IBLarry

You have several solutions to consider:

1. Get a NVidia GTX560Ti or GTX660+ instead of an AMD card that can allocate around that problem Motherboard resource. These NVidia cards require 128MB+64MB+16MB or 128MB+32MB+16MB respectively. Though I've explained previously that for your system that lacks an active iGPU, a AMD card will perform better

I couldn't get the HD7870 to work in the end, so I went out and bought a GTX660 and it works perfectly - I dual-boot Win7 and Win8 and it works great on both without any issues.

Thank you for all your help.

Likely due to having two different drivers for the AMD cards. Suggest try the following in order:

1. Set the PCI Reset Delay to 6.9s (SW1=3) on the PE4L 2.1b. Power on the eGPU slightly before powering on the system and boot into Setup 1.x, detect the video card, perform your 36-bit eGPU compaction, 'chainload mbr' to Windows. This is just in case hotplugging is causing the AMD eGPU to not be correctly initialized.

2. Look for a unified driver for both your HD6470M and HD7870 or create one by modifying the desktop driver INF files to include the HD6470M.

I don't have the card with me right now, but I was able to successfully install the desktop driver by including the mobility identifiers in the INF files as it already includes the same "chipset" (Vancouver)

On another note I am only able to get pci_alloc = yes [256] when I do a compaction of both dGPU + eGPU and force eGPU to 32-bit, otherwise given any other option I get yes [128] - is this going to cause any other issues for me?

Thanks

2. Perform a DSDT override allowing allocation into 36/64-bit PCI config space. This is the tried-and-trued solution used when encounter limits with 32-bit PCI allocation.

So I did a DSDT override successfully but I am now getting a code 43!! going crazy here

Please boot Setup 1.x -> Menu-based. Select Save Diags->compact_fails. Boot into Windows, run c:\eGPU\eGPU-setup-mount to get (v:), archive v:\diag folder, upload to mediafire.com and provide a link in a response.

Please see here as requested: diag

Thanks

IBLarry, my experience with the Sandy/Ivy Bridge Elitebooks (2560P/2570P) find that a NVidia GTX560Ti/GTX660 card can work without needing Setup 1.x. An AMD HD7870, with it's need for a larger 256MB contiguous PCI config space, required Setup 1.x's PCI compaction to be performed for those systems to be able to host that video card without incurring an error 12 against the card in Device Manager.

8560P is highly likely to also incur error 12 with that being the corrective solution.

So when I load Setup 1.x the PCI compaction fails unless I select 36bit or higher, however when I boot into Windows like this I get either normal windows with the eGPU not detected, or a 16-bit display and device manager shows the eGPU "working" but the dGPU is not present and I cannot change the resolution. It also shows a PCI Express standard root port with error 12, I am guessing this is related. When I shutdown I get a BSOD with "PROCESS_HAS_LOCKED_PAGES"

I have tried every permutation of pci compaction but cannot get it to work successfully, even with all the other PCI devices disabled.

Any ideas?

Lack of the iGPU means your system isn't x1.2Opt capable. You would get better performance from a AMD card such as your earmarked HD7870 over a GTX660.

Can see for yourself. Compare x1 2.0 NVidia (not x1.2Opt) versus x1 2.0 AMD at

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

As it seems you have a PE4L-EC060A 2.1b already you can easily test the performance of the system and decide if you need to upgrade to a desktop or not. You will need an external LCD. A H7870 eGPU at x1 2.0 will significantly outbenchmark a 8560P's HD6470M dGPU.

Thank you again for your reply. Is there any way I can demo this Setup 1.2 software? I am more than happy to pay $25 but if it doesn't work, I'd rather put that money towards a new desktop machine as I have already spent nearly $100 on the PE4L

IBLarry, my experience with the Sandy/Ivy Bridge Elitebooks (2560P/2570P) find that a NVidia GTX560Ti/GTX660 card can work without needing Setup 1.x. An AMD HD7870, with it's need for a larger 256MB contiguous PCI config space, required Setup 1.x's PCI compaction to be performed for those systems to be able to host that video card without incurring an error 12 against the card in Device Manager.

8560P is highly likely to also incur error 12 with that being the corrective solution.

This is great info, thanks for your help here.

Do you think I am likely to see any appreciable gaming performance increase against the inbuilt card if I can successfully run a GTX660 or do you think I should just buy a desktop machine instead..

8560P with AMD dGPU has switchable graphics, ie: no iGPU. An AMD card is a better option there as can get full x1 2.0 performance that nearly matches x1.2Opt at same card level but has no internal LCD mode. Still, OP has detection issues. Should halt Win7/8 loading with F8/F12, then hotplug the powered eGPU with the EC2C end into the expresscard slot and continue boot.

thanks I will give this a go - I noticed if I tried to cold boot the machine with the card plugged in it would do the normal POST checks (i.e. cycle num and key lock leds etc) and make noises but nothing would display - I tried connecting it as soon as the HP spash screen came up before windows even started booting but this did not achieve anything either.

1.If you can disable in bios dgpu then restart - if not you have to buy diyegpu setup

This is a stupid question but if I disable this how can I re-enable with no display if the egpu doesn't work for some reason?

Hello

So I have an HP EliteBook 8560p with i7 and integrated Radeon HD 6470M - I purchased a PE4L-EC060A, although annoyingly I having played about since, I have now seen there is an option in the BIOS to change the link speed on the express slot to 2x!

So the PE4L works with a PCIe NIC I had laying around, and I tried with an old Radeon HD2400 PRO, it picks up the card but there is no Windows 7 driver available for it (the site says there is, but looks like it is actually for Vista since when I try to install I get an error saying this driver is not for this version of Windows.)

Anyway, I connected up my 2GB HD7870 and it spins up but then nothing happens, the laptop does not detect anything whatsoever - am I doing something wrong here? I have had another look through the FAQ but I can't see anything relevant to my situation...

Any advice would be appreciated..

Thanks