 36-bit PCI space so the wifi wouldn't have to be relocated.

Uninstalled Setup 1.1x and booted with the eGPU fine. However, the same problem remains. I don't get an Error 12, the wifi just doesn't work/will come back but will drop/come back every 5 seconds.

[Guest]

@Tech Inferno Fan, do you know if the PE4H v2.4 kit from HIT came with the pci-e 2.0 expresscard. I received my order on the week before Christmas. My system only has 1.1x, but it'll be great to know for future uses.

My setup is XFX HD 6950 2gb memory

i7-720Q processor on the HP DV8T-1100 CTO

6GB DDR3 RAM

128 OCZ Vertex 4 SSD

My 3DMark11 test was only 6.7k, did I setup something wrong, or does this seem reasonable?

Thanks for your help.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

@Tech Inferno Fan, do you know if the PE4H v2.4 kit from HIT came with the pci-e 2.0 expresscard. I received my order on the week before Christmas. My system only has 1.1x, but it'll be great to know for future uses.

My setup is XFX HD 6950 2gb memory

i7-720Q processor on the HP DV8T-1100 CTO

6GB DDR3 RAM

128 OCZ Vertex 4 SSD

My 3DMark11 test was only 6.7k, did I setup something wrong, or does this seem reasonable?

Thanks for your help.

Please post your full benchmarks for inclusion on the first page. We can then evaluate them to see if they are reasonable.

[Guest]

Please post your full benchmarks for inclusion on the first page. We can then evaluate them to see if they are reasonable.

Hey Tech Inferno Fan, i'm not sure where to post on the first page. So here's the link to my test results AMD Radeon HD 6950 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-720QM Processor ,Hewlett-Packard 7001 score: P3214 3DMarks I was mistaken about the 6.7k.

[damir001]

Thank you for posting your results.

Now your system probably has port3 as the expresscard slot making a great candidate to test if the x1E tweak still applies to the HD7xxx series. The way to test is do a run of PCISpeedTestV0.2 using x1 mode. Then reboot, apply Setup 1.1x's PCIe ports->Link Width.x2 or x1E to your port3 and redo the test.

Is there any performance difference between x1 and x1E mode? Previously we identified the x1E mode (running port1 or 3 in x2 mode but with only 1 lane) gave 15-30% better performance than x1. If they perform the same now then AMD have corrected a x1 link handshaking issue with that series which will mean the

First steps -> 2. Which video card do you recommend for best performance on my system? will be updated favoring AMD cards.

Attaching screen shoot for verification did I manage to get x1E more correct.

I ran PCISpeedTest few times but it did not show much of difference in longer tests. Im not sure was i suppose to let it run whole night but last one took a while so i stopped it every time when i say numbers got stable.

Here is output from one of files but as I mentioned numbers ran almost identical every time.

0 16 89968.259142 185073.791189

0 32 264436.646707 267712.923881

0 64 508931.263730 512307.656613

0 128 1173078.852779 1100926.643814

0 256 2045374.786510 2187707.159997

0 512 4138520.159608 4754876.985195

0 1024 10220309.650590 9662560.273504

0 2048 23288073.993202 26787975.878206

0 4096 42159968.375909 47693700.448241

0 8192 72036291.644763 57129406.961026

0 16384 103872245.503618 118089197.532234

0 32768 131568111.083229 159280685.367089

0 65536 154148072.070306 188248344.810719

0 131072 165666646.810459 199187185.772590

0 262144 172923254.749798 205094538.601962

0 524288 170026410.666416 208189452.025242

0 1048576 178261843.616446 209743127.171530

0 2097152 179206636.237480 210536159.496889

0 4194304 179684994.392547 210927962.755469

0 8388608 179934116.429364 211133051.296862

0 16777216 180115474.058833 211231469.309891

0 33554432 180225310.337301 211227771.709277

0 67108864 180255012.653471 211311752.398513

0 134217728 180269109.770626 211325601.466004

0 268435456 180159762.243375 211334413.467605

0 536870912

Is there a way to check which mode is currently engaged? I did see explanation for nvidia but did not see one for amd.

Also one novice question, guess i could try this one by myself but since i'm writing here goes , if i want to save all adaptations with F3 in Setup 1.1x do i have to press F3 after last command just before chainloading to windows or after each executed command?

Cheers,

D

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Hey Tech Inferno Fan, i'm not sure where to post on the first page. So here's the link to my test results AMD Radeon HD 6950 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-720QM Processor ,Hewlett-Packard 7001 score: P3214 3DMarks I was mistaken about the 6.7k.

Post your results like shown in the DX9, DX10 and DX11 tables on the first page, along with your system and eGPU details for comparison with and inclusion on that table.

Attaching screen shoot for verification did I manage to get x1E more correct.

I ran PCISpeedTest few times but it did not show much of difference in longer tests. Im not sure was i suppose to let it run whole night but last one took a while so i stopped it every time when i say numbers got stable.

Here is output from one of files but as I mentioned numbers ran almost identical every time.

0 16 89968.259142 185073.791189

0 32 264436.646707 267712.923881

0 64 508931.263730 512307.656613

0 128 1173078.852779 1100926.643814

0 256 2045374.786510 2187707.159997

0 512 4138520.159608 4754876.985195

0 1024 10220309.650590 9662560.273504

0 2048 23288073.993202 26787975.878206

0 4096 42159968.375909 47693700.448241

0 8192 72036291.644763 57129406.961026

0 16384 103872245.503618 118089197.532234

0 32768 131568111.083229 159280685.367089

0 65536 154148072.070306 188248344.810719

0 131072 165666646.810459 199187185.772590

0 262144 172923254.749798 205094538.601962

0 524288 170026410.666416 208189452.025242

0 1048576 178261843.616446 209743127.171530

0 2097152 179206636.237480 210536159.496889

0 4194304 179684994.392547 210927962.755469

0 8388608 179934116.429364 211133051.296862

0 16777216 180115474.058833 211231469.309891

0 33554432 180225310.337301 211227771.709277

0 67108864 180255012.653471 211311752.398513

0 134217728 180269109.770626 211325601.466004

0 268435456 180159762.243375 211334413.467605

0 536870912

Is there a way to check which mode is currently engaged? I did see explanation for nvidia but did not see one for amd.

Also one novice question, guess i could try this one by myself but since i'm writing here goes , if i want to save all adaptations with F3 in Setup 1.1x do i have to press F3 after last command just before chainloading to windows or after each executed command?

Cheers,

D

Run pcispeedtest up to "4194304" is sufficient, so can CTRL+C out then. As explained previously, x1E is when your port3 is in x2 mode but only 1 lane connected. The screenshot in Setup 1.1x shows x1E was engaged. That pciespeedtest matches what I saw on my [email protected] on a Ivy Bridge here. Was that with x1E engaged or was it just x1? We require both to see if your HD 7770 performed differently for each as explained in the x1E tweak info. If they perform the same then AMD has fixed that handshaking bug on older chipsets.

[damir001]

Post your results like shown in the DX9, DX10 and DX11 tables on the first page, along with your system and eGPU details for comparison with and inclusion on that table.

Run pcispeedtest up to "4194304" is sufficient, so can CTRL+C out then. As explained previously, x1E is when your port3 is in x2 mode but only 1 lane connected. The screenshot in Setup 1.1x shows x1E was engaged. That pciespeedtest matches what I saw on my [email protected] on a Ivy Bridge here. Was that with x1E engaged or was it just x1? We require both to see if your HD 7770 performed differently for each as explained in the x1E tweak info. If they perform the same then AMD has fixed that handshaking bug on older chipsets.

Sorry, I was not clear with "ran PCISpeedTest few times but it did not show much of difference in longer tests.". I ran tests few times on both setup x1 and x1E that is why i didn't post second results, they are almost identical and there is no indication of mode in output. Only difference i could see was when i was clicking around in windows but they where quite unresponsive during tests, values dropped from 211227771.709277 to like 210xxxx.....

Cheers,

D

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Sorry, I was not clear with "ran PCISpeedTest few times but it did not show much of difference in longer tests.". I ran tests few times on both setup x1 and x1E that is why i didn't post second results, they are almost identical and there is no indication of mode in output. Only difference i could see was when i was clicking around in windows but they where quite unresponsive during tests, values dropped from 211227771.709277 to like 210xxxx.....

Cheers,

D

This is great news. Other test I'd ask you to do is run the Resident Evil 5 benchmark in x1 and x1E mode. It showed +20% improvement with x1E mode when using a HD5750. REF: x1E tweak. If the result is the same then yes, AMD have fixed the issue and HD7xxx is elevated in stature for older systems.

After you've done that test, could you run all the benchmarks as shown in the Implementations and post your results for me to include in that table? Your HD7770 may be a desirable upgrade for these older systems that are otherwise seeing crippled performance.

[zsero]

This looks very interesting:

AnandTech - Lenovo IdeaPad Y400/Y500 Gaming Notebooks (with SLI!)

I'd guess they've opened up at least an x4 PCI-E in that Ultrabay! Pretty much we only need to do a cable!

[Omnius]

Hi guys, been reading through this thread and the previous one to decide on my setup and share the experience.

First off, a huge thanks to Nando4 for putting together all the information it has been a massive help in understanding what I need to do.

I've purchased a PE4L v2.1b EC2C off redtrontech, minus the SWEX add-on, thought I'd bought the full kit and panicked for a moment before realizing I could just either do the paper clip trick or solder a switch, shaved $10 or so off the price so no real loss.

I've yet to purchase a GPU however, I've noticed that a 560 Ti seems to be the most popular one and have been scouring eBay for some deals but would like to know any recommendations for the following spec:

Lenovo X220

i7-2640m

8GB RAM

Win 7 x64

I've also found an old ammo box similar to this: [ATTACH=CONFIG]5563[/ATTACH]

that I thought would make for an excellent enclosure assuming that I can get a PSU small enough.

Follow up post, went ahead and got a 560ti and a 400W PSU. Works like a charm. Still need to construct the enclosure however.