DIY eGPU experiences

[Tonyz2897]

I'm wondering if this combination will work?
System: Toshiba a205-s5804
Adapter: PE4L-EC2C
Video card: Zotac (Nvidia Ion) PCIE x1
Newegg.com - ZOTAC ION-GPU-A-E ION Graphics Processor 512MB DDR3 PCI Express x1 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card

With the low power requirements of this card (18 watts) would it even need an external power source? I'm also curious if audio over HDMI will work? The card supports it but I'm not sure if connecting it via the adapters would cause any problems... If this will work, it seems like a nice low-cost way to turn my unused Toshiba into a competent mild gaming/HTPC rig.

Thanks,
Tony

[User Retired 2]

Is it enough to use /bcdedit {} truncatememory 0xc0000000 or do I have to take of the hardware? And than what to do with Setup 1.x?

Using bcdedit to limit RAM will not work. 32-bit PCI config space is available above the TOLUD value. TOLUD is set by the bios and locked. With 4GB+ RAM installed, TOLUD is set to 3.5GB on Dell systems, mostly used by onboard devices with only 32MB remaing available. TOLUD cannot be changed after bios boot.

So there are three solutions to get a external video card working with your system (i) remove a 2GB module and install a 1GB module. The bios will then set TOLUD as 3GB, with 512MB free in 32-bit PCI config space (ii) ask Dell to set a lower 3.25GB or 3GB TOLUD value in the bios (iii) ask Dell why 36-bit PCI allocation of your video card is not working, even though it works fine on an ICH9M/4500MHD Inspiron 1440 which also has TOLUD=3.5GB.

With the low power requirements of this card (18 watts) would it even need an external power source? I'm also curious if audio over HDMI will work? The card supports it but I'm not sure if connecting it via the adapters would cause any problems... If this will work, it seems like a nice low-cost way to turn my unused Toshiba into a competent mild gaming/HTPC rig.

The video card needs 12V/18W to drive it. The expresscard slot povides 3.3V out only, so no it's not going to work. 12V/72W adapters that can be used with a PE4L can be bought for US$10-delivered off ebay.

So it looks like my system compared to similar ones, looses performance because of the cpu. Tried 260.99 and 265.90 Opt. beta drivers without success, i MIGHT try to do my own inf file.
I still haven't performed a x2 non-Opt. link to compare, will do when i have the time. What drivers would i need for it though?

It looks like x1.Opt does use a compressed link to get faster performance. I say that because the 3dmark06 SM3.0 value increased with faster CPUs even if using the same GTX460 video card.

While I saw x2 and x1.Opt deliver very similar performance in testing with a i5-430M, it may happen that x2 will give better performance with your lower-spec CPU. You'll need DIY VIDock Setup 1.x to create the x2 link.

I actually believe a HD6850@x2E, which your 6930 is capable of based on the 6930G port layout, would outperform a GTX460@x2.

In the" multiple displays" option they have "extend", "show desktop only on 1" , "show only on 2"
if i choose "entend", nothing been displayed on disktop
"show only 1"(8600M gs). i can see windows, icons and start menu
"show only 2" no start menu and windows.
i atttached few photo on "screen resolution menu" and driver inf.
i don't know what i should do now. i am hoping u will be able to help with that.

Have you attached a LCD via a VGA or HDMI cable on the GTX465 video card?

[giux787]

HP 6930p T9500 w7 32bit ati 3450
DIY 0.7/ antiwhitelist/ PE4H/ NV 6800 > ATI 6850 > GTX460
hope to try a 5750 and a 8800 as well...


Hi, I still haven't found a way out. Good news is that I could get a GTX460 from a friend to try and let him try the 6850 for beta tests...
Bad news is that It's summoning the same error not being recognized in windows... nor in devices this time ( Unlike the ATI ) ; Just a VGA adapter with no resources... but in Setup 1.x after Startup.bat the adapter is shown to be working correctly...

I looked back in the posts for solutions:
Back to pg 163; Lazyboy had quiete the same unconvinient, and he managed to get on to it by compacting 36 bit vid-2 and forcing32 vid-1 > chainloading...
I could chainload after I did compact 32bit ignoring vid-1 than w7 was loaded straight. All other options always redirect to MBR.
... So booting after to w7 from mbr didn't work either. I post the DIAG.
If someone can tell me what kind of Setup I could do for bettering these "No Deal" outputs I could try... tnx..

I know there are other solution I haven't yet tried, as modifying the registry key in the INF file, but it's foggy enough for me to understand how it should be done for my sys.

I modified the startup.but in

Call Waitvid 60 10de:0e22
Call Pci
Call Grub4dos w7

I created the 10de0e22.bin file and it seem to work, as in Video status the card seem to have a VGA adapter now.

[ronvalencia]

Hello together,

I just want this *** external graphic to work, if I could only use 3 GB, or not the internal graphiy anymore, it does not matter... I am looking forward to every idea, thank you!

Are you using the latest BIOS for your laptop?

[ronvalencia]

I'm wondering if this combination will work?
System: Toshiba a205-s5804
Adapter: PE4L-EC2C
Video card: Zotac (Nvidia Ion) PCIE x1
Newegg.com - ZOTAC ION-GPU-A-E ION Graphics Processor 512MB DDR3 PCI Express x1 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card

With the low power requirements of this card (18 watts) would it even need an external power source? I'm also curious if audio over HDMI will work? The card supports it but I'm not sure if connecting it via the adapters would cause any problems... If this will work, it seems like a nice low-cost way to turn my unused Toshiba into a competent mild gaming/HTPC rig.

Thanks,
Tony

ExpressCard slot can not supply 18 watts. You will need an external power supply.

[Yakuro]

So there are three solutions to get a external video card working with your system (i) remove a 2GB module and install a 1GB module. The bios will then set TOLUD as 3GB, with 512MB free in 32-bit PCI config space

Thanks a lot nando for your advice. I will try to remove the RAM. Just short question about this:

Should it also work with only 2 GB? Than I am going try this first, or do I have to get a new 1 GB RAM necessarily?

After I than have 2 or 3 GB how to proceed with Setup 1.x? Are just these 3 Steps correct/enough:

- Configure -> PCI config space -> run compaction [ignore: none][method: bridge] -> This leads to a pci_written: yes
- Than: Apply config -> Using startup.bat
- Than: Reboot.

Or do I have to tuse this Chainloader and so ever?

And what I always asked myself, do I have to boot with inserted EC adapater, or do I plugin the adapter in Windows?

[bks1987]

Just for my future reference, does this work for MSI GX740? My version is the one with i5-450m. I think 5870M is good enough for the next 1 year max so I just want to know if my lappy is capable of doing this.

[Muftobration]

I would like to thank everyone in this thread for contributing to this technology. I benefited from my DIY ViDock setup all this last semester while I was at school.

Now that I'm back home and have some extra money laying around, I'm going to build my desktop back up (sold the Mobo, RAM, and CPU before I left and went with a DIY ViDock). If anyone here would like to buy it, sent me a PM and we'll make a deal. I have all the parts in this picture.



Part of the sticker on the Express Card adapter started to peel off, as you can see.

P.S. I don't know if it's appropriate to post this here, but this is where someone who's interested in trying one will most easily find it. If this is not appropriate, please let me know and I will remove this post.

[Gausen]

I'm using a DIY Vidock made of one PE4H and MSI R6870 video card (Using expresscard port). The notebook is an MSI CR630: Athlon II P320, 4GB of RAM, Win7 x64 Enterprise. So far everything seems OK. Right now I'm trying to optimize port usage with DIY Vidock Setup.

This is how my setup looks like.

I left you some pic's (pcie 2.0 x1).


I'm having some issues with DIY vidock setup. I think it's not installing right. I can see a message during installation about manually copying some files (i dont know which ones). Also bootmenu item is correctly created but i recieved a message about c:\DIYVidock\grldr when trying to boot (the file actually exist in the directory).

[Gausen]

On my taskbar the icon for "safely remove hardware" shows a weird option: Remove Acer Dynavivid graphic's Dock.

Is Acer selling DIY Vidock's? Is this normal?