P4TCH

Greetings, I've been reading the FAQ and I still don't have one little detail clear. Owning a HP 8470p, do I get the PE4H with the EC connector or the PE4L? I've also been reading on the benchmarks about the performance loss; I take for granted that for connections through EC there's a 15-20% loss, TB1 it's around 5% and TB2 it's pretty unnoticeable, did I understand that correctly? My plan is to get a second hand 660Ti as a kind of placeholder for a year or two and then get a good AMD card like the 380X or whatever futuristic card but I've been thinking that the newer nVidia cards compress data and all that thus needing less bandwidth, isn't that a pro for EC eGPU users? AMD has gone raw power from my point of view, and that would be problematic for EC set ups needing more bandwidth, right? BTW, I'm going to encase all components and sit them on the desk, so the internal screen being 100% usable isn't really a huge deal for me. If I can use it it's better (reason to go nVidia), but if AMD gives more power on external screens regardless of bandwidth then I'd rather have that. Also, If I'm completely wrong on the bandwidth topic, DO tell me the cruellest way so I don't forget lol I'm sorry if this has been discussed before, but 528 pages is too mawch I'm sowwy

Hi everyone, long time reader, every now and then poster I finally found a good offer; a 8470p for 300€ with 2 years of warranty remaining; you gotta love non IT people at times. I'm ready to start getting the HW pieces needed for the egpu, but I had one doubt. You can mount an AMD card on a PE4L 2.1b (the one needed for EC, right?) but you can't do a 1.2Opt link on AMD cards. Is not being able to do a 1.2Opt link with AMD cards all that bad? I'm either looking for the soon to come 960Ti due to power consumptions or a R290/280 given both seem to be a beast when it comes to price/performance, but have a higher bus requirement and neither do I know if that's a problem. If the only annoyance is not being able to use the internal LCD, I really don't care because it'll be sitting in my desktop along with the docking station. Thanks for the help

Greetings everyone! I'm going to get a Fujitsu/Siemens A512 (the I5 2450m version, will probably upgrade to an I7-3XXX version at a later time), and I just get confused about all those PE4H and PE4L devices there are out there. The laptop does have an express cad slot, but I think it's worth writing because there's going to be a revision (version 2.1) of said device I need to buy. My questions would then be: 1. Which device would I need to get? I saw one link to aliexpress 2 pages back but I'd still like to have it clarified. 2. Should I wait for that new version to come out? 3. Would that laptop and an ATI 4890 work well together? I currently have a desktop I plan on selling, but if I can try out the system before I get it sold that'd be great. Thanks for the help!

I don't have a problem with that gpu, but I want to be ready in case I need an upgrade. If any laptop can get a 1.2Opt link with the mPCIe slow, I'm cool with that. Right now I only run Dota and Skyrim mostly, so the laptop's going to be okay. If in 3 years there's another elder scrolls title I'm going to want to get what could be an NVidia 1160 or something Thank you, that answered my question pretty much, if I need more firepower I have an MSI GT series at hand, could swap the GPU (currently a 570m) for that one and my GF gets my computer to play Sims 3 lol

Afternoon gentlemen (and gentleladies if any), I've set my sights on an Acer v3-772g. Long story short, 17" with 2 HDD bays and 1 mSATA. Bottom can be opened and I guess it has a mPCIe because it does have a wifi card, and it also has a dGPU (GTX 850M). Could we set up an eGPU project on that one? As far as I know, if it has a mPCI port it's possible, and being 17 it could very well have one of those laptop PCI ports, but unfortunately it costs around 700€ so I'm not going to ask for that. Any help will be very appreciated, I'm going to get it as a desktop replacement, in case anyone wonders about the size, because I'm moving from house to house and the desktop is becoming a burden...

Crap, looks like you're right. Maybe there's some kind of cable to get the mPCIe out of the laptop or something. Watching closely, maybe getting one RAM module out. I'll try out anyway, the laptop is not that expensive for what it has, and if I make it I'll be the first to use it for eGPU. It'll take some time anyway, because while I do need the laptop to work (ACER Aspire 5920 with more than five years...), games can wait, but will come later rather than sooner

I was going to copy a list of "Thank you" in several languages, but just seeing how far it goes, I'll stick to english.

Let's get into a practical scenario, since my main problem is with links speed. I get that computer above, it has a rather modern i5, normal consumption, as well as a dGPU, a 640m, which I can disable, and has optimus. I remove the bottom cover and realise that it has a mPCIe I can use for my eGPU. Which is the maximum PCI speed I can achieve? Sounds a bit like one of those "clear the X" math problems. I think it's a 1.X Opt, isn't it? The asus sv53 is kind of similar and achieves that link.

I don't really mind about the bottom cover. As said, the laptop will be sitting in the desk, not moving it much. What I want to do is a 1.2Opt link with that laptop, I've already read the ingredients list Would a laptop with no graphic card at all be a better choice?

Greetings, I've yet another "is this one suitable" question for you experts. I've been considering buying this laptop since I consider it a great offer for what it has. It's a Medion Akoya P7815, has an I5(3230M) an Nvidia discrete card with optimums and I THINK it has an mPCIe port. That my question. Checking these photos on notebookcheck I couldn't make up my mind (on links, so I don't take up much screen space HERE and http://www.notebookcheck.com/typo3temp/pics/196c115e65.jpg) and I think it's not an mPCIe slot, I think it's too broad. Now looking at its specifications it's an "Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 with Bluetooth 4.0", and by going into intel's site it seems like it is indeed an mPCIe WLAN card. Would then that laptop be a good choice? Still worse than an express card one, but the laptop is going to be sitting in one place for pretty much every day, won't move it much.

Then ultrabooks are difficult to access, got it. I was thinking of getting a refurbished one (DELL XPS, undercover almost fixed) from the UK, since I'm Spanish (no ñ for me on those ). Then would you recommend the laptop having discrete graphics or not? I've read it can make things complicated, and I don't really need one but I don't mind if it has... and I mean I really wouldn't mind. Then the last thing, I've always thought I7 to be a wasted on gaming since it has quite a bit too much power to fully use it with your graphic, but hey, I'm outdated. I7 over I5 any day? Is the price difference worth it? I'm finally going to get a refurbished Dell from their business factory outlet. Thank you so very much for your help.

Good morning all, I'm trying to make up my mind about which would be the best laptop/notebook to use with an e-GPU unit. Now the graphic card would be either a 560 (probably) or a 660 (Not too probable), but I just can't make up my mind on which laptop should I buy under 600$. Another question I couldn't solve from reading first page and some others; do Sandy/Ivi never come with a PCI-e port? Would I have to remove WiFi then? The laptops I'm looking at are the Acer Aspire 7750G (not bad specs...but big for a laptop) or the Acer TimeLine Ultra M3. I really don't want to spend more than 500$-600$ on a laptop, since that'll be mostly for working and playing LoL outside home on spare time. I'll be playing the tough games at home, stationary, where I'll stick to my eGPU. Thanks in advance. Side Note: I won't use the internal LCD at home, when using the eGPU. I'll be using an external one, and the laptop will be closed on top of those laptop refrigerators. I currently have an Aspire 5920 with a crappy iGPU alone. Would it work for me if I got the eGPU first then upgrade the laptop or should I upgrade first?