amarD

Is this the EVGA brand? If so, how is it powered?

Yes. There's no power in on the card itself--it takes power via PCIe. I have an old laptop power brick connected to the PE4L.

I have a GTX 750 Ti working with my Sandy Bridge ThinkPad (no internal dGPU) in Windows via PE4L. Everything works flawlessly, and given the performance of the eGPU and CPU, bandwidth isn't really a problem. I can play pretty much any game I want at 1080p/60FPS, and I would say my favorite thing about it is the fact that I can connect/disconnect and switch between "laptop mode" and "desktop mode" with just a reboot.

I also dual-boot Linux on my laptop, and that's actually my main OS. Windows is really only for gaming. But I want to play around with CUDA development in Python, and most of the tools available only work with Linux or OS X (out of the box, at least). Is there a way to use the eGPU in Linux and keep the "plug-and-play" functionality?

I thought you might be interested, so here are my 3DMark (demo) results using the laptop's internal display.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2620M Processor,LENOVO 4298W1C

Fire Strike: 3457

Sky Diver: 9127

Cloud Gate: 8712

Ice Storm: 23950

Better than 33% of all results (just eeks ahead of their "gaming laptop" score).

3DMark still crashes when I try to run the test with an external display.

I remember something like that happening when using Chrome with eGPU.

Thanks. I'll try it with Firefox/IE when I get home.

EDIT: I wanted to run some benchmarks for you guys, so I downloaded Steam and the 3DMark demo, which doesn't seem to be cooperating. I ran through it and got this error:

I've just bought an X230t for college with hopes to do an eGPU setup with the 750ti in the near future. If you don't mind, could you describe any issues you had with software or anything that you encountered after replacing the fried GPU?

There really wasn't much to it after I got a card that actually worked. One thing I might recommend is if you're using an AC/DC adapter instead of a proper PSU, get a USB A male to USB A male cable and a USB AC/DC 5V adapter to make things easier. While the power brick delivers power to the card, it doesn't actually power the PE4L, so it needs to either be connected via Express Card or USB cable to turn on.

Does anyone know what's going on with the CPU load, though? Even light tasks such as watching a movie will put it under stress and raise the temperature to ~80C. This doesn't happen when I'm not driving the display through the eGPU. I've heard that this is an issue with >8 GB RAM, but I only have 8 GB.

So it works now, but it puts the CPU under full load. Is that normal?

I finally got it to work!

Well, kinda ... It won't drive my external monitor. I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that I'm using a DVI to VGA adapter?

I just snuck into work to try this again ...

First, I tried plugging in my GTX 750 Ti into my work computer (running a Sandy Bridge i7 and GT 620). No dice. Confirms that the card is defective. Then I replaced back the GT 620 and booted it up to make sure everything still works.

Second, I took out the GT 620 from my work computer and plugged it into the PE4L. At boot up, between the POST screen and the Windows splash screen, I plugged in the PE4L via Express Card slot. The card started to spin--a good sign. But then my laptop didn't recognize the card--nothing in the device manager or BIOS, a blank external display connected to the card, and a message in the NVidia driver installer saying no devices were recognized. Could the PE4L be broken as well?

Just as a reminder, what I have:

ThinkPad X220 with a Sandy Bridge mobile i7 CPU and 4 GB RAM (2x2) running Windows 8.1

PE4L EC adapter

EVGA GTX 750 Ti

Ok, no it's no integrated GPU (which would be cool if it had), just wanted to check that the AC-adapter doesn't shuts down the PE4L.

So it lit up with EC only, is it still lit with AC-adapter + EC as well?

Yup. The LEDs only turned off when the card was inserted. Except now they stay on.

No problem buddy, not much of a help so far!

What GPU does your parents have, do you dare to test it in the pe4l?

EDIT1: the pe4l does light up w/o gpu attached when inserting the EC?

EDIT2: It still lights up attaching the AC-power and EC?

They have integrated graphics.

Before, it never lit up with the card attached, but now it does ... ?

Well that sounds f-ing crazy

Yep something is seriously wrong here.. Anyway about the jumper pin, is it attached (in place or just two empty pins)?

It's in. I played around with the two switches, but otherwise everything is as shipped. Thanks for the help! I'm hoping the PE4L isn't broken as well.

You mention earlier that you tried to fit in some various adapters (before I told you it was 12v) if remember correctly, did you ever managed to power anything with those? :S

"the PE4L fried my PCIe riser"

Do you mean that you've use any additional hardware except for the PE4L itself?

The theory of that the GPU might have drawn to much power from the EC-cable doesn't really make sense, since I have connected a GTX660/GTX670 on the PE4L and forgot adding DC-power a lot of times w/o any damage to the hardware (only PE4L leds lighting up).

One thing I'm thinking about is the pin jumper on the PE4L, maybe just maybe it needs to be in another configuration in order to utilize 5.5/2.5mm DC power. Please don't test this before reading up about it!

What jumper setting are you on right now? (not the SW1/SW2)

I didn't try plugging in any other AC adapters (they didn't fit). It seems like the card was already defective in the first place, after trying it with my parents' desktop. Either way, it shot sparks when I plugged it in the first couple times and when I tried using a PCIe riser with it, it fried the riser. I'm shipping the card back this weekend to see if a new one will work.

Hi Amad.

Could you please sum up what your findings are from all your troubleshooting so far?

I know that we recently had a user ( @rhx123 ) that sucessfully made an eGPU setup with the GTX750ti.

As I remebered he needed setup 1.x (from @Tech Inferno Fan) and DSDT override to make it work.

Oh, and he also uses the $99 EXP GDC v6.0 (shipping and 220W AC-adapter included) instead of PE4L/PE4H.

I haven't been able to get the card to work with the PE4L at all, as in it doesn't power up while connected and any LEDs that were lit up on the PE4L turn off immediately when the card is connected to it. The card doesn't appear to be the problem, as it powered on when connected to my parents' desktop (I didn't download drivers and use it though). My guess is that it needs more than a PCIe x1 connection to power the card (as it doesn't draw power from the PSU directly), and the fact that the EXP GDC uses a x16 connector seems to confirm my suspicions. In addition, the PE4L fried my PCIe riser, which might mean there's too much power being delivered through it and it needs a full length PCIe x16 connection.

EDIT: It appears that there's something wrong with the card. I tried it again at my parents' and while it does power on, the computer cannot recognize it.

Does the PCIe x1 connector have issues if you try to deliver too much power to it? The GTX 750 Ti draws power from PCIe alone, so I'm thinking maybe I need a PE4H instead of a PE4L.

Yeah you should test the card in a friends desktop just to be sure it is still ok.

The PE4L x1 connector is really shitty, but the card should not be able to just slid out, that I'm sure of.

Please report back if the card is functional or not.

I really wish I could help you more.

Thanks for the help.

I tried the card with my parents' desktop, and it seems to work (I just checked to see if it powers on, I didn't bother downloading drivers and actually using it).

They have a small prebuilt desktop, so I had to purchase a PCIe x16 riser. I thought maybe that would give it some stability, so I tried connecting the card to the PE4L again via the riser, and when I turned on the power it started smoking at the PCIe x1 connection ... Maybe I have a bad PE4L?

EDIT: Upon inspection, it appears that I burned out my PCIe riser (unless it came that way).

No actually the PE4L shouldn't have to have a separate 5V, but you never know it sounds like your gpu takes more power than stated.

Please report back as soon as you tested!

I got the USB cable yesterday, and the PE4L lights up when connected to a 5V power supply via USB, but the graphics card still doesn't work. Next step: check to see if the card is dead? Might be an issue ... I'm wondering if I can test it out with my work computer, but that might be a bad idea with all the NDAs I had to sign ...

Also, the x1 connection isn't very stable and the card slides off unless at a certain angle or unless something's holding it in place. Is that normal?

1. Are you powering the PE4L with 5V via usb (besides the AC-adapter for PCI-slot)? (like this dude)

2. You don't happen to have a desktop pc to check your GPU?

3. If you read on the adapter, does it say 12v 8A, just so the seller didn't just send you a ~80W 19.5V adapter or something?

4. Also, do any led on the PE4L light up when connecting the ac-plug?

The reason I really don't think you could have fried something is because the PE4L wants 12V (and 5V) and your GPU wants 12V, so if the AC-adapter is rated 12V you can't really burn something. The only thing logical test left for you now is of course to power your PE4L and GPU from a desktop PSU using floppy cable, SWEX and 6pin PCI-E power.

The result would then reveal if your PE4L/GPU are still healthy.

EDIT: Oh and one more thing, some AC-adapters seem to have a remote/connect handshake pin that requires GND to power on. This could be elaborated on later!

Oh wait, so the PE4L has to be powered by an additional 5V USB power supply? That's probably it ...

Unfortunately, I don't have a desktop on me at the moment, so I can't test it. But I'll try to borrow one if this doesn't work.

As of right now, the PE4L lights up when connected to the laptop via EC without the graphics card in the PCIe x1 slot and with the switch on "2-3" (PCIe x2/4/8/16 mode).

Hi Amad!

Sorry to hear that. When you say sparks, you meant from the wall socket right?

Does the GPU fan spin when turning power on?

I usually start my eGPU like this (step 1 to 4):

1. plug in everything but the EC.

2. turn on the power on the psu -> GPU fan starts

3. booting up laptop

4. just before win- boot logo I insert the EC

---First time install, add the following steps---

5. Check device manager if I see the 'standard VGA adapter' under display adapter

(If yes, then your adapter and card are recognized by the system.)

6. Asked to restart system -> Unplug EC, then restarts system (with EC unplugged)

8.Before win- boot logo I insert the EC

9. booting up laptop (EC now pluged)

10. Install latest Nvidia drivers

Actually, no, it shot sparks when I plugged the cylindrical socket into the PE4L, which is why it's so disconcerting. But that only happened once. The PCIe x1 port also has a small but visible ESD whenever I plug in the graphics card with the AC adapter plugged into the PE4L. And the fans don't spin, either.

I know the basic steps to set up the eGPU, but unfortunately the card doesn't power on and the computer doesn't recognize the PE4L ...

One other thing that I noticed was the AC adapter has a little LED that lights up when it's connected to the power, but it turns off as soon as a video card is plugged into the PCIe x1 port.

Right now I'm thinking either the AC adapter doesn't deliver enough power, or the graphics card burned out when the power brick shot sparks ...

Also, does the USB slot on the PE4L supposed to work?

Thanks!

@amarD I'm not sure if it's a power issue indeed. Do you have a PSU from a frien or laying around to make the test?

Unfortunately, no. I might have to buy one ...

The 750 Ti is supposed to take at most 80-something watts ...

So the 12V 8A power brick finally arrived.

Right now I'm looking at ...

An express card PE4L

A GTX 750 Ti

A 12V 8A AC adapter

A T60p with an express card 54, internal ATI FireGL V5200, 2 GB DDR2 RAM, Windows 7 32-bit

I'm still looking at laptops to replace the one I have.

So I plugged everything in, and ... nothing. I tried all the switch configurations, and I couldn't find an express card configuration menu in the BIOS. There were some sparks when I plugged in the AC adapter and graphics card to the PE4L, which I thought was disconcerting, but nothing happened. If the card isn't plugged in and the PE4L is connected to the laptop and set to x2/4/8/16 mode, it lights up, but the LEDs turn off as soon as the card is plugged in. From my understanding, it's more or less plug in, install drivers, and go? I'm thinking maybe it's because it's such an old CPU? Or does the card require more power (there's no lead for the PSU on it, as it's a low-power card)? If anyone could provide input, that'd be great.

The ExpressCard PE4L finally arrived! Unfortunately, none of the AC adapters I have fit ...

Which brings me to the question ... I'm planning on using this with the fairly low power 750 Ti. If I were to get an adapter for one of the 65W laptop power bricks I have to fit the connector on the PE4L, would that work, or do I need a proper PSU?

Oh actually I have an old laptop that worked very nicely but then the screen broke. The laptop can turn and the screen would stay black. So I wanted to figure out a way to repair it without having to change the screen itself which would be pretty costly.

Yup, same thing happened to me. After using it with an external monitor and a dead built-in display, I finally decided to remove the built-in display, before I bought a new laptop.

Hi, I'm really interested in how you managed to take apart your laptop in order to plug in your monitor. I looked around on the net but didn't find anything that would have brought me any close to what you've done. Good job BTW.

Um ... I just unscrewed everything. It wasn't a very neat job, and I broke a few plastic clips in the process. Fortunately, the T60p is fairly easy to open up, although it's still hard to disassemble entirely. As for the built-in display, you need to get at the hinges on either side. Sorry if it's not much help ... I didn't really have much of a game plan in doing this and it wasn't very cleanly done.

And sorry if the image I posted breaks a rule or something. I noticed that it doesn't show up anymore.

EDIT: I forgot, when removing the display, make sure you're careful not to damage the WLAN antennae, which can be fragile.

Okay, so after some delay, I finally decided to break out my old T60p ...

... while I decide on which laptop to buy. Just ordered the PE4L!

Just to clarify, the PCIe x1 slot works with the PCIe x16 connector on my 750 Ti?

I took me a while to find one for that cheap price that had USB-interface only. If you don't find any you can extend the proposed one with this: WiFi Mini PCI E Express Half Size to Full Extender Bracket Extension Screws New | eBay

Skickas från min iPhone via Tapatalk

Thanks. Actually, I have another WLAN card I'm going to test out once I'm out from work. If that doesn't work, I'm taking apart my computer to remove the WLAN card already in there and finally getting around to testing that in the other slot.

EDIT: Okay, so it turns out Lenovo whitelists WLAN cards in the BIOS, and I can't use anything but a Lenovo-branded card ... Ugh, so it looks like I either have to buy another laptop or build a PC (I'd rather not take up a USB port with a wifi adapter as I only have two and using a hub isn't ideal as I'm often on the go). In other news, the GTX 750 Ti arrived today ...