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eGPU experiences [version 2.0]


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I don't know if it will, whats the performance gain you get? Is it worth it to get a EXPGDC or the PE4C on a laptop with a reasonable card on its self (gtx765m)

Also what would be the most throttle, if there's any: Cpu (2.8ghz 3.5boost) or mini PCI-e?

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Platform:

-HP Pavilion g6 (bought new in 2011)

-Windows 7

-2.53GHz i3-380M CPU

-8GB RAM

-EXP GDC v6.0 (miniPCI-E version)

-eGPU (GTX 660 Asus OC)

-iGPU (Intel® HD Graphics)

-dGPU (AMD something, but i removed this video card from my laptop cuz on every forum was that dGPU is doing most problems with eGPU) //Sorry for bad english :/

-power supply (DELL D220P-01 DA-2 Series 18A 220W 8Pin)

Yes, i read "DIY eGPU Troubleshooting FAQ"

The problem is with detecting the eGPU:

1.

"Power ON notebook with eGPU already connected & already turn ON." Here are the results:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHZstUDvWus&feature

<spoiler>

As you can see the laptop turns on but its black screen and nothing more :/

</spoiler>

2.

"Connect eGPU to notebook but not turn ON yet. Turn ON notebook & before windows loading press F8 to halt windows loading. Turn ON eGPU & continue boot into windows." The results:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK-X12RtPNo&feature

As you see now the laptop can't turn on and the adapter is not to the power connected. The laptop is only connected to the adapter via miniPCI-E (i removed the wifi card to have a free slot)

3.

"Connect eGPU to notebook but not turn ON yet. Turn ON notebook. When you see "Starting Windows" screen & you see the four dots emerged to form windows logo, turn ON eGPU." Here is the result:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKQShoTuR90&feature

Like in the second point/method the laptop can't even turn on. So i turned the laptop on without mPCI-E cable and when it was saying "Welcome" (in polish) i connected the adapter to the laptop. The same problem is when its completely turned on.

Can anyone help me?

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Hi davide ! Sorry for the late... Here different pics of my bios, and I don't know how to verify if the Msata can be used as Mpcie....

Hi biker63, reading here and there I can't find a specific way to do so, just find MIGHT be possible but not a specific instruction to verify or do it.

Hope others more expert than me can give you a specific advice.

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Platform:

-HP Pavilion g6 (bought new in 2011)

-Windows 7

-2.53GHz i3-380M CPU

-8GB RAM

-EXP GDC v6.0 (miniPCI-E version)

-eGPU (GTX 660 Asus OC)

-iGPU (Intel® HD Graphics)

-dGPU (AMD something, but i removed this video card from my laptop cuz on every forum was that dGPU is doing most problems with eGPU) //Sorry for bad english :/

-power supply (DELL D220P-01 DA-2 Series 18A 220W 8Pin)

Yes, i read "DIY eGPU Troubleshooting FAQ"

The problem is with detecting the eGPU:

1.

"Power ON notebook with eGPU already connected & already turn ON." Here are the results:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHZstUDvWus&feature

<spoiler>

As you can see the laptop turns on but its black screen and nothing more :/

</spoiler>

2.

"Connect eGPU to notebook but not turn ON yet. Turn ON notebook & before windows loading press F8 to halt windows loading. Turn ON eGPU & continue boot into windows." The results:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK-X12RtPNo&feature

As you see now the laptop can't turn on and the adapter is not to the power connected. The laptop is only connected to the adapter via miniPCI-E (i removed the wifi card to have a free slot)

3.

"Connect eGPU to notebook but not turn ON yet. Turn ON notebook. When you see "Starting Windows" screen & you see the four dots emerged to form windows logo, turn ON eGPU." Here is the result:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKQShoTuR90&feature

Like in the second point/method the laptop can't even turn on. So i turned the laptop on without mPCI-E cable and when it was saying "Welcome" (in polish) i connected the adapter to the laptop. The same problem is when its completely turned on.

Can anyone help me?

Power on system with wifi card. Halt OS boot with F8/F12. Power on eGPU. *carefully* hotswap wifi card for mPCIe eGPU adapter. Continue OS boot and check the video card is detected.

This method overcomes two problems (1) BIOS whitelisting or disabling the PCIe port if a wifi OR whitelisted wifi card is not detected and (2) Hotplugging the eGPU adapter ensures CLKRUN signal starts with the eGPU adapter powered and ready to go.

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Hi biker63, reading here and there I can't find a specific way to do so, just find MIGHT be possible but not a specific instruction to verify or do it.

Hope others more expert than me can give you a specific advice.

Too bad... There are no other issue to test the Msata port ? Here a pic of the computer: http://www.jdhodges.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/DSC_7359-acer-aspire-V3-771G-motherboard-1200x869.jpg

Do you know someone who can help me ? However, thanks a lot davide !!!!

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Too bad... There are no other issue to test the Msata port ? Here a pic of the computer: http://www.jdhodges.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/DSC_7359-acer-aspire-V3-771G-motherboard-1200x869.jpg

Do you know someone who can help me ? However, thanks a lot davide !!!!

Please refer to Acer V3 771 schematic.

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Power on system with wifi card. Halt OS boot with F8/F12. Power on eGPU. *carefully* hotswap wifi card for mPCIe eGPU adapter. Continue OS boot and check the video card is detected.

This method overcomes two problems (1) BIOS whitelisting or disabling the PCIe port if a wifi OR whitelisted wifi card is not detected and (2) Hotplugging the eGPU adapter ensures CLKRUN signal starts with the eGPU adapter powered and ready to go.

I did what you said (the boot was by clicking F8 a few times), now im uploading the record for better understanding. After doing your instructions the graphic card turned on with max fan speed and i couldn't click on run system, cuz the screen was green, pink, blue and again green and it shut down automatically :(

I tried also to boot with F12 "Network boot" and the result was: when i connected the mpci-e cable into laptop it turned off quickly.

Any new ideas what could i do?

// The laptop is running now without the wifi card. So it's don't needed to start the system. I'm doing all via lan cable from my router.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCgc2DcgmJo

#Edit: added video, F12 info

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Please refer to Acer V3 771 schematic.

Thanks Nando for your answer, but to be honest, I don't understand 90% of the information present in the PDF... In your opinion, is that possible to convert the msata port to mpcie in the bios ? I mean that the port can accept an external egpu with my actual configuration ? if not, what do I have to change/ update ?

Regards

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Hi everyone,

I'am new here and I just bought the "EXP GDC Laptop External PCI-E Graphics Car v7.0"(on the way).

I noticed that every FoRUM that talk about this, refers to Laptops with Intel Core i3, i5 or i7;

In my case i have a HP DV6-3084 (AMD pure):

AMD Phenom II x4 2.0Ghz,

Radeon HD4000 "switchable" ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 graphics

8GB DDR3 RAM

128SSD+750HDD

Windowns 8.1 / Windows 7

What`s the suggestion for the eGPU?? ATI R7 260x or NVIdia GTX 7xx ???

My doubt here is not only performance, I'm woried about driver compatibility issues.

I really apreciate the effort.

*Sorry for the English, (from Brazil)

Raul Piccinin

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Hi Guys,

I have a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo XI3650 - 18,4" FHD / QX9300 / GM45 / 4500MHD - NV130M / 8GB DDR3 / 120GB SSD /W 8.1 - working along with an EXP GDC v6 (pcie-express card) @ MSI HD6850 Cyclone OC.

The setup works (with an external display) just fine, but I got some bandwidth issue. It is kind of okay, because I can get 14000 points (instead of 6300 - NV130M) out of 3DMark 06 and I can play older games very smoothly, but when it is time for a newer title it is just lagging as f... and suffering in low fps. (D3D bandwidth VGA Mem -> System Mem download: 160MB/s - Upload: 110MB/s)

Now, the XI3650 has an eSATA port and so as far as I know the eSATA has a bigger bandwidth than the pcie 1.1x.

So I was wondering is there any possibility to get an eSATA to HDMI cable and get it connected that way? (There is some shop online who sell such cable but over 500pcs only..)

Thank you very much for your help.

Regards,

Gensc

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@prosetheus

I'd go for the MSI GTX 970

- - - Updated - - -

I'd get the Gigabyte GTX 970 Gaming G1 over the GTX780Ti GTX 970 Comparison: STRIX vs MSI Gaming vs Gigabyte G1 . That card can be overclocked to > 1500Mhz boost clock overperforming the GTX780Ti.

The AMD versus NVidia question is more complex. Some games can be optimized more for one than the other. Consider reviewing some comparative benchmark results http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2109-diy-egpu-experiences-%5Bversion-2-0%5D.html#ati+nvperf . AMD doing some serious cost cutting since the release of the GTX9xx. Means might pickup a serious performance bargain. Though do note that there is no accelerated internal LCD akin to NVidia Optimus with AMD cards unless you pay for LucidLogix Virtu, which even then may not offer mobile support: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2967-lucidlogix-virtu-internal-lcd-mode-amd-egpus.html

Best would be if you could buy a GTX970 and R9 290x, run your important games on both and compare framerates and return the slower one.

Thank you for the suggestions guys. I ended up getting a MSI 970 to pair up with my W520. Hopefully I should be able to have a decent experience.

One more thing, and this is somewhat important to me. Can anyone confirm whether nvidia Gamestreaming works over pe4l expresscard connections?

That is basically a feature which allows nvidia cards to stream games to their Shield controller/tablet. I will be using Limelight, which is basically a hacked version of nvidias software that allows it to stream to any android device or even PC. Limelight is free and open source.

It would be very helpful for me if someone could let me know what I can expect with that by testing it out on their end.

relevant links:

What is nvidia gamestream? Stream PC Games from your GeForce GTX Rig | NVIDIA SHIELD

What is Limelight? Limelight Game Streaming

Where to get it from? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.limelight&hl=en

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One more thing, and this is somewhat important to me. Can anyone confirm whether nvidia Gamestreaming works over pe4l expresscard connections?

Good choice, I hope you got a non coil-whiny one =) (seems like the GTX900 series has a lot of that going on)

I don't see why it shouldn't work with limelight and gamestream, I mean your system is a legit system only on a crippled bus (compared to a GEN1/2/3 x16 bus).

I'm thinking testing my rapsberry pi as a limelight receiver since the concept is really neat!

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Hi guys,

everything has been going well with my PE4C 2.1 and GTX970, until last night when my Dell DA-2 power supply overheated and shut itself off.

My laptop blue screened mid game after about 2 hours of playing and the light on the DA-2 power supply which is normally green when active and an amber when off had gone out. I rebooted about 5 times in various configurations with no signs of life from the PSU (PE4C had only 1 solid red light on, the two green lights did not illuminate like normal) and the laptop would not detect the GPU.

I fetched my problem-solving whisky and by the time I had poured a glass the amber light came back and and the system booted normally.

My question(s):

1. Has anyone else experienced overheating DA-2 power supplies?

2. What can i do to stop it happening again?

I check my GPU-Z logs and the graphics card was running at full load with the TDP power rating at or slightly over 100% (presumably from GPU boost), though temperatures sat at 78*C and the fans did not rise above 50% so I do not think it was the fault of the graphics card.

For tonight I have propped the power supply up on little legs to improve airflow but because the entire thing is encased in plastic I do not think the DA-2 is particularly well designed for heat dissipation and I doubt it was ever designed to run full power.

Based on ~75% efficiency of the power supply and the 150 watt TDP of the GTX 970 I estimate that the boost TDP reported by GPU-z is still within limits of the DA-2 220watt power supply, but only just (Both 165 watt).

the new version of GPU-Z 0.8.0 I have just installed has an option called "PerfCapReason" which tells you why the GPU has decreased it's power, giving reasons such as Power, Temperature, Voltage Reliability, Operating Voltage and Utilisation. This could be really useful in my use since power through the DA-2 may not be as consistent as an ATX power supply. I will see if it reports anything.

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Hi guys,

everything has been going well with my PE4C 2.1 and GTX970, until last night when my Dell DA-2 power supply overheated and shut itself off.

My laptop blue screened mid game after about 2 hours of playing and the light on the DA-2 power supply which is normally green when active and an amber when off had gone out. I rebooted about 5 times in various configurations with no signs of life from the PSU (PE4C had only 1 solid red light on, the two green lights did not illuminate like normal) and the laptop would not detect the GPU.

I fetched my problem-solving whisky and by the time I had poured a glass the amber light came back and and the system booted normally.

My question(s):

1. Has anyone else experienced overheating DA-2 power supplies?

2. What can i do to stop it happening again?

I check my GPU-Z logs and the graphics card was running at full load with the TDP power rating at or slightly over 100% (presumably from GPU boost), though temperatures sat at 78*C and the fans did not rise above 50% so I do not think it was the fault of the graphics card.

For tonight I have propped the power supply up on little legs to improve airflow but because the entire thing is encased in plastic I do not think the DA-2 is particularly well designed for heat dissipation and I doubt it was ever designed to run full power.

Based on ~75% efficiency of the power supply and the 150 watt TDP of the GTX 970 I estimate that the boost TDP reported by GPU-z is still within limits of the DA-2 220watt power supply, but only just (Both 165 watt).

the new version of GPU-Z 0.8.0 I have just installed has an option called "PerfCapReason" which tells you why the GPU has decreased it's power, giving reasons such as Power, Temperature, Voltage Reliability, Operating Voltage and Utilisation. This could be really useful in my use since power through the DA-2 may not be as consistent as an ATX power supply. I will see if it reports anything.

Nice find with GPU-Z 0.8.0 there. @jacobsson also reported a problem with DA-2 powering his GTX970.

Would you mind refreshing your GUIDE at http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides/8148-%5Bguide%5D-17-dell-xps-l702x-gtx970%404gbps-c-mpcie2-pe4c-2-1-win7.html to explain how you got it all working, a 3dmark11/13 benchmark run and some pics? That's the first guide for the XPS L702x that we have. Thank you.

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Hi, I need help with regarding an egpu setup for my laptop.

I have a Compaq CQ43-206TU HM65 Chipset laptop that I got from my late mother and I wanted to keep it running no matter what. Currently it has a Pentium Dual Core B940 with 4GB RAM running on Windows 7 Pro 32-bit; which I am planning to upgrade into an i5 2430m (that's the highest compatible I could get) and 8GB RAM running on a Windows 8.1 64-bit SSD. I checked the laptop compatibility and it feels that it's kind of a grey area because some info says that intel chipsets lower than mine could run it but I don't see a similar laptop to mine listed so I wanted to ask to be sure.

post-31084-1449499876653_thumb.jpg

I wanted to run an eGPU setup that's why based on the stickies listed here and on various forums that I've researched I would ditch my wifi card and run the EXP GDC "Beast" and run it either on a 220W AC adapter or a 450W PSU. But then again I'm also planning to create a mini-ITX desktop which I'm saving up for Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and I could only buy the GPU right now which is the MSI GTX 970 Twin Frozr V.

So I have a list of questions for the experienced ones - even after reading all that I still have little or no idea on how to do this, I've tried other forums but it seems that people just look and pass by. I don't mind being told that it would not work or at least something because that would be better than nothing at all.

1. Would my planned eGPU setup (EXP GDC Beast mini-pcie + MSI GTX 970) work? After putting the 970 to the ITX build I'm planning to get another one so if that won't work then I could the best lower tier card I could get.

2. I still have no idea on how to determine my TOLUD since the numbers I got are shown differently from the examples here. I got these screen shots so if you could kindly tell me the answer and explain how you determined it I would really appreciate it.

post-31084-1449499876706_thumb.jpg

3. I read about the Setup 1.30 and I'm willing to donate if need to, I just wanted to know a little better since I'm only tech self-taught and not tech literate (I only learn through reading and even that has limits), and I hope I could get a step-by-step process starting the DDST override all the way to operating the eGPU setup. Could anyone help me with this please?

This may sound demanding and sorry for that but that is not my intention - I'm just frustrated in asking this several times already and getting brushed off just because I'm a newbie.

Thanks in advance.

aidzbelty

post-31084-14494998710172_thumb.jpg

post-31084-1449499876671_thumb.jpg

post-31084-14494998766856_thumb.jpg

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Hi Nando, I will re-write the guide with some pictures when i have some time and once I have ironed out all the issues (still can't reboot my laptop with blackscreen - no boot)

I have just retested the issue with the PSU on risers with an 80mm cooling fan and it crashed very quickly. Now I don't think it is thermal protection but over voltage/current protection.

Looking through the GPU-Z log file it reads as though the DA-2 cannot deliver the power required by the GTX 970.

For anyone interested here are the codes for GPU-Z PerfCap Reason in GPU-Z log.

1 - Total Power Insufficient

2 - Thermal Limits Exceeded, Performance Reduced

4 - Voltage Delivery Unreliable

8 - Max Voltage insufficient

16 - Card Not Fully Utilised (Max Performance Not Required)

These can be added together when multiple factors are at play, for example I got error 1 (total power), Error 12 (Max voltage unreliable and insufficient) error 13 (not enough total power, unreliable and insufficient voltage).

After testing some MSi Afterburner I have discovered that reducing the GPU clock speed does nothing to eradicate the Voltage errors, however reducing the "power %" bar to 80% seems to remove these voltage errors and give the generic power error instead, which is to be expected. interestingly the card drops the voltage from 1.2v to 1.175v but clock speeds do not seem to affected. What was it doing with that extra 20% power? I've not got time tonight to test it with Far Cry 3 or benchmarks but I will give it a go when I have some time.

What are the chances of plugging a second DA-2 into the ATX power supply socket through an adaptor? Or rigging two DA-2 together through an adaptor, then plugging them into either the DA2 socket or ATX socket? I can pick up DA2's for £10 each, but a suitable ATX power supply will cost me £30-£40.

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@rossysaurus

I'm following your every move since I too have the same problems.

My conclusion so far is that the faulty implemented power limits by Zotac starves the card hence making the voltage run up and down all over the place, this might cause problems for the DA-2(?).

There is now a unlocked BIOS available for all most all GTX 970/980 here (overclock . net). I will test to up my power limit so that the card can have some stability w/o throttling due to power limit. Hopefully the DA-2 like this better.

Keep up the good work buddy, I'm sure we'll find the answer to this!

EDIT: Jesus, T|I what's up with auto censuring of URL's? Extremely annoying and childish!

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Power on system with wifi card. Halt OS boot with F8/F12. Power on eGPU. *carefully* hotswap wifi card for mPCIe eGPU adapter. Continue OS boot and check the video card is detected.

This method overcomes two problems (1) BIOS whitelisting or disabling the PCIe port if a wifi OR whitelisted wifi card is not detected and (2) Hotplugging the eGPU adapter ensures CLKRUN signal starts with the eGPU adapter powered and ready to go.

I did what you said (the boot was by clicking F8 a few times), now im uploading the record for better understanding. After doing your instructions the graphic card turned on with max fan speed and i couldn't click on run system, cuz the screen was green, pink, blue and again green and it shut down automatically :(

I tried also to boot with F12 "Network boot" and the result was: when i connected the mpci-e cable into laptop it turned off quickly.

Any new ideas what could i do?

// The laptop is running now without the wifi card. So it's don't needed to start the system. I'm doing all via lan cable from my router.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCgc2DcgmJo

#Edit: added video, F12 info

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@jjbron

I guess Win+P -> Projector only doesn't do much for you? Try update 'check for hardware changes' in device manager too, sometimes I need to disconnect and connect twice to get external screen output.

Sent from my iPhone

I'm an idiot. Turns out the DVI cable was broken.

THANK YOU ALL. IT LIVES! NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor,LENOVO Base Board Product Name

post-29448-14494998767513_thumb.gif

EDIT: actually the screen goes black every once in a while when gaming, and "The display driver has stopped responding" appears. Any ideas?

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@jjbron (jjfish?)

What PSU are you using atm (12V amp rating)? Forgive me if I asked this already.

Sent from my iPhone

I'm using a Dell DA-2 atm, (model D220 P-01). It says it can output 12A-18A.

Wait, can the y470 + 560ti + EXP GDC v6 run at Gen2?

bron == fish?

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I did what you said (the boot was by clicking F8 a few times), now im uploading the record for better understanding. After doing your instructions the graphic card turned on with max fan speed and i couldn't click on run system, cuz the screen was green, pink, blue and again green and it shut down automatically :(

I tried also to boot with F12 "Network boot" and the result was: when i connected the mpci-e cable into laptop it turned off quickly.

Any new ideas what could i do?

// The laptop is running now without the wifi card. So it's don't needed to start the system. I'm doing all via lan cable from my router.

#Edit: added video, F12 info

Try swapping out the wifi card but only power on the eGPU after you've swapped the card.

I'm using a Dell DA-2 atm, (model D220 P-01). It says it can output 12A-18A.

Wait, can the y470 + 560ti + EXP GDC v6 run at Gen2?

bron == fish?

You raise a good point. I'm getting a fair few intermittent "NVidia driver has stopped working" issues with a EXP GDC V6 that I didn't have with a PE4L 2.1b. NVidia drivers having little fault tolerance if the link can't maintain Gen2 speed, requiring either downgrading the port to Gen1 link speed and losing half the bandwidth along with it or getting a better eGPU adapter.

ATM testing a PE4C 2.1 to see if it's any better than EXP GDC V6. Wonder if EXP GDC V7-Areas or newer EXP GDC Beast have better signal integrity?

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