hatoblue

So my GTX 770 got here and I realized I don't have an 8-pin PCIe connector on my PSU to use for it. My current PSU is the Cooler Master GX - 450W Power Supply. Would it be safe to buy a 2x molex to 8-pin PCIe converter or would I be better off upgrading my PSU? NVIDIA recommends 600W PSU for the GTX 770 but I'm not sure how relevant that is since I'm only running the GPU off the power supply. Edit: never mind, saw that other people said using molex to 8-pin can be risky so I just decided to buy EVGA 500 B off amazon.

I get a lot of screen flickering when trying to run an external monitor off VGA. The VGA port on the 2570p is pretty poorly designed, it doesn't have screw pins on the side to tighten the connector so I can never get a good connection with VGA. I switched to using DisplayPort when not using the eGPU and haven't had problems since.

Out of curiosity, is there any way to check how much PCI memory allocation space a GPU uses beforehand, like on its spec sheet somewhere? Or do we basically have to rely on what other people have tried before. I'm mostly considering the GTX 670 and 770 at this point, want to make sure they will be plug and play on my system.

Has anyone successfully done eGPU implementations on the 2570p with GTX 900 series graphics cards? Or if not what are some good graphics cards to get that work well with the 2570? Looking to upgrade from my 560 Ti, my budget is $100-$200

I have kind of a dumb question for you guys. I just ordered a Samsung Spinpoint M9T 2TB HDD (only $100!) to replace my old 500GB drive. If my OS + most applications are installed on my SSD, is it okay to just copy and paste the files from my old HDD to the new one? Not directly since I don't have a USB/SATA adapter, but using an external HDD as a middleman. The HDD mostly contains data and a few applications. I read some stuff about cloning but I don't want to bother with it if it's not needed.

So I finally got around to getting the Throttlestop results for my setup. It seems I ended up with one of the more efficient chips compared to the other i7-3630QM results from this thread. I was able to get up to x33 multiplier before it started throttling due to high temps. Am not using any heatsink mods atm, maybe I will try adding some in the future and redo my results. Also, the OP incorrectly states that I am using an i7-3720QM, maybe you can fix that when you get a chance @Tech Inferno Fan?

It is a QS though, so may be not as reliable as OEM new. On another note, I recently upgraded my 2570p to a i7-3630qm (was running the stock i5-3320m previously) and it's been working great. Only issue is that it seems to be running a bit hot. Idle temps are 55C and it often jumps up to 70C when doing multimedia applications like watching youtube videos. Gaming it goes up to 80-85C sometimes (although I haven't had that much time to play with it yet). Are these temperatures normal? They seem a bit high to me, I used to get 50C idle and 60C ish for multimedia with the i5-3320m. Also, would adding a copper shim help reduce the temperatures?

@phillofoc I use GELID GC-Extreme thermal paste, have simply been applying a small pea-sized dot to the processor before attaching the heatsink. Is that heatsink tinting method specific to AS5 or can it be used with any thermal paste? If so I will give it a try. I've tried putting a copper shim between the CPU and heatsink and I would still get the same error where the laptop boots to a black screen. Only solution that has completely eliminates the problem is using the factory i7-3320qm processor instead.

@Tech Inferno Fan Thanks, changing it to Gen 2 fixed the problem. My current spec is the following: i7-3720qm GeForce GTX 560Ti with x1.2Opt 4 GB RAM 500GB HDD 3dmark06 score was 23875, about 6000 more than my X220 I managed to get the i7-3720qm working by opening up the cover and letting the processor + heatsink cool down for a bit. However it seems that I have to do this every time I restart which is quite annoying, as the system will boot to a black screen with the blinking caps lock error if the processor is too hot on boot up. Also have ordered 4 GB more ram and a 256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD which should boost performance quite a bit I'll try to post throttlestop data once my SSD gets here and I get my system set up to be more stable.

Hi all, So after the fiasco with my last 2570p I ended up replacing both the notebook and the processor (i7-3720qm). Good news is that I managed to get the eGPU setup working with the notebook using the i7-3320m processor which it came with. Oddly enough GPU-Z showed it only being a x1.1Opt setup, even though I have a PE4L 2.1b which supports x1.2Opt on my X220 thinkpad. Is there some setting I need to change in the BIOS to allow faster link speeds? Bad news is that the i7-3720qm processor was working for a few days but today it stopped working and now the laptop only boots to a black screen with blinking LEDs, which HP support website says means that the CPU is not functional. Have tried reseating the CPU but no luck yet, may just be another defective processor that I have to replace :\

@jacobsson Ah, so replacing the CPU should ideally be fairly simple, i.e. you can simply swap out the CPU and boot up right away? I read on the HP support forums that sometimes it is necessary to reflow the solder for the CPU socket first in order to get it to work since the sockets have a tendency to fracture over time... In any case, I put back the original processor a few hours ago and it's still refusing to boot. Which suggests that it's probably a problem with the motherboard to be honest, am considering sending it in for HP to repair since it is still on warranty. Quite strange that nobody on this thread has encountered this problem before, since a google search showed that several people with HP notebooks had similar problems. Hopefully my experience can help future generations

@jacobsson Nope, leaving the 3720qm in overnight did not seem to work this time. I'm starting to worry I bought a defective processor since no one else seems to have gotten this problem. Anyways, the plan is to call HP support today and see what they say, and then I'll decide whether I want to return the 3720qm. If anyone has suggestions for things to try let me know. Edit: HP support was not very helpful, I am just going to try buying a new processor as see if that works.

@jacobsson Yes, I tried doing a 'hard reset' as was suggested by google. Kind of at a loss right now, I put back the original processor and I'm still getting the same problem. Going to give HP support a call today and see what they say, if worse comes to worse it's still on warranty! Edit: Strange, left the original processor in overnight and when I tried booting it now it worked fine. Maybe it just takes a while for the mobo to get used to the new CPU. I'll try putting in my 3720qm now and leaving it in overnight.

So today I replaced the CPU of my 2570p with an i7-3720QM processor, with a 25x25x1mm copper shim between the CPU and the heatsink. However when I put my computer back together and tried booting it I got a weird error. When I try to boot, the laptop makes some noises but all I see is a black screen while the caps lock and the num lock LEDs link three times. Then the fan starts spinning loudly but the computer still won't boot. Has anyone encountered a similar problem when they replaced their CPU? It was working perfectly fine before I replaced the CPU, did I just mess up the installation process somehow?

Hi guys, today I received my 2570p from ebay. Looking forward to modding it tomorrow, starting by replacing the CPU with an i7-3720QM. Also ordered some copper shims from ebay so I will try out the cooling mod that nando posted. However, the laptop that I purchased came with a 180GB SSD so I now realize I might need more storage. I was thinking about replacing the optical drive with an HDD in a caddy. Could someone with experience doing this check the parts that I will be ordering to see if they are compatible with the 2570p? The HDD Caddy I'm looking at is: SATA 2nd Hard Drive HDD Caddy Bay for HP EliteBook 2570P 2560p 2530p GU40N GU60N | eBay (only $12 so cheaper than the newmodeus caddy posted in the OP) And the HDD is here: HGST Travelstar 7K1000 HTS721010A9E630(0J22423) 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive (Standard model) - Newegg.com I know it has to be 2.5'' 9.5mm but just want to make sure I didn't miss anything. Thanks in advance!

I am not sure of the details myself, but on this ebay item (Intel Core i7 3740QM SR0UW BGA to PGA Laptop CPU 2 7GHz 3 7GHz 6MB Socket G2 | eBay) they mention it. Apparently they originally have versions of the processor with BGA socket and use a precision machine to add a PCB connection. They claim BGA cpus normally have better power and temperature control ability than PGA cpu. So I would think it works with the 2570p, which has a 988 pin PGA socket, but just wanted to be sure before potentially wasting my money on something that is incompatible with my system.

@badbadbad can you confirm that the BGA to PGA chips work with the 2570p? I am thinking about buying them on ebay from this supplier since they are reported to be new unlike the other processors for sale. But I wanted to be sure it will fit into the G2 socket so I don't waste my money.

Ok, you make a good point about the affordability of these systems. Guess I will upgrade to a 2570p setup for my eGPU with the 560Ti from my previous setup. Just to make sure, this should be a plug and play eGPU setup right (the first post says 560 is plug and play but doesn't mention 560ti)? Also, something like this i7-3740qm for sale on ebay (CPU Processor 3rd Gen 2 7GHz 6MB SR0UV Socket G2 Ntel Core i7 3740QM Mobile | eBay) would fit into the cpu socket for the 2570p, correct? Will the fact that it is used processor make it a bad idea for me to try to overclock the ME FW? Since this is supposed to cause CPU instability in the long run. Already ordered a PE4L 2.1b from bplus so now I just need to buy a 2570p as well as a new CPU. Probably not going to buy an SSD yet unless I decide that I need it.

I'm not too worried about my GPU falling behind since that is easy to upgrade with the eGPU setup. I may be wrong, but it is much cheaper and easier to replace my GPU than it is to replace an entire laptop, in my opinion.

Fair enough, so the Ivy Bridge architecture is still fairly comparable if not better than Haswell. But what about Intel's 5th gen processors which are coming out later this year? Wouldn't a system using one of those outperform a 2570p which is still using an i7-3xxx with lower power consumption as well? I am just a bit hesitant to purchase a new system when better mobile processors as well as new workstations to utilize the 5th gen Broadwell processors, some of which may be even better for eGPU usage and customization..

How good is the longevity of the modded 2570p eGPU setup in terms of performance for gaming? I am thinking about upgrading from my current Thinkpad X220T + 560Ti eGPU as I believe the weaker 2nd gen CPU is the bottleneck for some of the games I play. But I am worried that since the 2570p is a fairly old laptop, and not able to upgrade to 4th gen or further CPU, I may not be able to play newly released games in a few years. I am surprised though that the modded 2570p is still so high up on the leaderboard compared to newer systems. Is purchasing a 2570p + i7 chip + pe4l a good investment to make at this point?

Hi, I am currently running an eGPU setup with the following: Lenovo Thinkpad X220T, NVIDIA GTX 560Ti, PE4H-EC2C ver2.4 with 8GB ram. I have been using this setup for quite some and have been satisfied with the performance, but looking over these threads I became interested in finding ways to push the eGPU performance even further. I was wondering if it is possible to run a PCIe 2.0 link with my setup? For example, in GPU-Z it says that I am only using a x1 1.1 link, but I believe that the x220 series does in fact support expresscard 2.0, so I'm not sure why mine is only using a 1.0 link. For example, a user (Xav) with a similar setup found was able to achieve a x1 2.0 setup using pretty much the same materials as me (DIY eGPU experiences - Page 403). In his GPU-Z it clearly says that he is using a x1 2.0 link. So shouldn't the same be possible for me as well, and if so what do I need to do differently to achieve a 2.0 link? Also, apologies if this is a stupid question, but I am confused what is the difference between x1.2Opt and x1.1Opt. Is this essentially referring to differences in link speeds, in other words, supposing I were able to achieve a x1 2.0 link with my setup, I would have an x1.2Opt setup automatically? I believe I am currently running x1.1Opt, is there some way I can 'activate' x1.2Opt too boost my eGPU performance? Thanks in advance.