moogleassassin

I looked at that a while back, but the same low resolution 1366x768 screen and no high res options killed it for me. I've got that in my X230T and it very frustrating at times

although.... if I could order it with a Quadcore Haswell Proc then I would probably go for it. I'm speaking to Fujitsu atm regarding differences between the UK/US models in terms of fan/cooling, power adapter wattage and BIOS compatibility. I would considering purchasing a processor separately and swapping it out - just need to check a few things.

Have you swapped to a quad core in your little HP?

X230T uses a soldered CPU. Only way you'd upgrade it's CPU would be having a pro desolder it and then add a 35W i7-quad like a i7-3612QM or i7-3632QM. Still questionable if after going to all the trouble and expense of doing that whether the system's cooling system could handle running one of those at full load. Would love to see someone try

A more practical option would be consider a Haswell 12.5" Fujitsu T734 tablet insteadl. It has a digitizer, expresscard slot and the US site lists it with a i7-quad option. Though Fujitsu systems can be quite pricey.

LIFEBOOK T734 - Fujitsu CEMEA&I

Fujitsu: Fujitsu America

I looked at that a while back, but the same low resolution 1366x768 screen and no high res options killed it for me. I've got that in my X230T and it very frustrating at times

Notebookcheck's E6440 review has a picture showing an expresscard slot though they don't list it in the specs. Dell Australia advised me that local systems here don't get an expresscard, but US ones get an option. If it can be equipped with one then it's about the best affordable thin-and-light Haswell eGPU candidate machine available: 14" 900P (with *likely* 1080P user upgrade option), socketted CPU, relatively thin and light, 3yr NBD warranty, HD8690M dGPU option, 6/9 cell battery options.

yes - it looks like it is an option in other countries but not in the UK... which sucks muchly

If not, I was advised by HP that they are working on their next gen very thin systems with Thunderbolt ports.

That would be excellent news... finally but as it should have happened 2 generations ago I'm not going to hold my breath until I see them. They have added them to the Zbook 15/17 already but that is not exactly portable and have no touch screen options.

Though a negative being Haswell being the last to have a socketted CPU option. If my 2570P had a 900P/1080P LCD it would be near on the best portable expresscard eGPU systems available atm (i7-quad, RAID-0 capable, eSATAp, 6/9-cell battery, 3YR NBD warranty). Haswell i7-quads see very little performance and power consumption improvement over Ivy Bridge.

I've got a Thinkpad X230T currently (similar to the HP 2570p, but in my opinion better as it has touchscreen/digitiser and swivel screen on it) and as I recall some Haswell chips are compatible with IvyBridge chipsets.... I'm now considering if I can put a quad Ivy or Haswell chip in my X230T if it is socketed.... (edit - just checked and the Lenovo X-series laptops are all CPU soldered. meh.)

The Sonnet Echo Expresscard adapter is a Thunderbolt to expresscard adapter. Since the W540 has both an expresscard AND Thunderbolt port there is no need to acquire that adapter. Just use the expresscard slot to begin with if intending to use a PE4L 2.1b (Expresscard to pcie adapter). Much simpler and will have a slight performance edge since there's no latency introduced going from pcie -> Thunderbolt -> pcie.

Perfect, that is exactly the information I was looking for. I wasn't sure if the speed increase possible with TB would allow the ExpressCard to hit its absolute maximum performance. If you think that native ExpressCard would receive better performance then I'm happy with that.

Only thing you might consider is implementing a faster native Thunderbolt eGPU. http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/3062-%5Bguide%5D-2012-13-mbp-gtx660ti-hd7870%40x2-2-th05.html gives a performance between x1.2Opt (expresscard) and x2 2.0 (~10Gbps Thunderbolt). Though the least expensive Firmtek Thunderbolt to pci-e adapter starts at $199 and requires some modification to host a full sized video card. REF: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/5793-cheapest-pcie-thunderbolt.html .

I'm definitely willing to buy a thunderbolt eGPU chassis, but from what I'm reading, TB is less "friendly" at the moment so given I already have a working ExpressCard viDock I'll likely wait until TB is available on more machines, especially tablet portable machines like my current X230T.

You may even decide the W540 is not much of an upgrade from a W530 and just stay with one of those, or a Dell M4700, if you intended to only run an expresscard eGPU implementation. Haswell's power consumption benefits are mostly confined to the ULT (ULV) platform that integrates the CPU+iGPU+chipset on the single die. The quad-core Haswell CPUs are only a fraction faster with minimal power consumption gains.

My ideal scenario is a Surface Pro tablet with a Thunderbolt port, I desire portability over most other things... I'm considering a more workstation device for the quad cpu and additional physics processing for gaming, but my ideal is still a Surface Pro or ultra thin notebook like Dell Precision 3800 or Lenovo Carbon X1... something like that.

Basically I'm just waiting to throw big piles of cash at whichever of these completely inept manufacturers decide to create a half decent ultra-portable machine with a thunderbolt port first....

Running a NVidia dGPU + eGPU is possible however the dGPU is given the Optimus internal LCD mode which also means the eGPU doesn't gain x1 pci-e compression. For best NVidia eGPU feature set it's advised that the dGPU be disabled. A less cumbersome way of disabling the dGPU than via the BIOS is doing it using the DIY eGPU Setup 1.x pre-boot software.

Just checking I understand this correctly, would the x1 pci-e compression only affect if I wanted to run the card to power the internal laptop screen? Or is it overall for external screen performance as well? If internal screen only I think I can live with that as I've only run it on the internal screen a handful of times.

Otherwise, have you considered a Haswell 14" Dell Latitude E6440? They can be configured with an expresscard slot, HD8690M dGPU (b/w a GT640LE and GT640M), have a socketted CPU so can be upgraded to a i7-quad and have a 900P LCD option. The LCD *probably* used eDP which would mean it could be upgraded to a 1080P or greater resolution panel. They also have real mouse buttons.

Interesting - it was my understanding that the Latitude E6440 cannot be configured with an ExpressCard? I have even called Dell to query this in the past and they have confirmed that although the website says it is an option - they do not actually offer it. Have you ever seen an E6440 with an ExpressCard slot? I would possibly consider it....

Afternoon all,

I can't see anyone who has tried to get eGPU working with the new Thinkpad W540 (unless I have missed something?). I have had my ViDock with Nvidia 670GTX running *flawlessly* on my current Thinkpad X230T via ExpressCard2 for the past two years and I'm considering picking up a new Thinkpad W540 to replace it as it has both Thunderbolt and ExpressCard2. I have a couple of initial questions:

1) I have not done eGPU with a laptop that has a discrete graphics card in addition to the Intel Integrated graphics - does this cause an issue? Will I need to constantly reboot for BIOS access to disable the discrete graphics when I want to use the eGPU and again to enable the discrete graphics when I want to do some gaming on the move? What are the chances I can simply run all three cards at the same time? (%eternal optimist mode engaged%)

2) I have my ViDock ExpressCard dock, while the W540 has an ExpressCard would I get any additional benfiit from picking up a "Sonnet Echo Pro ExpressCard PCIe 2.0 34 Thunderbolt Adapter"? Either in speed/throughput or plug and play connectivity over the current ExpressCard connection?

If off the back of the answers I decide to pickup a W540 I will happily do a full write-up of my experiences and lessons learned.

Thanks in advance

evening chaps,

Has anyone tried either Express Card or Thunderbolt eGPU connectivity with the new Lenovo W540 laptop yet? I might pick one up and wondering if any issues.

Regards

Afternoon Chaps.

Just a heads up. I've had my ExpressCard eGPU for close to 2 years and its been ace. I've just written an article/thread/thing and put it up on the Neowin.net forums to discuss my success with it and talk about it in general. Feel free to check it out, I'm hoping we can bring some new people to this community and help to make it more well known.

Every little helps - and a big

- - - Updated - - -

Afternoon Chaps.

Just a heads up. I've had my ExpressCard eGPU for close to 2 years and its been ace. I've just written an article/thread/thing and put it up on the Neowin.net forums to discuss my success with it and talk about it in general. Feel free to check it out, I'm hoping we can bring some new people to this community and help to make it more well known.

Every little helps - and a big

....reminder to avoid accidently clicking alt-s before you have finished a sentence, and also a big thanks to everyone in this community for helping me over the past few years.

The link to the neowin.net thread is http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1191969-external-gpu-for-laptops-supercharge-your-graphics/

Cheers