DIY eGPU experiences

[mwalter]

Tech Radar have just done a pretty good article on the subject, 'how to make an external laptop graphics adaptor'. Not a bad summary of the info at all.

Link: How to make an external laptop graphics adaptor | News | TechRadar UK

[TsumeAwase]

Hacking Optimus for non-certified solutions

There has been no success at Sony Z11 - NVIDIA Optimus in unlocking the driver to work with a different primary adapter. I'm hopeful for a X3100+GTX470 setup for my 2510P.

I have PMed GenL at ngohq, author of the Hybrid Physx 1.04ff patch, to see if he can assist in unlocking the driver which he is looking at now. It may be valuable too that the DIY ViDock community petition NVidia to give us the performance tweaks the Optimus-enhancements provide.

NVidia Wishlist - unlock the Optimus pci-e performance tweak for

1. Any systems regardless of their primary video card. atm requires Intel HD or 4500MHD.
2. Those with a x2 link.

I’m interested in unlocking Optimus for different adapters/pcie modes. I’ve decompiled nvinit.dll, nvd3dum.dll, nvumdshim.dll and found out that Optimus modes are probably managed via environment variable parameters VIDEOSHIM_UMD_INTERCOMM and/or SHIM_MCCOMPAT. So, the first step is to check and find out the values for these parameters in different Optimus modes (no Optimus, Optimus with watermark, Optimus without watermark and so on). If the values are different, then the analysis can be continued.

Unfortunately, I don't have a laptop with required Intel adapter and Win7 to continue this by myself.

[acer47ok]

Can someone confirm that I only need the $55 kit to be able to run a gtx 460?
ExpressCard External Graphics x1

How come the other kit looks a bit longer like it can actually fit the entire slot of the video card while this one only looks like it holds the first part?

[lingo124]

the PE4H allows for 4 possible connections as opposed to 1 for PE4L so the max you can do with a PE4L is an x1, which is lower performance than x2 and on. I think a lot of people are running gtx 460s with their PE4Ls already. i personally have a gts 450 which is also x16 like the gtx 460 but im using the 55 dollar x1 kit.

basically the 55 dollar kit will be limited to 1 connection to your computer, which is what seems to be more prevalent than having a pcie slot and the wifi card slot used with the PE4H.

[acer47ok]

Hard to understand but i'm guessing x1 is with just the expresscard and doing something like x2 requires the expresscard and the wifi card slot?

I just bought the pe4l $55 kit. Aiming to do x1 optimus. I also didn't buy the swex board.

If I want to run the gtx 460. I just need to look for a power supply that can do around 250w at 12v?
So 12v x 20a = 240w? So I would just have to look at the 12v rail and see if it can do 20+ amps and I should be good? Also it needs 2 pci-e connectors and thats it?

[jeremyshaw]

I’m interested in unlocking Optimus for different adapters/pcie modes. I’ve decompiled nvinit.dll, nvd3dum.dll, nvumdshim.dll and found out that Optimus modes are probably managed via environment variable parameters VIDEOSHIM_UMD_INTERCOMM and/or SHIM_MCCOMPAT. So, the first step is to check and find out the values for these parameters in different Optimus modes (no Optimus, Optimus with watermark, Optimus without watermark and so on). If the values are different, then the analysis can be continued.

Unfortunately, I don't have a laptop with required Intel adapter and Win7 to continue this by myself.

Where are those parameters? I cannot find them on my m11xR2 (windows7, rest in sig) 260.99 drivers.

I'll make it a point to check this thread at least once a day for a while...

[bleuiko]

Anyone interested in selling their PE4L setup? I'm interested in buying a setup but wanted to save on the $22 shipping if someone decided to upgrade to the PE4H or went to a desktop. Please email me at: bleuiko[at]gmail.com

[lingo124]

pretty much you are correct. x1 needs 1 slot x2 needs 2 slots, so unless you have 2 expresscard slots you have to use 1 expresscard and your wifi card slot

just do the paper clip trick on your psu to turn it on.

also regarding your earlier post. gts 450 and gtx 460 both can run the x1.opt.

for the power supply, what gtx 460 card are you looking at? the reference card i see on nvidias website has a maximum draw of 160W so 240W would be a little overkill.

you should check out
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post6511544
first. it shows you a portable and psu version of the vidock. since theres a portable version, id suggest you just go that route because 1) you dont need to switch the psu on and off 2) it's less cabling unless you buy a modular psu which is just too expensive for your uses

Hard to understand but i'm guessing x1 is with just the expresscard and doing something like x2 requires the expresscard and the wifi card slot?

I just bought the pe4l $55 kit. Aiming to do x1 optimus. I also didn't buy the swex board.

If I want to run the gtx 460. I just need to look for a power supply that can do around 250w at 12v?
So 12v x 20a = 240w? So I would just have to look at the 12v rail and see if it can do 20+ amps and I should be good? Also it needs 2 pci-e connectors and thats it?

[acer47ok]

also regarding your earlier post. gts 450 and gtx 460 both can run the x1.opt.

for the power supply, what gtx 460 card are you looking at? the reference card i see on nvidias website has a maximum draw of 160W so 240W would be a little overkill.

you should check out
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post6511544
first. it shows you a portable and psu version of the vidock. since theres a portable version, id suggest you just go that route because 1) you dont need to switch the psu on and off 2) it's less cabling unless you buy a modular psu which is just too expensive for your uses

Are you sure that the gts 450 works with optimus? According to
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post6542661
It states only the GTX4__ will work with optimus. Though this thread is like 200+ pages and things might have changed So I really don't know if 450 gts can do optimus.

According to wikipedia the TDP of GTX 460 is around 150 and the GTS 450 is around 106. Does that mean I pretty much just need any power supply with a 12v rail with at least 13 amps minimum to power a gtx 460...but maybe a bit more for overclocking potential etc...? Then I would also need a molex to pci-e adapter or two if the power supply does not have it. Then I should be good to go?

If I were to remove the casing of a normal ATX power supply...how high are the capacitors etc normally? I'd really like to remove the ATX casing and put the build a custom vidock enclosure that is 2" tall. Any other options good for me? Like a 360 power brick? disassembled?

[TsumeAwase]

Where are those parameters? I cannot find them on my m11xR2 (windows7, rest in sig) 260.99 drivers.

I'll make it a point to check this thread at least once a day for a while...

These are environment variables. In WinXP you can check their values via SET command in cmd.exe, in Win7 probably via Powershell. You should check their values when Optimus is enabled/disabled in different modes.

These environment variables are set and used by Optimus drivers (nvd3dum.dll, nvumdshim.dll, nvinit.dll). They can be found via text search (for example, via FAR manager) inside these drivers.