RandyTucker

6 hours ago, pinkyfloo said:

Just to clear to my mind (PLEASE!!!) you're running the laptop screen powered by the desktop i5? or did you connect the GPU into the Laptop PCI-E interface?

The laptop screen is connected to the LCD Controller Board that is powered by a 12V DC adapter. The LCD Controller Board provides power to the laptop screen. The HDMI cable connects the GPU to the LCD Controller Board. The GPU is connected to the motherboard's PCI-E socket using a PCI-E extension cable.    

I changed the Dell Optiplex 390 Motherboard for a ASUS H81M-PLUS Motherboard with a i5-4460S. Also replaced the disk drive with a Crucial MX500. Added a power button on the redundant trackpad. Added a USB port to the laptop lid so I can attach a USB lamp. That pretty much completes the build.

2 hours ago, Brian said:

 

Do you plan on integrating a more powerful GPU?

I would replace the Dell motherboard first before upgrading the GPU but I don't plan to do that anytime soon. The GTX 750ti LP is fine gaming at my native resolution 1600x900      

14 hours ago, Brian said:

That is an insane mod, well done! 

Thanks! It's definitely a one-off mod to my knowledge. I've seen a few people use aluminium flight cases to make something similar to this but I've never seen anyone mod a laptop in this way. It serves my needs thus why I went down this route. Still have more bells and whistles to add, such as USB 3.0 ports on the side panel and a unique feature I will be adding soon.

Update:

Received the speakers that connect to the LCD board, bigger than what I thought. They sound great installed, lots of volume!

3 hours ago, 3RYL said:

Nice work
That's thick. Looks like one of these old portable servers from Eurocom heheh

The base is 6.5cm and total laptop thickness with lid is 7.5cm - Weight is 3.6kg compared to my old Dell D630 laptop that is 2.3kg. Those old Eurocom portable servers would be great to mod into a gaming laptop.

Received the LCD controller board from China and installed it in the laptop. Good quality board, no setup needed simple plug and play. Image quality looks fantastic, also no lag. Using a short HDMI cable to connect it to the GPU. I'm using a 12v 2amp power adapter to power the board but I plan to power it from the PSU in the laptop. The LCD board has a 4-pin speaker output so I ordered some 5w loud speakers to fit on the front panel. I still have the side panels to fit. Anyway, I've been gaming on it, surfing the net, streaming videos, etc. All good!

On 8/12/2017 at 9:11 AM, djemergenc said:

Wow, that is very ambitious, looks good so far. good luck

Thanks!

Build update:

Everything is going great so far. I have the new SFF PSU mounted and I also made a bracket to mount the Hard Drive. I've got the pci-e extender cable connected to the GPU. I booted the system up with an external monitor and played 'The Crew' with medium to high settings getting around 50 fps. The laptop screen has been replaced with a 1600x900 (Matte) screen but I'm waiting for the LCD controller board to arrive from China before I can connect it.

In the meantime I'm making the plastic paneling to go around front and sides.

Having pondered over a eGPU build I instead decided to put my GPU inside my 15.6 laptop by extending the laptop base. I have a Dell optiplex 390 where my GTX 750ti LP once lived but as I now spend more time with my laptop on the sofa the Dell optiplex is now a donor for my gaming laptop build. I'm using the Dell motherboard for this build. It has a i5-2400 CPU - 8GB DDR3 RAM - MSI GTX 750ti LP GPU. The Dell PSU is too big for this build so I will be using a Seasonic SS-250SU 250W PSU. The laptop used for this build is a Fujitsu LifeBook AH530 that has a 1366x768 LED screen, this screen will be replaced with a higher resolution 1600x900 screen. The extended base of the laptop is now 6.5 cm.

Parts needed to complete the build:

Seasonic SS-250SU 250W PSU

PCI Express 16x Flexible Extension cable

LP156WD1 (TL)(B1) 15.6" LED 1600x900 screen

LCD Controller Board

Ultra slim keyboard with touchpad

Work so far in pictures:

My mistake. A laptop charger could not power my 60-watt GPU, so an external PSU would be needed.

I have a MSI GTX 750ti LP GPU that gets all it's power from a 75W PCI slot. I'm thinking about getting a Dell E6520 15.6 Core-i5 1600x900 ExpressCard and 2 internal mini PCI-E slots for around £140 Will my GPU run on the laptop without an external power supply? I know how to use an LCD driver board to run the screen from the GPU but I'm not sure what PCI adapter I need to connect the GPU to the laptop. I would like to mount the GPU on the laptop lid but it's not essential. Also as the LCD driver board requires 12v input I could use the 12v eSATA port to power the LCD board with an adapter.

My idea with this setup is not to have any external power leads only the laptop charger lead. I haven't put any of this into practice so any suggestions before I take the plunge would be appreciated.