DIY eGPU experiences

[pen15erer]

To reiterate my situation, I have my GTX 570 working through a 1x link with my expresscard through PE4H. I am trying to get my 2x link working, but my free mPCIe port is not working, so I am trying to get setup 1.x to work so I can do anti-whitelisting but when I load the bootmenu item, it doesn't load anything, and kicks me right out to the same boot menu to choose again between win7 and setup1.x.

I tried making a bootable USB drive as well, but when I try to load it, it says "missing operating system" or something like that. All I did to make the bootdisk was copy the image file onto it. Is this all it needs? If someone could help me get setup 1.x working, I think i've found all the instruction to use it.

Thanks guys, this forum has been great to me. 1x is already so much better than my iGPU performance its not even funny. Already playing skyrim on ultra with mods, now just trying to get antialiasing too battlefield 3 though is unplayable at any decent settings with 1x.

Also, does anyone know if overclocking is safe for eGPU's? I understand it's probably pointless because it would bottleneck, but I overclocked a little bit with a 1x link and felt my performance was a bit better. Once I get my x2 link going, I'm going to do full performance benchmarking, and I'll include overclocked performance on both 1x and 2x to compare.

[primoxtian]

Just wanted to share some of the build pics with you guys. I'll be trimming about 4 inches of length off of the case later and will update this post with the result.





**UPDATE** I finished cutting down the case and relocating the fan inside. My eGPU is now xbox size.

[the_journeyman]

Already playing skyrim on ultra with mods, now just trying to get antialiasing too battlefield 3 though is unplayable at any decent settings with 1x.

I'm averaging 25fps on battlefield 3 with a gtx 560 (1080p, medium settings). It's playable as the framerate is comparable to the consoles. But, I just tried running it in stereoscopic 3d and the framerate was almost cut in half.... a definite limitation of the x1 bandwidth.

[droid200]

can i plug a 2.x express card into a 1.x express card slot? is it compatable? because i dont know which one my laptop has... i have a Sony Vaio PCG 3C2L if that helps...

[kizwan]

Did you read Pre-Purchase FAQ? None of the information you gave so far is helpful.

[euchrid_eucrow]

I've been trying to get my own eGPU to work for the last two weekends to no avail. I finally gave up on the search button and have decided to ask for help directly from you guys. I've tried to do my due diligence with the search button before asking but I apologize if i missed something obvious.

First some background,

I'm working with a PE4H 2.4 which is currently hosting an Nvidia 550 TI. My laptop is a Vaio SB, with hybrid graphics (the dGPU is a AMD 6630M) and i've got the egpu hooked up via a mPCIe slot.

Initially i was getting an error 12, which was resolved with the Setup 1.x boot disk. Unfortunately after successful compaction i was getting an error 43. After doing a little searching i was able to resolve the 43 using the verde drivers with their proper .inf file. This however required me to use a generic intel driver to drive the igpu rather than the AMD/Intel hybrid one as well as shutting down the dgpu in setup 1.x in order to get the Nvidia to initialize.

Onto the problems:

While i'm able to initialize the monitor that's hooked up to the egpu, the Nvidia driver crashes fairly regularly, and i'm kicked back to the igpu. Occasionally the 550 comes back for about 30secs before the driver crashes again. This keeps on repeating over and over.

For some reason the Nvidia card will not initialize when i use a igpu driver other than the stock intel one. When i'm using the AMD/Intel igpu driver i don't get any errors against the Nvidia card after successful compaction (device manager shows it as enabled and functioning) but nothing i do gets the attached monitor to initialize on the Nvidia card.

The above explination leads me to some questions:

1. Should i even be trying to do this with a Nvidia card when my notebook's hybrid graphics are AMD based? Would i have better luck with an AMD based card? Would the use of an AMD based egpu allow me to keep the AMD/Intel driver for the igpu thereby allowing me to keep my hybrid graphics intact when the egpu is not in use?
2. Could the constant driver crashing be a result of an underpowered PSU? At the moment i'm using a fairly old PSU pulled from a Dell tower. I think it's 350w+/- PSU.

I'm willing to invest in a new video card and a new psu if necessary but don't want to start bying components needlessly. I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction.

Also, and this is a dumb question, if my igpu is driving my laptop's screen, and the egpu is driving my plugged in monitor how do you ensure that an application is using the right gpu? Is it as simple as making sure it's running on the correct screen?

Thanks for reading.

[kizwan]

1. You should use pure Intel driver for your Intel HD Graphics iGPU. This mean your hybrid graphics will stop working until you reinstall the driver again. There is no alternative I'm afraid. You can change to ATiAMD card but the performance will be less than Nvidia on PCIe x1 link due to missing Optimus.

2. I believe the crashing is because of PSU unable to provide sufficient power for eGPU to work. What is the max current on +12V or +12V1? GTX550Ti power requirement is 116W. So, PSU must have at least 11A of max current on +12V or +12V1 (12V * 11A = 132W, calculated with 10% margin). PSU total power is not useful since eGPU only draw power from +12V or +12V1.

Use Nvidia control panel to monitor which GPU is being used by games/applications. Just need to left click the GPU Activity Icon. Any games/applications listed in GPU Activity Icon are using Nvidia GPU.

[fujian]

Probably his screen doesn't support 1280x1024. Even if fujian ran it with 1280x800, it's not the reason why fujian got double score than the_journeyman. It's because Optimus.

Fujian ran it at 1280x800, not the standard 1280x1024. That's why his score is higher.

I redid the Test with 1280x1024 on an external monitor and getting better scores: 12071

[pen15erer]

Got setup 1.x working my status reads as follows:
HM55: gen=1 p=6 tolud@N/A
using_devcon_txt: yes
pci_written: no
pci_alloc_valid: yes* [64mb]

dGPU = 1002: 9553@x8.1 (AtiAMD)
eGPU = 10de:1086@x1.1p1@x1.1 (Nvidia)

p1@x1.1
p2@x1.1 NVidia (sometimes if i mess around this turns to AtiAMD
p3@x1.1 Intel (my wireless card)
p4@x1.1 Jmicrn (ethernet)
(I have a p5 and p6 as well, but I have no clue where those even are)

c:/config/startup.bat
call iport reset 1
call pci
call grub4dos mbr
-----------------------------------------------
I have the gtx 570 plugged into both the expresscard (p2) and also what is supposed to be the 3g slot (ive always assumed was p1, but it doesnt appear to be active, no LED lights up on mPCIe adapter from HIT, though I get LED when it is connected to WIFI slot)

I'm trying to anti-whitelist, but no matter what I seem to use as settings, I can't get anything to show up for p1. any ideas how i can get my 2x link going?

[User Retired 2]

I'm working with a PE4H 2.4 which is currently hosting an Nvidia 550 TI. My laptop is a Vaio SB, with hybrid graphics (the dGPU is a AMD 6630M) and i've got the egpu hooked up via a mPCIe slot.

Initially i was getting an error 12, which was resolved with the Setup 1.x boot disk. Unfortunately after successful compaction i was getting an error 43. After doing a little searching i was able to resolve the 43 using the verde drivers with their proper .inf file. This however required me to use a generic intel driver to drive the igpu rather than the AMD/Intel hybrid one as well as shutting down the dgpu in setup 1.x in order to get the Nvidia to initialize.

Onto the problems:

While i'm able to initialize the monitor that's hooked up to the egpu, the Nvidia driver crashes fairly regularly, and i'm kicked back to the igpu. Occasionally the 550 comes back for about 30secs before the driver crashes again. This keeps on repeating over and over.

This is yet another excellent result. Have wanted a SA/SB successful implementation. A SA offering a unique set of features in a portable package.

Now to your issues. You must force the mPCIe slot to gen1 speed in Setup 1.x or else will crash as you describe. This is because the PE4H 2.4 isn't pci-e 2.0 (gen2) compliant.

When the iGPU + eGPU is running, I make the eGPU LCD the 'main display' in the screen resolution properties. Then all apps will automatically start by using the eGPU.

As for the iGPU+dGPU+eGPU all working with the AMD switchable graphics drivers, it appears to be a no go. Though you are pioneering the way there. May I suggest using the latest NVidia desktop driver + Setup 1.x? Your Setup 1.x startup.bat would look like shown below. The parts in [] need to be completed by you based on your system's details

:: enable caching of startup for faster runtime
call speedup lbacache
:: disable the HD6630M dGPU
call dGPU off
:: set the eGPU port to gen1 speed
call iport g1 [mPCIe port hosting eGPU]
:: initialize the NVidia card to eradicate error 43
call vidinit -d 10de:xxxx [your GTX550Ti's pci-id]
:: run the result of the last PCI compaction (if you have one)
call pci
:: chainload the MBR to get to Win7
call grub4dos mbr

Just wanted to share some of the build pics with you guys. I'll be trimming about 4 inches of length off of the case later and will update this post with the result.

What a beautiful mPCIe cutout you've made there. Looks like it came out of the factory that way. Can I ask you add these details in your definitive Z570 implementation post here? If there is a Z570 owner's lounge you may want to post that info there as well (or start one if it doesn't exist). I'm sure the owners would find that to be particularly tasty information