eGPU experiences [version 2.0]

[Tech Inferno Fan]

After reverting back to Win7 and switching to an GTX 470 as eGPU, i finally got everything up and running...

However, even though the GPU should be able to handle Counter-Strike 1.6, I can't seem to get constant 100 fps. When starting CS: GO, there is much stuttering, even in the main menu and graphical errors.

Benchmarking with 3dmark11 works, I get 4200 points, so that should normally be no problem. GPU-Z confirms that x1 2,0 is running. Even switched the driver version back to 347.09, no change.

Do you have any hints or tips why I encounter that massive problems in real games?

Thanks in advance.

Please review tips in http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/10069-gaming-performances-behaviours.html

[Airat]

Hi guys!

Dell E6220 (i5 2520m, 6Gb Ram)

EXP GDC Beast (v8, I suppose. It has CTD and PTD switches)

Gigabyte Geforce 750Ti (borrowed from my roommate. Looking forward to buy geforce 960)

3DMark (Fire Strike) score is 3396 (graphics 3949, physics 3973, combined 1499).

Also i tested the new Unreal Tournament alpha: on highest settings, 1920x1050 it shows about 25-30fps. And Civ5 - 20fps on highest settings when camera is zoomed out.

I have a few questions. maybe somebody could help.

1) How do i make my pci-express work on full speed (5gb/s instead of 2.5 gb/s)?

I've read this and [url\http://forum.techinferno.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/9690-14-dell-latitude-e6430-performance-upgrades-system-mods.html]this thread. I tried to change the UEFI value of port3 (expresscard) to gen2, also forced my laptop to use iGPU (usually laptop disables it if egpu is connected during booting) and enabled eGPU like sangemaru http://forum.techinferno.com/dell-latitude-vostro-precision/9690-14-dell-latitude-e6430-performance-upgrades-system-mods-23.html#post145294'>suggested. But chanching UEFI values seems to have no effect at all. Could it be because i have e6220 and not the e6430?

So far I've only managed to force iGPU and eGPU work together by doing the following: 1) unplug expresscard and hdmi-videocable, 2) power on the laptop, 3) plug expresscard and then hdmi. If i hotplug the expresscard without unpluggind the hdmi eGPU won't start. (This seems to work regardless of changing UEFI values) But the pci-e is still on 1.1.

2) How do i know if the optimus compression is working?

[mini-me]

Please review tips in http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/10069-gaming-performances-behaviours.html

After reading some more threads and experimenting with the settings, it seems that my main problem is optimus.

On the external screen, everything runs smooth with high fps, but on the internal screen, no matter if I choose x1 2.0 or 1.1, everything is a mess of graphical glitches and flickering.

The only game that is running is Cs 1.6. In the Nvidia Driver menu, I've set preffered device to NVIDIA, so eGPU should be used right?

Any ideas why my optimus doesn't work as intended (I've also used different driver versions, even back til 341.xx)?

[Tech Inferno Fan]

After reading some more threads and experimenting with the settings, it seems that my main problem is optimus.

On the external screen, everything runs smooth with high fps, but on the internal screen, no matter if I choose x1 2.0 or 1.1, everything is a mess of graphical glitches and flickering.

The only game that is running is Cs 1.6. In the Nvidia Driver menu, I've set preffered device to NVIDIA, so eGPU should be used right?

Any ideas why my optimus doesn't work as intended (I've also used different driver versions, even back til 341.xx)?

Optimus does work as intended, it's just that using the internal LCD takes a large chunk of the precious x1 bandwidth for video display data. Bandwidth sensitive games will then become choppy as you've noted. Decreasing resolution and/or depth will decrease internal LCD bandwidth requirements.

The better solution is to increase bandwidth by using a TB2-16Gbps or TB3-32Gbps eGPU. That's 4 or 8 times more bandwidth respectively than 4Gbps-EC2. Though that requires a replacement notebook & eGPU hardware. It's certainly more dollars than your current x1 eGPU hardware.

[mini-me]

Optimus does work as intended, it's just that using the internal LCD takes a large chunk of the precious x1 bandwidth for video display data. Bandwidth sensitive games will then become choppy as you've noted. Decreasing resolution and/or depth will decrease internal LCD bandwidth requirements.

The better solution is to increase bandwidth by using a TB2-16Gbps or TB3-32Gbps eGPU. That's 4 or 8 times more bandwidth respectively than 4Gbps-EC2. Though that requires a replacement notebook & eGPU hardware. It's certainly more dollars than your current x1 eGPU hardware.

The choppiness is only occuring with the new NVIDIA drivers, now I'm using 331.xx and it runs smoothly. However, the general performance with the internal screen is very low.

When I was using my dGPU, the benchmark results were very low (a bit more than 1000 in 3dmark11 compared to 4200 with eGPU), however the gaming results are quite the same as with the eGPU, although all benchmarks indicate that I have 80-90% of the external score. Are the benchmarks that bandwith-unsensitive compared to real games? I thought that CS:GO would be a rather undemanding game, but I had problems in L4D2 and TF2 as well.

Furthermore, I'm having problems with BSOD Nr. 113 and 116 from time to time, but those are only occuring in internal screen mode. I would have expected decreased performance, but not total crashed. Is this a normal behaviour or is something messed up in general with my setup?

[lbarnes]

Good day,

I am really new at this forum, I hope I post to the right thread.

I put together my stuff almost a week ago (Hp8570p *ATI dGPU 7550* + EXP GDC Beast V 7.0 + GTX 560 Ti + Windows 10 64 bit), I got through these steps:

- I started the eGPU with hot plugging into EC slot, the system did not recognize it, after I moved the delay switch to the central position the eGPU was recognized, and external display went on, but after 1-2 minutes it went off again and got error code 43.

- I got setup 1.30 from Nando, I run it from a USB stick, but chainload does not work as I experienced. I have partition GPT and did not changed it to MBR yet. I made some let say tests in setup 1.30, but I am not sure what I did, let say I was like a blind man. Then started the system. The eGPU became more stable. I can run it all day using office softwares and doing my daily job, and error 43 has been disappeared.

BUT:

- when I start a game, and the eGPU has overload on it, switches off the external screen. Sometimes the eGPU remains on in the device manager without problems, and I also see it in GPU-Z active, but the external display is off, and I can bring it on when I restart the system again, and hotplug the eGPU after Win 10 is running.

I have an external display with VGA connector on it, the other end of the cable is DVI connector. I tried it with a display with a DVI connector on it with a DVI DVI cable, but the display even not switched on after a restart and a hotplug.

Do you know what can be the problem?

Thanks.

It works fine now also on GEN2!

The solution was,:

I removed all graphic drivers, then I installed 353.30 nvidia driver package for WIN10.

The driver was a problem as it seems.

[Makoto]

Hi. I am actually trying to build a gpu in my laptop, and have one question.

Forgive my bad english...

System : Acer laptop

eGpu : pe4c 3.0

Graphic card : GTX750ti

Connection : mPCIe (by removing mPCIe wireless lan card)

I can boot (with switch enable for delay) without problem, the LED on the egpu are green, fan running.

But windows do not detect the card.

In device manager, there is only the onboard gpu show.

I check the wireless lan card and can still see it in device manager. Even if i disable, or delete from the device manager, it detect again and show it again... (of course the card itself is removed, and the egpu is on)

Is the cause is that the mPCIe port is whitelisted ?

Can it be solved with setup1.x ?

[Alex1994]

Hello, dear friends!

I've got my lenovo x220 i7-2620M 2.70GHz 8Gb RAM BIOS 1.40 (latest) + bPlus PE4C v2.1 + Zotac GTX 560 + Gygabyte Power Supply 650W.

I set everything properly as you can see on the picture attached.

I link PE4C and Videocard to 650W Gygabyte power supply, link videocard with PE4C and insert ExpressCard jack in my x220.

On powering on my notebook powersupply and videocard start working, but neither new videocard is shown in video adapters inset nor external display is working.

Don't know what to do, guys! May be there are some people who can help me with my problem!

Will be very thankful!

I see that on YouTube

He's playing GTA V and I just wanna play too! =)

p.s. (ON THE PICTURE EXPRESSCARD IS NOT INSERTED, (I KNOW THAT))

[Airat]

Guy with Dell e6220 reporting again.

Finally bought gtx960. I also managed to run it on express card gen2 - I had to downgrade my bios, a02 and a01 are compatible with gen2. It worked pretty well for a couple of days: 5300 on fire strike bench, smooth 60 gps with max settings in new Unreal tournament, no crashes etc. But yesterday I decided to test skyrim, and after a couple of seconds the driver crashed, then again and again, finally the laptop went to reboot. Since that moment I can't launch windows using a gen2 slot(a01 and a02 bioses). The card stops sending signals to the monitor after the loading step with black screen and blue windows logo (sorry for my english). I've tried reinstalling windows, reinstalling drivers - it didn't help.

Now I installed the latest bios (gen1 ec) and the latest (358.55) drivers. It still crashes from time to time (installed by windows by default 355.58 also crashes) and works only on x1.1 speed.

I'm going to try some old drivers, and then if that doesn't help maybe i'll try installing win7 or win8 (now i have win 10). If that helps i'll try to enable gen2 again... if not, i don't know what to do.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

If that helps i'll try to enable gen2 again... if not, i don't know what to do.

Replace the EXP GDC Beast with it's problematic socketted cable for a PE4C V3.0 or PE4L 2.1b with soldered cable. The socketted cable adds transmission reflections causing Gen2 signal unreliability.

[Timilllo]

@Tech Inferno Fan I did the implemention here for an external monitor http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides-pc/10305-11-clevo-w110er-gtx960%404gbps-mpcie-exp-gdc-beast-win7-64-%5Btimilllo%5D.html

But i can't use the egpu in LCD internal screen mode :S Any help?

[Airat]

I haven't tried all these things I wrote yet, but it seems that you are right since other people from exp gdc thread expirience the same problem. The exp gdc can't handle gen2. The only thing that makes me wondering - why did it worked so well (on gen2) for two days?..

[silenhunter03]

Hi All,

Can anyone suggest if which will be better for Adobe After Effects. HP2540P + GTX 560ti + exp gdc beast or HP2540 + GTX 570 + exp gdc beast?

TIA

[Buslay]

Hello everybody!

My system:

Samsung np550p5c CPU: i5 3610M, iGPU: intel HD4000, dGPU: nvidia gt650m, eGPU: PE4C V3.0+GTX960+Chieftec 750W

I have few questions.

I have connected eGPU via PE4C V3.0 . When i have deleted all drivers with "DDU" and then installed 350.12 desktop drivers and reboot it causes blue screen. I was thinking what the problem is it. I have reboot in safe mode and disabe dGPU, now eGPU works, but.... it works only with external LCD.....how can i fix it?

in addition, maybe somebody knows why FPS drops there are when i playng? (from 60 to 20).

P.S. I had solved a problem with FPS drops (just install razer cortex)

P.S. Sorry for my english...

Thanks for your answers!

Hi all!

Nando helps me to configure Setup 1.30 and connect my eGPU correctly, thanks him for this!

Really cool men, respect!

Regards,

Dima

[davide445]

Using eGPU setup as in mine signature.

Interested to evaluate upgrade W7-->W10 also switching from internal HDD to msata SSD.

How safe is in term of eGPU usage?

[lordjakubek]

Hello,

I have a problem with Setup 1.3 boot windows after configuration. I make all like in Acer AS5750 + GTX670 instruction movie, including ignore and switch off dGPU. I click Chainloader --> TestRun. Naxt action is black screen, and few seconds later bluescreen appears for half second and laptop resets. I've made DSDT like angerthosenear shows in Guide: DSDT Override, Simultaneous iGPU + dGPU + eGPU.

I use EXP GDC Beast with ExpressCard. My laptop is Dell Latitude e6520, i7 2720QM 2,2GHz, 8GB RAM, Win7 Pro 64 bit. I use polish system language if it matters.

I read someone used 275.33 verde with Nando's nvam.inf file. He has got the same Dell model. But I can not find this file

[Airat]

Guy with Dell e6220 (i5 2520m, 6GB ram 667mhz), EXP GDC Beast and KFA2 GTX 960 EXOC reporting again =)

In this post i'd like to summarize all my expirience with egpu, I hope it will help somebody.

Recently I've complained about:1) x1.2 support and 2) exp gdc stability

1) x1.2 support was reached by downgrading bios. It turns out that in new versions of BIOSes of some Dell laptops ExpressCard slot is set to PCI-e gen1, while older versions allow gen2 (for my laptop it's A01 and A02 versions).

2) For two days the system was working pefectly and then suddenly I started getting nvidia driver crashed, reboots and sometimes windows even could't boot. At first I was thinking (and as Tech Inferno Fan suggested) that this problem was because exp gdc wasn't fully compatible with gen2. But when i upgraded bios and set EC to gen1 the problem remained - i still was getting nvidia driver crashes. Then I tried running laptop without power adapter plugged in and noticed that crashes disappeared. And then i remembered that for the first two days I was using heavy original DELL 120W power adapter and then changed it to 90W cheap-looking adapter. Now i changed it back and the system works without crashes. Maybe the 90W adapter couldn't provide stable 19.5V. So if you have stability problems on EXP GDC you should consider trying another power adapter for your laptop (especially if you are using non-original one).

[Ritterkreuz]

Should I buy a PE4C 2.1 or 3.0? Realistically, does the 3.0 with 5 gbps mPCIe/ EC outperform the 2.1 with mPCIe + EC setup, or even the 2.1 with one mPCIe/ EC setup?

How many mPCIe slots does the 2570p have and is it true that mPCIe gives better performance than EC? Do I need to perform a DSDT override and/or even a setup 1.30 if I use mPCIe link with the hp 2570p instead of EC link?

I currently have a hp 2570p, a gigabyte gtx 670 and a 650w ATX PSU.

Thanks in advance.

ps: I benchmark my above hardwares with the EXP GDC V6 with 3Dmark11 and the result is this

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10466686

Compare to this

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/3353787

-1287 in graphics point and -5660 physics point!

Is it because games with physx suffer huge drop in fps when using eGPU or my setup or my CPU (or both) just suck?

[Airat]

You compare overclocked desktop i5 and laptop i5, of course laptop i5 will suck. Graphic points are probably suffering because of mPCIe speed.

[binjch]

Hi,

I would like to understand those terms: compaction, chainloading. My mothertongue isn't english so please try to be clear.

Why are two DVI like connectors on my eGPU?

Thank you.

[Ritterkreuz]

Yeah of course i5 laptop will suck but I'm more shocked about how much powerful a desktop processor is compare to a laptop processor. A 5660 points difference, that's a lot more than what I thought it could be. On the other hand, I'm glad that graphics point isn't suffering much.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Yeah of course i5 laptop will suck but I'm more shocked about how much powerful a desktop processor is compare to a laptop processor. A 5660 points difference, that's a lot more than what I thought it could be. On the other hand, I'm glad that graphics point isn't suffering much.

You are comparing a dual-core i5-3320M with a quad-core i5-2500k. Of course the quad will be faster.

Put a quad core into the 2570P like a relatively inexpensive i7-3610QM/i7-3630QM and it will blitz the i5-2500K. Better yet, get a 14" Dell E6430 and apply UEFI var mods to unlock extra turbo bins for another +400Mhz on a i7-37xxQM or i7-38xxQM quad.

There are quad-core 2570P 3dmark11 results at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-hub-tb-ec-mpcie.html#dx11 .

REF: http://forum.techinferno.com/hp-business-class-notebooks/2537-12-5-hp-elitebook-2570p-owners-lounge.html

[Ritterkreuz]

Thanks for the reply nando, I'll try that out (once I have the money). What is your thought about this?

Should I buy a PE4C 2.1 or 3.0? Realistically, does the 3.0 with 5 gbps mPCIe/ EC outperform the 2.1 with mPCIe + EC setup, or even the 2.1 with one mPCIe/ EC setup?

How many mPCIe slots does the 2570p have and is it true that mPCIe gives better performance than EC? Do I need to perform a DSDT override and/or even a setup 1.30 if I use mPCIe link with the hp 2570p instead of EC link?

[lordjakubek]

Hello,

I have a problem with Setup 1.3 boot windows after configuration. I make all like in Acer AS5750 + GTX670 instruction movie, including ignore and switch off dGPU. I click Chainloader --> TestRun. Naxt action is black screen, and few seconds later bluescreen appears for half second and laptop resets. I've made DSDT like angerthosenear shows in Guide: DSDT Override, Simultaneous iGPU + dGPU + eGPU.

I use EXP GDC Beast with ExpressCard. My laptop is Dell Latitude e6520, i7 2720QM 2,2GHz, 8GB RAM, Win7 Pro 64 bit. I use polish system language if it matters.

I read someone used 275.33 verde with Nando's nvam.inf file. He has got the same Dell model. But I can not find this file

Hello,

I did as nando told me. Indeed, I dont need to use DSDT. I just run my laptop with connected eGPU (Express card port).Next I start Setup1.3 and off dGPU in Video Cards. Next hot reset eGPU. Next PCIe Ports --> Gen 1 Port --> select NVIDIA. And then Chainloader with mbr. On my eGPU adapter ( EXP EGPU Beast) I switched CTD to 6s. Later I will try automatize boot process.

[binjch]

Hello,

I own a Elitebook 8460p / Windows 7 / El Capitan and a Dell E6400 / W7. eGPU: PE4C 2.1 with the Expresscard connector

I'm a noob, i need some help to start using eveything and begin to understand the eGpus and PCI management.

First of all the linux image install doesn't work, the terminal window appears and disappears straight. Then i rather use the bootmngr image. >> EDIT It is because Windows doesn't run batch files, DSDT editor doesn't work neither.

I try to use a WIFI adapter with my PE4C 2.1 but i encounter issues. The PE4C green led turns red during windows 7 boots.

Why are they two DVI like conncetor on my PE4C? How are working the two three positions switches?

thank you.