DIY eGPU experiences

[Khenglish]

Just out of curiosity why are there virtually no 3dmark11 results? 3dmark06 is a 5 year old benchmark, and I bet a lot of the people who run this setup are not going to be playing 5 year old games.

The main reason is this thread started 2 years ago now, and there wasn't any dx11 back then. I do think it and the Haven benchmark should be added to the benchmark results so we have dx11 tests if Nando has the time for it.

I ran the test anyway and got 3891

[laclede]

Can the HP4A from HWtools.net run multiple PE4H adapters? Or what purpose do the (4) PCIe outputs on the card provide?

[apac]

FYI the office depot E420 Core i5 deal is back, and even better. $429 + tax with a student ID.

Lenovo ThinkPad E420 Laptop with 14" LED-Backlit / 2nd Gen Intel® Core? i5-2410M / 4GB Ram / 500GB Hard drive / Webcam $429 after $100 VISA gift card @OD (Student ID required) - Slickdeals.net

[kns7977]

HD2600 won't do much good with egpu setup.
With egpu's limited speed, it will probably work just a little better than the integrated graphics.
I've personally tried HD3850, but didn't do much good even with x2E setup.
Now I've got GTX 460 with Optimus setup, I see a good improvement.

[kns7977]

FYI the office depot E420 Core i5 deal is back, and even better. $429 + tax with a student ID.

Lenovo ThinkPad E420 Laptop with 14" LED-Backlit / 2nd Gen Intel® Core? i5-2410M / 4GB Ram / 500GB Hard drive / Webcam $429 after $100 VISA gift card @OD (Student ID required) - Slickdeals.net

Good deal, but since this doesn't have Express card slot, probably not worth mentioning here? It might get some people who want egpu setup confused.

[User Retired 2]

Good deal, but since this doesn't have Express card slot, probably not worth mentioning here? It might get some people who want egpu setup confused.

E420s has no expresscard slot. E420 does have one. Can see apac's E420 DIY eGPU implementation details here.

Just out of curiosity why are there virtually no 3dmark11 results? 3dmark06 is a 5 year old benchmark, and I bet a lot of the people who run this setup are not going to be playing 5 year old games.

3dmark06 is still a great indicator of console-ported games (DX9). I've added a DX11 section with 3dmark11 and heaven fields so can get an indicator of PC-specific/optimized game performance.

[serialk11r]

Just ordered my PE3A, I'll keep everyone updated when it comes. I have a GT240 512mb sitting around before I get my GTX460, does anyone have any idea if this can use the Optimus tweak?

[User Retired 2]

Just ordered my PE3A, I'll keep everyone updated when it comes. I have a GT240 512mb sitting around before I get my GTX460, does anyone have any idea if this can use the Optimus tweak?

Lots of interest in your findings with the modded PE3A. I'm all for the pioneering spirit.

GT240 is an odd one. It's not an official Fermi, but is built on the series' 40nm tech. Hallucinate's Lenovo X220 P8600-2.4 + GT240 3dmark06 result here of 7496 would suggest it does engage the x1.Opt tweak. If it didn't the 3dmark06 result would be less than 5000.

[wicked20]

5V can be accessed from the RED floppy molex pin. You'd want to isolate pin18 on both ends so that neither the PE4L/PE4H or the EC2C/PM3N receives the 5V signal because if they did you could most certainly cause damage. So the pin18 line needs to be fished out, 5V applied to it and the endpoints isolated to prevent damage.

The 5V would drive the ICs in your active HDMI cable. Khenglish makes a good point. We don't know what active ICs are being used so can't look up a datasheet to find out. I'd assume they would be a transmitter/receiver pair that applies some additional modulation or filtering for better signal transmission.

Thanks Nando & Khenglish. Could someone confirm that the 3.3V is supplied on the PE4H board is separate from the 3.3V supplied by the PM3N (mini PCIe) such that fishing out (or cutting PIN 18 hdmi) won't impair either one. In other words, neither one of the boards are relying on PIN 18 hdmi to feed the 3.3V for its IC VCC for functionality.

On hdmi wiki it says Pin 18: +5 V Power (max 50 mA). Wonder if higher amp, even usb 500mA or how much higher it can take without damage.

I'm also wondering if modding pin 18 of the hmdi to mini hmdi adapter might be easier since I'm not very good at fishing normal size ones let alone mini/micro ones ;-)

Much thanks,

[Shamoke]

What is TOLUD and why does it have to be 3GB to support egpu?

What's lenovo's reasoning for keeping it at 3.5 and how does that benefit 32-bit os users?

Is it an acronym for something?