DIY eGPU experiences

[del_psi]

retles is using mPCIe port for eGPU. Yes, Fujitsu T5010s have PCMCIA, not ExpressCard.

That's interesting ... I have to look into using the mPCIe port then...
Is it easy to connect the cables when using the mPCIe port? I heard some dremel work is necessary to make it fit neat.

I did some research but I'm going to wait until retles posts some more information.

[kizwan]

I don't think you need to use dremel. Please see mine:-

As you can see the PM3N cards didn't secure properly but it have proper contact, that's all I need. I use cable tie to prevent the cables from moving. Improvised!

[arnierobert]

GTX560Ti - $2XX
GTX460 - $200
GTS450 - $120

GTS450 fall under your budget.

With x2, you won't be able to use wireless as nando explained here. When enabled x2 on PCIe port#3 (in your case will be using PCIe port#3 & port#4 for x2), port#1 also become x2 as well & this render port#2 where wireless card connected, non-operational. x1E required PCIe port to be an odd numbered port with no device connected to the next sequential port, e.g. port#1/port#3/port#5 with no device connected to port#2/port#4/port#6. So x1E with ExpressCard slot (PCIe port#5) or mPCIe port (PCIe port#3), you can use wireless card since it connected to PCIe port#2.

The local parts store here has a EVGA GTX550Ti SC 1 gb ddr5 on sale for $129.99- 30$ mail in rebate so a final price of $99.99. Should that be enough for my purposes?

[kizwan]

Depend on the games. Anyway, x1E only suitable if using ATiAMD or older Nvidia card. For GTX550Ti, I think you better do x2 setup. I think GTX550Ti is more than enough for UT3 & Portal 2.

[DreamThtr]

For the moment i've been able to play BBC2, Dead Island and Deus ex HR smoothly on my internal LCD at 1600*900. Amazing. I'm not really looking into the external LCD way for the moment.
Though i had a quick try on someone' LCD TV and it worked great on HDMI. Optimus doesn't like adapters. HDMI to DVI and DVI to VGA = Fail

Hey man, I've got a Vostro 3700 with NVidia 330m and was hoping to hear from you as you have a similar system.

What problems did you encounter?
What BIOS version are you using in your Vostro?
Is the performance advantage of using an eGPU is really that great?

[User Retired 2]

The local parts store here has a EVGA GTX550Ti SC 1 gb ddr5 on sale for $129.99- 30$ mail in rebate so a final price of $99.99. Should that be enough for my purposes?

If you look around you'll find GTX460-1GB units for $130AR like this Zotac unit. A GTX460 has 74% more cuda cores than a GTX550Ti/GTS450 (336 vs 192), so a 30% price premium is definitely worth it. A GTX460 is still the best bang-per-buck card out there and when clocked to GTX560 levels (not GTX560Ti) gives virtually the same performance.

Hey man, I've got a Vostro 3700 with NVidia 330m and was hoping to hear from you as you have a similar system.

In another thread you wrote your system's specs as Vostro 3700 core i7 720QM and NVidia 310m 4gigs ram. A G310M has performance equivant to a Intel HD3000 iGPU, so is a low spec dGPU. Any ATiAMD/NVidia eGPU implementation would be faster.

However, to extract maximum performance would require a NVidia x1.Opt implementation. That is only possible if your Vostro 3700 has switchable graphics which would also requires a Arrandable i5/i7 cpu on the Calpella platform. If your systemboard is compatible then you'd need to swap out your Clarksfield i7-quad to allow the iGPU to engage.

[apav]

Hey guys, wow I can't believe I'm actually thinking of doing this.

I have a 2010 15" MBP running Windows 7 on boot camp with an GT 330m. I'm buying parts to build a system when I get home from college in December and I ordered 2 Sapphire Toxic 6950's(unlocked to a 6970) here to test on my friend's desktop and I saw this thread.

If I do this, will I only be able to hook one of them up? How much of a performance increase will I see from my GT 330m?

[User Retired 2]

I have a 2010 15" MBP running Windows 7 on boot camp with an GT 330m. I'm buying parts to build a system when I get home from college in December and I ordered 2 Sapphire Toxic 6950's(unlocked to a 6970) here to test on my friend's desktop and I saw this thread.

MBP 15" 2010 has Intel HD + GT330M. If you want more performance than the GT330M then I recommend a x1.Opt (NVidia Fermi) implementation which this system can do. The NVidia drivers do pci-e compression to give great performance over a x1 link. ATiAMD doesn't do that so while benchmarks like 3mk06 will give some great numbers, real life gaming will stutter when doing large pci-e transfers and will be worse overall than the GT330M.

Performance considerations are extensively covered on the first post.

[DreamThtr]

If you look around you'll find GTX460-1GB units for $130AR like this Zotac unit. A GTX460 has 74% more cuda cores than a GTX550Ti/GTS450 (336 vs 192), so a 30% price premium is definitely worth it. A GTX460 is still the best bang-per-buck card out there and when clocked to GTX560 levels (not GTX560Ti) gives virtually the same performance.



In another thread you wrote your system's specs as Vostro 3700 core i7 720QM and NVidia 310m 4gigs ram. A G310M has performance equivant to a Intel HD3000 iGPU, so is a low spec dGPU. Any ATiAMD/NVidia eGPU implementation would be faster.

However, to extract maximum performance would require a NVidia x1.Opt implementation. That is only possible if your Vostro 3700 has switchable graphics which would also requires a Arrandable i5/i7 cpu on the Calpella platform. If your systemboard is compatible then you'd need to swap out your Clarksfield i7-quad to allow the iGPU to engage.

Thanks for your answer man, in both posts I stated that my gpu is a NVidia 330m, and true, I have a clarksfield i7 on Calpella, so no switchable gfx for me, so then, no eGPU goodnes for me? I was hoping to use a GTX 560ti

[kizwan]

Hey man, I've got a Vostro 3700 with NVidia 330m and was hoping to hear from you as you have a similar system.

What problems did you encounter?
What BIOS version are you using in your Vostro?
Is the performance advantage of using an eGPU is really that great?

Thanks for your answer man, in both posts I stated that my gpu is a NVidia 330m, and true, I have a clarksfield i7 on Calpella, so no switchable gfx for me, so then, no eGPU goodnes for me? I was hoping to use a GTX 560ti

Dell Vostro 3700 have ExpressCard 34mm slot & one mPCIe port. If both are either [PCIe Port#1 & Port#2] or [PCIe Port#3 & Port#4], you can do eGPU x2 link setup. You can check the PCIe port # where the wireless card & ExpressCard connected to using AIDA64. For the ExpressCard, you'll need to put ExpressCard device though because if not AIDA64 trial version won't be able to detect it. Games will stutters if eGPU x1 link but will run smooth with eGPU x2 link. So, I'd recommend you eGPU if your notebook can do x2 link setup.