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eGPU experiences [version 2.0]


Tech Inferno Fan

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Did anyone test PE4L (EC) 2.1b with other lenght of cable than 60cm (100cm or 150cm) if it's working on PCI-E 2.0 in laptop (NOT desktop)? I need longer cable but i'm affraid of soldering so I'd like to buy longer cable version of PE4L if it works with PCI-E 2.0.

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Did anyone test PE4L (EC) 2.1b with other lenght of cable than 60cm (100cm or 150cm) if it's working on PCI-E 2.0 in laptop (NOT desktop)? I need longer cable but i'm affraid of soldering so I'd like to buy longer cable version of PE4L if it works with PCI-E 2.0.

While I haven't tested it I was advised back when the flat cable testing was done that it allowed up to 500cm cable to be used. Can't see how an extra 100cm would add any detrimental distortion or attenuation. Only when they were using the coaxial style cable with Gen1 signalling were there problems with 200cm or longer cables.

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I haven't used my eGPU for a while, but when I got it out to use it, it simply did not work.

I have tried the card on my desktop and it works fine, and likewise trying another card in the PE4L does not work either.

When powering on, the GPU fan reduces in RPM as if it was going to work, however the laptop does not restart at the bios like it used to when it detected the eGPU when it worked.

Also, I am unsure of the position of the 1x/other x switch.

I cannot find refrence to what the LEDS mean, how would I be able to troubleshoot, and what would be the best position of the PCIE selector switch?

Oh, and if it helps the USB port on the PE4L v2.1b works perfectly.

Seeing it does work partially (USB works) check to see if any of the wires are touching where it connects to the adapter. I've had two wires touching and lose functionality completely (as if the eGPU was disconnected). This would be my first thing to check. Even try moving wires if they are really close. Be gentle with them though, you don't want to break the wires since they are so small.

This is the Schematic: http://www.hwtools.net/PDF/PE4L_21a_schematic20120118.pdf

If I'm interpreting this correctly:

Green LED = PCIe power

Red LED = FLG (guessing this means there is an error? - I'm not sure on this one)

Yellow LED = eGPU Detected

anther Red LED = Perst# (Also have no idea.)

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I have a couple of questions.

I'm more and more into buying one of the Asus G750 series, despite of this model not featuring Optimus and having the Intel Graphics card "cut" from display, whatever that would mean.

First question, I understand that the eGPU will only work if I display on some external monitor, I'm fine with that, but can I use Nvidia dGPU 770m for PhysX? Can PhysX be enabled on this card if it is connected to the notebook display? If I close the lid, does this count as no display connected?

Second question (some bold scenario), if I enable the Intel HD graphics card via a BIOS mod or via Setup 1.x if it is possible, I assume that Optimus could become available, the only issue is that I can't display anything on the screen cause Intel HD could not be enabled. So, I'm asking about a driver or a software to copy the screen buffer from the iGPU to the dGPU. Still don't know how this would be working, for example don't know what resolution will be available to the iGPU if it is not connected to a display, whatever...

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I have a couple of questions.

I'm more and more into buying one of the Asus G750 series, despite of this model not featuring Optimus and having the Intel Graphics card "cut" from display, whatever that would mean.

First question, I understand that the eGPU will only work if I display on some external monitor, I'm fine with that, but can I use Nvidia dGPU 770m for PhysX? Can PhysX be enabled on this card if it is connected to the notebook display? If I close the lid, those this count as no display connected?

Second question (some bold scenario), if I enable the Intel HD graphics card via a BIOS mod or via Setup 1.x if it is possible, I assume that Optimus could become available, the only issue is that I can't display anything on the screen cause Intel HD could not be enabled. So, I'm asking about a driver or a software to copy the screen buffer from the iGPU to the dGPU. Still don't know how this would be working, for example don't know what resolution will be available to the iGPU if it is not connected to a display, whatever...

The G750 iGPU will not be enabled to the point where the internal LCD can display images rendered by an NVidia eGPU using the NVidia Optimus driver. Your best bet would be to use the ultramon/Chung-gun method described on the first post to move a *windowed* app/game started on the eGPU onto the dGPU-driven LCD screen.

angerthosenear shows that a dGPU (physx) can be set with the eGPU as the main image renderer as shown below. REF: See http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/3539-guide-dsdt-override-simultaneous-igpu-dgpu-egpu.html

7312d1368155584-nvidia-dgpu-physx-dedicated.png

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You need one more post to receive PM. Or else pls send me an email Tech Inferno [email protected] .

So I got Setup 1.x installed, booted and running.

First goal was to eliminate the BSODs I was experiencing (Gen1) - I did the PCI Compaction and so far it did the trick.

Am I supposed to run the Setup 1.x everytime before I boot into Win7 or is all the changes saved and automatically chained into the next bootup - this seems a little unclear to me.

My second goal is getting the Gen2 linespeed up and running.

So far whenever I let BIOS enable Gen2 (Automatic sel. and not Gen1) my card is detected without any system errors codes (12/43) but it's non-operational:

post-13994-14494995876659_thumb.png

GPU-Z dump

EDIT: Forgot to mention - The spaces marked "Unknown" are normally (under Gen1 operation) filled out with relevant data.

I was kind of trying of random stuff thought I'd might get lucky hitting the right button in Setup 1.x - but nothing seems to change anything.

Setup 1.x initially recognizes the card, but whenever I force it into Gen2, Restart the port or any other activity - the card dissapeard and cannot be identified inside Setup 1.x.

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Ok so here are benchmarks, I found those a little low maybe someone could tell me if they are.

3dmark06 - 11970 - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i3-3120M,FUJITSU FJNBB2A

3dmarkvantage.gpu - 13071 - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i3-3120M,FUJITSU FJNBB2A

3dmark11.gpu - 4729 - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i3-3120M,FUJITSU FJNBB2A

Tech Inferno Fan edit>>

15" Fujitsu AH532

i3-3120M 2.5Ghz

4GB RAM

DSDT override to overcome error 12

GTX660 eGPU using PE4L 2.1

Peformance, particularly 3dmark06 seems very low. spaniq got better for all with his T9800-2.93 + [email protected] here

Pls run GPU-Z while the eGPU is under load and check if it's saying x1 1.1 or x1 2.0 for the link speed. If it's x1 1.1 then you need to either set Gen2 link speed in the bios or use Setup 1.x to do it.

Secondly, load the latest DirectX 9 runtime library from MS: How to download and install DirectX , set your Power profile to "high performance'' and re-run the benchmarks.

So I got Setup 1.x installed, booted and running.

First goal was to eliminate the BSODs I was experiencing (Gen1) - I did the PCI Compaction and so far it did the trick.

Am I supposed to run the Setup 1.x everytime before I boot into Win7 or is all the changes saved and automatically chained into the next bootup - this seems a little unclear to me.

My second goal is getting the Gen2 linespeed up and running.

So far whenever I let BIOS enable Gen2 (Automatic sel. and not Gen1) my card is detected without any system errors codes (12/43) but it's non-operational:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8569[/ATTACH]

GPU-Z dump

I was kind of trying of random stuff thought I'd might get lucky hitting the right button in Setup 1.x - but nothing seems to change anything.

Setup 1.x initially recognizes the card, but whenever I force it into Gen2, Restart the port or any other activity - the card dissapeard and cannot be identified inside Setup 1.x.

You hit F3 after any items you select to run in Setup 1.x and want to automate later. It will place that item into your startup.bat file. When you reboot you just select the default "automated startup via startup.bat" to re-rerun the same steps as you did in menu-based setup. Any compaction run will automatically be added as a 'call pci.bat'.

Are you saying that you have the gear all running with Gen1 but when you set Gen2 it doesn't work? I can see from your GPU-Z dump that the VRAM is listed as 0MB. This is a bad sign. I had the same when using my Dell E6230 + GTX660. I'd recommend you set the PCI Reset Delay on the PE4H 3.2 (try 6.9s first then 15s), poweroff the eGPU + T520. Poweron the eGPU slightly before the T520 and boot into Setup 1.x and try again.

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While I haven't tested it I was advised back when the flat cable testing was done that it allowed up to 500cm cable to be used. Can't see how an extra 100cm would add any detrimental distortion or attenuation. Only when they were using the coaxial style cable with Gen1 signalling were there problems with 200cm or longer cables.

So in Your opinion, can we assume (only assume, I know You don't promise ;) ) there shouldn't be any problem with PE4L 2.1b with 100cm and 150cm flat cable?

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Peformance, particularly 3dmark06 seems very low. spaniq got better for all with his T9800-2.93 + [email protected] here

Pls run GPU-Z while the eGPU is under load and check if it's saying x1 1.1 or x1 2.0 for the link speed. If it's x1 1.1 then you need to either set Gen2 link speed in the bios or use Setup 1.x to do it.

Secondly, load the latest DirectX 9 runtime library from MS: How to download and install DirectX , set your Power profile to "high performance'' and re-run the benchmarks.

You hit F3 after any items you select to run in Setup 1.x and want to automate later. It will place that item into your startup.bat file. When you reboot you just select the default "automated startup via startup.bat" to re-rerun the same steps as you did in menu-based setup. Any compaction run will automatically be added as a 'call pci.bat'.

Are you saying that you have the gear all running with Gen1 but when you set Gen2 it doesn't work? I can see from your GPU-Z dump that the VRAM is listed as 0MB. This is a bad sign. I had the same when using my Dell E6230 + GTX660. I'd recommend you set the PCI Reset Delay on the PE4H 3.2 (try 6.9s first then 15s), poweroff the eGPU + T520. Poweron the eGPU slightly before the T520 and boot into Setup 1.x and try again.

Thanks for the reply, here's GPUZ screenshot

post-14575-14494995877446_thumb.gif

The good point is that there's still performance gain. I don't see any setup in bios beside really basic (AHCI, TIME/DATE, PASSWORD, no hardware setups) so I think I'll have the setup 1.x. Could you please tell me how to proceed?.

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Thanks for the reply, here's GPUZ screenshot

The good point is that there's still performance gain. I don't see any setup in bios beside really basic (AHCI, TIME/DATE, PASSWORD, no hardware setups) so I think I'll have the setup 1.x. Could you please tell me how to proceed?.

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So in Your opinion, can we assume (only assume, I know You don't promise ;) ) there shouldn't be any problem with PE4L 2.1b with 100cm and 150cm flat cable?

No problem at all. As mentioned earlier, the flat cable gave BPlus the ability to increase their maximum cable length from 200cm to 500cm over the prior coax style round cable used. The wires run parallel, and being a differential signal experience are better at handling noise interference.

it's impossible there is nothing in the bios, in X220 and T420 there is an option to swap PCI-E generation between Auto and Gen1, try to find it harder!

did You ever pressed question mark in GPU-Z (near Bus Interface) to find out what kind of PCI-E are You able to run?

Unfortunately that's not always the case. The Fujitsu AH531 too didn't have a Gen1/Gen2 switch and was set by the bios to default at Gen1 (source: gnostyk). Toshiba R-series being another without such a feature. Elitebook/Thinkpads thankfully have it.

Thanks for the reply, here's GPUZ screenshot

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8572[/ATTACH]

The good point is that there's still performance gain. I don't see any setup in bios beside really basic (AHCI, TIME/DATE, PASSWORD, no hardware setups) so I think I'll have the setup 1.x. Could you please tell me how to proceed?.

Either PM me or email Tech Inferno [email protected] to initiate the request. I'll send details. Though even at x1.1Opt that you are running now, your performance results are overly low. Worth reloading the NVidia driver as a 'clean install' and setting the power profile to 'high performance' to see if you get better results. 3dmark06 should be > 15k.

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No problem at all. As mentioned earlier, the flat cable gave BPlus the ability to increase their maximum cable length from 200cm to 500cm over the prior coax style round cable used. The wires run parallel, and being a differential signal experience are better at handling noise interference.

Unfortunately that's not always the case. The Fujitsu AH531 too didn't have a Gen1/Gen2 switch and was set by the bios to default at Gen1 (source: gnostyk). Toshiba R-series being another without such a feature. Elitebook/Thinkpads thankfully have it.

Either PM me or email Tech Inferno [email protected] to initiate the request. I'll send details. Though even at x1.1Opt that you are running now, your performance results are overly low. Worth reloading the NVidia driver as a 'clean install' and setting the power profile to 'high performance' to see if you get better results. 3dmark06 should be > 15k.

Ok Tech Inferno Fan, I've followed what you suggest (clean reinstall of drivers+high performance battery mode) and reran 3Dmark06 and here's result, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i3-3120M,FUJITSU FJNBB2A I get less points from previous benchmark, now I prefer not to look after it because I succeeded in running Setup 1.x, and GPUZ shows x1.2. Here are 3Dmark06 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i3-3120M,FUJITSU FJNBB2A, nearly 4000 points gained. I'll run other benchmarks soon and will post them. Thanks Tech Inferno Fan.

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Ok Tech Inferno Fan, I've followed what you suggest (clean reinstall of drivers+high performance battery mode) and reran 3Dmark06 and here's result, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i3-3120M,FUJITSU FJNBB2A I get less points from previous benchmark, now I prefer not to look after it because I succeeded in running Setup 1.x, and GPUZ shows x1.2. Here are 3Dmark06 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i3-3120M,FUJITSU FJNBB2A, nearly 4000 points gained. I'll run other benchmarks soon and will post them. Thanks Tech Inferno Fan.

Making progress but there is still a problem. You have a larger-than-expected improvement in 3dmark06 from switching Gen1->Gen2. That would come about if you are running it in internal LCD mode OR running it on an external LCD that's attached to the notebook HDMI/DP port rather than the video card's. There you'd be effectively still routing via the iGPU.

To get a set of benchmarks comparable to those on the first page, please attach an external LCD directly to you GTX660 and set it as the Main Display in the Display->Screen resolution control panel. Then run the benchmarks and post the results. Thanks.

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Are you saying that you have the gear all running with Gen1 but when you set Gen2 it doesn't work? I can see from your GPU-Z dump that the VRAM is listed as 0MB. This is a bad sign. I had the same when using my Dell E6230 + GTX660. I'd recommend you set the PCI Reset Delay on the PE4H 3.2 (try 6.9s first then 15s), poweroff the eGPU + T520. Poweron the eGPU slightly before the T520 and boot into Setup 1.x and try again.
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Making progress but there is still a problem. You have a larger-than-expected improvement in 3dmark06 from switching Gen1->Gen2. That would come about if you are running it in internal LCD mode OR running it on an external LCD that's attached to the notebook HDMI/DP port rather than the video card's. There you'd be effectively still routing via the iGPU.

To get a set of benchmarks comparable to those on the first page, please attach an external LCD directly to you GTX660 and set it as the Main Display in the Display->Screen resolution control panel. Then run the benchmarks and post the results. Thanks.

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Unfortunately I don't have an external screen and the main purpose of having internal screen setup is because I wasn't having it as I often travel. Now I'll maybe do the benchmarks on external screen but that'll take some time, I'll see if I can borrow one. I have a question, there's a USB port on the PE4L, was it that for?

"That would come about if you are running it in internal LCD mode OR running it on an external LCD" Could you please clarify?

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Hi there. On this forum and somewhere else I start seeing ads for some similar DIY eGPU parts from this company:

Arstech

Installing and use of XPRS-HOST-EC

Installing and use of XPRS-PX-X16

And some interesting adapter:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8568[/ATTACH]

It looks like they are using dual SATA cables to stream PCI Express signal.

Also I would like to mention, on the bplus website, they started selling the M2MU2 adapter (M.2 (NGFF) to mini PCI-E Adapter). New notebooks like Lenovo Y510 use this new connector instead of mPCIe.

M2MU2 (M.2 (NGFF) to mini PCI-E Adapter)

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Did anyone test PE4L (EC) 2.1b with other lenght of cable than 60cm (100cm or 150cm) if it's working on PCI-E 2.0 in laptop (NOT desktop)? I need longer cable but i'm affraid of soldering so I'd like to buy longer cable version of PE4L if it works with PCI-E 2.0.

I have a PE4L-EC200A (2m cable) which works fine at PCIe 2.0

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I've read through the entire How To post on how to install an eGPU to your laptop. I just don't really get it.. Lol..

I have a Lenovo z565 which has an express slot on the side of the laptop. I already have a Radeon 7770 and a 430 watt power supply in my cart ready to be bought, BUT..

I was wondering if I should get the PE4L or PE4H. Also should I buy their power adapter with it, or will I need it if I'm already buying the 430 watt power supply?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

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Hello everyone, I got a PE4H and I'm having issues making a Radeon 4850 work with a Lenovo T420. For the record, I tested it with a Nvidia GTX660 and it worked brilliantly, but that's my desktop card.

The laptop is running some sort of bootguard so I have somewhat limited options (I believe setup 1.x wouldn't work), but after downgrading my BIOS to 1.15 I managed to get the Radeon to detect. The laptop has an integrated Intel HD3000 and has 4gb of ram, hence why I downgraded the BIOS.

The Radeon apparently has driver issues, the laptop's screen is either turned off with no external LCD detected or I get ULTRA sluggish performance, takes 10-20 seconds just to see the mouse move. Is there some sort of driver I could use for this setup?

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Hello everyone, I got a PE4H and I'm having issues making a Radeon 4850 work with a Lenovo T420. For the record, I tested it with a Nvidia GTX660 and it worked brilliantly, but that's my desktop card.

The laptop is running some sort of bootguard so I have somewhat limited options (I believe setup 1.x wouldn't work), but after downgrading my BIOS to 1.15 I managed to get the Radeon to detect. The laptop has an integrated Intel HD3000 and has 4gb of ram, hence why I downgraded the BIOS.

The Radeon apparently has driver issues, the laptop's screen is either turned off with no external LCD detected or I get ULTRA sluggish performance, takes 10-20 seconds just to see the mouse move. Is there some sort of driver I could use for this setup?

If using a PE4H 2.4 then change the expresscard link speed in the bios from Automatic/Gen2 to Gen1. In addition, make sure you either hotplug the EC2C (expresscard) end after boot by halting Win7/Win8 boot with F8/F12 or set the PE4H PCI Reset Delay to 6.9/15s and power it on just a fraction before you poweron your notebook. Doing that will ensure the bios doesn't see the eGPU and therefore always use the iGPU as the primary video device driving the internal LCD.

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I've read through the entire How To post on how to install an eGPU to your laptop. I just don't really get it.. Lol..

I have a Lenovo z565 which has an express slot on the side of the laptop. I already have a Radeon 7770 and a 430 watt power supply in my cart ready to be bought, BUT..

I was wondering if I should get the PE4L or PE4H. Also should I buy their power adapter with it, or will I need it if I'm already buying the 430 watt power supply?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Z565 uses a RS880 chipset so the expresscard slot will have a Gen2 x1 2.0 link. In which case you should select either a PE4L-EC060A 2.1b or a PE4H-EC060A 3.2, both with a soldered mHDMI cable. Earlier versions using socketted mHDMI cables only support pci-e 1.x (Gen1), contrary to what their website says. Answers to your other questions are covered in the DIY eGPU experiences [version 2.0] initial post.

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If using a PE4H indeedhe solution :).4 then change the expresscard link speed in the bios from Automatic/Gen2 to Gen1. In addition, make sure you either hotplug the EC2C (expresscard) end after boot by halting Win7/Win8 boot with F8/F12 or set the PE4H PCI Reset Delay to 6.9/15s and power it on just a fraction before you poweron your notebook. Doing that will ensure the bios doesn't see the eGPU and therefore always use the iGPU as the primary video device driving the internal LCD.

Changing the link speed to gen1 was indeed the solution :) Also, posting from a phone was a bad idea.

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I hope I'm not boring someone with those connectors, but I found another one here:

ARC1-EMSX1-C15

One mPCIe male to one PCIe x1 straight female low-profile connector, standard or reversed.

Flexible cable length: default 15cm(6") or custom lengths. Use premium flat ribbon, solid conductor,precise machine-soldered termination instead of IDC connector to ensure high-speed data transmition.

I assume judging by their description that this extender could be capable of Gen2.

What I'm trying to accomplish with such connectors is to get a mPCIe or a PCIe x1 socket in a favorable position, some notebooks have some mPCIe slots near the optical drive enclosure, and I'm thinking to drive the wires in that area and get the connector to the edge of the notebook. Does this makes sense?

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