DIY eGPU experiences

[bjorm]

Update on... | Facebook

Ambitious I would call it...

Interesting, i'm curious how it's gonna look like and how over(under? :P )priced it will be?

[pyr0]

Village Tronic seems serious about a new connector standard:

Update on... | Facebook

Ambitious I would call it...

It's more than ambitious. A PCIe 16x link including power in a sub-hdmi sized connector? Wohoo! That means 16 differential pairs of each receiver and transmitter pins = 16x2x2 = 64 shielded wires (plus clock signals, power and ground wires) in the cable. HDMI has 19, SATA has 7 wires. That cable must be ultra-thick or wide.

In addition to that, they claim it (4 GHz PCIe 3.0 signals !!!) will be daisy-chainable up to 28 meters (5m is claimed that was tested and is working).

I am curious to see if they can keep up with their own requirements. I believe that will be a still born product, though. Thunderbolt/Lightpeak is the way to go and Intel is pushing it to OEMs. I don't think that a small enterprise like VT (that is known for bad customer service and Setup 1.x license violations) can make OEMs use their "standard".

Nothing more than hot air if you ask me.

[SimoxTav]

Don't get too excited, considering how long it will take to reach the market with their new solution we'll have these first:

PCI Express cables could take us to 32Gbps speeds by 2013 -- Engadget

PCIe cables will come to consumer market on 2013, this move from VillageDock sounds more like a failure in the roadmap to achieve a working Thunderbolt solution in time, than a powerful evolution to lead the market. Considering how much the current PCIe bandwidth is used, i don't see the need to have an improvement on that side because the bottleneck will always be provided by the choice of notebook manufacturers (controllers, ports availability, electrical connections and so on). As stated before, notebook manufacturers are worried by the potential of an eGPU solution, that's why the know how is deeply kept between few players. Otherwise the notebook gaming market would be shattered and with that their profits.
Don't forget that starting from 2013 Intel will provide all their motherboard with a TB port. That will be the date IMHO.

[7words]

Thanks for this thread!
You can boost the graphics power of an Intel netbook by the factor 20. An ASUS EEE-PC X101 with an ATI Radeon 4850 (PE4L 1.5 with PM3N) is working flawlessly in Windows 8, I scored 2047 points in 3DMark06 over an External LCD and 1280x1024 resolution. The Atom N435 was overclocked to 1561Mhz.

[EpicBlob]

It's more than ambitious. A PCIe 16x link including power in a sub-hdmi sized connector? Wohoo! That means 16 differential pairs of each receiver and transmitter pins = 16x2x2 = 64 shielded wires (plus clock signals, power and ground wires) in the cable. HDMI has 19, SATA has 7 wires. That cable must be ultra-thick or wide.

In addition to that, they claim it (4 GHz PCIe 3.0 signals !!!) will be daisy-chainable up to 28 meters (5m is claimed that was tested and is working).

I am curious to see if they can keep up with their own requirements. I believe that will be a still born product, though. Thunderbolt/Lightpeak is the way to go and Intel is pushing it to OEMs. I don't think that a small enterprise like VT (that is known for bad customer service and Setup 1.x license violations) can make OEMs use their "standard".

Nothing more than hot air if you ask me.

The cable sounds amazing, but VT needs to release their Thunderbolt Vidock before anything. They said it would decrease licensing fees, but I would rather have thunderbolt now and pay a little bit more than some other cable that probably won't be ready for a long time. Wish the best for VT.

[minnus]

I feel VT doesn't really care about their potential/current customers. It took them this long to simply update us, and even then, it wasn't the update we were expecting.

on another note, MSI said they are in a phase where they are deciding whether or not to market the product as a enclosure (with no gpu) or one with a you built in.

[Xav]

Hi guys,

selling my PE4H 2.4 kit, check it out!
PE4H v2.4a + 150cm mini-HDMI + EC2C eGPU Graphics card to Expresscard connector | eBay

[Fabi3n]

I do. And i am going to use preferable the internal screen, as far i own a FullHD modell.
Oh, you have same laptop, beside the CPU (I should update my profile, you dont mind, if i take yours as sample, do you?)...so you had problems with disabling the dGPU? Khenglish and other don`t have this problem because of 8Gb and Win7 64bit?

I don`t have much fun in reinstalling Win7 64bit, and i should buy additional 4Gb, or better same 4Gb+4Gb, to ensure no problems with dual channel, but if it will solve (or prevent ) the problem, why not?

So, no problem to take sample from my profile
If you want to do x1.2optimus on internal screen, you will need setup1.x to disable the NVS4200 video card, to be able to activate optimus working with your eGPU.
Normaly you would not have any error12, but if you'll have, setup1.x will correct that.
If you buy more ram, it will be preferable to reinstall a x64 OS !

[LoneNF]

So, no problem to take sample from my profile
If you want to do x1.2optimus on internal screen, you will need setup1.x to disable the NVS4200 video card, to be able to activate optimus working with your eGPU.
Normaly you would not have any error12, but if you'll have, setup1.x will correct that.
If you buy more ram, it will be preferable to reinstall a x64 OS !

Yes, Nando already answered my PM about that.
Of course >4Gb does`n make any sense with 32bit OS.

Why are you waiting for setup 1.x? Didn`t you got it with the PE4L 2.1b?

[bjorm]

Yes, Nando already answered my PM about that.
Why are you waiting for setup 1.x? Didn`t you got it with the PE4L 2.1b?

you need to buy it separately.