Renovatio

@jacobsson:

I think one user here already showed that the PE4L 2.1b is Gen 3 capable (using a HTPC setup). So in this case it looks like a legit claim of Bplus. However, it is not much of a help for most eGPU-users as no laptop has a Gen 3 capable Expresscard slot or a Gen 3 mPCIe slot.

[News] Intel confirms that faster Thunderbolt (20Gbs) is coming 2014

New Intel Thunderbolt™ Advancements at the NAB Show

Thank you for posting this email here. Although there was already an announcement that the TH05 was discontinued (http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2680-th05-recall-notice.html#post36363) your email gives us new information.

Unfortunately this is really bad news if it is true that they "have no plan to develop new PCIe to Thunderbolt adapter".... :/

*bumb: @svl7: Sorry for bringing this thread up again and again. It seems that you do not have enough time to look into my BIOS. Therefore let me ask whether you know anyone else who could help me with my BIOS?

What happened to nando´s eGPU guide on the first page (first post)? His post is completely gone, including the FAQ...

*bump: @svl7: Did you get your system back to work? Did you find some time to look into my BIOS problem?

cheers

Try the two anti-whitelisting software methods that come with DIY eGPU Setup 1.x: !Save port and reassign buses. Details at PCIe ports->Anti-whitelist.!Save/Restore .

I tried that but unfortunately it did not help. On my other laptop Setup 1.x works perfectly fine and I really appreciate all the work you have put into that outstanding program!

@svl7: Thank you for giving it a try. I am very busy myself right now so take your time and don´t feel rushed or anything. In the meantime maybe you could answer some of my noobish questions

Edit: any news on your system restore?

*push

It seems @svl7 is pretty busy. Does anyone else know a solution for the E330 whitelisting issue?

This is really bad news! Thank you @zsph for doing that pioneer work for us.

I wonder if the PE4H 2.4 - PM060A also fails to do Gen 2 speeds (the one via mPCIe). Would be nice to have someone who could try this connection and verify Gen 2 support or find out that it also fails.

Hi svl7,

my current BIOS is: LENOVO 1.14 (BIOS ID: H3ET31WW), date: 13.07.2012

link to file description: http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/h3uj04ww.txt

link to the win7 BIOS update utility with BIOS 1.14: http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/h3uj04ww.exe

Do you know how I could find out whether or not my port 2 is mPCIe?

To be honest I have never updated any BIOS and definately never used a tweaked BIOS, so I am kind of a noob on that topic!

How does this work in general? What could go wrong? Is there a way to save a backup of the original BIOS and use that backup in case anything goes wrong with the modded-BIOS?

Sorry for the noob questions but I am new to this

Thank you for your help!

Hey Lenovo-experts,

does anyone know a biosmod for the new Thinkpad E330?

I´d like to use it with an eGPU-setup but I don´t want to do a hotswapping in order to get rid of the whitelisting. Maybe someone knows a bios/software method to remove whitelisting?

I´m not sure whether port 1 is really mPCIe capable or just mSATA but port 2 is definately mPCIe because there sits my wifi at the moment.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Otherwise, yes, a AMD HD7xxx@x2E card would do better on your G71V than the GTX560Ti and would even be better on your E330 if you decided to have a crack at overcoming the whitelisting by hotplugging after booting with wifi.

Why would an AMD card be even better on an Ivy-bridge laptop. I thought Nvidia + Optimus was the best solution. Looking at your chart I can see that the AMD performed better but are those cards in a desktop-pc performance wise the same?

What kind of AMD card is the equivalent to my GTX560Ti? An AMD HD7850?

Maybe I will risk overcoming the whitelisting issue in future but for now I am too scared to demage/destroy a brand new laptop. My ASUS G71V is more than 4 years old so I am more confident "experimenting" with this one.

I am enquiring with BPlus now about the Gen2 capability of PE4H 2.4a. I'm a bit surprised as I beta tested something similar to the EC060A item they list (soldered on EC2C end, mHDMI connection to PE4H 2.4a) back in Dec 2011 finding it would fail to reliably run a Gen2 link. I'll find out soon enough.

The [email protected] and [email protected] benchmarks at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2747-12-5-dell-e6230-gtx660%40x1-2opt-hd7870%40x1-2-pe4l-ec060a-2-1b.html#post37197 give an idea of what performance you'd get on your system. We see the HD7870 beats the GTX660 across the board except in Dirt2. The [email protected] results being the same as running a HD7870@x2E on your machine.

Thank you for enquiring Blus about the pci-e 2.0 capability! If the PE4H 2.4 (new and 2012 model) really has that capability would that mean that you could do a @x2 2.0 or even @x4 2.0 on Sandy/Ivy-Bridge notebooks?

Now that my new Lenovo E330 is not eGPU capable due to whitelisting issues, its seems that I have bought the "wrong" graphics card. I purchased an Nvidia-Fermi card in order to be able to use Optimus with my E330. Now I am stuck with my ASUS G71V as my eGPU-laptop which would perform better with an AMD card @x2E

Hi guys,

got a few questions regarding the "new" PE4H 2.4: First of all, has someone already confirmed its pci-e 2.0 capabilities? Secondly, is this really the same PE4H 2.4 you could order last year? If so, does that mean that somehow magically my PE4H could do pci-e 2.0?

Btw: I could not find an option to buy the "PM060A" (or possible PM100A/PM200A) seperatly. It seems you can only buy the EC060A without buying the complete PE4H package which is a bit odd.

PE4H 2.4 supports pci-e 2.0

Good news for PE4H 2.4 owners. According to a new update at PE4H (PCIe passive adapter ver2.4) where they've soldered the EC2C/PM3N end but left the other end detachable, PE4H 2.4 owners can now get pci-e 2.0 performance if attached to expresscard/mPCIe 2.0. PE4H 2.4 has a nice and study base so was my favorite as an open, free standing device.

Another topic I am wondering about is AMD vs Nvidia performance on my old IHCM9 chipset. As described here: DIY eGPU experiences - Page 46 and in Nando´s performance analysis (http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2747-12-5-dell-e6230-gtx660%40x1-2opt-hd7870%40x1-2-pe4l-ec060a-2-1b.html#post37197) it seems that AMD cards perform better in @x2 or @x2E situations.

Right now I am running a Nvidia GTX560Ti @x2 (non-Optimus) using Port 1+2. Port 3 is my expresscard slot where I have a USB-3.0-Card and Port 4 seems to be empty but I can´t even tell where it is located.

If I understand the x2E-configuration correctly, then I could enable this with an AMD card.

Would I get more performance from an AMD-card comparable to my Nvidia GTX560Ti? I don´t really know AMD cards well, so which card is the equivalent to mine?

It´s not like I am going to buy a new card right away but I want to know for future investments.

Unfortunately, you will most likely have to hotplug the eGPU at least once to be able to save the port configuration with the detected eGPU. What you can possibly try without hotplugging (someone correct me if I'm wrong) is to plug in the WiFi card, boot Setup 1.x, save the port, turn off laptop, plug in the PM3N (eGPU off), boot into Setup 1.x, turn on the eGPU and restore the port.

Curiously, my laptop does the exact opposite of yours, it boots up to a blank screen if the eGPU is off and boots up fine with it on.

Thank you for your suggestion. Unfortunately this did not work aswell. I tried saving the specific port, saving root, saving all ports. Neither of that worked with the PM3N powered up after restoring the saved configuration.

Since I am not willing to risk my brand new laptop (via hotplugging) just to try a possible (second) eGPU-Setup, I can only say that this particular modell is absolutly not made for eGPUs! I think that a msata-ssd (128gb) would be a great upgrade at least for the Lenovo.

Regarding eGPU I will stick to my main laptop ASUS G71V with n560-gtx-ti @2x

As for your eGPU not being detected, it's likely a whitelisting issue. Boot Setup 1.1x with the wifi card in the wifi slot, power on the eGPU then *carefully* hotplug the PM3N end (mPCIe) it into the wifi slot. Hit F5 to rescan the system details. If it's detected then play around with the Anti-whitelist methods to see if can get eGPU detected without doing such hotplugging.

@Tech Inferno Fan: This hotplugging with the wificard and PM3N seems to me rather dangerous! I do not want to brick my brand new laptop... What if it results in a electric shock and my motherboard is bricked... :/ Is there no risk-free way to un-whitelist my port?

I managed to connect the PM3N into the wifislot (Port2): if I try to boot with eGPU powered on then my screen just stays black. If I power it up first time in Setup 1.x then it doesn´t get recognized and nothing happens.

The long mPCIe slot in a Lenovo E330 is a mSATA/WWAN slot. It doesn't have pci-e pins connected so cannot be used to host an eGPU. See Review Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E330 Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews . You'll need to use the wifi slot then. The PM3N has perforations allowing it to be broken in half to use such a half-height slot.

I am a bit confused here because in that review you posted it states in the text and below the corresponding picture: "In addition to this, users also have a free port available, which is suitable for mSATA as well as miniPCIe cards, and therefore can be fitted with a cache SSD or WWAN card." and "In addition, there is still an mSATA/miniPCIe slot available."

so miniPCIe is NOT equiped with pci-e pins?!

Another issue with the Port2 half-card length: if I break my PM3N to test it with this slot, I cannot mount it properly anymore in my other laptop (ASUS g71v @2x via 2x PM3N). I would break the PM3N and then have it just losely connected if in use with my other laptop. It could be very easily unplugged :/

Btw: I tried to put the wifi-card into Port1 (the long one) and got following error on startup: "Unsupported network card is plugged in - power off ...."

I tried to connect the PM3N in Port2 (the short one) without breaking it to half lenght and therefore not fixing it with a screw. -> On start-up my screen just stayed black but the hdd and cooling system was definatly running.... weird...

Was it because I did not solder the PM3N with a screw? Or is Port2 also not capable of running an eGPU?

The fix for you is you either need a new bios from Lenovo that lowers TOLUD to 3.0 (or 3.25GB) to liberate 32-bit PCI space for eGPU use or perform the DSDT override to extend the root bridge into 36-bit PCI space. Unfortunately I can't see Lenovo producing a new bios as they have for expresscard-equipped systems as they didn't intend the mPCIe slot to be used for eGPU purposes. So then start reading up on the DSDT override.

As for your eGPU not being detected, it's likely a whitelisting issue. Boot Setup 1.1x with the wifi card in the wifi slot, power on the eGPU then *carefully* hotplug the PM3N end (mPCIe) it into the wifi slot. Hit F5 to rescan the system details. If it's detected then play around with the Anti-whitelist methods to see if can get eGPU detected without doing such hotplugging.

Ensure you set the eGPU port to Gen1 speed using PCIe ports->Link speed.G1/G2 for it to work with the PE4H 2.4. Once it all works with your pci-e 1.x PE4H 2.4 then I recommend you upgrade to a PE4L-PMxxxA 2.1b to get pci-e 2.x performance.

Nando thank you for your quick reply. I successfully managed to do the DSDT-Override (-> http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/5595/successfuldsdtoverrride.png)

However I did not fully understand how to do the anti-whitelist. First of all why do I need to use the wifi? My wifi is on Port 2 and Port 1 is empty. I would like to use the PM3N on Port 1. Changing Port 1 to Gen1 did not help unfortunately (-> http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/2307/scn006p.png).

Moreover I can´t put the wifi into Port 1 because one of the two antenna cables is too short to do that. The Port 2 slot is very tiny (half-card) so the PM3N + cable will have problems fitting in there.

I cannot anti-whitelist the damn Port 1 right? Or is there a way to do that?

Dear eGPU-experts,

I really need your help. My new Lenovo E330 somehow doesn´t want to work with an eGPU setup at all.

First of all here is my hardware lineup:

Lenovo E330

Intel HM77 Chipset

Intel i3-3110M (Ivy Bridge)

iGPU Intel HD4000

4 GB Ram (1600 DDR3)

eGPU connection: via PE4H 2.4a + PM3N (I am using this with my old laptop and wanted to test my new laptop with it)

I installed Setup 1.x and got the message that my chipset could not be identified. (-> Imageshack - scn000.png)

So far I managed to update Setup 1.x and now it recognizes my chipset.

Now the first really weird thing is my TOLUD. (-> http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/3694/toludissue.png) It seems to be 3.5 GB although I only have 4 GB installed. What is even more confusing is that Setup 1.x doesn´t know at all what my TOLUD is [@N/A] (-> http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8261/scn001.png) and it tells me that my chipset has 8 ports but it only has 4!

I tried PCI-compaction and got the following: Whenever I select compaction for all devices it results in a black screen with a blinking whicte cursor on the top left corner of my screen and just nothing else happens.

Choosing compaction mode 32-bitA and running that on the iGPU results in even less allocated space [32MB instead of 64MB] (-> http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3795/scn003.png)

Choosing compaction mode 32-bit and running that on the iGPU doesnt change the allocated space at all [still 64MB] (-> http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/8837/scn004.png)

Choosing compaction mode 36-bit and running that on the iGPU and allocating it into the 32-bit space results in 265MB allocated space BUT upon loading Windows and checking under device manager I still have the same TOLUD.

Moreover, my Laptop doesn´t recognize the eGPU at all. I am using the PM3N connector with PE4H 2.4 (all LEDs are green) on port 1. No matter which boot timing I use it doesn´t recognize the eGPU. I tried all timer setting on the PE4H itself and also on the PM3N. Nothing works. Is this because my TOLUD is screwed up or is this another issue?

As you can see, I am completely lost and would appreciate any help greatly! Thanks

BPlus tried to get pci-e 2.0 going but it would fail when there were mHDMI connectors involved. That's why they soldered it all together to eliminate those connectors. You'll note they have a variation, PE4L-L060A 2.1b which is their newer board allowing attachment to the older EC2C or PM3N. I was advised this too couldn't negotiate a pci-e 2.x link.

The approach then is to consider offloading your current pci-e 1.x specced PE4H 2.4 + EC2C + PM3N and get a pci-e 2.0 specced PE4L-ECxxx/PE4L-PMxxx 2.1b when you get your Ivy Bridge notebook.

Thanks for the explanation. I hope I got this right: the PE4L-L060A (PE4L ( PCIe passive adapter ver1.5 )) [$51 - blue plate] is PCIe 1.0 only because it is still v1.5 or the fact that it has one mini-hdmi connector. Or is a blue plate always PCIe 2.0? Then again, I would need more than 60 cm lenght. Like the PE4L-PM200A (PE4L V2.1 ( PCIe Adapter )) [$81 - blue plate] which is definitely PCIe 2.0 but cannot be combinded with the PM3N.

You are correct, both ends of the cable are soldered onto the PCB's, so when you buy the PE4L, you have to know whether you want the expresscard, mpcie, or PCIE1x at the end.

This is really disappointing. Why did they solder everthing together? I already have 1x EC2C and 2x PM3N and 3x mini-HDMI cable, so for me it would have been nice to just buy the connector itself. Right now I don´t need it but my next laptop will be an Ivy-Bridge-laptop of course and then i would need the PE4L not my PE4H :/

@Tech Inferno Fan:

Congratulations . x2 implementations are somewhat rare so good to see another one pop up. Now if you post full system specs and benchmarks like shown on the implementations on the first page I can include you in the list.

Did you see my post http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2109-diy-egpu-experiences-%5Bversion-2-0%5D-37.html#post33705 ?

Regarding the PE4L 2.1b (PCIe 2.0!): Is there a possibility to use it with a PM3N? It seems to me that the cabel on the PE4L is welded not only onto the PE4L itself but also onto the EC2C, or is it not? I can´t find a version with an PM3N as it seems to be replaced with a fixed minicard connector. (PE4L V2.1 ( PCIe Adapter ))

@Tech Inferno Fan:

Here are my full system specs:

ASUS G71V Laptop -> Asus G71V - Notebookcheck.net External Reviews

Intel PM45 Chipset (ICH9-M)

Intel Core2Duo T9400 2,53 Ghz @ 2,8 Ghz

8 GB Corsair RAM

128 GB Samsung 830 SSD + 500 GB HDD

Nvidia 9700M GT (GPU)

+

MSI N560GTX-Ti (eGPU)

connected via PE4H with 2x PM3N

2x Lanes performance (of course no Optimus):

3DMark06: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti video card benchmark result - Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9400,ASUSTeK Computer Inc. G71V score: 9053 3DMarks

3DMarkVantage: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti video card benchmark result - Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9400,ASUSTeK Computer Inc. G71V score: P9209 3DMarks (Graphic Score only: 12363)

3DMark11: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti video card benchmark result - Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T9400,ASUSTeK Computer Inc. G71V score: P3127 3DMarks

---

now regarding the X9100: Intel Core 2 Extreme X9100 Notebook Processor - Notebookcheck.net Tech

First of all it has a TDP of 44W instead of 35W (my T9400, or both T9800/T9900). So I dont know if that would even run on my laptop and it is also a question of cooling. I don´t know whether or not the standard cooling system of the G71V can take a 44W TDP processor.

Secondly right now I would say my limit is about $100 for this risky experiment. It seems the T9800 for $90 (trustworthy seller on eBay) should be okay.

Thirdly I´m not very experienced in overclocking so I have my doubts.

And last but not least, I need a new small laptop for my university, thats why I am considering the Lenovo E330 with an Ivy-Bridge CPU (e.g. i3-3110M) which is portable and has enough performance at home with an eGPU-Setup.

Not that I'm aware of, which is why your BIOS needs to be updated (if it's not the latest version) before you put the new processor in.

For me, it was simply running an .exe downloaded from HP's website. So long as you get the BIOS from your laptop manufacturer's website, it shouldn't be dangerous.

If you try ASUS G71V's site and put in your OS (scroll down on the page, under the download tab), you'll see a BIOS option. Download, run the latest BIOS option, and you're home free.

Good luck finding a repair manual, although I did find this video in my preliminary search. Maybe that'll help? (although I personally wouldn't use a drill to unscrew my laptop screws)

Thank you for doing some research for me. I´m in a rush right now but I can try the BIOS-Update later this week. The disassembly of my cooling unit doesn´t look too difficult for me. I guess if I´m going to do the upgrade it will be the T9800 because it is the only one below $100.

edit: the video in your post is just an example video for a lapto disassembly (they use an Acer laptop).

I finally got my 2x bandwith running, using a PE4H with 2x PM3N adapter and Setup 1.x. The key to success was to install Setup 1.x and force a 2x bandwith onto port1 before chainloading windows 7. I am quite happy with my system´s performance now. Though I know that my old and slow cpu is the bottleneck.

You can see the performance increase (in %) by comparing the different grafic scores from 3DMark Vantage (3DMark 06 depends heavily on bandwith which makes 1x eGPU even worse than internal GPU): GPU = Nvidia 9700M GT vs eGPU = MSI N560GTX-Ti

GPU def = 1790 -> GPU oc = 2050 ==> ~ 15%

GPU def = 1790 -> eGPU 1x = 8876 ==> ~ 396%

GPU def = 1790 -> eGPU 2x = 12363 ==> ~ 590%

GPU oc = 2050 -> eGPU 1x = 8876 ==> ~ 333%

GPU oc = 2050 -> eGPU 2x = 12363 ==> ~ 503%

eGPU 1x = 8876 -> eGPU 2x = 12363 ==> ~ 39%

@spaninq:

Thank you for your thorough answer. As you can see I already made the first step and got my eGPU-Setup running

The T9900 stills seems to be very expensive with ~$190 (from trustworthy sellers on ebay). On the other hand the T9800 is about ~$90.

I need to do more research as you advised. Unfortunately ASUS isn´t very nice when it comes down to providing repair manuals, especially my modul seems to be very rare (G71V, G71x is much more common).

Is there a way to find out which processors are support by which BIOS?

I haven´t done any BIOS update so far. Is it difficult or dangerous?

Alright, final update. I bought a used T9800 for my laptop, installed it, and it works beautifully.

Former processor was a P8700, with results posted here.

Hey spaninq,

I also have an Intel PM45 motherboard (ASUS G71V Laptop) and was thinking about upgrading the cpu aswell. Currently I have the T9400 (def @ 2,53 ghz, oc @ 2,8 ghz). Was the upgrading really so easy? Why did you take the T9800 instead of the top of the line T9900?

Looking at the CPU benchmarks at Mobile Processors - Benchmarklist - Notebookcheck.net Tech: I see only a slight performance increase in 3D06: T9400 ~2300 points, (my oc gives me ~2400 points), T9800 ~2600points, T9900 ~2800points.