DIY eGPU experiences

[jaripetteri]

I have problems to get my x220 to recognize eGPU. Once I did see the standard vga adapter on device manager and after driver installation and reboot it disappears. I try to remove drivers but can't get eGPU to show up anymore.

Any idea how to get this running?

My setup:
Lenovo x220 i7
PE4L 2.1b with express card
120W 12V-24V DC Power supply set to 16V-18V
Asus nVidia GTS450 Silence passive cooled GPU

[joshhhab]

If your T510 is a switchable graphics version with Intel HD, then suggest disable the NVS3100M and run it with an NVidia Fermi or Keplar card for maximum performance.

Lenovo T510 can run a [port3+port4] x2 link

If you have only the NVS3100M version then to get decent smoothness would require running a x2 link. The schematic shows it has port1=wifi/mPCIe, port3=UWB/mPCIe, port4=expresscard. So you could run a [port3+4] x2 link.

Wrong wrong wrong!


Let's show you my T510 PCIe config



Port #1 is empty, but this is not WWAN miniPCIe slot, WWAN slot is only USB+mSATA capable, so no x2 link with this!

So where is x1 port?

Right down tour touchpad, see picture



Slot #1 is unsoldered, so to get it working you should solder it and use after


There are few ore questions about this motherboard - what is unsoldered slot pins right from PCH - there are about 50 pins on each side ~100 both. Maybe this is also PCIe lanes from chipset? QM57 has 8 x1 lanes - 4 (#1, #2, #4, #5) of them is cards and devices, #3 is possible sound controller, #6 is possible LAN(not sure about lan cause its use chipset PHY port so 8 PCIe lanes may be untouched ) Maybe its 7th-8th lanes of PCH? If so is there some way to use it or simply test what kind of signal on it?



UPDATE: Based on info from block diagram

Physically:
#1 WLAN > AIDA #2
#2 Our unsoldered slot > AIDA #1
#3 WWAN > AIDAs missing #3
#4 ExpressCard > AIDA #4
#5 Ricoh CardReader+FW > AIDA #5
#8 GLAN

So even with this info we got ports 6-7 unused there


Hope I'll have much time to finish this job, solder this bracket and try to run my GeForce GTX 280 as eGPU with my CPU modded T510

[euchrid_eucrow]

Holy crap, nice job!
It was me that first discussed it earlier =)

Please, tell me more in detail what you did here:

1. What components were used?
2. Is it pcie 2.0 compatible?
3. How does the USB wifi work, did you solder it?


Best regards!

Hey, I'll eventually put together a more comprehensive post detailing the mod (i've got a few more things to try before calling it done.) Note that i've been collecting, trying out different components since eary 2011 so I don't have part numbers for everything handy, i'll include those in the comprehensive post.

To answer you questions above:

1. I'm basically using a mpcie riser card to carry the signal from the mpcie slot to the DVD rom area.

2. I've got the PE4H and the laptop has switchable graphics so i'm using setup 1.x to load the egpu. I've got a PCI 2.0 card in there but i'm only getting a x1 link on it.

3. I have an empty WWAN slot in the computer (mpcie but only carries USB+SATA, no power) and have put a mpcie breakout card in there (it provides usb and sata pins as flying leads) and have soldered a usb port (port bought from mouser) to it. I'm working on getting an esata setup in there too. In order to get power to the usb port i've plugged in a slimline sata to sata adapter (as in for a second hdd) and have soldered the 5v lines from that to the usb port to provide power to the wifi dongle (cheap dongle purchased off of newegg)

Hope this helps, gets you started. I'll post a link to the mod thread once i get it together next week.

[FeralWolf]

Wrong wrong wrong!
...
Right down tour touchpad, see picture

Hello Josh,

thanks for that image, I couldn't find a detailed photo of the newer W5X0/T5X0 motherboards with the plugs. They are really similiar to the W530 from what I could see without complete disassembling.

I was wondering the same as you, if there are additional PCIe lanes attached somewhere or accessible over the plugs (maybe SmartCard-reader uses PCIe, maybe USB, not sure as I don't have one in my notebook).

That was exactly my idea, too, to find free or unused (maybe even a x2 or x4 link possible) PCIe lanes, so your image helps alot in my search.

If there were the possibility to use a x2 or even x4 link in PCIe 2.0 bandwith speed, I would seriously think about soldering or construct a solution for it. But it is always a hard thing without pin-out-charts and manuals, unfortunately.

Much regards,

Wolf

[Dellorto]

Hello.
I want to make my own adapter to connect eGPU and have some questions. I have notebook with RS780M chipset with two PCI-E 2.0 x1 ports(information from AIDA64), but in matrix on first page says what RS* chipsets have only 1.0 version. What is true?. And another one - what types of cables I must use? In specification writes what PCI-E use LVDS, but most uses hdmi or usual wires (I want to use two sata cables for reference clock and Tx/Rx, it would be better?).
P.S. Sorry for my bad english.
Thanks.

[ScreenWalker]

Cons of NVS4200M/Optimus equipped E6520

- if there isn't a bios option to disable the NVS4200M then would need to use Setup 1.x to disable it to get x1.Opt eGPU functionality.

- more heat

- more cost: some vendors like Lenovo charging more for the dGPU than the ~$210 a GTX460 DIY eGPU costs. The GTX460 will seriously outbench a NVS4200M.

Pros

- slightly better gaming-in-the go ability than the Intel HD3000



Try 32-bitA compaction, ensure you have devcon.txt created and that it finds a solution.

If still no go, do a clean boot and run "Save Diags->compact_fails" followed by "Save Diags->Windows_fails". Reboot to Windows, mount the Setup 1.x disk image, archive the \diag folder, upload to mediafire.com and link here.

If you have a HD6630M E420 then it will probably be a more complex installation.

I seem to have a simliar case not getting rid of error 12. But my problem starts earlier as the compacting operation always hangs. I tried all options 32, 32A, 36bit, tried to reduce to 32 bit either of the cards (internal Intel HD Graphics, external ATI Radeon HD 5670), and also tried to compact without external HD5670 connected. Always it hangs on the very last page, asking for pressing Enter. When I wait reading the pages, then I can press Enter but it hangs after a few seconds. Trying to reboot (by shutting off and switching on) and use the settings sometimes freezes the Windows start screen, sometimes works, but still with error 12.

After reading more than 60 pages of the forum, searching and googling, trying several settings I have no ideas any more how to get around this hanging at the end of compact-process.

Fujitsu Lifebook T900
Win 7 x64 Prof German
8GB RAM, SSD
ATI Radeon HD 5670 1GB

I did all dumps as mentioned in the quoted post, you can find them here.

Please help! I don't have that in depth knowledge to go through address spaces and the reason why it might freeze.

Thanks for your support!!

[laststandb]

Hey guys,
I've set up my eGPU and everything seems to be going smoothly, however I'm not actually experience much of an increase compared to integrated graphics.

Right now I don't have access to a high speed internet (I plan on running 3D mark vantage tomorrow). But here's my setup

Spoiler :

lenovo Thinkpad X220 (i5 2.3)
Win 7 x64
2GB RAM (Will increase soon)

eGPU (internal LCD)
Geforce GTX 460
Corsair CX 430 Power supply

As for actual performance tests, I don't have much on me (I'll be able to test Starcraft 2 Tomorrow) but
Portal 1 I was able to increase the frame rate from 55 to 115 fps using the eGPU. However for benchmark tests I used windows experience (my Gaming Graphics dropped from 6.1 to 5.9) and I used this online test Bobjob's Online LWJGL Graphics Benchmark Test and found a drop of about 29% in fps from using the eGPU.

I think the main problem has to do with the driver. The driver I installed was Verde 301.42 (301.42-desktop-win7-winvista-64bit-english-whql), however I wasn't able to find the nvam.inf file so I just skipped the step. Is this important to the performance? And any tips on modding 301.42?

[neonX]

Hey guys,
I've set up my eGPU and everything seems to be going smoothly, however I'm not actually experience much of an increase compared to integrated graphics.

I think the main problem has to do with the driver. The driver I installed was Verde 301.42 (301.42-desktop-win7-winvista-64bit-english-whql), however I wasn't able to find the nvam.inf file so I just skipped the step. Is this important to the performance? And any tips on modding 301.42?

As you can see in the picture I attached, you can check if Optimus is enabled by going to Manage 3D Settings in NVIDIA Control Panel and looking for Preferred Graphics Processor dropmenu.

There is nothing wrong with the drivers. If you read the note here in red, you would know that every NVIDIA driver after 295.xx automatically supports Optimus. I'm using that same driver unmodded with Optimus enabled. In order for Optimus to work, the GPU must be turned on before you boot Windows. I am pretty sure that is the problem.

Edit: I just noticed that you said you're using the internal LCD. Optimus won't give you the nice 20-333% boost if you're using the internal LCD. I'm using an external HDTV for my GTX460.

[Odaka]

Hi,

(sorry for my bad english)
i need help to install the driver for my egpu, a Gtx 560 Ti

my stuff:

lenovo thinkpad t410
core i7
8 gb ram
win 7 64x

I have a display connected to the egpu.

The egpu is detected but windows can't install de vga standard driver because there is already the other card (i don't remember the error code)

when i uninstall all the graphics drivers and install the nando4's it don't ask me to install twice. When the installation is finished, only the internal gpu works and the egpu is not more detected (the fans turn faster) and the computer go slow

when i uninstall all the graphics drivers and install only the driver for the egpu the display still black

I have the PE4H v2.4

I hope you could help me

[mannerwafferl]

hi,

After the previous post, i reinstalled my Windows 7 as a 64 bit System. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. So, i tried a PCI space compaction using setup 1.x and i got pci_alloc_valid=yes
But when i boot afterwards, still usb is not working. What am i doing wrong?

Thank you!