REQ: bios mods to make Vostro/Latitude eGPU friendly

[nando4]

Dell's Latitudes have been flagged as expresscard-equipped systems unable to do 4GB+ eGPU setups as described here. Which is a shame as the Vostro 3450 with a HD6630M dGPU is a good workhorse with some gaming cred; and the 12" Latitude E6220 would give the Lenovo X220 a bit of competition. I say this statement based on what owners' of 1st gen i-core and older C2D Latitudes have observed when attaching an eGPU.

Now I'm not sure who to direct this to. Perhaps Dell read this forum and can organise to have their bios programmers either set a lower TOLUD/TOLM locked value OR extend their PNPOA03/PNP0A08 devices (root bridge) into 36-bit space? Either or both solutions will then allow a eGPU to work in Windows7 with 4GB or more of RAM. These Dell systems can then be added to the shortlist of candidate systems capable of hosting an eGPU at Sandby Bridge notebooks for an eGPU without any astericks against them.

Here's a breakdown of the PCI BUS definitions of the expresscard equipped Dell notebooks:

Latitude

Core2Duo and 1st-gen i-core Latitudes: have TOLUD=3.5GB with a 32-bit root bridge when running 4GB or more of RAM. There is no spare 256MB 32-bit PCI window to accomodate a eGPU. Those systems can only do a 3GB eGPU installation.

UPDATE 11-7-2011: Avlan's DSDT override extended the root bridge of a Dell E4300 (with TOLUD=3.5GB) into 36-bit space to allow a GTS450 x1.Opt implementation to work with 4GB or more.

2nd-gen Latitudes ??: E6220 is OK and E6520 is OK. Probably means the whole E6x20 have no TOLUD issues unlike previous gens.

Vostro

core2duo/1st or 2nd gen Vostros??: don't know how they setup their bios. None are available available in Australia to physically probe their details.

Vostro 1500 (Santa Rosa): TOLUD=3.5GB with 36-bit root bridge (Tsunade Hime)

Vostro 3450 with HD6630: TOLUD=3GB as shown (celli)

Inspiron

Core2Duo Inspirons have expresscard slots. Newer ones don't. Those Core2Duo Inspirons (1440, 15) also have TOLUD=3.5GB but are one of the rarest systems to extend the root bridge into 36-bit space. So they can host an eGPU from 36-bit PCI space OK. Screenshot shown below.

Inspiron 1440/1545 (Montevina): TOLUD=3.5GB with 36-bit root bridge (nando4)
Inspiron 1520 (Santa Rosa): TOLUD=3.5GB with 36-bit root bridge (Tsunade Hime)

Precision

M6500 has TOLUD=3.5GB with a 32-bit root bridge. (rootgeek).

Community involvement

If you have a system above with a ?? after it then please check the PCI BUS resource in your Device Manager as explained, visually summarized below:



Dell Inspiron 1440: TOLUD=3.5GB with a rare "large memory" PCI BUS, 4.5GB to 12.375GB allowing 36-bit PCI allocation

If not sure, then just post a screenshot of your systems Device Manager->View Resources By Connection->Memory (+Large memory if have that entry above it). Ensure the PCI BUS is shown on the screenshot.

Comments/suggestions are most welcome.

REF: http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post5324240 .

[kalibar]

Thanks for posting this. I was dead-set on getting a Latitude E6420 to do an eGPU with, but I'm looking at other manufacturers now because of this issue. Maybe Dell will get it sorted out and I can go ahead and get an E6420 after all, but in the meantime I'm leaning toward Toshiba Tecra R840 and Lenovo ThinkPad T420s.

Fingers crossed!

[Tsunade_Hime]

nando4 are you referring to the newest Vostro/Latitudes? Older Vostro are based off Inspirons (Vostro 1400,1500,1700).

[nando4]

Originally Posted by Tsunade_Hime

nando4 are you referring to the newest Vostro/Latitudes? Older Vostro are based off Inspirons (Vostro 1400,1500,1700).

Primarily referring to Latitudes. Here's what I know so far:

[ moved content to first post ]

[Tsunade_Hime]

nando4,

I have a first generation Vostro 1500 on the Santa Rosa Platform which is basically an Inspiron 1520.

Spoiler :

Hope this helps.

[Tsunade_Hime]

This is my Latitude 13's results with 4 GB RAM, SU7300, Montevina. Results should be the same with the Vostro V13 (basically same computer). I doubt V130 would be any different (Capella platform)

Spoiler :

Sucks too cause it has an ExpressCard slot too..only 34mm though.

[nando4]

Found out the E6220 can do a eGPU 4GB+ setup: E6220 Release Date? .

[sgogeta4]

Excellent work, as usual, nando4!

[Xenitic]

wow i just bought myself a vostro 3450 after i had problems getting the thinkpad from america; Do you just need to update the bios for this?

[nando4]

Originally Posted by Xenitic

wow i just bought myself a vostro 3450 after i had problems getting the thinkpad from america; Do you just need to update the bios for this?

No updated bios required. Most that you'd need is the parts to do a DIY eGPU and depending on how well the Intel HD300m AMD HD6630M and a NVidia eGPU play together it may also require the DIY eGPU Setup 1.x software and Win7 driver tweaks. Purely speculating at this point as we haven't had a Series-6 (SB) AMD dGPU + NVidia eGPU implementation as yet to nut out the specifics. Maybe you can be the first?