lukedays

System


Model: Samsung RF511-SD1BR (brazilian, but similar to US versions)
Processor: Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.00 GHz
Chipset: HM65
Screen: 15.6’’ LED HD (1366 x 768)
iGPU: Intel HD 3000
dGPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M 1 GB DDR3
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz (upgrade)
SDD: Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB (upgrade)
Has EC slot or Thunderbolt: No
Has mPCIe slot: Yes, internally, in which was a Broadcom WiFi card


External


eGPU: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 OC 3GB GDDR5 – Core 1000 MHz, memory 1375 MHz
Adapter: PE4L-PM060A 2.1b
PSU: Corsair CX 600W
Monitor: ASUS 23’’ Full HD IPS


Setup


•    Did fresh install of Windows 7 x64.
•    Did all the power connections: notebook DC adapter, PSU floppy connector on the PE4L adapter, PSU 6-pin and 8-pin connectors on the eGPU. Also plugged the PSU 24-pin connector on the SWEX.
•    Connected the high-speed HDMI cable between the external monitor and the eGPU.
•    Put the switches on the PE4L to x1 (SW2 position 1-2) and 6.9s delay (SW1 position 3). Jumper J1 in place (default).
•    Opened the notebook and put it upside down, supported by the screen, for easy access of the mPCIe slot, which is only accessible by removing the bottom frame of the notebook. Using wireless keyboard and mouse now.
•    Turned on the notebook and booted Nando’s Setup 1.10b5 + updates, via USB flash drive.
•    Turned on the eGPU + PE4L via SWEX.
•    Plugged carefully the PE4L on the mPCIe slot.
•    Pressed F5. eGPU detected on port 1!
•    Did 32-bitA PCI compaction on iGPU + eGPU ignoring the dGPU.
•    Changed the speed of port 1 to 2.0.
•    I needed to ensure pci_alloc_valid was 256 MB. I only achieved this by removing 8 GB RAM (there was 16 GB initially). Oddly, pci_alloc_valid at 128 MB gave me low Vantage benchmark results, although no Error 12 was displayed.
•    Chainloaded Windows 7 and installed the latest AMD drivers (13.2 beta 5). Rebooted, doing the same steps to detect again the eGPU.
•    I don’t know why some benchmarks resulted so low, particularly 3DMark06. I tried exchanging drivers, disabling ULPS, changing settings in CCC, overclocking… Does anyone have an idea?

Benchmarks