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Can't run anything on the eGPU


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My current setup is:

ThinkPad W530

i7 3720QM

Nvidia Quadro K2000M

32GB RAM

Windows 10 64-bit on MBR

 

The eGPU is a GTX 770 connected with a PE4C 3.0.

I could try it with a GTX 980, but I don't have immediate access to it as it's in my workplace at the moment

 

I have tried using both Nando4's DIY eGPU setup 1.3, as well as simply running vanilla Windows with recent Nvidia graphics drivers (365.19, 365.10, 364.79) as reported in this thread

The same version of graphics drivers are being run on the eGPU and the dGPU (365.19 at the moment).
 

Both have the same result:

There are no errors in the Device Manager.

The eGPU is being detected properly by all devices (3D Mark, GeForce Experience, Speccy, Nvidia Control Panel, etc.)

 

However, I cannot run any applications on the GPU.

I'm somewhat at a loss as for what to do now because I'm pretty sure I've tried everything, and everything on the forums seems to indicate that everything should run perfectly at this point.

 

The settings for the PE4C are:
SW1:1

SW2:2

 

The settings for Nando's DIY eGPU Setup v1.3:

endpoint = 56.25GB

ignore dGPU

PCI compact iGPU + eGPU

32-bit on eGPU

dGPU off

 

startup.bat:

call speedup lbacache
call vidwait 60 
call vidinit -d %eGPU% 
call pci 
:end 
call chainload bootmgr noremap 

The reason I am chainloading with bootmgr noremap is because I am booting from an mSATA SSD, which is considered hdd1 (as opposed to hdd0).

 

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Ensure that you have the notebook drivers installed, not the desktop ones.

 

Set preferences in Nvidia control panel to have the Nvidia GPU be the preferred graphics processor.

 

It might also be worth enabling the graphics processor choice context menu in Nvidia CP > Desktop > Run with graphics processor context menu, then running a program using that context menu option.

Edited by Arbystrider
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2 hours ago, Arbystrider said:

Ensure that you have the notebook drivers installed, not the desktop ones.

While it's true I had the desktop drivers installed, I've done a clean install with the notebook drivers, and no luck.

Still can't run anything using either Nando's chainloader or by running them alone.

2 hours ago, gharimanto said:

SW 1 = 2

SW 2 = 1

BPlus needs to document what the hell these do so people aren't blindly flipping switches until something works. I stuck with SW1 = 1 and SW2 = 2.

Edited by illeatmyhat
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dgpu must be disabled for the egpu to be given NVIDIA Optimus functionality.

 

So then pls remove all NVIDIA drivers, then use ddu to remove NVIDIA registry entries as well as disable automatic driver installation.

 

Then install the latest NVIDIA desktop drivers.

 

Change your Setup 1.30 startup.bat to be:

call speedup lbacache
call vidwait 60 
call vidinit -d %eGPU% 
call iport dgpu off
call pci 
:end 
call chainload bootmgr noremap 

 

 

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Even after doing all that, it didn't work in either setting.

I have the Nvidia Control Panel set up so that everything runs on the "High End Nvidia Graphics".

It all just gets pushed onto the HD4000 when the K2000M isn't available.

 

Thinking about it, it is probably related to the internal monitor and Windows 10.

Nvidia released beta eGPU support on Windows 10, but only for Thunderbolt. Since I'm using the PE4C 3.0, this doesn't apply to me.

I will test it on an external monitor and report back.

Edited by illeatmyhat
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After testing my configuration on an external monitor, everything works. Installing either desktop or notebook drivers works fine. A peculiarity with my ThinkPad and PE4C 3.0 setup is that I need to run the eGPU in PCIe Gen 1.

So it turns out that the problem is indeed Windows 10, if that could be said to be a problem.

 

Currently, Nvidia does not ``support" Optimus on Windows 10 for anything other than Thunderbolt, in the sense that we cannot render to the internal display, and that we cannot use PCIe 1.2x compression.

So the solution to my problem would be to install Windows 8.1, which would be egregious in my opinion.

 

So, the ``real" solution to my problem is to instead run Windows 8.1 on a Hyper-V VM, and then add the .VHDX to the boot menu using bcdedit. This allows me to run the Windows 8.1 VM on bare metal (with a 20% I/O penalty on the VHDX, irrelevant for an SSD). With Steam or what have you pointing to the appropriate directory, I'll have avoided cluttering my partitions while maintaining compatibility with Optimus and Nando's chainloader.

 

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