DIY eGPU experiences

[joer80]

Would a t500 under opt 1.1 setup do ok on modern first person shooters like battle field 3 or modern warfare 3?

[Gewissen]

Hi!
I have a T420 with an i5 2520 2,5 Ghz, 4GB and the nvidia nvs 4200m. I was hoping to speed up 2D and 3D work with the NVS, but photoshop just shuts down immediately at some tasks (which it does not using the intel HD graphics) and Autocad isn't faster as well.
So I thought of using the Nvidia Quadro 600 ( Quadro 600 ) or the ATI FirePro V4800 (ATI FirePro? V4800 Professional Graphics ) as an egpu, which are both supported by adobe und autodesk.

My Bios Version is 1.30, but cause I am using a different CPU than the T420 user i read about, i would like to know if I can use their BIOS downgrade or where to find one for me.

Second i would like to know which graphic card is better as an egpu und which adapter I would need.

Thank you in advance :)

[Khenglish]

Hi!
I have a T420 with an i5 2520 2,5 Ghz, 4GB and the nvidia nvs 4200m. I was hoping to speed up 2D and 3D work with the NVS, but photoshop just shuts down immediately at some tasks (which it does not using the intel HD graphics) and Autocad isn't faster as well.
So I thought of using the Nvidia Quadro 600 ( Quadro 600 ) or the ATI FirePro V4800 (ATI FirePro? V4800 Professional Graphics ) as an egpu, which are both supported by adobe und autodesk.

My Bios Version is 1.30, but cause I am using a different CPU than the T420 user i read about, i would like to know if I can use their BIOS downgrade or where to find one for me.

Second i would like to know which graphic card is better as an egpu und which adapter I would need.

Thank you in advance

Looking at the specs, it appears that the ATI card is more powerful, but the Nvidia card should be the better choice due to the extra performance from optimus, and the ATI card would run in a crippled x1 mode instead of full x1.

Even though the NVS4200 is weak (hardly any faster than the HD 3000), it shouldn't be crashing. I'd go make sure you have the latest driver off of Nvidia's site.

[User Retired 2]

My Bios Version is 1.30, but cause I am using a different CPU than the T420 user i read about, i would like to know if I can use their BIOS downgrade or where to find one for me.

Second i would like to know which graphic card is better as an egpu und which adapter I would need.

The XPS15 L502 on the first page also has an Optimus dGPU. It was possible to disable it and hijaak it's pci-e space so the TOLUD issue with iGPU-only T420 doesn't apply to the Optimus model. This will require booting up via DIY eGPU Setup 1.x.

A GTS450/GTX460 or better is recommended. Avoid 1st-gen Fermis like GTX465/470/480 since they have hefty power requirements and generate a lot of heat.

[Gewissen]

Even though the NVS4200 is weak (hardly any faster than the HD 3000), it shouldn't be crashing. I'd go make sure you have the latest driver off of Nvidia's site.

There acctually was a newer veriosn for the driver. So right now both programs work much smoother. I have only checked the lenove updates and the nvidia update program didn't find the newer version as well. Stupid not to have checked the nvidia side...

The XPS15 L502 on the first page also has an Optimus dGPU. It was possible to disable it and hijaak it's pci-e space so the TOLUD issue with iGPU-only T420 doesn't apply to the Optimus model. This will require booting up via DIY eGPU Setup 1.x.

A GTS450/GTX460 or better is recommended. Avoid 1st-gen Fermis like GTX465/470/480 since they have hefty power requirements and generate a lot of heat.

THX I am reading it at the moment.
But one more question: why would you recomend a geforce over a quadro?

[serialk11r]

Quadros are just Geforces with a small tweak, and several hundred percent price hike. Geforce will do everything you ask it to do, don't worry.

Hijack subtopic: Am going to test 3dmark06 on this right now, I hope my PSU doesn't explode.

[serialk11r]

Alright, I ran 3dmark06 and the score seems...low?
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-2410M Processor,LENOVO 4286CTO score: 14747 3DMarks
I see people getting closer to 17000...and I have a factory "overclocked" model Gigabyte GTX460, so I wonder what's wrong. It displays 0MHz and whatever for the clocks, but I don't know if that's directly related.

Here are links to my previous posts on my build, for the reference page on the first post.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post7888066

Original GT240 build:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post7873895

[kizwan]

It display 0MHz because Futuremark SysInfo service is not running. It just for reporting. It won't causing the card to underperformed.

[serialk11r]

Bad news, my PSU now shuts off when a graphics intensive app starts...gonna try underclocking in the meantime. Probably will have to order another one sigh.

[User Retired 2]

Just got my PE4H.
I have a Lenovo X220 and a GTX560 TI.
All I did was plug the expresscard adapter in, let windows install drivers, installed the latest nvidia drivers for the desktop card, and then restarted.
Do I need to do anything else?
I ran 3DMark06 and got over 18000. I didn't do anything with mobile drivers or the nvam thing. Did I just luck out that it works without such minimal tweaking? Or should I still do something to get even better performance? I am assuming based on my score that optimus is already enabled. Does that sound right?

280.26 desktop driver gives x1.Opt but only to an external LCD

I just tested the 280.26 desktop driver and found:

- it does give a Preferred processor option in the NVidia manage 3D control panel (integrated versus NVidia), so Optimus features appear enabled. Good.

- 3dmark06 posts x1.Opt performance. Good.

- problem is that the internal LCD mode refuses to engage. I disconnected the external LCD and ran 3dmark06, forcing it to use the High performance processor (eGPU) via the control panel whitelist. 3dmark06 would only run using the iGPU. Not good.

So if you are running an external LCD Optimus setup then the standard desktop driver can give you the x1.Opt pci-e compression. If you want to run the internal LCD only option then will need to resort to the Verde driver + modded nvam.inf.

Alright, I ran 3dmark06 and the score seems...low?
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 video card benchmark result - Intel Core i5-2410M Processor,LENOVO 4286CTO score: 14747 3DMarks

apac's i5-2410M+GTX460-1GB got 3dmark06=15385 so your score is lower than expected. It isn't a GTX460SE by any chance? They have 288 shaders as opposed to the GTX460-1GB which has 336, or 14.3% less.

Can you confirm your card is running x1 2.0. 3dmark06 doesn't stress the pci-e link. I was seeing 100pts more for a 25% overclock here so interpolating those results we'd expect 400pts more for a 100% overclock that pci-e 2.0 provides.