DIY eGPU experiences

[User Retired 2]

this is the only thing that bothers me, as I was planning a portable setup, and keep lugging an external display ain't no more portable. Can you see any workaround this?

It can be portable. See Internal LCD usage setup. You'll need to make a Dummy DVI plug with a 75ohm resistor to fool the NVidia card into believing a monitor is attached. If you actually want to use the NVidia to display output, as well, not just the processing, then need to install Ultramon software. I can run a T6600 Inspiron 1440 with a DIY ViDocked HD5750 without needing an external LCD. Games are processed by the HD5750 but displayed on the internal LCD. There is a decrease in FPS compared to using an external LCD but is still way faster than the IGP.

Does it have to be an Intel Chipset,

I have HP Pavillion dv5 1002nr, which is AMD Chipset, i looked and i have PCI-E 2.0 open (Expresscard) was wondering if DIY ViDock would work?

There's some AMD RS7xxM and NVidia MCPxxx chipset in addition to Intel chipset successful setups linked off the first post.

[SonicBoom_]

- X200 has a free 256MB window at C0000000 so can host ATI cards without any PCI relocation needed.

-Turbo memory=slot3, Expresscard slot=port4. Can do x2 if combine those two ports HOWEVER you'd lose concurrent wifi functionality, since port1 also gets switched into x2 along with it so your wifi on port2 would get switched out.

- Lenovo do whitelisting. Port3 would be the whitelisted port that would be providing x2 functionality which may make things trickier or may not. Not clear what method they use. Likley same as the 2510P so is handled with the DIY ViDock Setup.

- Can't do x1E using expresscard slot (x2 width with single lane that gives true x1 1.0 performance on Intel chipsets) since it's an even numbered port.

Recommend: consider a x2 setup, then it would be worthwhile getting a HD58xx. I'd still go a 2GB HD58xx over a GTX480. At x1 1.0 it would be too pci-e bandwidth restricted to offer any decent gains over a HD5770. Both would seriously bog down during heavy texture processing doing vram<->system ram transfers.

I'd like to help a x200/x201 user do a x2 implementation so hoping a pioneer steps up to the plate. Would showcase a small and mighty setup but needs to make the turbo memory mPCIe slot externally accessible.

I am willing to do does tests / implemations. I will order a PM3N with a second cable so we can do a x2 implementation on the x200, a test on my x201. I would also have some old ibms lieing around X61 X60. Would that be ok? I can also do a test on a HP mini 1000 which I think would also be fun.

Might it be possible that the QM57 of the X201 is 2.0 express card?

[User Retired 2]

Might it be possible that the QM57 of the X201 is 2.0 express card?

I had hoped, but we've found it is still 2.5Gbps. Seems Intel are implementing only the power saving features of the pci-e 2.0 spec, not the most important feature being the 5Gbps link speed.

I figure we'll see expresscard 2.0 and USB 3.0 chipsets (not separate logic chips to do USB 3.0) at the same time. They are both rated at 5Gbps.

Well pleased your going to have a go at a x2 1.0 x200 and x201 implementation. That would be the ultimate in portability with high gaming cred.

[sunlooksgreen]

> nando4

How is that possible? If it's using the external card only for calculations, how is that possible that the image is beeing outputed through its dvi? Woudn't that implie that the external card is also driving the display? (and so the laptop GPU not beeing used at all?)

I'm missing something here..

[Oddious]

> sun

I will do some more testing and see what i can come up with over the weekend. as you can see with theses set ups we are pushing the thoughts of what can be done with a laptop. I will see what will make the Renderer "see" the card. I will also look into making and adapter for the Nvidia card so "trick" it into thinking something is attached. The program does not like running on the laptop screen with the Nvidia screen off. SO , i will work with some other configurations to see what works.

[sunlooksgreen]

hi oddious,

thanks again for your support.

I looked into octane forums, and found something that might help you out.

..octane uses the fastest non-primary adapter by default. however this depends on which one the monitor is connected.

.

If you connect trough external card, does that mean the nvidia is also driving the display, or just passing the info that comes from laptop GPU?

[Oddious]

> sun
i will take a look tonight and play see what i can get to work. without having the external Nvidia card as the primary card the Program would not launch because it would not see a Nvidia card to use. It would say " No Cuda devises found"
I will grab a drink tonight and take some time and try some stuff out for ya.


>Nando

I will get all bench marks a specs in order and post them so they can be added to the Spread sheet specs.

[ualwayslose]

So I was reading on previous threads of users who have the same chipset as me (RS780m) is it possible to just pm users on this forum? I think it would be easier to just do that then posting replies? Any ideas?

FYI- interested in talking to Malumake

[Collaris112]

So I was reading on previous threads of users who have the same chipset as me (RS780m) is it possible to just pm users on this forum? I think it would be easier to just do that then posting replies? Any ideas?

FYI- interested in talking to Malumake

Maybe you need like 5 posts or so to PM people. Sometimes it is like that on forums to avoid spam and what not. Not sure though.

But I orded a PE4L together with a PM3N since I found out that I had no Expresscard-slot on my x61 tablet. With a little luck I will receive it on Monday I heard that the PM3N have a build-in feature to avoid whitelisting etc. something about a jumper and a delay upon startup. Is that true and how does it work?

[ashura]

I'm so glad I found this thread and thankful to everyone who contributed to it. I've now got my 5850 1GB hooked up to my i7 640LM x201s w/ 4GB DDR3 via PE4h and it's running ME2 beautifully at 1680x1050. I played through the beginning and there were one or two slowdowns but they lasted less than a second and didn't really take me out of the game. Thanks again!

Now I can sell off everything else that's left in gaming part of my sig!