DIY eGPU experiences

[PanzerHauptmann]

I am in a pile of information that I have acquired from reading all these pages and would love if someone could put it in order for me.

According to Everest, I have 3 ports, #1,#2, and #6
#1 is empty
#2 is wifi
#6 is ethernet

If I remove my wifi card I can do x2 link. I am going to use PM3N connection.
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I have been convinced to buy a nVidia Gtx 465 1gb. Done. However, some early posts are leading me to believe that x2 link doesn't change the performance of the gtx 4xx series enough to be worth it because the gtx 4xx perform so well on x1? Is this true?

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PEAL is of x1 link. Easy
PEAH v2.0 is x2 link capable.
What is the attraction to the PEAH v2.0a and is it worth waiting for?


Thanks everyone.



Panzer I hope you get your setup working! You sound so close!

Thanks brick.. good luck to you likewise... Currently in process of removing 2 GB stick out of one of my DIMM slots, inserting a 1 GB I have laying around, totallying 3 GB... Just booted up, same results. Will perform shutdown and remove 1 GB stick and hope that it'll work with the 2GB alone... I heard the memeory allocation works somehow when there is less than 4 or 3 GB...?? dont ask.. lol

[PanzerHauptmann]

You know what? I think im gonnna just go back to compusa and return my GTX 460.. yeah, I know it yeilds better performance than a Raedon, but it seems like users overall have less compatibility problems with their Raedon cards.. unless I get find a way to work this one, i might return it.. =( dont want to thou...

[key001]

can you post screens from the driver tab for 130 and 460?
if the driver is the same for both that would be the reason for error 43

[PanzerHauptmann]

can you post screens from the driver tab for 130 and 460?
if the driver is the same for both that would be the reason for error 43

yeah sure I will but I did download and install the separate desktop nvidia drivers (258) and installed them. I would be suprised if they were the same..

[User Retired 2]

yeah sure I will but I did download and install the separate desktop nvidia drivers (258) and installed them. I would be suprised if they were the same..

Before going further I'd suggest install your GTX460 DIY ViDock on another notebook with Intel gfx just to confirm the hardware is all working OK. There is a NVidia error 43 link where it was discovered to be a hardware problem.

[PanzerHauptmann]

I dont have another notebook .. I have a netbook but it would probably fry it LOL (jk it doesnt have a PCMIA slot.. )

going to compusa now to get a RAEDON.. the most expsnive one they got is like 160... has same memory specs as the GTX but lower clock speeds im sure.. I dont care I just want this sh!t to work.... =(

[key001]

yeah sure I will but I did download and install the separate desktop nvidia drivers (258) and installed them. I would be suprised if they were the same..

dll's/files can be overwritten if both drivers share some of the files

[PanzerHauptmann]

hey everybody thought id update you with the latest... Just got back from compusa with a new raedon 5750 1GB GDDR5.... Installed to PE4H, rebooted, didnt even HAVE to go to sleep/resume mode, installed drivers, and

IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will be running benchmarks shortly.... Just to give u an idea, theres a little dinky non-standard benchmark program/system info called AVS System Info.. has a built-in GPU tester... ran it real quick just for a apples-to-apples comparison... Put it like this, my internal GPU (GT130) was average (overclocked to MAX) about 280/300 FPS MAX.... This bad boy (stock speeds) is hitting over 600 FPS.. definintely happy as ofyet..

GEARS OF WAR, HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Id like to thank Nando, Key, and flaunt for all ur help. DIY ViDOCK RULES!!!







... I know the cords need to be cleaned up a bit but u get the idea.... and YES That is a Blu Ray Burner underneath my PSU.. =) (thought id brag a little bit) was a gift from GF, darn thing burns Dual Layered DVD's (approx 9GB) in about 7 mins... lightning fast... !!

Anyway Ill post some benchies ASAP!!

.... oh and BTW, anyone considering the GTX vs. HD raedon.. If u dont like the sound of fans then i HIGHLY recommend you stay far far away from the Galaxy GTX 460... I could hardly hear my 5.1 speakers when that thing was on... this Raedon I cant even tell its ON!!! amazing, absolutely amazing..

Just finished running 3dMark06 tests, all on stock settings...

Not so bad when considering the highest Core 2 Duo Mobile processor out there's rating was a bit over 13000! And those were probably over $2500 machines at the time of purchase...
Id like to run a full bench with the GT 130 M now and see the difference...

Res. Evil 5 Benchmark @ 1920 x 1200



Res. Evil 5 Bench 1280x800 with motion blur and 4xAA:

[Kwisatch]

Hello Everyone, first post here!

I've just got my DIY Vidock to work on a 4-year-old Thinkpad T60 which uses Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz with ATI X1300 and Windows 7. Everything worked flawlessly. I connected the PE4L to an EVGA Geforce GT240 GDDR5 512MB, and then the PE4L to the Expresscard slot on the T60. Upon boot the laptop automatically outputted from the GT240 instead of the internal X1300.

Some x1 benchmarks:

3dmark06: 2446 (CPU score 1455)
3dmark Vantage: P3647 (GPU score 2964, CPU score 11823)

These aren't stellar results but they are an order of magnitude better than my old X1300 setup.

My question is how to setup a x1E interface. According to Everest, I have an ICH7M chipset with:

PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#1: In use, Intel PRO/1000 LAN
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#2: In use, Intel PRO/Wireless 3945
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#3: In use, NVIDIA GT 240
PCI-E 1.0 x1 port#4: Empty

From above it looks like I can do x1E. I made the USB bootdisk and booted off of it (I chose the USB boot option because I have SATA hard drive and Bootdisk 1.0e supposedly has issues with SATA). I have a few questions:

1) When it boots to the USB, I don't get a menu, just Windows 98 Copyright and a blank prompt with C:\>. How do I get the menu to appear?

2) I used C:\Core\iport to scan the ports. They corresponded with Everest. I typed "iport x2 3" and it told me that port #2 was disabled as well to make ports #1 and #3 both x2. Then, I typed "grub4dos w7" and it booted to Windows 7. However, during the windows logo screen, my usb keyboard and mouse stopped working and the boot slowed to a crawl. It booted really slowly into windows desktop but everything was frozen and I could not do anything. Why does this happen?

3) I tried to disable the wireless (port #2) in BIOS. Now iport scan doesn't see port #2 at all...but same result as above, Windows froze during boot.

4) Last thing I did was to start windows 7 using C:\Core\startup instead of grub4dos. It complained that no gfx could be found. I skipped the error by pressing Enter. This started Windows all right (USB still worked, not frozen), but everything was 640x480 and 16 colors. Also, Windows could not load the NVIDIA drivers and any other non-core drivers.

I spent the last five hours trying to figure this out. If someone could help me out it would be much appreciated!!!

P.S. Thanks guys for making the DIY Vidock and for such an informative forum.

[User Retired 2]

I spent the last five hours trying to figure this out. If someone could help me out it would be much appreciated!!!

P.S. Thanks guys for making the DIY Vidock and for such an informative forum.

Great. We have a T60p implementation.

Use Setup 1.0e2. It has no problems with sata and will give options to boot to a Setup 1.x (menu based). Setting port3 to x2 (x1E) will mean port1 will become x2 as well. That's an Intel limitation. Problem there is then the wireless will become lane2 of your LAN card and will freeze the system. The workaround is to physically remove the wifi card, then set port3 to be x1E, ie: "iport x2 3'. Disabling port2 in the bios will be insufficient (which btw is the same thing as 'iport off 2').

Can you try x1E mode and do full benchmarking and detailing your 'experience' in your previous post above so I can link you from the first post?