DIY eGPU experiences

[celli]

The TOLUD of DFA00000 is rounded up to E0000000 (3.5GB) meaning it's too high to accomodate a eGPU in 32-bit space. Now Lenovo fixed their X220 bios (1.24 or thereafter) so that upon detecting the eGPU on bootup it would make TOLUD lower.

Ensure that you have the PCI Reset Delay (SW1=1) set to 0secs on your eGPU will be seen by the bios. If TOLUD is still DFA00000 after that then you've either got three avenues to pursue for a fix:

1. The DSDT override solution, though comments on here suggest users are getting BSODs when trying this.

2. Ask Lenovo for a X230 bios that behaves like the X220 bios. This has already been initiated at X230 expresscard adressing - Lenovo Community . Maybe Lenovo can provide a DSDT override?

3. Test Win8CP. It's PCIe driver may have been fixed so allow 36/64-bit pci addressing even if the root bridge is set for 32-bit only. Certainly MacOS X allows it.

Thanks Nando for your help but sadly nothing worked for the X230. Because as I said DSDT override causes BSOD and Win8 solves Problem 12 but brings a new error text
With Win8 I only get error 12 when I hot plug the eGPU but when I plug in my egpu when my laptop is in hibernate error 12 disapears. But the device manger then tells me taht my GTX 560 doesn't use any ressources and it is also impossible to install the driver.

And so i will try to get cheap 3gb of ram for my egpu and a bunch of candles. And then I will light a candle for lenovo every evining untill they fix it
Because I am quite confident that they fix it again because if I understand it right only the users of 32bit are effected when Lenovo would lower the TOLUD again. And meanwhile nearly everybody uses 64 bit Windows.

[Karlos1544]

Hi all, I hope you can help

My system keeps freezing, no black screen but just freezes whilst playing games. Sometimes it happens as soon as I start but sometimes like 40 minutes in..

I have a OCZ ZT 550w psu, it's single rail 12v with max output of 45A. Is there any way this is too weak for my card which is a Sapphire HD7850, which only requires one 6 pin connector at 75W???

Also I ve seen the the pe4h fuse bypass mentioned, but some say it's a bad idea. Is it?

I have pe4h v 2.4, can someone please tell me how to set the bypass jumper, I see a removable connector thing next to floppy power cable, do I bridge the two terminals with that?

Thanks very much

[xxlukexx]

Per Setup 1.x's Status Window htmlhelp details about it's pci-e ports listing:
Your RE5's extra 15FPS confirms a pci-e 2.0 link is active. Though overall your peformance is a bit lower than others on the first page. Ensure (1) your PSU can deliver sufficient power to your GTX560Ti as I found otherwise the driver/card will cut performance, (2) disable the NVidia Sound Drivers to ensure all bandwidth is used for video and (3) could also remove/disable the wifi card and test if that improves performance.

I'd like to ask that you do a comprehensive report of your Samsung Series-4, including the DSDT override so others could duplicate your efforts. It would be the fourth 12.5" expresscard-equipped ultraportable that we'd have as a candidate eGPU solution (Lenovo X220/X230, Dell E6220/E6230, HP 2560P/2570P, Samsung Series-4).

Frankly, solving the 1.2 Optimus issue was the last thing I wanted to do before writing a report of setting an eGPU on my Samsung. And as disabling the Nvidia Sound Drivers, WiFi and 3G modem gave an effect below is the whole story. Probably one day I'll check the PSU - if anything changes, I'll provide you with the info.

So mainly this is an extended version of the message I posted in the past - now updated with information about all solved probles and with benchmarks. If anyone is interested my previous post is here: DIY eGPU experiences - Page 1024. Also I think it is it is worth to mention that thanks to Bjorm I was able to use the eGPU stuff for few hours and check if my Samsung 400B2B is capable of using eGPU! Once again - thanks man!

Notebook itself and eGPU configuration
So - a little bit more about the notebook itself. Here you can check all the details about it: 400B2B 12.5" | NP400B2B-A01UK | Business Notebook - SAMSUNG UK - OVERVIEW. However I am using a Polish version (400B2B-H01PL - from what I think the only difference comparing to the UK or US version is the processor). From my point of view after using it for half a year I can say that:
- it has a lot of power (i5+HD3000) and nice stuff inside (3g modem, hdmi, usb 3.0, expresscard)
- it's 12,5 inch so it's good if you travel a lot (also matt lcd)
- it has great battery (6-8 hours during normal usage)
- and three small downsides: poor quality of the screen, poor speakers and hinges that could've hold the screen a little bit stronger

Notebook and eGPU configuration:
- 8 GB of RAM
- 03PE BIOS
- Windows 7 x64 Professional
- PE4L 2.1b EC2C
- GeForce GTX 560 Ti MSI Twin-Frozer II
- 301.42 Nvidia notebook drivers (modified)

However after I bought this notebook I realized that is has the TOLUD=3,5GB (link: DIY eGPU experiences - Page 718), so I thought that it won't be capable of eGPU. Few months later Nando wrote about the DSDT override which I performed successfully (with a lot of help from Nando and Kizwan to debug the modified .dsl file - more details further) so that the the only thing that was left to do was to plug in the eGPU and check if it works. And doing so was just like plug-and-play - I turned on my laptop, halted loading Windows (F8), plugged in the eGPU, installed the nvidia drivers, optimized the settings of Nvidia Optimus and... that's it. The only problem was that I got it working at the 1.1 Opt. To enable it to work at 1.2 Opt I had to use Setup 1.x.

DSDT override
Using the "DSDTEditor_Linux_Windows" (link: http://olarila.com/dsdt/DSDTEditor_Linux_Windows.zip) these are the steps I perfomed:
1. I got the original .dsl file (link: http://db.tt/W0hHIsa6),
2. modified it including comments (thanks guys!!!) from Nando and Kizwan (the dsl file after all of the modifications looks like that: http://db.tt/G0V25XzQ),
3. compiled it and loaded successfully into the registry (here is the final .aml file with modifications: http://db.tt/DMaFk401).
There were only minor errors so no extraordinary changes were done. No BSODs and such stuff. Piece-of-cake

Setup 1.x
As I mentioned after setting the "raw" configuration it is only possible to get the eGPU working at the 1.1 Opt. To get 1.2 Opt working I had to purchase the Setup 1.x to change the port which is used by eGPU to Gen2. So after the installation of the Setup 1.x I perform such steps:
1. Video cards -> Initialize -> eGPU
2. PCIe Ports -> G2 -> set the port3 to Gen2
3. PCI Compaction -> 36bit
4. Chainload

Benchmarks
To check what is the maximum capability of this stuff I performed those benchmarks with disabled WiFi and 3G modem, but without OCed graphics card to show what is the potential of the notebook itself. I also tried to downgrade (using Setup 1.x) all ports other than those used by eGPU to Gen1, but this didn't give any effect.
3dmark06: 15057 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-2410M Processor,SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. 400B2B/400B2B score: 15057 3DMarks
3dmarkVantage: P12476 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-2410M Processor,SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. 400B2B/400B2B score: P12476 3DMarks
3dmark11: P3920 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-2410M Processor,SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. 400B2B/400B2B score: P3920 3DMarks
RE5 (DX9, 1280x800): 120,4 FPS (when I try to get the screenshot I only get a black rectangle so sorry - no screenshots this time)
Heaven (DX11, default settings): 54,4 FPS, 1371 score Unigine benchmark results

CUDA-Z:

Memory Copy
	Host Pinned to Device: 369.962 MB/s
	Host Pageable to Device: 351.521 MB/s
	Device to Host Pinned: 370.66 MB/s
	Device to Host Pageable: 355.098 MB/s
	Device to Device: 54252 MB/s
GPU Core Performance
	Single-precision Float: 895188 Mflop/s
	Double-precision Float: 112821 Mflop/s
	32-bit Integer: 450042 Miop/s
	24-bit Integer: 446234 Miop/s

Photos
Soon

Summary:
- hard stuff: performing DSDT override
- easy stuff: plug-and-play usage

Soon I'll provide you with the photos of my whole setup. If you have any questions or I missed something important - just ask / tell me!

Cheers!

[xxlukexx]

I belive that i need setup.1x right?

Most probably as it's the only way to set it to Gen2 (giving you 1.2 Opt) if you're unable to use it from the beginning.

I think it would be best if you contacted Fardavid - if you have the same configuration as him he might be the best source of information.

[memoy]

I think it would be best if you contacted Fardavid - if you have the same configuration as him he might be the best source of information.

Hello.

I would like to contact Fardavid, but I do not know how. I can not send him private message, and he also has given no further contact data.

I will probably buy next month Setup x1.

[xxlukexx]

Hello.

I would like to contact Fardavid, but I do not know how. I can not send him private message, and he also has given no further contact data.

I will probably buy next month Setup x1.

You will be able to send PMs if you have 5 or more messages posted. So one more post and you can contact him freely.

Apart from that I've seen you had problems installing the Nvidia Drivers. I'm not sure it this helps but try to install the desktop version of them or download the modified one's (295.72 version from here: DIY eGPU experiences), exchange the nvam file for the modified one and then your card should be detected.

[memoy]

@ xxlukexx

Thank you xxlukexx.

Ok, I did say that I have the same system as Fardavid, but I do not have the mobile Nvidia graphics card in the laptop. But I think the procedure-does not differ much.

Will the modified Verde drivers needed, even though I have no Nividiakarte (mobile)?

currently it is most important to me to know, if I only score by the setup.x1 from 6348(3Dmark06) to approximately 16 000 points.
Because Optimus solely enabled by the standard nvidia drivers for the GTX 560 Ti i think.

[AP27]

Has anyone else had a slowdown issue after having the eGPU running for a long time (overnight, for example). All my games and such are extremely choppy (10-15 fps) the next morning. Once I restart my machine (and the eGPU), they all become perfectly playable.

I'd hazard a guess that it's some kind of power-management issue, but I'm at a loss about how to fix it.

[memoy]

@AP27

This is probably because of the Gigabyte factory is not correct. Therefore, there is a BIOS update for the power supply to adjust the clock.

By the way, can you tell me how many points you have in 3DMark06? I have the same processor and the same graphics card, but only 6348 points.

[DTrinh09]

Has anyone had any problems with the 4-pin power connector browning? I've been having some problems today where my computer will just go black and hang. I decided to check some of the connections to see if that was the problem. I do not keep my eGPU or PSU in an enclosure.

In the last picture, the first pin on the left is blackish. The others look that way too from the picture, but they are normal looking in person (metal shiny look).

http://imgur.com/a/N4gAR