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eGPU experiences [version 2.0]


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Hi everyone, first time posting in the V2.0 version of the forums! I might be the first one to try an eGPU on a W110ER. I bought just a regular breakout adapter for the wireless slot for my laptop. It comes with a foot long flatflex cable (I'll just post a pic) so anyways, it works flawlessly. No issues with booting up or timing issues which I had with my old T420 (even after they fixed the TLOUD issues on the BIOS) This laptop does have a 650M which does nothing when my 550ti is plugged. The nvidia card inside the laptop isn't connected to any physical port like my G46VW so I don't disable it at all which is nice. It works on my internal screen just fine too! I am going to purchase either a 7xx series card or an AMD card (both work great tested a 290x which my friend had but forgot to take pics sorry guys!) His 290x ran at 3.0 x1 which means 1GB/s so above 70% performance of the card at the lowest.

PICS:

imgur: the simple image sharer

imgur: the simple image sharer

Which product you using to connect to the mPCIe slot? Looks like the PFC cable is removable too.

With your x1 3.0 comment, I've see GPU-Z report a x1 3.0 link prior to loading driversy. Since you are using the wifi slot it is always (that I've seen) connected to the Southbridge which is *unfortunately* is a pci-e 2.0 link (x1 2.0). Metabox would needed to connected the port to the Series-7+ chipset Nortbridge to get a x1 3.0 link. Doing that is outside of Intel's suggests use of their chipset hence why manufacturers aren't doing it.

Yours is the first W110ER eGPU implementation. A guide/writeup of what you did to get there would be helpful. It would allow other W110ER owners to follow in your footsteps. I'm interested in your 290x benchmark results.

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64-man multiplayer performance in Battlefield 4. Default Medium Setting and 1080p resolution. Specs are in my description. This was on paracel storm which is one of the most demanding maps performance wise.

post-8098-14494996631145_thumb.png

Overall average was 53 fps. This was done on just my external screen.

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64-man multiplayer performance in Battlefield 4. Default Medium Setting and 1080p resolution. Specs are in my description. This was on paracel storm which is one of the most demanding maps performance wise.

[ATTACH]9856[/ATTACH]

Overall average was 53 fps. This was done on just my external screen.

Nice!

I can imagine that it's a bit low FPS for a pleasant online play experience?

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Nice!

I can imagine that it's a bit low FPS for a pleasant online play experience?

Yeah, I usually play with all settings on low except for mesh on high to see people from a distance. With that I get a few dips into the 50s but overall a much more consistent 60fps.

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The Y570 does not have ExpressCard so you would be stuck with having to use an internal mPCIe port. If you do not have one free you will have to pull your Wifi card in order to plug in your adapter (in this case a PE4L-PMxxxA whereas xxx is cable length, usually 60cm so PE4L-PM060A). A similar implementation of this type of setup would be shown here:

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2158-diy-egpu-guide-sony-vaio-vpc-z2-svz13.html

You will need the adapter (PE4L-PM060A in your case since you do not have ExpressCard), GPU of choice (I personally use a GTX 660 Ti), and a desktop PSU to power the card.

I don't see any reports of anyone using that particular system with an eGPU implementation, so you would be the pioneer for that.

You might need to disable your GT 555M in BIOS to give allocation room for the eGPU, but this can be iffy if the vendor disables the iGPU as well.

Since you have no errors, have you tried uninstalling the device through device manager and installing the desktop video driver again? I am currently running driver 327.02. I can confirm this is stable enough. I say it that way since I get driver crashes when I run benchmarks and such. No issues outside of that. Essentially, I can confirm 327.02 is stable for eGPU purposes (unlike some other previous versions....).

I've had pretty much the same error as you with the eGPU error-free in device manager and the nvidia control panel saying there was no nvidia device connected. This occured under two situations:

1. driver crashed

2. dGPU on and only laptop LCD on (no external displays)

Are you using Setup 1.x? Might try enabling Gen2 port through there along with PCI compaction.

Hi angerthosenear , i uninstalled the drivers and installed it again, after that when i configure gen 2 in bios, appears error 43 in the device manager. you told me something about nvidia verde drivers, i used the desktop drivers and tried to install the notebooks ones, but i cant installed it. could you please tell me how to configure these drivers step by step??? there are tutorial in internet, but i cant make it work.

Thanks.

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Hi angerthosenear , i uninstalled the drivers and installed it again, after that when i configure gen 2 in bios, appears error 43 in the device manager. you told me something about nvidia verde drivers, i used the desktop drivers and tried to install the notebooks ones, but i cant installed it. could you please tell me how to configure these drivers step by step??? there are tutorial in internet, but i cant make it work.

Thanks.

I somewhat talked about this in my guide (in my signature). Not sure if it will work for you, but it's the steps I follow

Copy-pasta::

How to (probably) fix error 43:

This is usually somewhat painless. You need to install your eGPU driver. In my case I would install the Nvidia desktop driver.

If you have a dGPU, you will probably have to follow this (unless you disabled it in Setup 1.x):

Bootup so the dGPU and eGPU appear in device manager.

Uninstall the dGPU. (it should disappear from the device manager list leaving only the eGPU - and perhaps the iGPU)

Install eGPU drivers.

Reboot.

Install dGPU drivers. (Unless your dGPU works with the desktop/eGPU drivers, then don't do this)

Pretty much it.

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Whenever I try to connect fans with the 4 pins of PSU the Gen2 doesn't work, seems like the eGPU requires all PSU power or something..

@EpicBlob very nice, though I'm sure you could gain better FPS if you lowered your resolution (that would be my choice).

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Whenever I try to connect fans with the 4 pins of PSU the Gen2 doesn't work, seems like the eGPU requires all PSU power or something..

@EpicBlob very nice, though I'm sure you could gain better FPS if you lowered your resolution (that would be my choice).

What is the wattage on your PSU? I don't know of any (normal) fans that use copious amounts of power. Odd that a (probably) minor power difference causes Gen2 to fail. Perhaps check your cabling? Sometimes the wires on the adapter get bent a bit and touch causing odd issues.

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Whenever I try to connect fans with the 4 pins of PSU the Gen2 doesn't work, seems like the eGPU requires all PSU power or something..

@EpicBlob very nice, though I'm sure you could gain better FPS if you lowered your resolution (that would be my choice).

Are the fan cables running next to the eGPU cable? Electric motors make a lot of noise and this may be causing the instability.

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Which product you using to connect to the mPCIe slot? Looks like the PFC cable is removable too.

With your x1 3.0 comment, I've see GPU-Z report a x1 3.0 link prior to loading driversy. Since you are using the wifi slot it is always (that I've seen) connected to the Southbridge which is *unfortunately* is a pci-e 2.0 link (x1 2.0). Metabox would needed to connected the port to the Series-7+ chipset Nortbridge to get a x1 3.0 link. Doing that is outside of Intel's suggests use of their chipset hence why manufacturers aren't doing it.

Yours is the first W110ER eGPU implementation. A guide/writeup of what you did to get there would be helpful. It would allow other W110ER owners to follow in your footsteps. I'm interested in your 290x benchmark results.

I think you are correct, it's connected to Intel Panther Point PCH. It is not an Endpoint.. I wish I had more time with the card, I will do my best!

EDIT: what I am using http://www.ebay.com/itm/mini-pci-e-to-USB-PCI-e-express-1X-Riser-Extender-adapter-Card-10cm-FFC-Cable-/221160508053?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337e318a95

I purchased this for a few reasons, the flat flex cable can be tucked away and the bottom cover of the laptop fits over the cable perfectly. I am looking at finding a longer cable though :P

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@angerthosenear, I've a 350 W PSU, I checked the cables many times but couldn't figure what could be the cause. @Khenglish Well since the setup is in a case, the fans could be pretty close (in relative way), but the fan's cable aren't so close.

Hmm, should be plenty enough for most eGPUs (except those with a top of the line card).

Khenglish is talking about how the current flowing through a wire will cause a field (magnetic) which causes a current in other wires. With power (fan power) next to data this will cause interference on the data lines (in this case eGPU lines). Not overly likely but it can happen.

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I find that lowering the resolution in full screen just completely ruins the way it looks (native resolution trumps all). Keeping it on low is sufficient for me in most cases. And I like full screen so I can see people far away more easily.

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Hmm, should be plenty enough for most eGPUs (except those with a top of the line card).

Khenglish is talking about how the current flowing through a wire will cause a field (magnetic) which causes a current in other wires. With power (fan power) next to data this will cause interference on the data lines (in this case eGPU lines). Not overly likely but it can happen.

Wow, I'm getting a bit lost, I'm using the same PSU for fans and GPU. When the fans are connected I have no more Gen2, without them everything is fine.

@noric

Unfortunately no. I get stuck at the DSDT override. Someone with better and more knowledge could succeed probably.

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Wow, I'm getting a bit lost, I'm using the same PSU for fans and GPU. When the fans are connected I have no more Gen2, without them everything is fine.

@noric

Unfortunately no. I get stuck at the DSDT override. Someone with better and more knowledge could succeed probably.

Yes

I'm guessing you have fans hooked up to a 4pin/molex plug and then the PCI power stuff going to the GPU correct?

When you have power lines running next to data lines, the electrons in the power lines cause a magnetic field which disrupts those in the data lines. So don't have them running parallel (or coiled) together. Essentially make sure your power lines are away from your data lines.

What are you systems specs again?

Depending what it is I might be able to help with your DSDT override, upload it somewhere and I'll take a gander at it. Some computers have wonky DSDT overrides that make it really hard to edit.

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Wow, I'm getting a bit lost, I'm using the same PSU for fans and GPU. When the fans are connected I have no more Gen2, without them everything is fine.

How many power rails you are using to connect to the graphics card?

I suggest you to not connect fans on any of the power rails which you are connecting to the card. (power rail means each group of 4 cables(yellow, 2 blacks and red) from smps which generally has multiple sockets on it )

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The following are with driver 13.11 beta 9.4 (I had a driver problem that I couldn't resolve so I said WTH, went ahead and installed win8 instead of win7 :o)

BF4 Custom (All ultra but 2x MSAA), Map "Operation <something>" on unparked cores win8.1:

BF4 Custom (All ultra but 2x MSAA), Map "Operation <something>" on parked cores win8.1:

BF4 Custom (All ultra but 2x MSAA), Map "<something> highway" on unparkedcores win8.1:

BF3 Ultra (Operation firestorm) on unparked cores win8.1:

BF3 is crashing my pc for some reason, didn't have much time to figure it out yet..

I actually remember having a little better more constant performance on my win7 with both these games on one if the drivers I tested (I had like 5 in the mix) but I don't remember the exact one.

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I've updated my experience post with BF4 and BF3 videos. Sorry that I couldn't show me actually participating in the match, but one of my hands

was being used to hold the camera phone, I didn't have a stand or anybody nearby, so I tried my best :)

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here is BF4, Multi, FHD + medium. Operation: blockade, 64x64. This often shots of fps it's when I was shot.

I reserved rights for this post and plot. Don't use it anywhere else without my permission.

post-10292-14494996666633_thumb.png

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Hey guys,

I have a question about CPU cooling. Ok correct me if I'm wrong but for laptop, the CPU and dGPU does share the same heat sink right? So if i disabled the dGPU then the fan won't be cooling the dGPU and also the CPU right? Because when I play games, my CPU temp is burning up. I tried to manually control the fan speed with 3rd party programs but it only increase the fan speed of my eGPU. Any suggestion? Thanks.

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@angerthosenear, well installing XP is quite a pain on this laptop, I'll try it whenever I have some time @samiirds again I don't have much time, but yes I plug the fans to the power rail

Hey guys the i7-3632QM I've ordered came and after install and bios update, it doesn't run, I have a black screen only..

Laptop: Fujitsu AH532 i3-3120M

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@angerthosenear, well installing XP is quite a pain on this laptop, I'll try it whenever I have some time @samiirds again I don't have much time, but yes I plug the fans to the power rail

Hey guys the i7-3632QM I've ordered came and after install and bios update, it doesn't run, I have a black screen only..

Laptop: Fujitsu AH532 i3-3120M

Did You check if its supported in your laptop?

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