14" Asus G46VW + GTX780Ti@10Gbps-TB1 (Thundertek) + Win8.1 [ha1o2surfer]

[jacobsson]

Lol my bad, I meant Hwmonitor hwtools is an eGPU adapter manufacturer.

Hmm so the GPU fans should run if CPU temps gets out hand? Sorry if I misinterpret what you are saying. My GPU fan seems to stand still if no gaming is going on.

[Arise]

Hwmonitor is not reporting GPU fan for me. As long as you are using M52VA profile you will have control only on CPU fan, GPU fan will be under system's cotrol. Which could be just fine, because most of the time you are upset with the noise from CPU fan ramping up speed from time to time.

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[jacobsson]

Hwmonitor is not reporting GPU fan for me. As long as you are using M52VA profile you will have control only on CPU fan, GPU fan will be under system's cotrol. Which could be just fine, because most of the time you are upset with the noise from CPU fan ramping up speed from time to time.

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If you find a solution for both CPU and GPU fan control please share.

I was thinking running the GPU fan manually (on lower speed) could help keep a lower "ambient" temp inside the system too.

As you say, it's mostly the CPU fan that makes noise.

[Arise]

The only solution so far is kinda complicated. It involves ACPI calls.

First, dump the DSDT tables and decompile them and search if you have the method: \_SB.PCI0.LPCB.EC0.SFNV

This method takes 2 parameters: Arg0 and Arg1.

Arg0:

0 - reset fans to AUTO

1 - fan1

2 - fan2

Arg1: fan speed from 0x00 (Low Speed) to 0xFF (Full Blowing)

You can get more detailed info from a post made by prikolchik if you search for Fan Control on Asus Prime UX31/UX31A/UX32A/UX32VD on google.

How do you call this SFNV method on Windows?

For example you can try with an older version of Aida64, like 3.20.

At the left bottom, right click and select ACPI Tool from contextual menu. Then search for SFNV, click on it, query (not quick query) and add 2 parameters and feel the values in.

Remember that you can always reset back the fans to Auto mode by using 0 0 as parameters.

Also, keep in mind you need to deactivate Notebook Fan Control, this will not work if NBFC keeps messing with the EC Registers.

Now, last question, why should someone mess with this? Well, for example running benchmarks, you might want to keep your fans at full speed always to prevent throttling.

[jacobsson]

@Arise

Very awesome guide!

I agree, full fan blast doesn't bother me the slightest (since it's not near 2570P-loudness) during gaming or benchmark!

So I guess what we need is a simple GUI/shortcut made for easy manipulating of the arguments?

[Arise]

So far I had no success with this unfortunately, because manipulating ACPI calls is forbidden by Windows in the user land, you need to do that from a driver that runs in kernel mode.

So basically, you need two things, you need a frontend app, to present you a slider or a graph or some editbox to enter the values in order to adjust the settings and also you need a driver.

The frontend app is not that hard, but the driver is a little bit complicated. Also Windows x64 demands a signed driver, and you need a developer certificate (I think it is like 200$/year) to sign that driver. Ofcourse you can load the driver without the signature check, but this is not a solution for everybody.

The other option would be manipulating the EC registers, we know the offsets, we have a Ring0 kernel driver that we can use (WinRing0x64.sys) but in the end doing this would be kinda redundant, because NBFC is already doing that. Would be just easier to learn how to use/configure NBFC for your laptop.

The third option would be to find a driver that is doing ACPI calls and hijack its functions for our own purpose, for example Asus has such a driver to control ATKD/Fn-Keys (keyboard brightness, screen brightness, etc.). But is more like shooting in the dark, don't know yet what is there and if it is helpful.

[jacobsson]

@Arise

Thanks for clarifying the problem here.

The third option would be awesome, hacking one of those FN-shortcuts for manipulating fan speed with a look-a-like onscreen slider as the brightness/volume has

[ha1o2surfer]

100% on the fan controller program is not truly 100%. If the CPU temps reach above 98c, the fan (depending on which chip gets to 98c) will go into emergency mode and ramp up to 6k RPM.

- - - Updated - - -

The stress test suite of passmark 8.0 reports GPU fan RPM, FYI

[jacobsson]

So highest RPM is 6K for the fan? :S

[ha1o2surfer]

So highest RPM is 6K for the fan? :S

That is the highest I have seen my fan run.. and that is for the GPU, I have no idea what RPM the CPU fan is running at.

[Arise]

Just installed passmark 8.0 but there is no sign of sensors there. You sure this is the application?

[ha1o2surfer]

There is a stress test of some software suite that showed it.. darn, let me do some looking around. Sorry guys

[Arise]

As an additional note, I can say now that both fans can be turned off completely, the only noise is coming from HDD.

I made a video with the fans, will upload it a little bit later.

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[jacobsson]

Can they both be manually controlled too? Cool post that vid!

It's time for us to start a G46VW owners lounge

[Mr Baccano]

I somehow missed this guide while reading through as much of this forum as possible. Since your set-up seems the most similar to what I'd like to go for, could you perhaps comment on whether this would work?

Been reading a lot on this forum and I've been thinking about using an external GPU project, although I think I still have some questions. First I want to know which parts I'd need in total. So far I know:

EVGA GTX 770 2 GB (313 €)

350 Watt PSU (~35 €)

ThunderTek/PX (~190 € with shipping)

PCIe powered riser (~20 €)

ZBook 15 (i7-4700MQ, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 500 GB 7200 RPM HDD, K1100M, could be either Windows 7 or 8.1) for 1000 €.

- I think I still don't entirely understand how and if it would work. So the idea would be that the GPU and the PCIe powered riser would both be powered by the PSU, since otherwise booting up would be a problem?

- Furthermore, do I have to worry about TOLUD? Because this is still something I only have planned, so I don't actually own the laptop yet, but would that likely to be a problem or not?

- Also, in this I exclude the monitor I'd have to buy, since having an extra monitor is pretty handy anyway. But if this would work, I assume I have to reboot to get back to using my dGPU (and therefore using my monitor as a second screen)?

I hope I can be given some feedback on what I would be lacking and what the risks are, since from what I could see from the benchmarks this set-up could be in the range of what a gaming laptop with a 880m can achieve. Since this set-up would costs ~1560 € versus the ~2000 € which seems to be the costs of a laptop with a 880m, it would be a pretty good deal. However, if the risks are too large, I'd rather go for a mid-range gaming laptop at the same price.

At least based on this post I will stick to Windows 8.1 instead of trying to use the Windows 7 version which is installed on my current laptop. (That was my plan, since I haven't heard many positive things about Windows 8.)

[Arise]

Wait a second, I don't have a G46, I have a G750. But there are not so many differences between them I assume, so we can go for a common owner G series lounge.

Video here:

As can be seen, both fans can be turned off completely, NBFC can manipulate the fan speed.

Still not sure if it is glitchy or not, but the results are pretty ok I guess.

[ha1o2surfer]

The G46VW cycles the fan when the CPU temp is below 45c. It'll shut off for a couple minutes and then spin for 30-40 seconds. My Current CPU temp is 38c and the fan is completely off. The GPU fan will always come on regardless of temp at the lowest settings.

[Arise]

Yes, I think this is the default behviour. But did you tried to play with NBFC to see the results? It is much quieter.

Try to use my profile posted before, it could work just like that.

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[jacobsson]

The G46VW cycles the fan when the CPU temp is below 45c. It'll shut off for a couple minutes and then spin for 30-40 seconds. My Current CPU temp is 38c and the fan is completely off. The GPU fan will always come on regardless of temp at the lowest settings.

38c wow, under what circumstances?

[ha1o2surfer]

Yes, I think this is the default behviour. But did you tried to play with NBFC to see the results? It is much quieter.

Try to use my profile posted before, it could work just like that.

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You would be right but it actually causes weird results with me. around 38-45c (while the fan is off) I caught NBFC quickly cycling my fan on and off until I restarted my laptop. Might be a bug.. idk?

- - - Updated - - -

38c wow, under what circumstances?

Ambient temp of 20c and my CPU idling around 2.8watts with the default fan control of the BIOS

[Arise]

Repasted? Maybe with liquid?

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[jacobsson]

@ha1o2surfer

Finally got my riser yesterday but ran into problems (thought I had this down after 2+ years of eGPU implementations)!

I power my PX-pcb with sufficient amps (via 5.5/2.5mm) w/o a powered riser, and the GTX670 with sufficient amps, all from a 220W source that has been running this card flawlessly with my EXP GDC and PE4L.

The problem seems to be in the nvidia driver installation process, all my GPU's are visible w/o errors in device manager, still when trying to open up NCP I get something like 'no monitor attached to the GPU' and no go.

I have a few questions for my troubleshooting:

1. in order to engage optimus did you only have the eGPU connected/powered at boot-up, or did you have to disable the port for 660m in device manager? "if booted up with the eGPU plugged in, optimus is enabled for it"
   
2. Do you have any problems running the iGPU + dGPU + eGPU at the same time (of course no optimus here) to engage eGPU for external screen usage? "you plug in the eGPU after windows is booted you just get a third GPU"
   
3. Could you make a walk-through of your driver and eGPU installation process?
   

EDIT: It seems like question no. 3 is the only one I'd like you to answer.

Thanks a lot, I know you're busy man!

[ha1o2surfer]

@ha1o2surfer

Finally got my riser yesterday but ran into problems (thought I had this down after 2+ years of eGPU implementations)!

I power my PX-pcb with sufficient amps (via 5.5/2.5mm) w/o a powered riser, and the GTX670 with sufficient amps, all from a 220W source that has been running this card flawlessly with my EXP GDC and PE4L.

The problem seems to be in the nvidia driver installation process, all my GPU's are visible w/o errors in device manager, still when trying to open up NCP I get something like 'no monitor attached to the GPU' and no go.

I have a few questions for my troubleshooting:

1. in order to engage optimus did you only have the eGPU connected/powered at boot-up, or did you have to disable the port for 660m in device manager? "if booted up with the eGPU plugged in, optimus is enabled for it"
   
2. Do you have any problems running the iGPU + dGPU + eGPU at the same time (of course no optimus here) to engage eGPU for external screen usage? "you plug in the eGPU after windows is booted you just get a third GPU"
   
3. Could you make a walk-through of your driver and eGPU installation process?
   

EDIT: It seems like question no. 3 is the only one I'd like you to answer.

Thanks a lot, I know you're busy man!

For Windows 8 (with Setup 1.x)

1) Plug in eGPU while the laptop is off (be sure everything has power...)

2) boot into Setup 1.x, Disable dGPU

3) Compact iGPU and eGPU

4) Chainload into Windows and install drivers normally like any desktop or built in laptop GPU

For Windows 8.1 (without setup 1.x)

1) plug in eGPU and be sure everything has power (also be sure a monitor is attached to the card. If not, it'll claim it can't extend monitors because no monitor/projector is detected)

2) Boot windows normally and install drivers. Make sure to do a clean install of the nvidia drivers and that at least the iGPU drivers are totally up to date ( the chipset drivers should also be up to date or I get issues when waking up from sleep with a eGPU attached. For example, my dGPU becomes active again and kills the entire setup to the point of re installing drivers. I am still playing around with thunderbolt wake delays and such.

[jacobsson]

@ha1o2surfer

Thanks buddy!

I know these questions can be seen as extremely basic, but when troubleshooting there is nothing more valuable than to be able to compare to a healthy/functional system.

Yeah the monitor 'not attached' error is something I stumble upon, maybe my external monitor is the problem here(?).

[arclord]

Hi,

Does the ThunderTek use a 5.5mm x 2.1mm or 5.5mm x 2.5mm power adapter?

Thanks!