DIY eGPU experiences

[moral hazard]

You don't have to disable the wifi if you have an express-card slot.

For those who don't have an express-card slot, they have to flip their laptop over, take out the wifi adapter from the miniPCIe slot and plug the DIY vidock into the miniPCIe slot.

[ghost_recon88]

Wow, this thread is very confusing to say the least

I've got a Lenovo U330 and it has the ExpressCard 34, so that's what I would use to hook this up. Seems like most people in this thread are using mini-PCIE, any advantage to using that over ExpressCard? Is there any weird driver hacks and coding required if you use the ExpressCard slot?

Edit: Upon further review, it appears here that he used both ExpressCard and mini-PCIE in order to run it at 2x, vs. 1x? Is that correct? The PE4H is 2x capable, so that means 2x PCI-E vs. 16x PCI-E (found in desktops)? Whereas running it just through the ExpressCard would run it at 1x PCI-E?

Edit2: OK so the PE4H allows graphics cards to run at 16x, but the only way you get 16x bandwidth is by opening up your laptop and plugging it into the mini-PCIe?

[roosta]

theres a lot of discussion on the mini pci because it gives much better performance when combined with the express port, but i think a lot of people are just using the express port.
theres no real advantage to using the pice slot instead of the express slot, just it increases the speed by about 20-30% when using both.

[ghost_recon88]

Originally Posted by roosta

theres a lot of discussion on the mini pci because it gives much better performance when combined with the express port, but i think a lot of people are just using the express port.
theres no real advantage to using the pice slot instead of the express slot, just it increases the speed by about 20-30% when using both.

Gotcha. Well 20-30% is a substantial increase, so most likely that would be the route I'd like to take. If I wanted to go that route, the PE4H is the chip I would want? I don't see a model on the website that allows you to hook it into both ExpressCard and mini-PCIe

Edit: If I buy the PE4H-PM3N, do I still need to buy a 2nd PM3N if I plan on hooking it up to both the mini-PCIe and ExpressCard? The first post of this thread would seem to imply that.

US$85 PE4H-EC2C or PE4H-PM3N
US$20 PM3N
US$30 PCIEMM-100
US$28 shipping

US$163 total

[JohnnyEM]

A couple results with my attempt at x2.

I booted into my USB DOS stick and under DOS typed:

pt PCI rconf 0 31 0 4 0xf0

That returned the value 0xFED1C001 that I used as my base RCBA for all the other offsets calculations.

In my x2-conf.bat, I had to comment out the line:

pt MEM write 4 0xFED93418 0x0

That line enables and reveals PCIe ports 5 and 6 but prevents establishing an x2 connection.

0x11=x4 mode on port 1 doesn't work on my ICH7M southbridge. I only get x2

I followed nando4's instructions of powering off the PE4H and Geforce GT240, then running the x2-conf.bat, powering on again and then typing "grub" in the dos prompt.

Everest and GPUZ both report that I have established a x2 connection. Unfortunately, I get error code 12. I have to figure out what config script to use for the x2 configuration.

The Expresscard port is connected to the PCIe x2 connector of the PE4H
The mPCIe is connected to the PCIe x1 connector of the PE4H.

[nando4]

Originally Posted by JohnnyEM

Everest and GPUZ both report that I have established a x2 connection. Unfortunately, I get error code 12. I have to figure out what config script to use for the x2 configuration.

Woo-hoo! First sign of x2 1.0 working!! Your x2 link is established on port1. T5010.bat has had an attempt at a 8800GTX working so I assume your GT240 would require something similar to what's below. Defined for port1:

:: 0/1C/00 - Bridge 4KB I/O Window
:: ICH9 datashet page 777: 2020 meaning 2000-2FFF
setpci -s 00:1c.00 1c.w=2020

:: ICH9 datashet page 779
:: 8800GTX needs 256 MB prefetchable memory (register 24)
:: plus 48 MB non-prefetchable memory (register 20)
:: The default setting may only allocate 32 MB.
setpci -s 00:1c.00 20.l=E2F1E001
setpci -s 00:1c.00 24.l=DFF1D001

Fingers crossed, can't wait for benchmarks

Originally Posted by JohnnyEM

0x11=x4 mode on port 1 doesn't work on my ICH7M southbridge. I only get x2

Did you set your ICH7M link into x2 (0x01) or x4 (0x11) mode to get it to work in x2 mode?? x2 (0x01) isn't specified on the ICH7M datasheet, but is on the ICH8M. An oversight by Intel?

[key001]

Originally Posted by JohnnyEM

Everest and GPUZ both report that I have established a x2 connection. Unfortunately, I get error code 12. I have to figure out what config script to use for the x2 configuration.

try this http://www.magma.com/store/productpd...NCTION_2_6.exe or disable your 7900

[JohnnyEM]

nando, you did point out that the intel ICH7M datasheet only had:

0x11=x4 mode
0x00=x1 mode

I had doubts that my 3 year old ICH7M could enable x4. I currently have it on 0x11 for x4 mode and it just gets downgraded to x2 mode. I also tried 0x01 for x2 mode and that works too, even if it's not in the datasheet.

The key here was to obtain the correct RCBA because everything else is based on that.

Also the following section in the x2-conf.bat:

:: enable all pci-e/usb/sata ports/controllers. Note: Enabling extra pci-e
:: ports that aren't electrically connected will just confuse things.
:: pt MEM write 4 0xFED93418 0x0

I had to comment it out because, although it enables and reveals unknown ports 5 and 6, I discovered it prevents the x2 connection, just like you're hinting in the remarks.

Also, port 1, the x2 enabled expresscard slot is connected to the PCIe x2 connector on the PE4H
port 2, the mPCIe slot is connected to the PCIe x1 connector on the PE4H. It didn't seem to work if I switch the wires.

So, I'm almost there.

[JohnnyEM]

Originally Posted by key001

try this http://www.magma.com/store/productpd...NCTION_2_6.exe or disable your 7900

Thanks for the suggestion of disabling the 7900GS.

Unfortunately, as nando and I have discovered, things are tricky on window 7.
The primary card has to be present and active for the secondary card to be activated. It' a weird behaviour on windows 7. I'm still waiting for a workaround.

[toshiki]

Can't remember now, has anyone tried playing around with RPFN settings to get x2 ?
i.e. running "pt MEM write 4 0xYYYYYYYY 0x543210" with different combinations of 0x543210 (0x541230 to make Port 4 into Port 2 and so on)