smacannon

@StBalthazarI would highly recommend you spend the 8ish hours it takes to read this thread from the beginning. I found it to be an interesting story chronicling the issues and iterations the community worked through to fully utilize this unique interface limited to only 4 models of laptop.  By the time you're finished, you'll cover the basics of eGPUs, recognize what makes this particular opportunity for an eGPU special, and figure out why you can't find any y510p builds with other eGPU adapters. From a performance standpoint, whatever effort it takes to reconfigure your harddrive setup, it will be worth it to free up the ultrabay for @Swung Huang's adapter. Financially, it's hard to make the case for ROI, but you will be set to get every last bit of life out of your laptop. 

39 minutes ago, Swung Huang said:

Yep. The ATX connector on the board pinned exactly the same as the standard.. But a minor thing to notice, it’s a 20pin, not 24pin. If your 24pin is actually 20+4pin detachable, then you’re good. Or you may need to cut the connector or just jam that in there and hang the extra 4pin around

Jam it in was the plan I had in mind.  I picked up a couple 24-pin 90-degree connectors which I think will allow the PicoPSU to rest along the edge of ultrabay adapter.  The 1050ti gets its power from the PCIe slot, but I have another 6-pin to 2x 8-pin splitter in case I get a card that needs external power. 

Maybe I'll have pictures figured out by the time I get everything running.  For now, I'm getting this error: 

/var/www/html/IPS/uploads/monthly_2021_02 could not be created.

My power supply is ready.  Won't let me upload a picture, but I think it's going to work well.  Ended up going with a Dell DA-2 and PicoPSU. @Swung Huang's ultrabay adapter might arrive tomorrow if the weather holds, so getting excited for a weekend project. Does the atx connector on the adapter work the same as on a motherboard? Specifically, does the power on pin work for signalling the power supply?

Just want everyone to know this thread is still being used in 2021.  I'm going to do my first eGPU to get a bit more life out of an aging Lenovo y400, which takes a custom pcie "enclosure" that uses a 20-pin motherboard connector for power. I've got a 1050 ti card (75W TDP) that takes power only from the pcie slot, so I'm going to try using a DA-2 with a picopsu.

I'm excited by the idea of having 12V swappable power supplies around the house using DA-2s with 6-pin pcie to powerpole adapters and in-line switches coming off the remote pin.

I'm looking forward to adding a y400 (and Ultrabay Adapter "enclosure") build to the *********** list.  I got @Swung Huang paid today, then stumbled across a 1050 ti 4GB at Goodwill for $100, which bottleneck calculator has as a near perfect 4k match for my CPU https://pc-builds.com/calculator/Core_i7-3630QM/GeForce_GTX_1050_Ti/0ni0VZlu/8/100/.  I'm feeling optimistic about the project, particularly thanks to Swung having done a y400 build and @rusTORK having done a y500 build with awesome documentation.  I swear waiting for this thing to arrive is going to be worse than waiting for the Sgt. Slaughter mail away G.I. Joe when I was a kid! 

Tom's has the 1050 ti at 75W.  https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html What do you recommend for power supplies for this card?

Thanks everyone!

I have a feeling I'm going to be disappointed if I ever get around to trying an eGPU with an EXP GDC on my Y50-70.

1 hour ago, High_Voltage said:

@smacannon Hi and welcome on board! I'm glad you found this project interesting.

 

It's been quite some time since I've made the mods, but I'm quite sure I made one specifically for the Y400. I guess you'll find a link to it somewhere in this thread as I didn't create a separate thread for the y400/y500 version.

 

I also fully agree with @Tesla that getting a gt650m SLI would be a waste of money. That 100 bucks could probably buy you a gtx1050 or something similar.

 

That is, of course, if you're able to get the adapter at all. It seems like people have been struggling to source one recently...

Thanks for the welcome and for the work you put in to moving this project along.  I just finished reading this entire thread - I'll bet it took me 6-8 with diversions.   It sounds like @Swung Huang's latest iteration has many of the issues pretty well ironed out, so I think I'll give it a shot.

4 hours ago, Tesla said:

SLI support is very poor and 2x 650Ms aren't as good as even the lowest end cards. Plus you will need bigger power brick to run SLI.

If you can get the adapter + PSU + some GPU (even used is good) I believe you can prolong the life time of your system.

As for recommended GPUs that will not be bottlenecked by your CPU

(AMD: RX570s are a good deal if you can find them used or any of the newer Navi cards).

(NVIDIA: 1000/2000 series cards are good match, I recommend the 1660TI or Super, and if you wanna run 3000 series go with 3060 or even the 3070 should be fine if you play at 4k).

Thanks. I know there's no comparison on specs. The 650 SLI would be to squeeze a little extra life for $100.  I'm just on the fence about spending time and money on a project that may not work. I recently got a new laptop with a 2060 for $800 which is why the y400 is free to mess with. 

I'm hoping once I've gotten through all the comments, I'll feel more confident.

I think I might start with a RX 560 4GB while trying to get this working, then spring for something nicer. After looking at some of the benchmark comparisons and bottleneck calculator, it looks like anything more than a 1060 6gb would be overkill for the i7-3630MQ.

Spent some more time working through the forum.  Up to page 42.

Anyone currently using this in a y400?  What steps did you take to get it working?

With a i7-3630QM, what graphics cards would you recommend for gaming without bottlenecking the GPU?

I haven't shopped for a graphics card forever.  I know the market is crazy right now, so I don't really want to spend money on anything that will be bottlenecked by the CPU.

I'm torn between how fun this project could be and just picking up the Ultrabay GT650M for $100 to run with SLI until it dies.

My son's Y50-70 Touch is starting to struggle with some tasks.  It has the 860M with only 2GB VRAM.  I see the BIOS needs tweaked to upgrade the wireless card or look at an eGPU.

What upgrades has everyone done with these?

Spent the last few hours reading through this forum and my mind is mush.  I've got a y400 that I think could make it a few more years with an eGPU.  I e-mailed @Swung Huang about availability.

Anyone tried this in a y400?

Anyone else close to making some more adapters? @Karasiel?