DIY eGPU experiences

[narcoticx2]

Ok well my stuff just arrived so hopefully will soon have some results for a Studio 1555. Ordered enough to try EC + mPCIe x2 link so no doubt will be coming here for some help

[mbrongges]

Try this:-

1. In the Setup 1.x, run PCI compaction.
   
   
2. Set Chainloader to Win7 if you're using Vista/Win7.
   
   
3. Select Chainload.
   
4. Select Windows.

If doesn't work, I hope nando4 have better idea.

Thanks for your help, my LAN adapter is work. But my benchmark score no increase, is there any solution for it? help me sir..

[kizwan]

Thanks for your help, my LAN adapter is work. But my benchmark score no increase, is there any solution for it? help me sir..

There is nothing we can do to improved your score. Look like notebook with PM965/GM965 chipset can score higher with ATI graphic card (or older graphic card, for example HD 4xxx) but not with Nvidia graphic card. Your only solution right now is to get newer notebook, for example ($450-shipped) 14" Lenovo E420 i5-2410M 2.3 4GB 500GB W7P (have expresscard slot). Sorry mate!

[Khenglish]

thanks!

I just tried with the first method, but still fails. here's what I did:
1. power on laptop with PM3N and EC2C plugged in but only EC2C connect to PE4H (2nd port), and PE4H stays off.
2. enter setup program, it prompts to power on ViDock so I power on PE4H.
3. inside setup program, set port 1 to x2 mode.
4. connect PM3N to PE4H(1st port), F5. now the setup program detected the external GPU and it shows up as on port1 in x2 mode.
5. PCI compaction.
6. chainload W7 then got BSOD:

*** STOP: 0x0000005C (0x0000000000003000,0x0000000000000001,0x0000000000000008,0x0000000000000000)

after reboot (disconnect PE4H from laptop) I found port 1 and port2 are in x1 mode again.

I then tried choose x1e instead of x2 in step 3 above, but got the same BSOD.

the compaction mode I choose is default one (bridge). not sure if I shall choose 32bit or 36bit instead. or maybe skip compaction?

anyway, the good news (hopefully) is that I tried your 2nd recommended method and it seems to have worked. I did as you mentioned, first set to x2 with lane1 disconnected, then reboot (I'm guessing this is to allow the laptop to reallocate resource during boot up instead of using pcie compaction?). After reboot and entering the setup program, port2 was enabled again though port1 is shown as in x2 mode. so I disable port2 and chainload W7, ignoring the warning that ask me to do pcie compaction. I entered W7 successfully and driver and everything showed up ok in device manager. Everest shows GTX460 is on port1 is in x2 mode.

I'm running benchmark to see whether there's performance improvement as it should.

many thanks again Guru!

If you do the reboot method you don't have to have lane 1 disconnected. Good to hear it worked though. 3dmark06 will show the biggest improvement out of anything.

[Gil3]

Dell Inspiron 1545 T4400 4500MHD
My budget

But he has an old processor ...
Processor I3 is this important?

Maybe there is this model with processor I3?

[ricera10]

How do I get 3d applications to use the GPU when running on the internal display? The GPU works fine when I use my external monitor (very fine! ), but games run on the integrated graphics when I unplug the external monitor even if I right-click and choose run on high-performance graphics.

My setup:
Lenovo X201 tablet w/ Windows 7 64-bit (Core i7-620LM, 8GB RAM)
PE4H + EC2C
Nvidia GTX 570 (Evga GTX 570 HD DS)
Integrated 600w power supply from Silverstone Sugo Sg 07

I plug in the eGPU by booting into Windows, going to sleep, powering on the GPU, and then waking up the laptop, and that seems to work fine if I use the external monitor.

[Czez]

I read here: expressCard SSDs for new Vaio Z

That on the old Vaio Z (VGN) the ExpressCard Bus might be connected to a USB port on the main board.

How will this affect the usage of an eGPU on the old Vaio Z?

[mangos47]

Benchmark results of my first eGPU setup. Thanks for the elite eGPU team here at NBR for making such a fantastic solution for laptop gamers.

My setup hardware:

• Laptop: Sager NP8662 (Clevo M860tu), P8700@2.53GHz, 4GB DDR3, dedicated GPU (dGPU) Nvidia GTX 260m 1GB. This laptop is based on PM45 chipset with ICH9M south bridge so 6 pcie ports other than the pciex16 used by dGPU. On default port 1 is WWAN card, port 2 is expresscard, port 3 is WLAN/wifi card, port 4 is not physically connected, port 5 is card reader + 1394 port, port 6 is Realtek Gigabit Lan.

• PSU: Andyson F500M, 500W

• external GPU (eGPU): PE4H v2.4, EC2C on port 2, PM3N on port 1. Gainward GTX460 1GB. ASUS GTX580 1.5GB (DirectCuII).

• External monitor: 1920x1080

eGPU configuration:

• software environment: Windows 7 Ultimate x64, Nvidia driver 275.33 notebook version. I only edited nvam.inf of my current laptop driver to add in the description for GTX460 and manually install it. There’s a warning about unverified publisher which I just ignore.

• x1/x1e mode: using either PM3N in WWAN slot (port 1) or EC2C in expresscard slot (port 2) alone to link up PE4H. This setup works as hot plug and play (EC2C) without the need of setup1.x program. When using PM3N on port 1 I have the option to set the port as x2 mode though only a single lane is utilized here. This is known as x1e mode (correct me if I’m wrong) but since my eGPU is GTX460 so it doesn’t have any advantage over usual x1 mode like ATI/older Nvidia cards do.

• x2 mode: using both PM3N in WWAN slot (port 1) and EC2C in expresscard slot (port 2). This requires the setup 1.x program to configure port 1 as x2 mode and disable port 2 though both port/slot are physically connected to PE4H. Thanks Khenglish for the help on properly set up x2 mode in setup1.x program (a couple threads above).

So here are the benchmark results I have so far. All benchmark are done on external monitor either at program default resolution or 1920x1080.
red color bold number shows how much improvement of x2 over x1 link.


1. 3dmark06 (Pro 1.2), 1280x1024, default setting

• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 9601, SM2.0:4501, HDR/SM3.0: 4481.
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 5185, SM2.0:2124, HDR/SM3.0:2021
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 8115, SM2.0: 3599, HDR/SM3.0: 3647, 56%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 5461, SM2.0: 2271, HDR/SM3.0: 2123.
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 8732, SM2.0: 3848, HDR/SM3.0: 3994, 59%

2. 3dmarkVantage, 1280x1024, default setting

• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): P5526, GPU4402
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: P8988, GPU7646
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: P11420, GPU9754, 27%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: P12740, GPU11147
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: P15457, GPU14129, 26%

3. 3dmark2011, performance preset, (720p / 1080p)

• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): not supported
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: P2110 / X977
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: P2408 / X1045, 14% / 7%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: P2695 / X1569
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: P3274 / X1740, 21% / 10%

4. Warhammer 40k DoW2 Chaos Rising, 1920x1080, ultra setting (average/ max/ min, in fps)

• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 22/ 51/ 7
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 22/55/8
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 30/70/11, 36%
• c. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 25/65/12,
• c. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 35/81/14, 40%

5. Resident Evil 5 benchmark, dx10.0 version, 1920x1080, 4xAA, high for everything, motion blur off, variable scene.

• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 39.9fps
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 51.7fps
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 62.5fps, 20%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 61.1fps
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 73.4fps, 20%

6. Devil May Cry 4 benchmark, dx10, 1920x1080, AA:C16xQ, super high, variable, scene 1-4 fps:

• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 51.7 | 34.3 | 55.1 | 39.2
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 69.9 | 45.7 | 97.7 | 49.6
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 93.2 | 62.6 | 112.8 | 64.3, about 30%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 88.6 | 56.1 | 117.1 | 65.1
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 136.7 | 91.2 | 166.92 | 93.4, 40%~60%

7. Crysis I, GPU test, 1920x1080, 4xAA, very high, average|min|max fps:

• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 9.7|7.2|10.7
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 11.6|6.4|15.2
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 15.9|6.0|19.5, 37%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 14.4|7.8|20.4
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 22.1|7.9|28.8, 53%

8. Crysis II, 1920x1080, high res texture, average|min|max fps:

• DX9, high graphics setting (worst)
• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 30.6 | 20.3 | 42.1
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 28.2 | 18.8 | 39.2
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 35.9 | 21.9 | 54.6, 27%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 33.4|21.8|46.6
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 48.6|28.4|63.2, 45%
• -----------------------------------------
• DX9, ultra graphics setting (best)
• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 11.9 | 11.7 | 18.4
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 12.2 | 9.00 | 18.1
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 18.7 | 14.4 | 24.7, 53%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 16.1|12.6|22.1
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 24.8|17.1|34.6, 54%
• -----------------------------------------
• DX11, high graphics setting (worst)
• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): [FONT=Calibri]not supported
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 23.9 | 14.3 | 31.1
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 29.2 | 22.6 | 31.7, 22%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 31.1|18.9|47.8
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 35.2|20.1|57.1, 13%
• -----------------------------------------
• DX11, ultra graphics setting (best)
• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): not supported
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 10.4 | 7.60 | 15.0
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 13.7 | 10.2 | 19.7, 31%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 12.7|10.9|19.8
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 19.4|14.4|28.2, 52%

9. Metro 2033, 1920x1080, AAA, average|min|max fps:

• DX10, low, 4xAF
• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 20.0 | 4.2 | 69.2
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 17.3 | 1.9 | 77.6
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 24.3 | 4.7 | 109.6, 40%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 20.0|5.2|94.7
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 26.3|3.1|123.5, 31%
• -----------------------------------------
• DX10, high, 16xAF
• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 11.0 | 2.4 | 35.8
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 12.0 | 3.1 | 37.2
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 16.3 | 4.9 | 62.3, 35%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 15.0|3.1|55.4
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 22.6|4.1|94.3, 50%
• -----------------------------------------
• DX11, high, 16xAF
• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): [FONT=Calibri]not supported
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 9.7 | 3.0 | 38.4
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 12.3 | 3.9 | 45.3, 27%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 13.0|4.0|51.5
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 19.3|2.4|49.7, 48%

10. Furmark 1.8.2, 1920x1080, 60s benchmark (0x/4x/16x, as in MSAA)

• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 2102/1223/359
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 3785/3255/1080
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 3916/3355/1092, 3%
• d. eGPU (GTX 580) x1: 6414/5451/1829
• e. eGPU (GTX 580) x2: 6802/5816/1909, 6%

11 CUDA bandwidth test (host-to-device/device-to-host/device-to-device, in MB/s)

• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 1328/1092.9/41683.1
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1e: 156.8/189.5/60167.0
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 300.7/356.9/60058.8, x2

12 OpenCL bandwidth test (host-to-device/device-to-host/device-to-device, in MB/s)

• a. dGPU (GTX 260m): 1391.2/1090.8/23775.9
• b. eGPU (GTX 460) x1: 156.9/190.9/49745.1
• c. eGPU (GTX 460) x2: 302.2/3361.1/52010.2, x2

Overall I’m quite satisfied with the x2 performance of this eGPU setup. x1 is not so impressive as compared to laptop’s internal GTX 260m but still boosts performance in most cases. If you are using a non-gaming laptop then x1 can still mean a lot to you. Now I’m thinking my next laptop will probably be a thin & light SB CPU based with intel HD/HD 3000 so that I can have Optimus enabled for even better performance (Optimus > non-Optimus x2 if I understand it correctly).

[kizwan]

Ok well my stuff just arrived so hopefully will soon have some results for a Studio 1555. Ordered enough to try EC + mPCIe x2 link so no doubt will be coming here for some help

Did you ordered EC2C + PM3N or 2xPM3N?

[Gil3]

This will be my last question about what laptop should I buy ..
This is gonna be long but I promise that if I get an answer I will not ask questions like that!

The following list of laptops:
Acer Aspire 5742G I3-370M 500GB
Acer Aspire 5750-2314G50Mnkk
Acer Aspire 5750-2312G50Mnkk
Acer Aspire 5740G I3-330M 500GB
Acer AS5742G-374G50MN
Acer Aspire 5742G i3-380M 500GB
Acer Aspire AS5740DG-334G32Mn
Acer Aspire 5741G i3-330M 500GB
Acer Aspire 5750G i3-2310M
Acer Aspire 5740G i3-330M 320GB
Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3820T-7459
Samsung R540 JA06IL
Samsung R540 JT01IL
Samsung NP-X130 JA0IL
Samsung R540 JA07IL
Samsung R540 JA09IL
Samsung R580 JS02IL
ThinkPad Edge 11 0328-5GG‎ Lenovo
Lenovo G560 0679-B6G
Lenovo IdeaPad Z570 1024-53G
G560 ‎0679-6MG‎ Lenovo
Lenovo G560 0679-3PG
Lenovo G560 0679-4NG
Lenovo G560 0679-9BG
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 15 0301-GVG
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 15 0301-GPG
Lenovo Thinkpad Edge 11 0328-24G


All these laptops are in my budget.

Which Laptops from the list Is most recommended for:
PE4H + GTX 460
?

I'm sorry about the list ...
I read here a lot and the subject just too complicated for me so I had no choice to bring this list

Thanks a lot!