eGPU experiences [version 2.0]

[Casem0]

I am trying to install a DIY eGPU on my W520, computer specs below:

Thinkpad W520 (427637U)

Win7

Intel Core i7-2720QM 2.2GHz, 6MB L3 Cache

8GB DDR3

NVIDIA Quadro 1000M, Dedicated 2GB (also has Intel)

1 x ExpressCard/34

Two USB 3.0 (blue)

one Powered USB 2.0 (yellow)

one USB 2.0/eSATA combo port

4-in-1 reader (MMC, SD, SDHC, SDXC)

So I have my Expresscard slot (CHECK).

I was trying to read this pretty thorough guide (DIY eGPU experiences), but got completely lost at the "How to check if your laptop is eGPU compatible?" step. I have no idea about "TOLUD" and how to check PCI bus for RAM compatibility.

I did find another few articles talking about Thinkpads have issues with the BIOS version, but still have no idea what they are talking about.

Basically, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE some insight and/or direction as to:

1) best GPU cost/performance wise. Also, best GPU to match up with the pci slot data transfer. I read about bottlenecking.....

2) the bios thing

Thanks Friends!!

[chiknnwatrmln]

You have numerous GPU options as shown above. The way these work is:

Integrated graphics - iGPU only

Discrete graphics - dGPU only

NVidia Optimus - iGPU + dGPU with dGPU display to LCD via iGPU

Now there may be another option where your eGPU becomes the primary display adapter if the BIOS detects it on bootup. The way to make it secondary is to hotplug it after boot.

I'd suggest test the following configurations, testing for functionality after each.

1. Power eGPU, then power notebook. Is the eGPU the primary adapter?

2. Set the bios to iGPU only mode and hotplug the eGPU after bios post. Does it work without error 12? If not, check TOLUD and consider using Setup 1.x PCI compaction.

3. If TOLUD is high (eg: 3.5GB), then set NVidia Optimus and use Setup 1.x to disable the dGPU so the eGPU can use it's pci-e space.

Request 'experience' writeup with comparative benchmarks

We have only a few AMD eGPU implementations. If GPU-Z confirms you are running x1 2.0 then would you mind fully documenting your configuration along with benchmarking? Best would be if you could do the DX9, DX10 and DX11 tests like here. You can see there are some existing 3rd gen i7-quads NVidia eGPU implementations to compare it against.

You may even consider piggybacking the existing W530 guide: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/3728-%5Bguide%5D-thinkpad-w530-egpu.html .

That guide actually helped me pick my parts.

It ended up being a driver issue that was a pain to fix, I had to do system restore and reinstall my drivers. OpenCL works now, and after turning off Physx Metro runs fluidly. Got my card overclocked to a healthy 1100 mhz.

Today is actually my first day of classes so I'm really busy, I'll definitely make a thread within the next week or two. My eGPU setup is working awesome right now, without this forum I wouldn't have even known what an eGPU is.

[Tragik]

According to Review Asus G75V Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews the Asus G75V has no iGPU. With no iGPU present, the NVidia driver won't allow driving the internal LCD or x1 pcie compression. So while you can still drive an external LCD I'd recommend you up your bandwidth to 10Gbps to get decent performance. Consider a Sonnet/OWC Helios native TB solution instead as shown at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4570-%5Bguide%5D-2012-13-rmbp-gtx660-sonnet-echo-express-se-%40-10gbps.html . You can still use the Chung-gun/Ultramon method to move a windowed app running on a virtual external LCD to the internal LCD as a workaround.

Before going any further I recommend you peruse the following for an idea of performance differences between x1.2Opt, x2.2 (~native TB), x1.2 (what you'd get with your intended eGPU hardware solution):

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2747-%5Bguide%5D-12-dell-e6230-gtx660%40x1-2opt-hd7870%40x1-2-pe4l-ec060a-2-1b.html#post37197

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

An alternative would be to offload the G75VX and get a smaller more portable eGPU candidate system with an active iGPU, expresscard slot that is x1.2Opt capable. 12.5" HP 2570P meeting all those along with i7-quad CPU and RAID-0 storage upgradability making it a performance powerhouse. It's also available at a good ebay price. x1.2Opt is the best bang-per-buck at this time.

eg: consider an expresscard pci-e 2.0 eGPU implementation costs substantially less than a native Thunderbolt one. You're up for US$92-shipped for a expresscard PE4L-EC060A 2.1b versus US$310+TBcable+shipping for a OWC Helios Thunderbolt-to-pcie enclosure.

Man thank you very much for your response and all the other posts you have made with info and tips!

I am going to have to weight my decisions here it seems. Don't mind the Sonnet/Helios option, just pricey. I wish I would have been on the ball and got a TH05 when you could still...come on Silverstone!

The PE4L to Sonnet TB Adapter attracted me just because the price was a little less and from looking at your links the performance difference isn't all that big (in DX9, looks like the gap widens DX10 up). Mainly looking at the FFXIV benchmark since I have used it and play it, very nice to see the performance you got with it. Was just going to build a nice little enclosure, pop a GTX 770 in it and giver. May have to look at just getting rid of this laptop and getting the one you mentioned in your response.

Well I will have to ponder on this, once again thank you!

[Arise]

Is the TOLUD ok for your Asus G75?

Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk 2

[colmeirin]

Hi.

I've been wandering around the forum for some time now, reading all the info about the eGPU experiences and I finally decided it's time to give it a try with my old MBP 2008.

I have some questions I wanted to tell you guys in order to receive some advices if possible.

Maybe I'm totally wrong and it's impossible to achieve on my system or it's a really bad idea... anyway any thoughts on the matter are appreciated.

I own a MBP 15" Unibody late 2008(MBP 5,1), 2,4 core 2 duo, 256 SSD(replaced the dvd with a sdd caddy) 1TB HDD, 6 GB 1067 DDR3, Nvidia GeForce 9400M & 9600M GT

This are my questions:

I'm not sure if i have a expresscard x1 1.0 or a x1 2.0.

Is the PE4L the right choice or I should try the amfeltec?

Any further thoughts on the matter?

Thx!

pd: keep the good work… this forum and the information on it is awesome!

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Hi.

I've been wandering around the forum for some time now, reading all the info about the eGPU experiences and I finally decided it's time to give it a try with my old MBP 2008.

I have some questions I wanted to tell you guys in order to receive some advices if possible.

Maybe I'm totally wrong and it's impossible to achieve on my system or it's a really bad idea... anyway any thoughts on the matter are appreciated.

I own a MBP 15" Unibody late 2008(MBP 5,1), 2,4 core 2 duo, 256 SSD(replaced the dvd with a sdd caddy) 1TB HDD, 6 GB 1067 DDR3, Nvidia GeForce 9400M & 9600M GT

This are my questions:

I'm not sure if i have a expresscard x1 1.0 or a x1 2.0.

Is the PE4L the right choice or I should try the amfeltec?

Any further thoughts on the matter?

Thx!

pd: keep the good work… this forum and the information on it is awesome!

Your system has a NVidia chipset and a x1 1.0 expresscard slot. Same reply given recently to Inaky here applies to your configuration.

[colmeirin]

Thank you very much for your rapid response!

I've totally missed that post.

I will look into the HP Probook 4530s option although a quick search into my country ebay didn't throw anything available…

Anyway, I will try to continue the project with the MBP.

Can it be a good game performance improvement? Or will the cpu be a "bottle neck? (aiming to play COH2, BF3, etc)

Will try to document the process, problems and reach this community to share my experience and also when everything goes wrong and the error 12 breaks my nerves… hehe

Thx again!

[zac_drake]

say whaaat! I was searching for this a long time ago!

- - - Updated - - -

I was wondering if you could for example put your laptop nvidia working in parallel with your desktop one...

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Thank you very much for your rapid response!

I've totally missed that post.

I will look into the HP Probook 4530s option although a quick search into my country ebay didn't throw anything available…

Anyway, I will try to continue the project with the MBP.

Can it be a good game performance improvement? Or will the cpu be a "bottle neck? (aiming to play COH2, BF3, etc)

Will try to document the process, problems and reach this community to share my experience and also when everything goes wrong and the error 12 breaks my nerves… hehe

Thx again!

While you'd see improvements with your older Macbook + eGPU, the most improvement you'd see is with an iGPU + expresscard 2.0 system. Suggest work through the Sandy or Ivy Bridge systems at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4109-egpu-candidate-system-list-%5Bthin-light%5D.html#post57159 identifying which is available locally at a good price, then offload the Macbook and upgrade.

say whaaat! I was searching for this a long time ago!

- - - Updated - - -

I was wondering if you could for example put your laptop nvidia working in parallel with your desktop one...

Yes, angerthosenear has shown a HD3000 iGPU + NVidia NVS4200M dGPU + GTX660Ti eGPU all functioning in parallel as you say in the thread http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/3539-guide-dsdt-override-simultaneous-igpu-dgpu-egpu.html#post49833 . Though if using an iGPU + NVidia eGPU on an x1 link then it's suggested to disable the dGPU to allow the NVidia Optimus internal LCD mode and x1 pci-e compression to engage.

[ScantyChunk]

Is there any way to get this working with a 15" rMBP. I have a problem where Windows 7 doesn't recognize that my iGPU (HD 4000) exists.

Basically, I only have a dGPU (GTX 650M). I also have a PE4L, and an Expresscard pro, not an Expresscard SE.

The steps here remain the same for the 15" (which I have) as well. The only thing that changes is the setup for an Nvidia eGPU (tested with 2 different GTX 560ti's)

I tried these steps and I still get error 12. I'm trying everything again, and I now I can't get the eGPU detected (It might be due to the red light not turning off).

Anyway, I'm just really confused when it comes to which course of action to take. I'm having a lot of trouble understanding all of this.

Tech Inferno Fan>> Scanty figured how to get it all working here.

[ScantyChunk]

AGH! I didn't know how difficult this was going to be. I really wish I could get this all to work but I've taken 1 step forward and 2 steps back (mostly due to me not knowing that having a 15" rMBP would cause sooooo many problems. PLUS! The red light (D4) won't turn off on my PE4L anymore!). There's no definitive algorithm for any non-computer genius to follow, and I just can't fathom the instructions that are being presented to me thread after thread of exceptions to different motherboards, RAM, operating systems, what kind of iGPU (which I don't have) or dGPU you have, and method after method of installing software (which aren't even doable for 99% of the internet population).

As you can tell, I'm really frustrated and I just need some set of simple instructions.

I guess I just wasted $500

Tech Inferno Fan>> Scanty figured how to get it all working here.

[heX]

Hello, i'm trying to enable optimus for my 660 ti. The desktop driver installs successfully but i can't find the option to enable nvidia optimus from the control panel. Is there anything i'm missing here? Thanks

Edit: I'm using the Windows 8.1 beta driver.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Is there anything i'm missing here? Thanks

Yes. You are missing a description of your system so can figure if he pre-requisite iGPU as the primary video card is active for Optimus features to active.

[heX]

Sorry for that, I have a Lenovo y560 with an i5 560m - Intel HD. Also a HD 5730 as a dGPU,

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Sorry for that, I have a Lenovo y560 with an i5 560m - Intel HD. Also a HD 5730 as a dGPU,

Lenovo tends to disable the needed iGPU if boot with the eGPU powered up. A solution there is to either use the PCI Reset Delay (SW1=3, 6.9s) on a PE4L so can bypass that check with a coldboot OR hotplug the eGPU after bios has booted by halting Win7/8 with F8/12. Load the stock Intel HD driver from Intel's website too. It may also be necessary to disable the dGPU either via a BIOS option (if it exists) or using Setup 1.x. That Setup 1.x page shows how a youtube video of how to configure a eGPU using a Lenovo Y460, which would be similar to your Y560.

[heX]

Lenovo tends to disable the needed iGPU if boot with the eGPU powered up. A solution there is to either use the PCI Reset Delay (SW1=3, 6.9s) on a PE4L so can bypass that check with a coldboot OR hotplug the eGPU after bios has booted by halting Win7/8 with F8/12. Load the stock Intel HD driver from Intel's website too. It may also be necessary to disable the dGPU either via a BIOS option (if it exists) or using Setup 1.x. That Setup 1.x page shows how a youtube video of how to configure a eGPU using a Lenovo Y460, which would be similar to your Y560.

Thanks for your reply. I did manage to install the eGPU but it only works using an external display and there's no optimus option. My PE4L is set to SW1=3. The problem is that I don't seem the have an optimus option, is it automatic or do I need to enable it in the BIOS? Also, my intel HD remains active on my main display and I can disable my dgpu manually.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Thanks for your reply. I did manage to install the eGPU but it only works using an external display and there's no optimus option. My PE4L is set to SW1=3. The problem is that I don't seem the have an optimus option, is it automatic or do I need to enable it in the BIOS? Also, my intel HD remains active on my main display and I can disable my dgpu manually.

How are you manually disabling the dGPU? There is no option in the Y460/Y560 BIOS to do it.

[heX]

How are you manually disabling the dGPU? There is no option in the Y460/Y560 BIOS to do it.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Actually, I have no idea. It just fails to start when I switch to "switchable graphics" for some reason.

The switchable graphics option enables the dGPU on the pci-e bus and there is no way to otherwise disable it on a Y460/Y560. So how are you switching off the dGPU to not be on the pci-e bus?

[heX]

The switchable graphics option enables the dGPU on the pci-e bus and there is no way to otherwise disable it on a Y460/Y560. So how are you switching off the dGPU to not be on the pci-e bus?

In that case I'm not disabling it, it's just not functioning correctly. The thing is I did manage to get everything working everything except optimus...unless I do need to free the pci-e bus to make it work. Thanks for the reply.

Edit: I just noticed that all three cards are working and none have any errors, my internal uses Intel HD and my external my 660 Ti.

[MikjoA]

Hi guys!

I might have something of interest for many of you ! :)

Do you remenber the colour depth analisys made by Khenglish ?

He discovered that playing with a reduced colour depth would grant you a great performance boost ! This mostly works for the internal monitor rendering and it is not very revelant on the external monitor.

Quote

So I did some testing with internal LCD mode. The results? If you want higher FPS, run 16bit color!. This cuts the frame buffer in half resulting in a huge performance increase in most cases.

Colour depth RES5 DX9 DMC4 S4 DX10 Heaven

32bit	89.0 FPS	77.5 FPS	1263 points
16bit	153.2 FPS	97.1 FPS	1753 points
Improvement	72.1%	25.3%	38.8%

I also ran FF14. It did not benefit from going to 16 bit for some reason.

Since pretty much every game supports windowed mode, you can run 16 bit color by setting 16 bit in the monitor options in windows. The downside is the obvious color quality loss, which varies in how noticeable it is from game to game. In some games you'll barely notice, in others it stands out.

I think that 24 bit color would be ideal. This would have the same color spectrum of 32bit, but knock off the rarely used transparency bits that 32bit has, which really just waste bandwidth.

Does anyone have any ideas on forcing 24bit color, or running 16bit in fullscreen mode?

I know he has been looking for a way to force recent games to render in fullscreen 16bit, but actually for most recent games 16bit is not supported. So, you can't play 16bit in full screen and for most games, windowed with 16bit resolutions oesn't help.. (I don't know why though)

But I know a genius guys, who could probably force most games to render in 16bit fullscreen thanks to his fantastic tool he called ENB.

What is ENB ?

Just go read this description (click) really it's not long so please read it for your better understanding.

Forcing a game to render in 16bit is not yet implemented in ENB, but I asked Boris if he could do it, and he said that it is possible and that he could do it. So this will depends on Boris work, he uses to listen to people and improve his ENB according to what users want and what he thinks is good. But on his forum, I'm the only one to request such a weird thing that is "Can ENB forces game to 16bit fullscreen ?"

So what I'm asking those who want better performance for their laptop LCD ?

Go to his forum, and register here, then go to my thread "Can ENB forces game to 16bit fullscreen ?" and show your interest in forcing game to 16 (even 24bit) rendering.

But please !

- Introduce yourself in one line with your post, say you are a eGPU user from our techinferno thread. (No need to explain what is eGPU, I've already told him.) - Show your interest in this particular feature/request (or even 24bit for no visual degradation), be polite and patient ! - Make it short.

ENB is free and it's a fantastic tools, that allows A LOT of possibilities for any games. It's just incredible what you can do with it. It can increase performances, add amazing effects to the game, for which you can litterally customize the look and make it unique, or even solve issues !

I use it myself for Skyrim, for enhancing the look of it.

Just look at one of my in-game screenshot : (ENB ON / ENB OFF)

Spoiler

ENB 0.199 by Boris, customized by Kyokushinoyama : Kountervibe ENB Extensive preset

PS : yes, Manany is my nickname there.

[aKiloTonAnt]

Hello!

I'm working on making DSDT override in Setup 1.x for Windows 8. I'm trying to compile modified [file].dsl with IASL. At the begining there were 166 Errors 0 Warnings and 32 Remarks. Now I have got that down to 2 Errors and 1 Warning, but I can't figure out how to get rid of these. Can you help? These are my errors:

dsdt_VAIO_EGPU.dsl 11668:                     Method (SNF5, 1, NotSerialized)
Warning  1088 -     Not all control paths return a value ^  (SNF5)


dsdt_VAIO_EGPU.dsl 11886:                                     Store (0x4A, MTL)
Error    4068 -                     Object is not accessible from this scope ^
(MTL_)


dsdt_VAIO_EGPU.dsl 11892:                                     Store (0x55, MTL)
Error    4068 -                     Object is not accessible from this scope ^
(MTL_)


ASL Input:  dsdt_VAIO_EGPU.dsl - 11964 lines, 380252 bytes, 5076 keywords
Compilation complete. 2 Errors, 1 Warnings, 0 Remarks, 1561 Optimizations

[heX]

Do I need to disable the dGPU to run optimus? Thanks

....I have a Lenovo y560 with an i5 560m - Intel HD. Also a HD 5730 as a dGPU,

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Do I need to disable the dGPU to run optimus? Thanks

That's what these owners with a iGPU + AMD dGPU + NVidia eGPU did to get success: madseason (Lenovo Y460 + HD5650M), Tondy (Vostro 3560 + HD7670M) and Frula (HP 4530s + HD6470M).

[heX]

That's what these owners with a iGPU + AMD dGPU + NVidia eGPU did to get success: madseason (Lenovo Y460 + HD5650M), Tondy (Vostro 3560 + HD7670M) and Frula (HP 4530s + HD6470M).

Thank you, I'll buy setup 1.x to disable my dGPU then.