DIY eGPU experiences

[Max399]

Ok, il see what they have in the shop and take it.
Thank you.

[PanzerHauptmann]

Honestly, unleses you have an ultra-crappy onboard GPU, with that Radeon low-end card I doubt you're gonna see considerable performance increases to make all this setup worth your while... I already tried the 5750 and performance was near my GT 130M w/ 1GB vRAM... Like nando said, GTX4xx series tends to work the best with this configuration, and persoanlly, I would never want to go to all this trouble if I couldnt at LEAST play all games in 1920 x 1200 with full settings and achieve a minimum of 30-40 FPS.. you're not gonna get that with the 4500 or 46xx series Radeons, due to the way the chipsets handshake with each other, as Im told.. trust me, I have first hand experience, even with a much more powerful (and expensive) card (HD5750 1GB GDDR5 vRAM) Good luck max. oh and also, im crippled just like u with the 1x only capability, so you might as well maximize it as best you can...

[Eggs Scrambled]

So I'm looking at possible new laptops, and one in particular has me quite interested. It's the clevo b5100m, or sager np5125. The problem is, it doesn't have an expresscard slot, which is disastrous for my decision as I was thinking it'd be perfect if I could get that and use the 330m and optimus as a sort of perfect portable setup, then later on when I want more juice I could make a diy vidock (or buy one?) and do some plugged in gaming when I want.

So in regards to that laptop, first of all how much extra power would a gtx 460 + vidock get me over the 330m if the expresscard was actually IN the laptop?

Plus, is it at all feasible that the vidock stuff could in the future actually work over a usb 3.0 port? I'm curious as to why or why not but please let me know whether or not getting a laptop without an expresscard slot will demolish all future possibilities of getting a vidock setup.

Also, I'm looking at the last-gen clevo m860etu that has a matte 1920x1200 screen and also an expresscard slot, and a vidock might be interesting since the gpu is basically maxed at 260m or maybe even 280m, so in regards to that would a vidock with a 460 outperform a 260m or a 280m? Would using optimus make it outperform those cards? Would optimus still show the watermark on the internal lcd (until further notice)?

What is the deal with expresscard 2.0 if/when those become available? Would using an expresscard 2.0 vidock go faster in any expresscard slot, or do we have to wait for expresscard 2.0-enabled laptops?

If I were to get an official vidock, that i'm assuming is a box with the power supply built in and expresscard 2.0 support, which one is the right one to get for a gtx 460? Do the official vidocks support the whole optimus stuff you guys are experimenting with in here?

Finally, is the mini-pcie solution not very feasible because of the way you have to set it up? How do you all with a mini-pcie setup use your laptops while the bottom is open with a cord coming out of it? Case modding? I'm very curious for non-expresscard laptops.

[Bluegreen]

Hi there,

I have a notebook with an expresscard slot, pcie 2.0, and am not wary of opening up my laptop, what is the fastest set up I could do? (I have read through a number of these pages but am still unclear.)

[Max399]

Well, i went to shop and got an HD5750 1GB today. Grr, it was 3 times more than i wanted to spend on it..
Waiting for the PE4L to come now..

P.S: Would a 175w BP be enough to power it?

[dietcokefiend]

Holy crap! I can't believe how well this thing works!

Right now I am working on a review of the 16x DIY ViDock paired up with a Lenovo ThinkPad T410s with Intel Graphics. Trial run was a cheap ATI 4350 card to see if it worked, and it was instantly recognized and drivers installed without a hitch. Boots flawlessly too.

Can't wait to move up to better graphics card

[giggidy]

Holy crap! I can't believe how well this thing works!

Right now I am working on a review of the 16x DIY ViDock paired up with a Lenovo ThinkPad T410s with Intel Graphics. Trial run was a cheap ATI 4350 card to see if it worked, and it was instantly recognized and drivers installed without a hitch. Boots flawlessly too.

Can't wait to move up to better graphics card

Tell us how the t410s goes with a new card!

I'm planning on getting a gtx460 1gb with the t410s and see how it goes

[key001]

Holy crap! I can't believe how well this thing works!

Right now I am working on a review of the 16x DIY ViDock paired up with a Lenovo ThinkPad T410s with Intel Graphics. Trial run was a cheap ATI 4350 card to see if it worked, and it was instantly recognized and drivers installed without a hitch. Boots flawlessly too.

Can't wait to move up to better graphics card

I wanna see a 16x diy vidock

[dietcokefiend]

Tell us how the t410s goes with a new card!

I'm planning on getting a gtx460 1gb with the t410s and see how it goes

Well initial stuff has it working great. This weekend I might be able to grab a GTS250 for some benchmarks, but the review will center around a GTX460.

Boots without any whitelist error, Windows 7 recognized the ATI card in seconds, automatically installing video and audio drivers (HDMI), and I was running in single display mode to an external monitor in probably 3 minutes. 100% painless!

http://www.harmonicinversion.com/pro...product_id=191

Bought that kit.

[User Retired 2]

Well, i went to shop and got an HD5750 1GB today. Grr, it was 3 times more than i wanted to spend on it..
Waiting for the PE4L to come now..

You've splashed out for a HD5750 so why not add spend another 20-25% for a GTX460 768MB? The GTX460 will give you far better real gaming performance. Eg: NFS Shift on HD5750@x1 sees a jarring single digit FPS with multiple cars. GTX470@1920x1080 renders with incredible smoothness. Game looks great and is very playable. Ref too Panzer's and ithildin's GTX460 comments.

but the review will center around a GTX460

Looking forward to seeing your T410' i5+GTX460 DIY ViDock review. I hope you can benchmark some current games' performance like techpowerup does. The T410s' Intel HD primary gfx means you should get the Optimus performance tweaks.