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kakashisensei

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Everything posted by kakashisensei

  1. Looks like a very interesting product. But if you need thunderbolt for the epgu, why even need the mxm gpu. Intel is releasing a skylake quad core NUC called skullcandy, that only has an igpu and a thunderbolt port. Might want to check that out.
  2. Isn't another major issue with plug n pray is that nvidia/amd will need to ensure their drivers support this usage? There will be situations with intel igpu only and intel igpu + amd or nvidia dgpu. I already have the alienware version of an egpu and when I use it, theres a mux that switches off the dgpu after reboot. Upon booting into windows, the driver initializes for the egpu. Even though the driver has initialized for the egpu before, it has to do the same thing every time I switch between the egpu & dgpu. It takes about 30 seconds and there is some flickering of the screen. I find it hard to believe nvidia drivers will work with the epgu plug n play without some driver update. I find it even harder to believe this would work ideally if the laptop also has a dgpu. Can't say for amd as I don't use one.
  3. I have an alienware laptop with graphics amp, and when using an AMD gpu it does work with the laptop screen through enduro. There is nothing special about the graphics amp connection, it is a pci-e 3.0 x4 connection. There is some proprietary alienware software, but I believe that just turns on/off the mux to switch between egpu and dgpu. The igpu is connected to the laptop screen. AMD had released a special version driver called the graphics amp driver when the graphics amp came out. But now I hear that any recent AMD driver should work. So not sure why custom egpu solutions still can't use the internal screen. Also, all the TB3 egpu demos have been using the external screen. There is no guarantee that TB3 will support using the laptop screen so far.
  4. Mobile G sync only works when the gpu is directly connected to the eDP display. If you want to display to the internal lcd with an egpu, you are gonna need an intel igpu as the intermediary. Currently, intel gfx does not support any kind of free-sync/g-sync like protocol. This could change in TB3, if laptop manufacturers or intel decide to have a dedicated way to route the egpu display to the internal lcd directly, but I don't think that will happen.
  5. I wonder if Intel's TB3 epgu support/implementation would support internal lcd use when there is an dgpu already in the laptop. It is likely that they will not have have any dedicated connection from the TB3 bus straight to the internal lcd. The only way to use th internal lcd with egpu would be optimus/enduro through the igpu. If there is a dgpu in the laptop, either the manufacturers must implement some kind of mux / switch or you have to use the messy software solutions to disable the dgpu. I have not tried out the software solutions, so I don't know how easy it is for the user to switch between dgpu and egpu. Btw, why is the TB3 bandwidth only 32 Gbps? What is the 8 Gbps lost to?
  6. The new macbook 12" only has a usb c port. Although the refreshed macbook airs got upgraded to TB2, theres a significant possibility that apple will do away with TB in the long run, similar to what it did with firewire. Most people don't need the bandwidth throughput and pure pci-express that thunderbolt provides. The average consumer prefers convenient devices, which may lead apple to drop TB in all its laptop products. Without apple, TB will fail. Intel and other laptop manufacturers will drop it as well. TB3 may not even see the light of day if this happens sooner. I don't want to be a doomsayer, but to me it feels TB will be phased out. The only remaining egpu possibilities are proprietary docks or slow 1x/2x connectors to mini pcie ports. What do you guys think about this?
  7. The alienware 14 doesnt support this. Only the new 13,15,and 17 do.
  8. Thanks for that update. Depending on the price and how good the screen options are, I might just pony up for an alienware instead of waiting for thunderbolt 3.
  9. I am stuck on whether to get a macbook pro 15" and build an akitio egpu, or wait for thunderbolt 3 which will be late 2015... But if I were to build an akitio egpu, I would try to fit a gtx 970 and the power supply all within the akitio chassis. I am not sure if this has been discussed before. This company called HDplex sells a miniature 250 watt modular power supply module. It requires the use of a 240 watt dell/alienware ac adapter brick. The HDplex module has 2 connectors for 6/8 pin for pci-e. There is an additional 4 pin that can be used for sata or molex, so a molex to barrel plug can be used to power the akitio box. If using the mini-itx gigabyte gtx 970, it looks like this power supply could be made to fit inside the akitio chassis as well. There would be some drilling involved for the screw mounts. Has anyone tried this?
  10. What range of performance drop is there likely to be running optimus internal lcd cloning mode, on a TB1 or TB2 connection?
  11. I'm strongly considering doing an egpu setup for my next laptop purchase, but internal lcd use is important to me. Looking over the FAQ, I am still confused when the internal lcd can be used. It seems that a nvidia egpu (kepler or newer) is much preferred. Does it still work if the laptop has a igpu + dgpu? I saw that the macbook pro 750m has issues using the internal lcd, but is that just because of apples firmware issue for optimus support in windows? I also heard nvidia removed internal lcd cloning support for older intel igpu in the latest drivers. Is that true? I'm shooting for a laptop with a high quality/resolution IPS screen, and thunderbolt 2 (or 3 when it comes out). The laptops that feature these are quite limited, being the macbook iris pro as the best solution. But I strongly dislike apple and their locked down hardware. I'd prefer to wait for lenovo's new thinkpad, hopefully it will have TB3. But it also comes with a quadro dgpu, so I gotta know if that will mess up the internal lcd function with optimus.
  12. 670mx, 675mx, 680mx do not post for the sandybridge gen msi notebooks. The reason is unknown, but it is something in the msi sandybridge gen and kepler gpu's. Now you're saying the 770m works in the 16f2, but 780m doesn't work? What the hell is going on msi???
  13. What voltage does monitoring software report for your card? I flashed a clevo 7970m with the 015.017 stock vbios in svl7's vbios pack in the first post. Technically, I think it's supposed to be 0.9V idle and 1.05V 3D clocks. But every monitoring software I use says its 0.82V idle and 1.00V 3D. Is this supposed to be correct for the 015.017 stock vbios?
  14. Turns out the 7970m from ebay was already bricked. I managed to borrow an alienware M17xR4 with same 7970m gpu w/ the latest 015.022 UEFI bios. When I installed the 7970m from ebay into that notebook, the card could not be detected at all, not by ATIFLASH, not in windows, not by ati drivers. It was displaying only through the integrated gpu. ATIFLASH always reports no adapter found. Did some snooping and previous posts on this forum say this happens when a botched vbios flash is done using ATIWINFLASH, and not ATIFLASH. The x-bracket on the ebay card came dented, so the previous owner pried it off and put it back on. I can conclude the previous owner did alot of tampering, and most likely bricked the card with ATIWINFLASH. I pulled the working 7970m and put it in my MSI notebook, I had the gpu hanging out because I wanted to leave the alienware heatsink on it, it would not fit otherwise. I tested with 015.022, 015.017, and clevo HM bios, and none of them could display in my MSI. I thought my motherboard was broken then. But on the clevo HM bios, I took off the alienware heatsink and stuck on a small heatsink just on the gpu die, so I can press the mxm card down towards the motherboard to properly seat it (although x-bracket prevents full seating because MSI doesn't use x-bracket). This gave me a working display and windows was booting. So I can confirm the clevo HM bios works with my MSI. But I cannot confirm if the dell 022 or 017 bios work, because I did not properly seat the mxm cards for those tests. Now I need to return the defective 7970m. Pretty pissed because the dell surplus ebay seller says it worked. He probably tested it and thought it worked, but in actuality the display output was just from the igpu. TLDR, to sum it up: -7970m from ebay defective (probably bricked vbios flash using atiwinflash by previous owner and ended up in the hands of dell surplus ebay vendor), vendor didn't really confirm if card worked but claimed it did -7970m w/ HM bios works in MSI 1761, could not confirm if dell 022 uefi or 017 bios work because of wrong mxm seating for those tests -original 570m gpu was the sole defective component all along, and it literally burned out when I tested it in another laptop
  15. I bought a dell 7970m off ebay to use in a MSI 1761. That one is sandybridge with no igpu. With the gpu attached, it seems the notebook is just stuck in a cycle of rebooting every 5 -10 seconds after I turn it on. And I have no display, as it is probably trying to send video signal to igpu. The sticker on the card says 015.021.000.000.000000 for vbios version, but the card is "used". The x-bracket looks dented, as if someone pried it off and put it back on. Could it be that this card has the win8/UEFI bios? Is there a way I can get this card to work through blindflash?
  16. Check it with a voltmeter. It should be 19V. If you wiggle cable and voltmeter drops alot, that could mean the connection is broken. Also open the ac adapter to physically check. Screws are under the rubber feet. You will need a torx screw driver.
  17. Sounds like you need to blindflash to vbios with enduro off.
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