Let's figure out how to make a DIY eGPU (previously DIY ViDock)

[User Retired 2]

Updated PE4L and PM3N products



L: PE4L v1.3 and PM3N v1.1 [currently shipping]
R: PE4L v1.0 and PM3N v1.0 [previously shipping]

What are the differences?

-PE4L: v1.3 has effectively flattened the USB and molex connector to allow double-width video cards or ones with large heatsinks/plastic enclosures such as HD57xx or HD58xx to be mounted without interference. V1.0's upright USB and molex connector would impede insertion of those video cards. It is slightly bigger with far better designed 3 middle mounting holes.

-PM3N: v1.1 has added a jumperable 6.9s reset delay to overcome bios whitelisting that halts the boot process when finding a non-whitelist compatible device. It also has a tiny blue led on it that switches on when it's connected, lighting the underside of your system

Only problem is hwtools is out-of-stock of the latest PE4L. Not sure if anyone noticed, hwtools are also now including the little ATX switch, SWEX, with PE4H purchase so don't need to use the paperclip trick to switch them on. That is a US$5 extra accessory if buying the PE4L.

[Stacky]

Clarification please: If i was going to try the 1 x 2.0 I would need the PE4H, correct?

[User Retired 2]

Clarification please: If i was going to try the 1 x 2.0 I would need the PE4H, correct?

* x1 2.0 needs only needs a single port: Can use either PE4L+EC2C OR PE4H+EC2C

* x2 1.0 needs two ports (port1+port2 or port3+port4) so MUST use PE4H+ EC2C/PM3N combo

* PE4H has additional benefit of onboard voltage regulation so can supply pci-e slot power using say a 15-19V 80W AC notebook adapter. This is great if using a HD5670 or lower card.

Since you intend to use a video card which has an additional pci-e connector (HD4770/HD4890/HD5770), you'd need an additional ATX PSU. 75W to the pci-e slot via the molex connector and additional power to the video card via the pci-e power connectors.

XPS13's chipset appears x1 2.0 capable as shown here so recommend a US$82-delivered PE4L+EC2C+SWEX. Only problem is the PE4L is out-of-stock so you might need to fork out the extra for a US$107-delivered PE4H+EC2C+SWEX just because of it's availability.

[Stacky]

Thanks for the help nando. I'm waiting for Chinese new years to be over. I think I'll be getting the PE4H. I already have an ATX 160 Watt power supply waiting just for this. I'll be sure to let you guys know about how it works out for me when I get it all together.

[tinkeringmc]

Im confused by all this.

Why cant I hook up a netbook to this? I mean my 1000he has a spare mpcie slot somewhere in its guts. If I could break that out some how would that be possible to work with DIY vidock?

[moral hazard]

Yes it's possible. Just get the PE4L + PM3N from hwtools.

Your CPU might slow your frame rate down a bit, but you should still be able to play all your games (GTA4 would probably need very low settings because it likes powerful CPUs).

[User Retired 2]

Im confused by all this.

Why cant I hook up a netbook to this? I mean my 1000he has a spare mpcie slot somewhere in its guts. If I could break that out some how would that be possible to work with DIY vidock?

+1 Moral Hazard's comments. However, I believe the spare mPCIe slot in the 1000he is either for WWAN and/or for a mPCIe SSD. The former having only USB pins attached, the latter having sata pins running off the pins that notebooks have pci-e pins (21,23, 33, 35).

A quick test can be done by putting the wifi card in the extra slot. If detected, then can use it for a DIY vidock implementation. If not, then would need to use the wifi mPCIe slot instead + purchase USB wifi if want simultaneous wifi access.

The Lenovo S10 has an expresscard slot, so DIY VIDock's EC2C setup is far more convenient with that netbook.

[tinkeringmc]

oh man, so how do i figure it out. im happy to strip this thing open.

how do you break out the necessary cabling though from inside the chassis so you can plug it into the vidock, thats the bit im not understanding.

[moral hazard]

Have you ever seen a miniPCIe slot?

You just plug the PM3N into the miniPCIe slot.


It's sort of like a ram slot, you just stick it in.

[tinkeringmc]

ya, im just trying to imagine how that breaks out of your chassis of the netbook though.