Y510p Ultrabay Graphics card

[smacannon 0]

Spent some more time working through the forum.  Up to page 42.

 

Anyone currently using this in a y400?  What steps did you take to get it working?

With a i7-3630QM, what graphics cards would you recommend for gaming without bottlenecking the GPU?

I haven't shopped for a graphics card forever.  I know the market is crazy right now, so I don't really want to spend money on anything that will be bottlenecked by the CPU.

 

I'm torn between how fun this project could be and just picking up the Ultrabay GT650M for $100 to run with SLI until it dies.

[Tesla 22]

2 hours ago, smacannon said:

Spent some more time working through the forum.  Up to page 42.

 

Anyone currently using this in a y400?  What steps did you take to get it working?

With a i7-3630QM, what graphics cards would you recommend for gaming without bottlenecking the GPU?

I haven't shopped for a graphics card forever.  I know the market is crazy right now, so I don't really want to spend money on anything that will be bottlenecked by the CPU.

 

I'm torn between how fun this project could be and just picking up the Ultrabay GT650M for $100 to run with SLI until it dies.

SLI support is very poor and 2x 650Ms aren't as good as even the lowest end cards. Plus you will need bigger power brick to run SLI.

If you can get the adapter + PSU + some GPU (even used is good) I believe you can prolong the life time of your system.

As for recommended GPUs that will not be bottlenecked by your CPU

(AMD: RX570s are a good deal if you can find them used or any of the newer Navi cards).

(NVIDIA: 1000/2000 series cards are good match, I recommend the 1660TI or Super, and if you wanna run 3000 series go with 3060 or even the 3070 should be fine if you play at 4k).

[smacannon 0]

4 hours ago, Tesla said:

SLI support is very poor and 2x 650Ms aren't as good as even the lowest end cards. Plus you will need bigger power brick to run SLI.

If you can get the adapter + PSU + some GPU (even used is good) I believe you can prolong the life time of your system.

As for recommended GPUs that will not be bottlenecked by your CPU

(AMD: RX570s are a good deal if you can find them used or any of the newer Navi cards).

(NVIDIA: 1000/2000 series cards are good match, I recommend the 1660TI or Super, and if you wanna run 3000 series go with 3060 or even the 3070 should be fine if you play at 4k).

Thanks. I know there's no comparison on specs. The 650 SLI would be to squeeze a little extra life for $100.  I'm just on the fence about spending time and money on a project that may not work. I recently got a new laptop with a 2060 for $800 which is why the y400 is free to mess with. 

 

I'm hoping once I've gotten through all the comments, I'll feel more confident.

 

I think I might start with a RX 560 4GB while trying to get this working, then spring for something nicer. After looking at some of the benchmark comparisons and bottleneck calculator, it looks like anything more than a 1060 6gb would be overkill for the i7-3630MQ.

[High_Voltage 49]

@smacannon Hi and welcome on board! I'm glad you found this project interesting.

 

It's been quite some time since I've made the mods, but I'm quite sure I made one specifically for the Y400. I guess you'll find a link to it somewhere in this thread as I didn't create a separate thread for the y400/y500 version.

 

I also fully agree with @Tesla that getting a gt650m SLI would be a waste of money. That 100 bucks could probably buy you a gtx1050 or something similar.

 

That is, of course, if you're able to get the adapter at all. It seems like people have been struggling to source one recently...

[smacannon 0]

1 hour ago, High_Voltage said:

@smacannon Hi and welcome on board! I'm glad you found this project interesting.

 

It's been quite some time since I've made the mods, but I'm quite sure I made one specifically for the Y400. I guess you'll find a link to it somewhere in this thread as I didn't create a separate thread for the y400/y500 version.

 

I also fully agree with @Tesla that getting a gt650m SLI would be a waste of money. That 100 bucks could probably buy you a gtx1050 or something similar.

 

That is, of course, if you're able to get the adapter at all. It seems like people have been struggling to source one recently...

Thanks for the welcome and for the work you put in to moving this project along.  I just finished reading this entire thread - I'll bet it took me 6-8 with diversions.   It sounds like @Swung Huang's latest iteration has many of the issues pretty well ironed out, so I think I'll give it a shot.

[Tesla 22]

Just a quick update:

My Y510P was one of the most fun builds I ever did. and honestly It ran too well and did extend the life of the laptop.

I have sold my Y510P back in Dec 19, and I am currently using another gaming laptop. I still have the original Gerald adapter. I might sell it or do another y510P build with RTX3000 series and an extreme 4th gen haswell cpu. I personally like the flexibility of that platform, the 4th gen CPUs can be completely unlocked with a bios mod and the single core performance isn't too shabby.

You guys are awesome!

[smacannon 0]

I'm looking forward to adding a y400 (and Ultrabay Adapter "enclosure") build to the *********** list.  I got @Swung Huang paid today, then stumbled across a 1050 ti 4GB at Goodwill for $100, which bottleneck calculator has as a near perfect 4k match for my CPU https://pc-builds.com/calculator/Core_i7-3630QM/GeForce_GTX_1050_Ti/0ni0VZlu/8/100/.  I'm feeling optimistic about the project, particularly thanks to Swung having done a y400 build and @rusTORK having done a y500 build with awesome documentation.  I swear waiting for this thing to arrive is going to be worse than waiting for the Sgt. Slaughter mail away G.I. Joe when I was a kid! 

 

Tom's has the 1050 ti at 75W.  https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html What do you recommend for power supplies for this card?

 

Thanks everyone!

 

I have a feeling I'm going to be disappointed if I ever get around to trying an eGPU with an EXP GDC on my Y50-70.

[Swung Huang 45]

14 minutes ago, smacannon said:

I'm looking forward to adding a y400 (and Ultrabay Adapter "enclosure") build to the *********** list.  I got @Swung Huang paid today, then stumbled across a 1050 ti 4GB at Goodwill for $100, which bottleneck calculator has as a near perfect 4k match for my CPU https://pc-builds.com/calculator/Core_i7-3630QM/GeForce_GTX_1050_Ti/0ni0VZlu/8/100/.  I'm feeling optimistic about the project, particularly thanks to Swung having done a y400 build and @rusTORK having done a y500 build with awesome documentation.  I swear waiting for this thing to arrive is going to be worse than waiting for the Sgt. Slaughter mail away G.I. Joe when I was a kid! 

 

Tom's has the 1050 ti at 75W.  https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html What do you recommend for power supplies for this card?

 

Thanks everyone!

 

I have a feeling I'm going to be disappointed if I ever get around to trying an eGPU with an EXP GDC on my Y50-70.

Actually, if you are going to eventually build a new, proper PC, then you may not think of bottlenecking. You'd better think of what PSU will your next PC need. So that you can reuse the PSU without extra cost or save you from flipping hassle.

You can also do that to your GPU selection. But that don't quite apply to that, for power supply pretty much won't evolve over time while GPU does get beefier and beefier, resulting to a low price to performance ratio at that time. Just a hint

[astrosynthesist 1]

I was able to successfully source 20 connectors from Newark at $12 CAD, so I'm back in the game. Please don't flood me with messages, I need them for now for prototyping, just know it is possible to get them from Newark/Farnell in smaller quantities than 500. If they're giving you a hard time send me a PM and I'll give you my order number as a reference. If I decide I don't need them anymore, I'll post here!

[smacannon 0]

My power supply is ready.  Won't let me upload a picture, but I think it's going to work well.  Ended up going with a Dell DA-2 and PicoPSU. @Swung Huang's ultrabay adapter might arrive tomorrow if the weather holds, so getting excited for a weekend project. Does the atx connector on the adapter work the same as on a motherboard? Specifically, does the power on pin work for signalling the power supply?

[Swung Huang 45]

2 hours ago, smacannon said:

My power supply is ready.  Won't let me upload a picture, but I think it's going to work well.  Ended up going with a Dell DA-2 and PicoPSU. @Swung Huang's ultrabay adapter might arrive tomorrow if the weather holds, so getting excited for a weekend project. Does the atx connector on the adapter work the same as on a motherboard? Specifically, does the power on pin work for signalling the power supply?

Yep. The ATX connector on the board pinned exactly the same as the standard.. But a minor thing to notice, it’s a 20pin, not 24pin. If your 24pin is actually 20+4pin detachable, then you’re good. Or you may need to cut the connector or just jam that in there and hang the extra 4pin around

[smacannon 0]

39 minutes ago, Swung Huang said:

Yep. The ATX connector on the board pinned exactly the same as the standard.. But a minor thing to notice, it’s a 20pin, not 24pin. If your 24pin is actually 20+4pin detachable, then you’re good. Or you may need to cut the connector or just jam that in there and hang the extra 4pin around

Jam it in was the plan I had in mind.  I picked up a couple 24-pin 90-degree connectors which I think will allow the PicoPSU to rest along the edge of ultrabay adapter.  The 1050ti gets its power from the PCIe slot, but I have another 6-pin to 2x 8-pin splitter in case I get a card that needs external power. 

 

Maybe I'll have pictures figured out by the time I get everything running.  For now, I'm getting this error: 

/var/www/html/IPS/uploads/monthly_2021_02 could not be created.

Please contact us for assistance.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2021 by smacannon

[StBalthazar 0]

Hi All! 

Firstly, it's so nice to see that the y510p (and others before and after in this series) community is still active and trying to get the most of these old, but gold, laptops.  I've been toying with the idea of an eGPU for over 3 years now and have finally decided to give it a shot.

My PC specs (just so were on the same page):

- Boot Drive: 256GB Samsung EVO SSD

- Optical Drive: 1TB Seagate HDD (moved the original boot drive to my optical drive while upgrading to an SSD. My laptop did not have the Ultrabay/Dual graphics)

- Processor & dGPU: i7 4700MQ, nvidia GT755m
 

Since the external adapter is no longer an option to buy and I've got my Ultrabay running an additional 1TB HDD, I only want to use the other options available to me - the free m.2 (ngff)/mPCIe slot. I haven't seen much talk about these slots being used, I take it because they're not nearly as powerful for the use case as using the Ultrabay would be.
However, if anyone can direct me towards someone/resources that have taken this approach that would be immense! (Both publised builds on egpuDOTio leverage the LUA)

 

I have a few questions, sorry if I sound like I'm just getting into all this, because I am and the various conflicting information is really throwing me off:

- Can you point me towards where I can find out for sure whether the free port in my laptop is an m.2 (ngff) slot or an mPCIe slot? I've seen different places on Lenovo forums and other official documentation use either of the terms. While some people on forums also use/quote either.

- How does one go about choosing which connector to use - EXP GDC vs PCE164p vs ADT (eGPU .io link - https://***********/best-egpu-buyers-guide/#m2-interface)?

- How did you narrow on which GPU to use? Is there an upper limit to the type of cards that would work with my(our) laptops? What is the safest bet, while getting the best possible results?

Additionally, anything else that you can tell me would be of value. Thanks in advance people, you are all truly superheroes!

Edited May 2, 2021 by StBalthazar

[Swung Huang 45]

3 hours ago, StBalthazar said:

Hi All! 

Firstly, it's so nice to see that the y510p (and others before and after in this series) community is still active and trying to get the most of these old, but gold, laptops.  I've been toying with the idea of an eGPU for over 3 years now and have finally decided to give it a shot.

My PC specs (just so were on the same page):

- Boot Drive: 256GB Samsung EVO SSD

- Optical Drive: 1TB Seagate HDD (moved the original boot drive to my optical drive while upgrading to an SSD. My laptop did not have the Ultrabay/Dual graphics)

- Processor & dGPU: i7 4700MQ, nvidia GT755m
 

Since the external adapter is no longer an option to buy and I've got my Ultrabay running an additional 1TB HDD, I only want to use the other options available to me - the free m.2 (ngff)/mPCIe slot. I haven't seen much talk about these slots being used, I take it because they're not nearly as powerful for the use case as using the Ultrabay would be.
However, if anyone can direct me towards someone/resources that have taken this approach that would be immense! (Both publised builds on egpuDOTio leverage the LUA)

 

I have a few questions, sorry if I sound like I'm just getting into all this, because I am and the various conflicting information is really throwing me off:

- Can you point me towards where I can find out for sure whether the free port in my laptop is an m.2 (ngff) slot or an mPCIe slot? I've seen different places on Lenovo forums and other official documentation use either of the terms. While some people on forums also use/quote either.

- How does one go about choosing which connector to use - EXP GDC vs PCE164p vs ADT (eGPU .io link - https://***********/best-egpu-buyers-guide/#m2-interface)?

- How did you narrow on which GPU to use? Is there an upper limit to the type of cards that would work with my(our) laptops? What is the safest bet, while getting the best possible results?

Additionally, anything else that you can tell me would be of value. Thanks in advance people, you are all truly superheroes!

actually it’s still available to buy(I still have a few) but the shipping or so may not worth it. It does have the optical SATA port routed outside so if you have external hard drive it got you covered.

You may contact me at [email protected]

Edited May 2, 2021 by Swung Huang

[StBalthazar 0]

@Swung Huang Thanks! Maybe I will reach out just to see how feasible that is .. but on the top of it, I would honestly rather use the m.2/mPCIe slot as I absolutely need my HDD for work. Can't have the 1TB only as an external hdd. Which has been my biggest problem really, while this laptop isn't anywhere near a mid/top tier gaming PC .. it's right up there when it comes to basic/work functions - why I haven't had the heart to discard it ie. 

So yeah, even if I can get a LUA - because that means removing the connected HDD, it's not an option for me. Any help that you can give me about using the free m.2/mPCIe slot in my laptop would be great (identifying which it is, best compatible GPUs - since I'll only be able to use a 1x 4gbps slot etc)

Thanks again!

[Swung Huang 45]

7 hours ago, StBalthazar said:

@Swung Huang Thanks! Maybe I will reach out just to see how feasible that is .. but on the top of it, I would honestly rather use the m.2/mPCIe slot as I absolutely need my HDD for work. Can't have the 1TB only as an external hdd. Which has been my biggest problem really, while this laptop isn't anywhere near a mid/top tier gaming PC .. it's right up there when it comes to basic/work functions - why I haven't had the heart to discard it ie. 

So yeah, even if I can get a LUA - because that means removing the connected HDD, it's not an option for me. Any help that you can give me about using the free m.2/mPCIe slot in my laptop would be great (identifying which it is, best compatible GPUs - since I'll only be able to use a 1x 4gbps slot etc)

Thanks again!

I dunno what do you mean by “as an external HDD”

do you mean that it occupies a USB port or it’s dangling around?

The LBA adapter has the SATA port from the ODD rerouted to the outside so you can still attach your HDD.

[High_Voltage 49]

@StBalthazar Unfortunately, the answer to your first question is that the m.2 port in y510p is SATA only. You can verify this yourself from the schematic. The only way to get an eGPU working on this computer aside from the Ultrabay adapter would be to use mini-PCIe slot of the WLAN card and figure out some replacement option for WIFI (either a low profile USB dongle or something internal routed to one of the USBs exposed on the motherboard).

 

With that said, I'd definitely recommend getting an actual Ultrabay adapter, either from @Swung Huang or from someone else second-hand (we've seen a couple of people selling theirs here already). Otherwise, it really feels a little bit pointless to go through all this trouble just to get a system with a very mediocre CPU as well as an x1 bus bottleneck...

[smacannon 0]

@StBalthazarI would highly recommend you spend the 8ish hours it takes to read this thread from the beginning. I found it to be an interesting story chronicling the issues and iterations the community worked through to fully utilize this unique interface limited to only 4 models of laptop.  By the time you're finished, you'll cover the basics of eGPUs, recognize what makes this particular opportunity for an eGPU special, and figure out why you can't find any y510p builds with other eGPU adapters. From a performance standpoint, whatever effort it takes to reconfigure your harddrive setup, it will be worth it to free up the ultrabay for @Swung Huang's adapter. Financially, it's hard to make the case for ROI, but you will be set to get every last bit of life out of your laptop. 

[StBalthazar 0]

@Swung Huang Yep, basically meant that it'd be dangling around, even if connected to a SATA port that has been re-routed outside. Since I use this for work as well, I absolutely need the additional 1TB as a permanent drive and not something that I will have to keep connecting when required. Also, with corona and wfh, I've been moving around quite a bit with my laptop wrt where I work, so this seems a bit of a pain. 

One thing though, how easy is it to connect and disconnect the LUA? Is it the same as any cord/drive per se, that once done I can simply pull it out? Anyhow, just emailing you!

@smacannon Ye, I do plan on reading all of it. I guess it's better if I start of that way. From a performance pov, I'm sure using the Ultrabay >>>>>> using the mPCIe. But it's just that I'm going to need a more permanent solution for my hdd as well. 

@High_Voltage Thanks a lot! Before I set out to read the entire thing, what all can this m.2 SATA only port do - just an m.2 SSD, is there nothing else that this port can be used for at all?
"...system with a very mediocre CPU as well as an x1 bus bottleneck"  - And this system wouldn't be able to run a GPU that is good enough to run modern games smoothly even on say, medium settings?

Thanks ya'll. Going to start this tonight!

[rusTORK 20]

9 hours ago, High_Voltage said:

or from someone else second-hand (we've seen a couple of people selling theirs here already).

Yep, like my. I no longer use my adapter, since laptop BIOS is bricked. Already sold CPU and RAM from it.

 

@StBalthazar, @Swung Huang adapter is best option for you since it's connect both HDD and eGPU to laptop.

[rusTORK 20]

23 hours ago, StBalthazar said:

How did you narrow on which GPU to use? Is there an upper limit to the type of cards that would work with my(our) laptops? What is the safest bet, while getting the best possible results?

This is difficult question. You may find this "ideal" GPU, but it's already medium power compare to today standard. Another option is get best on today and use it. It will bottleneck, but system in general is slowly dying. Later you just move GPU in desktop and sell laptop. Same with PSU. I got 430W just for GPU, but it's low for my current system, so i got second PSU - 850W.

 

P.S. I don't know if PCIe 4.0 GPU work with this adapter. If not - upper limit will be... Titan V\Radeon VII? =)

[Swung Huang 45]

1 hour ago, rusTORK said:

P.S. I don't know if PCIe 4.0 GPU work with this adapter. If not - upper limit will be... Titan V\Radeon VII? =)

Though you likely will not benefit from PCIe 4.0, but PCIe is backward-compatible, which means you should have no problems running these systems with the latest and greatest cards.

[High_Voltage 49]

@StBalthazar Yeah, the m.2 connector here is pretty much useless. There's nothing routed to it apart from SATA and some power. And speaking of running games while having this bottleneck, I think it'll still run a lot of modern titles pretty well. You can probably find enough benchmarks that use similar hardware and an x1 link with modern GPUs and modern games to get the general idea.

 

Also, speaking of reading the thread, there's a picture somewhere there showing how someone managed to insert both an HDD and an adaptor at the same time, if that helps. Also, the adaptor is easily removable, as is an Ultrabay HDD caddy, so if you for example only use eGPU for games and only need your HDD for work, it'll be easy for you to swap them.

 

@rusTORK Don't worry about PCIe version 4. Intel only introduced it in their 11th gen CPUs. This has a 4th gen one.

[JABKILL 3]

Hi!, I'm Still using my Y510p with @geraldadapter along with my RX580.

What I´ve done I purchased the HD Caddy for the Y510P, I don´t remenber, but I brought it on amazon for around 20€. Then I couple it with @geraldadapter, so I can have both items connected at the same Time. I don't know if this can help you @StBalthazar.

I know, it´s a mess to deal with the Egpu, monitor and PSU. I honestly gave up the idea to move my laptop, so it's pinned.

 

I want to thank you for everyone, specially @gerald for the first adapter and @Swung Huang  for giving it a second chance. Today I can run Warzone on 80 fps with throttestop and my Egpu. y510p laptop have been a great deal for me (I Purchased it in 2013).

 

Later this year or in the 2022 I will purchase a Desktop PC. But thanks to this adapter I'm still enjoying new titles. Waiting for BF6, but I'm not optimistic about this CPU and my GPU.

 

EDIT: I don't know if its feasible to connect another egpu on wifi adapter (by the way, wifi adapter for the y510p really sucks). I have also issues with sound card adapter, but I fixed it with cable connection (1GB) and USB sound card.

Edited May 3, 2021 by JABKILL
add info

[intruder 16]

On 5/3/2021 at 10:58 AM, StBalthazar said:

@Swung Huang Yep, basically meant that it'd be dangling around, even if connected to a SATA port that has been re-routed outside. Since I use this for work as well, I absolutely need the additional 1TB as a permanent drive and not something that I will have to keep connecting when required. Also, with corona and wfh, I've been moving around quite a bit with my laptop wrt where I work, so this seems a bit of a pain. 

One thing though, how easy is it to connect and disconnect the LUA? Is it the same as any cord/drive per se, that once done I can simply pull it out? Anyhow, just emailing you!....

 

Hello.

 

I assume you have a HDD caddy to use additional HDD in the ultrabay port (not the ultrabay HDD that lenovo advertised but never sold?). 
I use a HDD caddy myself and used to be in the same situation as you where I wanted to be able to use HDD with or without eGPU and to be able to go mobile quickly whenever needed. Hence I thought of a solution.

I bought a simple SlimSATA cable and created a enclosure for both slimsata and the ultrabay adapter (I have gerald's final design ultrabay adapter). SlimSATA is the port where the HDD is connected to with HDD caddy.

 

 

 

 

You can see that the HDD Caddy is attached to laptop through ultrabay as is, meaning, if I wanted to go mobile all I have to do is:
1. remove ultrabay adapter from laptop

2. remove HDD Caddy from ultrabay adapter

3. Insert HDD Caddy to ultrabay slot in the laptop and that's it.

 

Doens't matter which design of ultrabay you get you can modify it to something like explained above. All you'll need is some sata/slimsata cable. 
I hope that is what you wanted to know!

 

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this is not the final iteration of the modification I made. I moved the cable to the back side so that I can put the HDD Caddy behind the laptop and it would'nt get in way while I use my mouse
 

11 hours ago, JABKILL said:

....Today I can run Warzone on 80 fps with throttestop and my Egpu. y510p laptop have been a great deal for me (I Purchased it in 2013).

 

Do you have 8 GB RAM or 16 GB? Are you still using RX580? I tried running Warzone using 1070 but it ran very poorly.

Edited May 4, 2021 by intruder