eGPU experiences [version 2.0]

[Jelle Bout]

Hello all,

I posted a while ago (like page 46) that I was going to get a egpu set up.

Today I started setting things up and my Asus G50v wasn't going to detect the HD Radeon card immediately, but detected a std vga adapter.

I then installed the drivers for an HD7870 and it switched on my external screen (happy until this point) however. I rebooted the system because of the installation. And now I get the famous error 12 and my external screen won't turn on anymore.

I know about the error but this is really strange.. (also catalist control centre won't start.)

I don't have setup 1.x yet to turn of dgpu for more resources, but I wonder how purchasing this works?

I ordered it but I didn't have to pay yet and I know nothing about delivery or will it be a downloadable image?

Thanks in advance..

[useafo]

Cheapest 3rd-gen system with a expresscard slot would be a Dell Vostro 3560, HP Probook 6470b/6570b or Fujitsu AH532. Unfortunately that's all that remains from the business budget lines still with them. One-gen older 2nd-gen Dell Vostro 3450/3550, HP Probook 4430s/4530s, or Lenovo Edge E420/E520 have expresscard slots and worth scouting for a bargain.

Otherwise from the 3rd gen i-cores consider:

12.5" HP 2570P: 45W i7-quad upgradable and RAID-0 capable. Can be had for a good price on ebay. Lots of bang-per-buck.

12.5" Lenovo X230, Dell E6230. Just be aware: have soldered dual-core CPUs. X230 fails 16GB eGPU implementation.

13" Sony SVZ for ultrabook-like chassis dimensions but with a i7-quad. mPCIe eGPU.

13" Toshiba R930, Dell E6330

14" Lenovo T430/S430, HP 8470P, Dell E6430 or Toshiba R940 : Check the outlets for refurb deals

15" Lenovo T530, HP 8570P, Dell E6530 or Toshiba R950 : Check the outlets for refurb deals

15" Fujitsu AH532 -> one of the last remaining consumer systems with an expresscard slot.

We also have one Lenovo Edge E530 owner preparing a writeup of a successful mPCIe NVidia eGPU implementation. The brief I received suggesting it's more complex than an expresscard based eGPU implementation.

I would probably go down with Fujitsu AH532. Is it a good laptop to go with? and can I put i7 quad core processor in it?

[Tech Inferno Fan]

I would probably go down with Fujitsu AH532. Is it a good laptop to go with? and can I put i7 quad core processor in it?

Fujitsu AH532 likely needs TOLUD and pci-e 2.0 fixes

Just be aware that if it's bios is anything like the AH531 then you will have the additional issues of (i) TOLUD being 3.5GB requiring a DSDT override (Win7) or substitution (Win8 using Setup 1.1x) to allow a 4GB+ eGPU implementation and (ii) there is no setting in the bios to switch the expresscard slot to pci-e 2.0 requiring Setup 1.1x as a workaround.

REF: gnostyk's AH531 eGPU implementation

[useafo]

Fujitsu AH532 likely needs TOLUD and pci-e 2.0 fixes

Just be aware that if it's bios is anything like the AH531 then you will have the additional issues of (i) TOLUD being 3.5GB requiring a DSDT override (Win7) or substitution (Win8 using Setup 1.1x) to allow a 4GB+ eGPU implementation and (ii) there is no setting in the bios to switch the expresscard slot to pci-e 2.0 requiring Setup 1.1x as a workaround.

REF: gnostyk's AH531 eGPU implementation

@nando4 Then what do you suggest? Which laptop do you recommend me getting that does not have TOLUD and PCI-e 2.0 issues?

[skyn3t]

is a Dell Inspiron 1504 works with any of this hardware?

[EpicBlob]

Thunderbolterizer!

Anyone have a quadro card they'd like to test out with this? Seems like this is the first time someone has gotten a thunderbolt e-gpu to work under os x.

[KRUAndu]

Hi Tech Inferno Fan, great work throughout the years of eGPU work! I am having problems with my GTX460. I have lag in all COD games I play (COD4, MW2, BO), but Battlefield3 seems to run somewhat fine, but not perfect. Over the last 4 months of using eGPU, I have noticed drastic performance loss. When I first got it, BF3 ran almost 45fps, now it's gone down to 30fps... EVEN after an upgrade (went from a Latitude E4300 (had problems even then) to a E4310, that is powered by a i5-560m CPU). Are drivers the problem? Or the fact I didn't do a DSDT override, since it worked out of the box? Or that I don't have Setup 1.x installed, since I'm on Win8 UEFI? SYSTEM: Laptop: Dell Latitude E4310; CPU: i5-560m @ 2.67GHz; RAM: 4GB, 3,86GB usable; GPU: Intel HD (inactive), GTX460 (768mb version), PE4H (x1.Opt? (NOT SURE IF OPTIMUS WORKS :S) Expresscard connection). BASICLY THE SAME PROBLEM LIKE THIS:

[yugiyao]

You need to enable/active Intel hd graphics to trigger Optimus working in which based on your setup you'll getting x1.Opt

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[NorthernAvengeR]

Is Thundebolt still the way to go? I'm starting to plan out a new setup for the fall/holidays(maybe a little early) and so far the newly announced Dell XPS 11 has got me really excited(never thought I'd say that about a Dell again)

[Tech Inferno Fan]

Is Thundebolt still the way to go? I'm starting to plan out a new setup for the fall/holidays(maybe a little early) and so far the newly announced Dell XPS 11 has got me really excited(never thought I'd say that about a Dell again)

In my opinion current 10Gbps Thunderbolt, offering twice the bandwidth of Expresscard 2.0, is not worth it. Why? You are limited to a handful of notebooks with a Thunderbolt port and the Thunderbolt eGPU enclosure (Sonnet, OWC Helios, Magma) are all quite expensive ($320+). My suggestion is to either hold or have an intermediate expresscard solution until 20Gbps Thunderbolt arrives in 2014.

@nando4 Then what do you suggest? Which laptop do you recommend me getting that does not have TOLUD and PCI-e 2.0 issues?

Plenty. I've given a list of suggestions above. Seek implementation details of any your shortlist from the first post to see if they encountered TOLUD issues.

Hi Tech Inferno Fan, great work throughout the years of eGPU work! I am having problems with my GTX460. I have lag in all COD games I play (COD4, MW2, BO), but Battlefield3 seems to run somewhat fine, but not perfect. Over the last 4 months of using eGPU, I have noticed drastic performance loss. When I first got it, BF3 ran almost 45fps, now it's gone down to 30fps... EVEN after an upgrade (went from a Latitude E4300 (had problems even then) to a E4310, that is powered by a i5-560m CPU). Are drivers the problem? Or the fact I didn't do a DSDT override, since it worked out of the box? Or that I don't have Setup 1.x installed, since I'm on Win8 UEFI? SYSTEM: Laptop: Dell Latitude E4310; CPU: i5-560m @ 2.67GHz; RAM: 4GB, 3,86GB usable; GPU: Intel HD (inactive), GTX460 (768mb version), PE4H (x1.Opt? (NOT SURE IF OPTIMUS WORKS :S) Expresscard connection). BASICLY THE SAME PROBLEM LIKE THIS:

Sounds like you are booting with the eGPU attached rather than hotplugging after boot. In doing so you don't get a primary Intel HD graphics and so your GTX460 doesn't see x1 Optimus pci-e compression. That pci-e compression greatly accelerated DX9 titles. DX10 is somewhat improved and DX11 see hardly any benefit.

Problem is if you hotplug after boot you will find you'll have an error 12. That's because Dell set TOLUD=3.5GB on the E4300/E4310. See the DSDT override/substitution solution on the first post as a fix.

[KRUAndu]

Problem is if you hotplug after boot you will find you'll have an error 12. That's because Dell set TOLUD=3.5GB on the E4300/E4310.

I don't seem to get anything when I plug the cable in the adapter whilst the laptop has booted into Win8. Device Manager doesn't pick up anything new...

I set the PE4H to 6,9sec disable time, making the laptop boot into Intel HD graphics in the BIOS, and in Win8 the eGPU starts working with Intel HD on the side, and NVIDIA Control Panel shows the Preferred graphics processor section now .

BF3 had a small performance increase, yes, but the COD games still stay the same... and they are in DX9 mode! Lowest graphics (resolution at 1080p) and only 40fps .

BTW: I booted Setup1.x from a USB (Legacy mode, not UEFI), it gave me a TOLUD result of 3.25GB stock. And tried the DSDT overriding, a real pain with Win8 without getting a BSOD, but Setup1.x it manages to succeed overriding, but when chainloading to UEFI, I get a black screen with a big red HALT. And tried installing 1.xSetup on the HDD, doesn't even boot up. Gives me an error in the Windows Boot Manager, that a file is missing... then continues booting into Win8.

[Gwypaas]

Is there any difference between ExpressCard/54 or ExpressCard/34 when considering an E-GPU? I see that the HP 8470p has a ExpressCard/54 so would that cause any problems?

[Khenglish]

Is there any difference between ExpressCard/54 or ExpressCard/34 when considering an E-GPU? I see that the HP 8470p has a ExpressCard/54 so would that cause any problems?

It doesn't matter. expresscard 34 and 54 have the same connector.

[jacobsson]

Hi guys.

I just want to announce that my eGPU for Lenovo Thinkpad E530 has been successful. My write-up will be posted as soon as I have time!

If you have any questions meanwhile, just shoot.

And of course, thank you @Tech Inferno Fan for all of your help.

[grichka59]

Hi ,

Is it possible ?

thanks

[Khenglish]

Hi ,

Is it possible ?

thanks

It's possible, but I recommend against trying it. I assume your goal is to put in a longer cable. A longer cable combined with the extra solder locations may make the PCI-E unstable, even if you solder perfectly. If you were to put in a longer cable I suggest fully removing and replacing the entire cable. Many of the signals require very high quality solder joints where the wires are pressed firmly into the contacts. The reason PCI-E 2.0 compatibility came out as late as it did was because the mHDMI connectors did not have good enough connections.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

It's possible, but I recommend against trying it. I assume your goal is to put in a longer cable. A longer cable combined with the extra solder locations may make the PCI-E unstable, even if you solder perfectly. If you were to put in a longer cable I suggest fully removing and replacing the entire cable. Many of the signals require very high quality solder joints where the wires are pressed firmly into the contacts. The reason PCI-E 2.0 compatibility came out as late as it did was because the mHDMI connectors did not have good enough connections.

Further to Khenglish's reply, if you desire a connector on both ends then consider obtaining a PE4L 1.5 or PE4H 2.4. They use mHDMI connector and cable but operate reliably only at pci-e 1.x (Gen1) link speed. The soldered cable on PE4L 2.1b or PE4H 3.2 allowing the twice faster pci-e 2.0 (Gen2) link speed.

[naturbo2000]

Further to Khenglish's reply, if you desire a connector on both ends then consider obtaining a PE4L 1.5 or PE4H 2.4. They use mHDMI connector and cable but operate reliably only at pci-e 1.x (Gen1) link speed. The soldered cable on PE4L 2.1b or PE4H 3.2 allowing the twice faster pci-e 2.0 (Gen2) link speed.

And if the goal is simply a longer cable and you haven't yet purchased it, I can confirm that the 2m variants work correctly at PCIe 2.0 speeds. If I recall correctly, even a single connector on the cable causes speeds to drop to PCIe 1.x due to signal reflections.

FWIW there are connectors you could use for PCIe speeds, but they're phenomenally expensive: here

[grichka59]

thanks for the answers.

My goal is to put the micro hdmi receptacle type D on the kensington port , that is enough big for this.

I Want this type of setup :

mpcie port ==> PM060A ==> cut the cable at approx 10 cm of the PM060A ==> sorldering on a micro hdmi receptacle type D ==> fix the micro hdmi receptacle on the kensington port ==> plug the micro hdmi male type D on the receptacle type D ==> use a normal cable (micro hdmi male to hdmi male) of 1 m

on the other side :

PE4L ==> cut the "hdmi" cable" ==> soldering a hdmi receptacle type A ==> use a normal cable (micro hdmi male to hdmi male) of 1 m

In fact , i just want to make the PE4L-PM060A plug and play.

I bought the PE4L-PM060A , a flex atx psu , and GTX 780 sc acx to use in my vaio svz.

[naturbo2000]

My goal is to put the micro hdmi receptacle type D on the kensington port , that is enough big for this.

I Want this type of setup :

mpcie port ==> PM060A ==> cut the cable at approx 10 cm of the PM060A ==> sorldering on a micro hdmi receptacle type D ==> fix the micro hdmi receptacle on the kensington port ==> plug the micro hdmi male type D on the receptacle type D ==> use a normal cable (micro hdmi male to hdmi male) of 1 m

on the other side :

PE4L ==> cut the "hdmi" cable" ==> soldering a hdmi receptacle type A ==> use a normal cable (micro hdmi male to hdmi male) of 1 m

In fact , i just want to make the PE4L-PM060A plug and play.

I bought the PE4L-PM060A , a flex atx psu , and GTX 780 sc acx to use in my vaio svz.

It will work. But you should check beforehand if gen 1 speeds are ok for you (via bios settings or setup.exe). I can't help but think a 780 will be horribly bandwidth limited. Please post your experiences of gen1 vs gen2 on your 780 if you go this route (preferably gameplay as well as raw benchmarks).

[grichka59]

This is a score of a GTX 780 in EGPU with PE4L v 2.1b and no oc...

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3720QM Processor,LENOVO 3051RY8 score: P9516 3DMarks

It's no too bad at all

But i've already buy the PE4L-PM060A v2.1 b , so gen 2 , and want to do this work on this PE4L.

So i suppose that i can have a gen 2 bandwidth , no ?

Thanks you

[jacobsson]

And if the goal is simply a longer cable and you haven't yet purchased it, I can confirm that the 2m variants work correctly at PCIe 2.0 speeds. If I recall correctly, even a single connector on the cable causes speeds to drop to PCIe 1.x due to signal reflections.

FWIW there are connectors you could use for PCIe speeds, but they're phenomenally expensive: here

Has anyone confirmed the cost of these connections yet?

Pretty interesting!

Edit: Saw this?

[naturbo2000]

So i suppose that i can have a gen 2 bandwidth , no ?

Not if you splice in HDMI connectors you can't. Your current score is gen 2, but adding connectors will cause signal reflections in the cable such that gen 2 stops working correctly (gen 1 is still OK).

Higher quality connectors might help.

[Han1984]

Guys,

I've had an EVGA 660 ti on a HP Probook 4730s. Things have worked beautifully for months with a few hiccups here and there.

Couple weeks ago, a power outtage fried my card. Luckily, EVGA sent me a replacement graphics card. However, the new graphic card won't work as part of my EGPU anymore.

What happens is that once I plug in the express card, the screen turns off on my laptop and then tries to turn the monitor on. However, that doesn't happen and the laptop screen just comes back on.

What's weird is when I first received the card and plugged it in, the EGPU worked like a charm. Only after I had shut down the computer for a day or so and then plugged in the EGPU, it started doing this. Hence, I know my PE4L or the ^660ti are fine. My monitor also works fine.

Please help. I've tried reinstsalling the drivers of the video card but that did not help.

Thank you

[Khenglish]

Guys,

I've had an EVGA 660 ti on a HP Probook 4730s. Things have worked beautifully for months with a few hiccups here and there.

Couple weeks ago, a power outtage fried my card. Luckily, EVGA sent me a replacement graphics card. However, the new graphic card won't work as part of my EGPU anymore.

What happens is that once I plug in the express card, the screen turns off on my laptop and then tries to turn the monitor on. However, that doesn't happen and the laptop screen just comes back on.

What's weird is when I first received the card and plugged it in, the EGPU worked like a charm. Only after I had shut down the computer for a day or so and then plugged in the EGPU, it started doing this. Hence, I know my PE4L or the ^660ti are fine. My monitor also works fine.

Please help. I've tried reinstsalling the drivers of the video card but that did not help.

Thank you

Did you do a bios update? If so go back to the old bios.