DIY eGPU experiences

[hizzaah]

Lots of info to absorb in this thread.. How do i determine what exactly I need to buy?

Have an
Inspiron 1545
T4200 2.0Ghz
3Gb ram (waiting to see if 8gb will run)

If this would work with ports other than expresscard in the future since my next laptop probably wont have one lol.. figure making one of these, adding ssd and some ram will let me sqeek by on this laptop for anoth 1.5years or so until I graduate.. got the ram and ssd, looking to keep the total cost under $300. I'll be using my tv as a monitor most likely (60hz, 1080p, 37" LED)..

Will this carry audio over it to the tv, or am I stuck using the headphone jack on the 1545?

Port 1- Empty
Port 2- Intel Wifi card
Port 3- Ethernet Controller
---Port 4 doesn't show up---
port 5- Empty

It seems i need to pick up the PE4H kit ($91)?.. then I'm lost. I can't figure out which PCIe I'm going to be using (x1, x1E, 1xOpt, etc) to determine which video card I should pick up. I have a spare xbox 360 psu i can use ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post7252020 ) although if it's more plug-n-play to use a different psu i'll go with that..

hopefully someone can enlighten me as to my next step

[kizwan]

...but I don't know how to exit and boot up then without dGPU.

What do you mean? Your notebook have Intel HD Graphics iGPU. So notebook will boot with iGPU. After dGPU off, eGPU will take over the free space.

[Fardavid]

What do you mean? Your notebook have Intel HD Graphics iGPU. So notebook will boot with iGPU. After dGPU off, eGPU will take over the free space.

I know I'm stupid, but after I switch off the dGPU I don't know how to exit from the setup menu and boot up Windows, without reboot with BIOS. To sum it up, I can only boot to Windows with my dGPU switched back by BIOS.

[Mjolner]

@ Mjolner:
A few pages back, someone discovered that the problem is related to hardware acceleration: right-click on the streaming video and choose settings, enable hardware acceleration. Anyway, you may want to search back in this thread, it wasn't so long ago!

I mentioned this in the post after the one of mine I just quoted, but I have tried both enabling and disabling hardware acceleration with zero success.

[Fardavid]

What do you mean? Your notebook have Intel HD Graphics iGPU. So notebook will boot with iGPU. After dGPU off, eGPU will take over the free space.

Ok, I could boot up without dGPU finally. I tried the same thing and somehow it worked... nevermind.

So, turned off dGPU, plugged in eGPU and start windows. I have an error code 10. What does that mean? How can I solve it?

[kizwan]

... but after I switch off the dGPU I don't know how to exit from the setup menu and boot up Windows, without reboot with BIOS. To sum it up, I can only boot to Windows with my dGPU switched back by BIOS.

Do you mean, when dGPU off, screen is black? In the Setup 1.x, after setting dGPU off, choose Chainload to boot into windows. After choosing Chainload, the windows boot menu will appear again. Choose to boot into windows.

[kizwan]

So, turned off dGPU, plugged in eGPU and start windows. I have an error code 10. What does that mean? How can I solve it?

Error code 10 simply means no driver is installed. Install the nvidia verde driver with modified .inf file.

EDIT: Nvidia verde driver is graphic card driver for notebook.

[Nerosam]

My new graphics card just arrived today so I abandoned the 8800gt route in excitement. ;S

It seems I got a bit closer to success with the Geforce 460 but im now running into more problems. The first time I installed the drivers for the card, I had some output on the screen and I could see my wallpaper. But after it asked me to restart, it struggles with setting my second display. Whats most wierd is that it displays the login screen on my eGPU and after entering my password, the display shows signs of activity but then deactivates, switches back to my laptop screen and shows a bubble in the task bar saying that the nvidia drivers stopped working and has recovered. Any attempt to switch it back to external screen (using my Fn buttons) causes it to do the same thing. I have tried my dvi cable and HDMI cable (with mini HDMI adaptor since my gpu has mini HDMI) and they both do the same thing.

I have the custom 275.33 drivers installed with it. Any ideas? ;S

[User Retired 2]

Interesting... Alright.

I gave the workaround script a try and as you can see in the attachments, it seems I have typed up the script a bit wrong since its giving me that error. I typed:-

I've given an example of the setpci syntax required in BUG: dGPU... at the bottom of the Setup 1.x page.

Lots of info to absorb in this thread.. How do i determine what exactly I need to buy?

Have an
Inspiron 1545
T4200 2.0Ghz
3Gb ram (waiting to see if 8gb will run)
..
Port 1- Empty
Port 2- Intel Wifi card
Port 3- Ethernet Controller
---Port 4 doesn't show up---
port 5- Empty
..
hopefully someone can enlighten me as to my next step

If you have a 4500MHD model Inspiron 1545 then you can do a x1.Opt NVidia Fermi installation. It also has port5=expresscard slot, so can do an ATiAMD x1E implementation. I'd personally get the cheapest GTX460 (non SE) for your system for a high performance, plug and play solution. An Inspiron 1545 has TOLUD=3.5GB but has a rare 36-bit root bridge so no 4GB+ issues. It will carry audio over HDMI cable so no need for headphones.

My new graphics card just arrived today so I abandoned the 8800gt route in excitement. ;S

Please outline what steps you've done so far on your W520 (eg: enabled the dGPU in bios, disable dGPU in Setup 1.x, performed iGPU+eGPU PCI compaction, added line in BUG: dGPU... described at bottom of Setup 1.x page, chainloaded to Win7?)

[lerdlarp]

SUCESS!!!

Intro:
After about 3 month of reading this amazing thread, I decided to give it a try; and I’m glad I did.

Hardware:
HP ProBook 4330s, i5-2410m, HM65 $730
PE4L-EC2C $52
Galaxy GTX460 768Mb $130 - $50 rebate
Corsair CX-430 $45 - $20 rebate
Total Cost for eGPU $227 – $70 rebate that is yet to be receive.

Extras:
I also have a Crucial M4 128 GB ($170) + 500 GB HDD via DVD drive caddy, Fenvi branded ($13), thanks again Nando4. Upgraded to 8GB of 1333 MHz Ram ($39). A 6 dollars 1.5m mini-HDMI cable. And also $160 for my 1080p 23 in. hdmi so-so quality display. Bringing Total Cost of my ultra-fast portable setup to $ 1345 - $70.




Setting-up:
Setting up the eGPU was a relatively painless experience. I started by plugging in all the wires and cable; using paperclip to start the PSU.
At first, I tried the sleep-wake up method; however, my laptop would not wake up. I had to resort to removing the battery. I started to get nervous
After that, I tried to boot up my laptop with the eGPU already on, the bios would not post and it had to resort to removing the battery again. I started to panic.

Next, I tried to boot up to setup 1.x, and then turn on the eGPU. After several attempt, I could not get my gtx460 to be recognized. I probably did something wrong. Getting really nervous now.

After that I boot my computer normally, with nothing plug-in. after windows and everything else loaded, I proceed turn on the eGPU and plugged it in. The GTX is recognized and began to install the generic driver. Windows 7 even self install 275.33 NVidia Driver. No Error 12!!! Turns out compaction wasn’t needed after all.

I then uninstall the NVidia driver so I can reinstall it with the modded Optimus Driver. Took me about 30 minutes to setup, and about another 10 mins dedicated to wires management.
Now, all I have to do each time I start up my laptop is to simply plug it in.







Benchmarks:
WEI:


3D Mark06 – at first I got 15.3 k, however now, I only get around 14.1 k (not sure what’s wrong)
UPDATE: I tried disabling wifi during 3D Mark06 benchmark and got around 15k again, seems like Wi-Fi card is the culprit.


Full Detail Score


3D Mark11- P2927 3DMarks

PC Mark Vantage- Coming soon
RE5 -DX9


Heaven - Coming soon

Dirt3 -

Lesson Learned:

First and most important lesson: eGPU, this forum, and everyone who contributed are awesome. Thank you.

Second lesson, while my HP ProBook is a very good budget laptop. There are better alternatives if you are willing to spent a bit more. If my budget was higher, I would have gotten the X220t (better screen, longer battery, touchscreen for W8), or even a Sandy Bridge EliteBook w/ better build quality. Also, a faster processor certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Third lesson, again, the CX-430 is a great PSU for the price (assuming I get the rebate). But if you are willing to spent a bit more, there are certainly better options. Basically anything that doesn’t emit a high pitch noise. With the AC off, it is still audible from about 2 ft. away. Also, a PSU with modular cable would also be quite beneficial. Again, this is all tradeoffs between price and quality.

Quirks and Questions:
Firstly, 3D Mark 06 Score, I have already tried to disable the hdmi audio, no measurable differences.

Every time I plug it in, my Wi-Fi is knock out, I have to manually connect it; not a major problem, but I will certainly appreciate any help/solutions.

Also, full screen HD Vimeo videos seem to be a bit choppy ~20 fps, doesn’t happen with YouTube though. Any fixes?

If I power down eGPU w/o unplugging the express card, the system crashes. Is this common?

Now a question, does this pic means Optimus is activated. If so, to play games on the laptop screen (w/o external monitor), do I only have to switch the monitor with Win+P, or is there any additional steps??
Lastly, any additional tips, advices and comments will really be appreciated, also feel free to ask any questions.