Tesla

Just for fun, I tried to use all GPUs (Intel iGPU, GT755m and my rx 470) and surprisingly it works.

-RX 470 -> External monitor as a main display.

-GT755m -> Laptop's monitor as a secondary display.

-Intel HD 4600 -> another External monitor as a third display using the laptop's hdmi or vga port.

You may run apps on them separately as the same time, however it is not practical to use. dragging an application from eGPU to the intel/or nvidia one causes the app to crash immediately. But yeah it is totally possible and doable

@skavi

External monitor is a must to play games. the internal monitor can only be used as a secondary display for windows applications or a web browser at most using the GT755m/750m. but yeah for the most part you're better off disabling that nvidia gpu and use the ports on your eGPU.

@skavi yes it is working fine.

First AMD did fix excessive power draw issues in a driver update.

Second, even with the power issues, the adapter is designed to pull all the pcie power from the external power supply too. so really its nothing being pulled from the y510p's motherboard.

ManyStrongWords has a video showing it running in his y510p

@David 'SOAP' Washington  Heterodyne's y510p is different than ours (Manystrongwords, Gerald and me). Now as for the 3.05 bios (model of y510p w/pcie3.0), I already checked it extensively before -with slv7 mod and without- and in both cases it gave me an error msg "remove the adapter...blah bla". I tried to mess with the advanced display settings in slv7 mod and I almost bricked my y510p (in fact I completely bricked it by setting the display to the external pcie lol) but was able to restore it back thanks to team viewer, I was able to reflash older version remotely.

I tried the version 1.05 and it didn't not work. Now for the slv7 mod on 2.07/2.04 that will help you out if you've replaced your wifi card. and that is what im running at the mean time (2.07 slv7) but the whitelist has nothing to do with the external graphics card.

I don't encourage you to mess with the bios a lot as it can be bricked. If you really want to, then at least buy some spare bios chips in case something goes wrong.

I've confirmed for the y510p that both 2.04 and 2.07 work well with the adapter.

@dan71 Try to hard reset your bios settings by dissembling your y510p and manually removing the coin cell battery on the motherboard.

@David 'SOAP' Washington Reading sensors from the egpu works fine just like it does on a desktop pc.

1 hour ago, David 'SOAP' Washington said:

Alright, mine adaptor has arrived yesterday and a new AMD RX480 arrived today. So I test it these days with two Nvidia cards and one AMD card, unfortunately ALL of them failed on my Y500(official V2.04 BIOS).

But it has a totally different failure behavior on my laptop. I can even get into desktop after entering the passcode, and it shutdown itself after about 30~40sec after I power on.

 

It totally cut down the power immediately just like what a computer acts when CPU overheating(definitely mine is not overheated at the time).

And I tried my best to open the device manager and took a pic of it before it shut down itself.

It recognized a basic microsoft video adaptor with an Exclamation, and I also succeed to get the detail info was "This device has no driver", but I have no time to take a photo before it shut down.

Then, I plug out the PSU power, and surely the laptop started normally, so I checked the hidden device, I can find the graphic card and the monitor.

So, It means that everything is OK before the shutdown.

 

Then I check it several times in different condictions with 3 different cards, not enter the passcode, windows blue screen recovery menu, and finally the NOVO menu(press the small button with an arrow icon beside the power).

In ALL condictions it shutdown itself automatically after 30~40secs after I power on.

 

I-Display works and E-Display blackscreen(but the monitor is not in standby condition, the monitor got the signal to keep power on until the laptop shutdown).

 

So did I get another kind of 30secs reboot issue(But mine is shutdown)? And my I-Display works because Y500 doesn't have a i-gpu enable at all and connnet the I-Display to d-gpu directly?

 

Because of the novo button menu also shutdown automatically, I think that it must come from the firmware level but not system level or software level.

@Heterodyne , Do you sure for successfully removing the blacklist? Is this different behavior useful for you to find out the trouble head?

 

@rusTORK , you got the very same version Y500(the only difference is mine is a chinese version), plz check out whether yours works well or not and repost it soon, thanks.

 

And Other chinese users will get the adaptors tomorrow, they will check it on v2.02, v2.03 Y4/500 and v2.07 Y4/510p soon, and I will repost soon after I got the results from them.

I just want to know something for sure, Does it cut the power when you say "shutdown" or the Windows shuts down regularly?

I had a similar symptoms when I tried the nvidia cards on my y510p but with a black screen and laptop failed to post.

unfortunately i dont have a Y500 to test on but I can imagine it could be either a bios thing or more probably some kind of a protection circuit that is kicking on.

I'm curious about your 4900mq, I found some on ebay but they're going for around 350$ atm, Is the performance diff from a 4700mq worth the money?

yeah when using an eGPU the sli bridge is always disconnected. just an open circuit on the motherboard.

8 hours ago, hayden55 said:

You can just unplug the adapter and slide in a tray adapter. Bam portable in 15 seconds.

Okay so i remember when i did my 1.0 x4 slot adapter the gtx 970 wouldn't run unless I disabled the 750m because if they are both installed it wouldn't run the 970 only the 750m. They just aren't compatible in the nvidia/device software. So I just purchased this adapter to experiment and see what I can do with it. Yeah so we'll see what happens. Honestly i'd consider de-soldering the 750m chip just to run the on board graphics and 970. OP look for my ebay purchase.

Although a bios modded told me personally I have to desolder the sli bridge to be able to use nvidia gpu. I don't believe that is the case. imo it is a bios whitelist that is causing the laptop not to post. In BIOS version 3.05 and beyond, the laptop does post successfully but it will ask you to remove the adapter.

Desoldering the dGPU might not be the solution. and it might even brick the laptop.

@lil kim Thank you. More pictures have been added as requested.

The adapter will hold strong. it has three unthreaded standoffs that serve as legs. you can swap them for something else(like some rubber feet) if you don't like it. but for me it does the job. As for the stress on the Ultrabay connector, i don't think there is any. As a safety measure I put a piece of foam inside the bay.

I actually read the whole thing and I am speechless. Kuddos for writing the article. It sheds light on the core more than any of the YouTube reviews I saw.

I didn't expect such a performance for a PCIe 3.0 x4. my expectations were way lower. Give it couple generations and we may see some real desktop performance on the thunderbolt bridge.

I have a question regarding the processors in XPS 15 and Razor. Are they dual core chips and quad core?

I dont have a y500 to confirm it. but it looks like thats how the laptop been designed.

@jew2jew y510p's mobo uses hm86 chipset which is essentially same as hm87 but w/o raid support.

Back to your question. you're correct that the chipset supports PCIe 2.0 lanes only. but the ultrabay or the PCIe connection to the graphics doesn't go through the chipset. it goes directly to the cpu. and the haswell i5 or i7 that comes with this laptop does support PCIe 3.0 x16 lanes.

Now 8x of those PCIe lanes connects to the dedicated gpu(NVIDIA GT 755) and the other 8x goes to eGPU through the ultrabay.

here is a block diagram to clarify it: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/chipsets/mainstream-chipsets/mobile-chipset-hm86-diagram.html

#Requirements:
1-AMD graphics card(NVIDIA cards are not working due to bios white-list).
2.External monitor.
3.External/Desktop power supply that has enough juice for your graphics card.
4-Stock bios version 2.07 or 2.04.(slv7 wlan whitelist mod based on 2.04/2.07 will work just fine).
5-Windows 10.

#Installation(step by step):
1-Uninstall Nvidia Drivers (Optional), disable your 750m/755m from the Device mgr. and shutdown.
2-Connect your Ultrabay adapter, eGPU, and PSU.
3-Connect your display to the laptop's HDMI/VGA (to install drivers).
4-Power up the laptop.
5-Windows should recognize the connected GPU and will display it as Basic Video Adapter in the Device mgr.
6-Download and install latest drivers for your graphics card (AMD or NVIDIA).
7-Unplug the monitor from the laptop's HDMI/VGA and connect it to the external amd card.
8-Reboot!
That is all.

#Performance:
The adapter provides PCIe 3.0 x8 bandwidth(x16 Slot) to the external graphics card. The overall performance will come down to your eGPU and CPU horse power.

I've been playing games using the MSI RX 470 4G and the performance is phenomenal. Witcher 3 on high/ultra settings w/
hairworks off gives me high 50s to 60s fps. GTA 5 60fps capped with vsync. CoD BO3 90-120fps on high settings.

So yeah the experience is pretty good. No crashes or anything of that sort.

#Benchmarks(Core i7 4700MQ @3.00 Ghz | MSI RX 470 Gaming X 4G) - Updated(11/1/2017):
#3D Mark Fire Strike(CPU: 3.4 Ghz | GPU Stock clocks 1350Mhz/1750Mhz)
Score            10360
Graphics score    12969
Physics Score    9077
Combined Score    4512

#3D Mark Time Spy 1.0 (CPU: 3.00 Ghz | GPU MSI_FactoryOC 1254Mhz/1675Mhz)
Score            3545
Graphics score    3620
CPU Score        3177
 

#Notes:
1-Use a quality PSU. I am using 600W Antec PSU. Yes it is an overkill for the rx 470 but better be safe than sorry I guess.

2-I was able to enable the laptop's internal display by simply re-enabling GT755M from the device mgr. however you can't run games
on it. but you may use it for running other softwares. I'd recommend to keep it disabled.

3-You may disable the Intel igpu (Intel HD4600) but I recommend to keep it enabled, You can simply plug a monitor to the laptop's hdmi or vga port without having to take out the eGPU or the adapter. This might come in handy if you wish to reinstall drivers or access windows safe mode, or even for installing another OS (Linux for example).

4-You won't be able to see BIOS/Windows loading screen on your external GPU.

5-The adapter runs perfectly fine with legacy bios and uefi. If you're running UEFI Windows then make sure to enable "Legacy First" Boot option in your EFI/BIOS settings.(Otherwise the laptop might get stuck in a boot loop and wouldn't post).

#Links:

Photo Gallary - Y510P stock BIOS version 2.07 - ManyStrongWords YouTube video - Gerald's Setup

I'd love to thank Gerald for his awesome adapter. It brought life back to my Y510P. so THANK YOU <3. and great job man.

imo this is the best laptop upgrade ever.
 

Hi @HCao, thanks for uploading the bios, yellowzelo has already uploaded it some time ago and it turned out to be incompatible with the adapter, Right now v2.04 and 2.07 are compatible with AMD cards only.

As for buying the adapter, you have to contact the OP "gerald" on this forum.

Quick Update:

I've just got my msi rx 470 and IT WORKED!

I had to uninstall nvidia drivers at first, and then i booted the laptop with everything connected, installed the drivers and boom its up!!!

I ran Witcher 3 and GTA V on pretty much maxed out settings and was getting around 60 fps. I will post benchmark numbers later.

So far so good. here are some pictures:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B8U0SJYr4cK5b0tRQVUwZTdBM2M?usp=sharing

BIOS: 2.07. Windows 10 x64 version 1511/Anniversary update 1607

well, I think on most laptops if not all, if you connect an eGPU, you wouldn't see your screen until windows boots in. so it could be an old driver interfering with it. I'm not sure. but thats usually the case.

probably a driver issue, try to fully uninstall old drivers and give it a try.

Same here, been trying to buy RX 470/480 but they are no where to be found.

@ghoul that is so cool. kudos!

@ghoul Oh wow. I'm impressed. now that is what you call a mod. literally lol.

I aint a fan of under clocking either. I have the single gpu model, so every Mhz counts.

@gerald I see.

I am going to get an AMD card anyway. but it would be nice if there is someone who can make a custom bios to support nvidia cards.

Also, Are you going to sell more adapters on ebay?

@ManyStrongWords Gerald's mentioned it previously that his adapter only takes 3.3v and ground lanes from the pcie and the power is supplied from the 24-pin ATX connector.

the 3v3 lanes can carry up to 3A and that translates to 9.9W. In case of the reference RX 480 (before they patched it with the new driver), the card pulled an avarage of 4W(with few spikes to 7W) from the pcie lanes which is within spec. however the 12v lanes power draw was the one out of specs drawing.

So if you think about it, it is still odd that even back then with your rx480, it shouldn't be a problem for the laptop and there is no reason for the crashes that you've experienced under load. my guesstemation is that your power supply couldn't handle the power draw from the 12v line on 24 pins ATX connector; or my second guess which is very unlikely to be the reason is I've noticed there is an smd voltage regulator mounted on the adapter itself, perhaps that one failed to deliver the power needed for the card.

after all, only Gerald can say for sure since he is the mind behind the adapter.

the Asus Strix sounds very compelling with its advertised 0W power draw from the pcie. also they've announced the Sapphire RX480 Nitro+

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/sapphire-nitro-radeon-rx-480,32306.html#xtor=RSS-100

but yeah as you said before, we should wait for the benchmarks and see the power draw specs before buying it.

@ManyStrongWords me either, i dont think slv7 mod will work because basically his mod works with mpcie which is connected to the south bridge, while the PCI-E interface on the ultrabay is connected directly to the north bridge.

I've also contacted an experienced bios modder and asked him about it, his response was:

2 hours ago, Klem said:

Hi!

Unfortunately I can't help you in this case. I think that in this laptop, on the motherboard soldered hardware Nvidia SLI bridge, when you connect ATI card, sli bridge will ignored, but if you connect any NVIDIA cards, sli technology will try to enable, but get error because mobile card and desktop card is too different. 

and it makes sense. so I guess AMD is the way to go.

I'll probably wait for the rx 480 or might get r9 390x.