DIY eGPU experiences

[xmarsh86]

I just purchased a HP DV6t (i7-2630QM & 6770M) and interested to get eGPU, can anyone guide me how to do that and how many % of performance boost i can expected from eGPU?

[User Retired 2]

I just purchased a HP DV6t (i7-2630QM & 6770M) and interested to get eGPU, can anyone guide me how to do that and how many % of performance boost i can expected from eGPU?

PCI-e bandwidth

HD6770M: x16 2.0
GTX4/5xx: x1 1.0 Optimus (pci-e compression) ~= x1 2.0

So the eGPU offers 6.75% the bandwidth of your HD6770M

Computing power

A HD6770M is about 696 Gigaflops, A GTX560Ti/GTX570=1262/1405.4 Gigaflops, so two times more powerful.

So if your game/application isn't taxing the pci-e bus you'd see up to two two times faster performance. If you were doing just pci-e transfers (no app does that) then the eGPU would be a lot slower. So any question of "how will a eGPU perform with xx app" is really a question of "how much pci-e bandwidth does that app require?"

Installation Guide?

See Getting Started section on main page. DV6T doesn't have a expresscard slot, so it would be a mPCIe implementation. HP tend to also whitelist their mPCIe slots, so it would require DIY eGPU Setup 1.x to unwhitelist.

[xmarsh86]

PCI-e bandwidth

HD6770M: x16 2.0
GTX4/5xx: x1 1.0 Optimus (pci-e compression) ~= x1 2.0

So the eGPU offers 6.75% the bandwidth of your HD6770M

Computing power

A HD6770M is about 696 Gigaflops, A GTX560Ti/GTX570=1262/1405.4 Gigaflops, so two times more powerful.

So if your game/application isn't taxing the pci-e bus you'd see up to two two times faster performance. If you were doing just pci-e transfers (no app does that) then the eGPU would be a lot slower. So any question of "how will a eGPU perform with xx app" is really a question of "how much pci-e bandwidth does that app require?"

Installation Guide?

See Getting Started section on main page. DV6T doesn't have a expresscard slot, so it would be a mPCIe implementation. HP tend to also whitelist their mPCIe slots, so it would require DIY eGPU Setup 1.x to unwhitelist.

Thanks nando for your prompt reply, appreciated.

[gilipollas]

techpower's testing of a HD6670M finding it needed 58W peak here. Officially, bplus rate the 19V->12V regulation at 3A, or 36W. I do know that users in this thread have previously ran higher power through it. Saying that, it would be at your risk because I do also know some PE4H ended up with blown 19V->12V regulator circuits. Not really a problem if it did as you could always revert to using the 12V floppy jack instead with an ATX PSU or an (adapted) 12V adapter instead

A HD6450 is the safer and cheaper option if you do not need higher performance a HD6670 offers.

Thanks.

Could i also clock the HD6670(not M) at lets say 60% of its original frequency?

The floppy-plug needs only 12V right? So in the future could i get a poweer supply like this, switch it to 12V, solder a floppy-plug to it and use the 8.5A it provides?

EDIT:
Oh no, i think i got something confused.
Only PE4L can use 12V psu, right? PE4H needs ATX-psu or 15-19Vdc for gpu which consume little power. Right?

The floppy molex has 12V and 5V lanes. Could i combine a 12v psu and a 5v psu soldering to a floppy molex?

[jaguare3]

What is a mPCIe slot? I had a dv6t (returned it) and I never saw any such slot on the notebook.

I have an HP Envy 17 3D - is there anything on this notebook to do an external GPU?

[gilipollas]

Inside laptops mPCIe-Slots usually contain WLAN PCI Express Mini Cards.
Sometimes laptops have several of these slots which can be used for dial-up cards or bluetooth cards as well.

Electrically mPCIe-slots equal express-card-slots.


PCI Express - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


I am pretty sure you have such a slot inde your laptop:-)

Correct me if i'm wrong:-)


EDIT: Yes u have, but i think it is only suitable for half-sized cards.

It contains the WLAN-card connected with a grey and a black antenna cable.

Unfortunately the HP ENVY 17 doesn't have a expresscard slot, so for you it would be a little more complicated to use external grphics. You need to replace your wireless card, but still there may be too little space for fitting the PM3N-mPCIe-adaptor.

[vivithemage]

any good reviews with people using express card slot on the x220? Tempted to get a ViDock 4 Plus, but this looks fun .

[Leoben]

RE: http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post7740887

After seeing some more BSOD's (code 113 for anyone who cares) a few days ago, I set out today to find out what the hell was going on. It was clear from the error code something GPU related was failing, I assumed this to be related to my eGPU since I hadn't managed to BSOD this install of windows before setting it up.

[Anyone who wants I simple way to BSOD windows give this a try. Disconnect your eGPU without "safely removing" it using windows, then scan for hardware changes using device manager.]

First I pulled out an old CRT I have kicking around (still need to replace my dead external LCD). I hooked it up to my internal GPU as a secondary monitor. I put afterburner and task manager (performance tab) on the CRT for monitoring.

Then I pulled out the RE5 benchmark, Mark06, and Kombustor to try and BSOD my setup.

In the end I found the cause of my BSODs and a solution. First though I'd like to outline two other things I found.

First, the RE5 benchmark is a poor test of GPU power. For every stage of the test after the first, my dual core processor was pinned (both cores) and my (e)GPU was at ~60% load. Effectively the test was testing my 2.17GHz C2D NOT my GTX 550.

Second, PhysX should be done on the (e)GPU not the CPU - at least in my case. Switching from CPU to GPU PhysX my frame rates in PhysiX based tests in Kombustor increased 5 fold.

As for the BSODs, Kombustor was able to create them quite reliably. The next time I do stability testing, it will be the first thing I use.

The BSODs always came after the temperature sensor(s?) failed. The chip would be at sub 50 degree C temperature, then climb to over 100 C, then flip between 200+ C and 0 C a few times, then BSOD.

My first thought was faulty sensor on the GPU. Not liking the thought of having to RMA the card, I tried something else. I dropped the core voltage even further, to 0.950V. I can no longer create the (false) temperature spikes or the BSODs. I believe that the card was trying to pull too much wattage and that was mess up the temperature sensor (and who knows what else.)

The joys of running off a 120W adapter.

[crunchytheory]

Okay that sounds like an easier fix (even if I need to get a different PSU).

I've got a Corsair CX430 which is mentioned in the suggested nVidia setups. You advised me in the other DIY Vidock thread that I should use the two 6-pin pci-e cables, but there is only one on my model. The connectors are:

x1 ATX 20-pin & 24-pin compatible
x1 EPS/ATX12V 4-pin & 8-pin compatible
x1 PCI-E 6-pin & 8-pin compatible
x4 SATA
x3 4-pin peripheral
x1 floppy

I've got all three 4-pin peripheral connectors and the one floppy connector on one cable, so I've probably not getting enough current from just that one cable to power one pci-e slot on the card and the 4-pin slot on the PE
4DH.

Okay then. The reason it's not working is because the second 6pin pci-e connector isn't powered. To do that you'll need a $0.25 molex to pci-e adapter like shown below so can attach it to two of your PSU's molex plugs.. Check to see if this adapter is in your GTX460's box. There probably is.

I gave that a try, but I was still having the same BSOD issue. Not happy with having the dual-4-pin molex to 6-pin pci-e adapter and floppy connector on a single cable, I bought a Corsair CX500: Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Now, this supply has two separate pci-e cables and a separate floppy cable, so every port on the eGPU is powered by a completely separate cable. Not to mention this new PSU has 34A on the +12V rail. So the PSU definitely cannot be the cause of the problem, yet I'm still seeing the BSOD.

edit: apparently ismschism was having the same exact problem as me (never followed up with a final outcome, though): http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post7487249

[Leoben]

I gave that a try, but I was still having the same BSOD issue. Not happy with having the dual-4-pin molex to 6-pin pci-e adapter and floppy connector on a single cable, I bought a Corsair CX500: Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Now, this supply has two separate pci-e cables and a separate floppy cable, so every port on the eGPU is powered by a completely separate cable. Not to mention this new PSU has 34A on the +12V rail. So the PSU definitely cannot be the cause of the problem, yet I'm still seeing the BSOD.

edit: apparently ismschism was having the same exact problem as me (never followed up with a final outcome, though): http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post7487249

PSU sounds fine to me. If you can take and post a picture of the cabling, we can quickly confirm that is all OK too.

You managed to install the drivers, so windows detected the card without BSODing at some point. Can you connect the card without connecting a monitor and not get a blu screen?

What version of the drivers are you using (desktop/mobile + version #)? Have you tried a clean install of the drivers?