DIY eGPU experiences

[jamesbond007]

wonder how well the 5870 will do on the x2. will determine which card to get depending on the x2 results of the 5870 (hopefully)

[Ohem]

What 13"-15" laptops today got PCIe 2.0 lanes/ExpressCard 2.0? I'm planning to replace my current laptop to one when the time comes, with an external graphic card as the gaming solution.

[wilse]

Well this is my documenting post about my experience. I got the 5770 working with my PE4H.
My installation process included setting up the video card + ATX power supply + PE4H. I suspended my laptop and powered on the video card and plugged it in. Resuming the system had a driver installation failure. I downloaded the ATI drivers and installed them anyways. I restarted the computer with the PE4H still plugged in and on reboot, it used the external screen. Everything worked smoothly. I can power off my computer and plug in the video card and simply boot for it to work. No allocation scripts needed.

My system:
Dell Studio XPS 13
Intel C2D P9600 - 2.66
6 GB RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
[IMG]http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/5997/20100304181410.th.jpg[IMG]

3Dmark06
In order: original score - 3482 , after first installation score - 11650 , after driver update score- 11491, after disabling of HDMI score - 11548
[IMG]http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8592/beforeandafterch.jpg[/MG][IMG]http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/9420/afterhdmi.jpg[IMG]

RE5 Benchmarks:
Before - This will be slower due to me accidently using fixed vs variable.
[IMG]http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/4146/20100226172309.th.jpg[IMG]

After
DX-9c
[IMG]http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/4269/20100304181502.th.jpg[IMG]
DX-10
[IMG]http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/9802/20100304005510.th.jpg[IMG]

Devil May Cry 4 Benchmark

After
Dx-10
[IMG]http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9769/20100305231713.th.jpg[IMG]

I've also benchmarked on World in Conflict, Mass Effect 2, Dead Space and HAWX. They all ran perfectly maxed out at 1280x1024

However, I was unable to get the PCI-E link working at 2.0 speeds. I'm currently looking into reallocating resources to unlock 2.0 since it is shown to be present on my chipset.

Posted for Nando:
GPU-Z for 9500 (9400 + 9200) and HD 5770
[IMG]http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/5153/gpuzk.jpg[IMG]

Everest screenshot
[IMG]http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/4709/everestsb.jpg[IMG]

wow!
these results are impressive
is this just using the x1 1.0 connection?

[Ohem]

The "Sony Vaio Z" series (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...specifications ) seems to be ideal for being both mobile and gaming with DIY ViDock. It's 13", HM57 chipset ( http://www.intel.com/products/notebo...7-overview.htm ), PCIE 2.0 and Expresscard/34. Although, it seems this series are pretty expensive - for some reason.

Sony's site says it's maximum of CPU is "i7-620M" but I'm convinced it supports more high-end models.

[tvdang7]

Well this is my documenting post about my experience. I got the 5770 working with my PE4H.
My installation process included setting up the video card + ATX power supply + PE4H. I suspended my laptop and powered on the video card and plugged it in. Resuming the system had a driver installation failure. I downloaded the ATI drivers and installed them anyways. I restarted the computer with the PE4H still plugged in and on reboot, it used the external screen. Everything worked smoothly. I can power off my computer and plug in the video card and simply boot for it to work. No allocation scripts needed.

My system:
Dell Studio XPS 13
Intel C2D P9600 - 2.66
6 GB RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit


3Dmark06
In order: original score - 3482 , after first installation score - 11650 , after driver update score- 11491, after disabling of HDMI score - 11548


RE5 Benchmarks:
Before
DX-9c


After
DX-9c

DX-10


Devil May Cry 4 Benchmark
Before
DX-9c


After
DX-10


I've also benchmarked on World in Conflict, Mass Effect 2, Dead Space and HAWX. They all ran perfectly maxed out at 1280x1024

However, I was unable to get the PCI-E link working at 2.0 speeds. I'm currently looking into reallocating resources to unlock 2.0 since it is shown to be present on my chipset.

Posted for Nando:
GPU-Z for 9500 (9400 + 9200) and HD 5770


Everest screenshot

nice i wanted to get the vidock thing but i didnt want to be the first xps 13 user to try it. owell.

[yellowsnow4free]

Can anyone tell me if I can use this on my Dell Inspiron 1525?

Dell Inspiron 1525 - System specifications

It says it has 1 Express Card slot...

I'd appreciate any help.

Thanks!

[kaizhong]

Hi may I know can this be done on Sony VAIO SZ75? It has a Express card slot, but I am ok with opening up my laptop to access the PCIe mini slot.

My Vaio SZ came with Geforce 8400m. Will it complement the external graphic card? Or am I in a "either this or that" situation?

Lastly, can I buy the equipments from the author of this post? Thank you.

[Ohem]

Hi may I know can this be done on Sony VAIO SZ75? It has a Express card slot, but I am ok with opening up my laptop to access the PCIe mini slot.

My Vaio SZ came with Geforce 8400m. Will it complement the external graphic card? Or am I in a "either this or that" situation?

Lastly, can I buy the equipments from the author of this post? Thank you.

Well use the ExpressCard slot since it's more convenient, but i suppose since you're OK with opening the mPCIe slot the ExpressCard slot is already used for something else.

The equipment can only be purchased at www.hwtools.net, as for enclosure i believe you'll have to make your own. PE4L+PM3N or PE4L+EC2C and follow the proper solutions to the problems you might encounter on software basis.

[kaizhong]

Thanks for the reply! I am thinking of using PCIe mini slot "buried" deep inside my old Vaio SZ because I thought the transfer speed is faster than the Express Card slot.. haha. Please correct me if I am wrong because I would LOVE to use Express Card slot for its convienence as you mentioned...

So I just build the PE4L + EC2C shown here?
http://img525.imageshack.us/i/pe4l.png/

I am going to build one real soon, so I just follow strictly the instructions and hardwares given in the 1st page ?

[User Retired 2]

Thanks for the reply! I am thinking of using PCIe mini slot "buried" deep inside my old Vaio SZ because I thought the transfer speed is faster than the Express Card slot.. haha. Please correct me if I am wrong because I would LOVE to use Express Card slot for its convienence as you mentioned...

If you have a expresscard slot you'd want to use that in preference to the mPCIe slot. Either one runs at x1 1.0 speed (2.5Gbps), with expresscard far more convenient to use.

The only reason you may want to use the mPCIe slot is if you are using an ICH8M or newer chipset and the expresscard and mPCIe slots are port1+port2, in which case it is possible to gang them together to make a x2 1.0 link (5Gbps).