hugh

Gotcha. Maybe I can get away without the DSDT override then. But it was such a massive pain to do I want to believe it was necessary. Nice laptop you got there

Success. Big sigh of relief. Thanks @Tech Inferno Fan for your help! To recap, this is what worked for me to get a GTX 970 working with a EXP GDC 7.0A and a Lenovo W530 with Windows 10: Do a DSDT override. Then in DIY eGPU Setup: Ignore dGPU Set compaction target to 56.25GB Perform compaction on eGPU + iGPU Select eGPU + iGPU to go to 32 bit (or just eGPU) Disable dGPU Chainload to Windows

Thanks @Tech Inferno Fan and @griffinator I'll give that a go now and report back.

Hi, hoping for some troubleshooting tips. My setup: EVGA GTX 970 EXP GDC 7.0A with a Dell DA-2 PSU Lenovo W530 Windows 10 I previously had a GTX 670 working with the same setup and some tinkering using DIY eGPU Setup 1.30, but no luck with the new 970 (so far). When I plug in the eGPU to the power and express card slot and boot the laptop the lights turn on and the fans spin. DIY eGPU Setup detects the card. I perform the same steps that worked with my 670 in combination with a DSDT override (initiate eGPU, ignore dGPU, perform 32bit compaction on iGPU+eGPU, disable dGPU). There are no apparent errors. When I chainload to Windows the GTX 970 does not appear in the device manager and is not a detected display. I notice that when I use the "!Show State" -> "!NVidia-nvflash" command, the card is not listed ("No NVIDIA display adapters found"). It doesn't appear there after doing "Initialize" -> "eGPU" either. Is that absence from the NVidia-nvflash list a clue? Any other thoughts? Thanks! SCN000.BMP 10de13c2.bin 10de13c2.bin config.zip

Thanks @Tech Inferno Fan, I think I'll get a fancier cable and experiment with it to see if better plugs = less degradation = compatibility, but it sounds like in the end I'll probably have to settle for the built-in cable in order to hang onto Gen2 speed. I'm not clear what the real-world difference between Gen1 and Gen2 is, I guess this will be a chance to find out.

I recently got set up with an EXP GDC v7 (Ares) with the metal case and after many hours of tinkering with software settings it's running nicely with my Thinkpad w530 and an old GTX 670 graphics card. The 670 gets a little loud at maximum fan speed and I'm worried it's going to annoy my girlfriend, so I'm hoping to stick the eGPU+case in the closet. I bought this cable to try and extend the expresscard adapter cable but it doesn't work. It recognizes the video card but glitches on display. Does anyone know if I should be able to attach an HDMI+ethernet cable as an extension, or is there something special about the adapter cable that would prevent that from working?

Hi @Tech Inferno Fan, I tried chainloading into Win7 using MBR and BOOTMGR and I receive the same "a required device isn't connected or can't be access" error. No problem booting into Win8.1 (although I haven't been able resolve the display issue I have there). Any other thoughts?

Ok thanks I'll try that as soon as I can!

Thanks for the suggestion @gothic860. I installed Windows 7 as a dual boot to test if Win8.1 is the issue, but if I chainload from eGPU Setup 1.3 to Win7 I immediately get a black "Windows failed to start...a required device isn't connected or can't be accessed" failure screen. I searched the forums but apparently that's not a common issue. In Windows 8 or Windows 7? I have my K4000 dGPU disabled in Win 8, and un-installed in Win 7. Not sure where to go from here. I guess I'll try and find a 2GB stick of RAM and use it try to resolve my Code 43 issues in Win8.1 with a dump/load.

Hi @gothic860, yes I have, and thank you for writing it. Among other things I've tried following your steps with only these differences: I'm running Win8.1 I have a EXP GDC v7 instead of a PE4L I don't see an option in Setup 1.3 to choose between 32bit and 32bitA compaction, so I'm just using the default. That eliminates the Code 12 error but results in a Code 43 instead. With regards to that Code 43, I think my next step is probably to try this solution from the FAQ, but that's going to require finding/buying a 2GB stick of RAM since 4GB is the smallest I've got in my laptop. In the meantime it seemed like the hot-plug "solution" is really promising, so it's rather frustrating that the monitor doesn't get listed. I'm just not sure what the issue is there.

Thanks to some advice from @Tech Inferno Fan and @jacobsson I'm putting together my first eGPU set-up. I feel like I'm close but I haven't been able to cross the finish line. My eGPU appears in the Device Manager with its status listed as "This device is working properly". But when I connect a monitor to the eGPU it doesn't appear in the Screen Resolution display dialogue, so I can't actually choose to output through the eGPU. I earlier ran into Code 12 and Code 43 errors while trying to boot via Setup 1.3 but I've since discovered that the device seems to work if I simply disable my dGPU in Device Manager, reboot Windows normally (without going through Setup 1.3), and then hot-plug my eGPU. After a moment the driver appears in the Device Manager list of display adapters and appears to be happy but Windows doesn't seem to recognize that a monitor is connected to the eGPU. I've tried the HDMI and DVI (via a DVI to VGA adapter) ports on the eGPU. I'm using known-good cables and a working monitor. Any ideas? Platform Description: WIndows 8.1 Lenovo Thinkpad W530 20GB of RAM Zotac Nvidia GTX 680 EXP GDC v7 PCI adapter via Expresscard Dell DA-2 power adapter

@davide445 Huh that's interesting. And that benchmark chart you previously linked to was interesting too, I wish there was a version with the speed on the Y axis and the price on the X axis so I could look for standout values. Here's what I'm working with. It's PCIe, hopefully allowing for x1.2Optlink (whatever the hell that means) Lenovo W530 Intel Core i7-3820QM 2.7GHz Integrated graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 Dedicated graphics: NVIDIA Quadro K1000M 20GB RAM I have an ExpressCard slot. According to HWiNFO64 it has these specifications: Version: 3.0Maximum Link Width: 16x Current Link Width: 16x Maximum Link Speed: 8.0 Gb/s Current Link Speed: 2.5 Gb/s Device/Port Type: Root Port of PCI Express Root Complex

Thanks @davide445, that is indeed helpful. I don't do any 3D work with my laptop, the eGPU is going to be exclusively for gaming. Seems like Nvidia may be the default choice because of the handiness of the optimus driver switching and because they are good options for gaming, but I should be considering performance issues as well. I'll have a look at that benchmarking link. Is there a quantifiable threshold of video card performance beyond which I'm wasting my money because my laptop<->eGPU bandwidth will be bottlenecked?

Yeah now that I've ordered the bits I need from China to attach a graphics card to my laptop, I actually have to learn about graphics cards. For instance It was news to me that nvidia does not actually manufacture video cards, and you have to choose which manufacturer's implementation of the chosen nvidia chips you want to buy. Took me a while to figure that one out. So I really don't know. I'm looking for a balance between speed and power for now, not all-out performance. Does a GTX 660 make sense? Or are those out of date now?

Hi @jacobsson, DA-2 refers to the Dell DA-2 power adapter correct? If so it looks like I get a re-furb shipped up to Canada for about $30. If that's a good option, or at least a reasonably good and relatively simple option, then I guess I'll do that. Are there reasons I might want to choose ATX over DA-2 instead? I'm guessing these are pretty elementary questions. Sorry, I really have tried to read through the introductory threads but my head was starting to spin. This is my first time doing anything at all with dedicated graphics cards, let alone eGPUs.