DIY eGPU experiences

[Xenitic]

wow you answered just as i edited it. I read thru some specs, turns out that was like the first express adapter they released. cant believe i havnt realized that before. wasnt the new one scheduled for today?

[serialk11r]

Yea apparently, but I guess not. Over in Asia it's already the 31st too lol.

[Xenitic]

meh lets hope its out on monday... maybe someone can comment on my setup atm?

Dell Vostro* 17,3 inch (i5 2410 sandy bridge, 7200rpm drive no other fancy stuff) 489 euros
geforce 560 gtx ti 170 euros
Corsair Sx 430w 46 euros
Pe4h placeholder for express2.0 version ~60 euros
____
765 euros
?

*As far as I know the vostro still comes with an express card slot? any confirmation on this?

[apac]

Successfully got my Lenovo E420 + eGPU setup working today.

Hardware:
i5-2410
8GB mem
P4EL
Zotac GTX 460 stock clocked at 720/1440
Cooler Master GX 620 PSU

3dmark06 - 15.3K
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-2410M Processor,LENOVO 1141A24 score: 15385 3DMarks
3dmark vantage - 10.5K
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-2410M Processor,LENOVO 1141A24 score: P10553 3DMarks

I wanted to mention a couple pieces of info for others using this setup:

- by default only 128MB of PCIe space is available so 32-bit compaction and chainloading is required. I was able to remove some PCIe devices and get the driver loaded without compaction, however the driver almost always crashed and resulted in a variety of different BSODs. After spending about a day fussing with BSODs I can say that trying to run without compaction is not recommended.

- I had to take the following steps to get the drivers installed and running stable. I don't know why, but the driver goes crazy (read: BSODs within minutes of booting) if you don't install it with this method.
1. Boot to windows normally with the eGPU plugged in (do NOT run compaction and chainload)
2. Let the standard VGA driver install
3. Restart the machine
4. Again, boot do windows normally. Do NOT chainload.
5. Install the 275.33 drivers
6. Restart the machine. Once again, do NOT chainload.
7. You will see an error code 12 for the GTX 460 in device manager. Now let's do the egpu setup stuff, restart the machine.
8. Break the reboot into egpu setup. Load the eGPU video card, run compaction, set the chainloader to win7. Chainload win7.
9. Everything should work now. With video directed to an external monitor you can remove the expresscard and the video signal correctly drops back to the notebook screen. You must restart the machine and chainload to re-enable the eGPU though - I found that plugging it back in, with or without the sleep trick, did not re-activate the driver.

I can't say why installing the driver AFTER compaction broke everything, but it definitely did. It seemed like the I/O link to the card was failing and trying to read anything from the card would almost instantly hang the machine.

- One more note - use a VERY high quality power supply. My first attempt was with a Corsair CX430 and I found the power was not sufficient for a GTX460. I was able to use the internal LCD, but the card failed to drive my external monitor properly. My thought is that it only had 1 6+2 PCIe adapter, and the GTX 460 needs 2 PCIe connectors, so I had to use a molex adapter. I bought the Cooler Master unit today for 49.99 AR at Microcenter and it has a single 12V rail @50A. No issues with external displays since using the new PSU.

[serialk11r]

I feel like there's something amiss with your PSU evaluation. johnnyguru rates the CX430 pretty well, it seems to have pretty good performance. In my experience molex connectors can have some significant resistance especially with damage, that might have affected it in some way. The GTX460 only draws 160W max load or so so it's very strange that your CX430 with its single rail 28A 12V would have a problem.

[Xenitic]

I find that odd too, 12v x 28A should be more than enough?

thank you for the installation report; what is the 32-bit compaction and chainloading for?



I sent hwtools an email about the 2.0 adapter... lets see when they write back.

[nick359]

does anyone know if the hp dv6t series has an express card slot

[Xenitic]

nick i looked it up yesterday, and it doesnt look like it. (neither in the specs, nor in any tests, nor on the pictures if you look at that laptop).

@apac you said you only had 128mb of pci space available, how much do you need for the gpu and how do you know how much you need?

[User Retired 2]

Lenovo X220 + ViDock4+ + GTX570 = no pci-e 2.0

I don't usually get involved with Villagetronic (VT) stuff but had hoped that their "expresscard 2.0" compliant product shown here could demonstrate if x1.2Opt would engage and what performance could be achieved on it.

No such luck however. bogatyr PMed me the a screenshot showing the negotiated link on his X220 + ViDock4+ + GTX570 as shown below.



We see the expresscard slot is port4 and is set to do a x1 2.0 link speed but the GTX570 has only negotiate a x1 1.0 link. Neither the pci-e ports->Retrain link menuitem nor unplugging/replugging the expresscard could get a x1 2.0 link negotiated. This means then that either the X220 expresscard slot or the ViDock 4+ is not pci-e 2.0 compliant. You can see NEC USB 3.0 controller hanging off port5 is set to do a x1 2.0 link and the controller has negotiated a x1 2.0 link.

Meaning then anybody interested in the VT solution may wish to hold off purchase until the culprit holding back link performance is identified. If the VT product is the culprit then they may well need a replacement to obtain the advertised expresscard 2.0 performance or refund if that cannot be provided. Stay tuned for further progress updates by bogatyr.

A link to this post has been added to the eGPU PCIe 2.0 and Thunderbolt update.

[Xenitic]

PCI 2x 1.0/ 1x 2.0 is ment to be about -20% performance. Optimus with external LCD apparently narrows this down quite a bit. Does Optimus with INTERNAL Lcd also narrow it down, just not as much?