DIY eGPU experiences

[lazyboy]

Then I am sorry I have to say this. You are either a pessimist or you have over studied business. IMHO, you are a combination of both. Plain criticism won't get things anywhere. It's tough to be creative, but we just have suck it up go with it if we want it move somewhere. No offense there though.

...

In any case, I don't want to turn this into flame war, so I am done discussing it. Please, Do NOT take offense.

Non taken.
However I LOVE how you still can't come up with a "single, realistic, benefit for the collaboration" so instead you choose to turn your argument to me in at attempt to reduce my credibility and the validity of my argument.
I see a bright future in politics for you


If you ever come up with a tangible benefit to the DIY community, I'll be the first to listen to it.

I`m sorry, but why do we have to care about someones profit? Its the DIY community, not venture funding community.

And, i`m sorry again, but that story with the redirection of customers with the 12 error to this thread sounds not like good support. That sounds like China...

I didn't wont to offend anyone, but I come from Russia, and we are usually telling the truth and calling the things by it`s names. Not like this polite correct guys from the West.

Nicely said

[jacob_s]

With respect to my previous post (http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post8465079) it seems I was slightly confused. So, none of these solutions are ExpressCard 2.0 compatible yet, only PCIe 2.0? I'll be running on ExpressCard 2.0 on my Dell, and I have no intention of taking the bottom cover off just to use the wifi's mPCie slot...

[User Retired 2]

hi,

is it possible that HIT would sell the adapter PE4L ( PCIe Adapter ver2.1 ) in the next time? or wont they at all?

According to Randy from HIT, he hopes to have stock in next week. See his email I just received in response to your question below:

From: Randy Case
To: nando


Yes I need to get the PE4L 2.1 in stock. I was dumping the 1.1 version I had and I am almost out of stock. I hope to have the 2.1 version in stock next week.


Randy

With respect to my previous post (http://forum.notebookreview.com/gami...ml#post8465079) it seems I was slightly confused. So, none of these solutions are ExpressCard 2.0 compatible yet, only PCIe 2.0? I'll be running on ExpressCard 2.0 on my Dell, and I have no intention of taking the bottom cover off just to use the wifi's mPCie slot...

Your E6420 uses a Series-6 chipset that delivers pci-e 2.0 link speed to it's mPCIe/expresscard slots. You'll need a PE4L 2.1b to get reliable transmission at that speed. In addition it is recommended that you get a NVidia Fermi as your system is x1.2Opt capable where link compression sees performance increase 20-333% performance. However, you'll need to disable your NVS4200M for that using the Setup 1.x software as no bios facility exists to do it.

[jacob_s]

Your E6420 uses a Series-6 chipset that delivers pci-e 2.0 link speed to it's mPCIe/expresscard slots. You'll need a PE4L 2.1b to get reliable transmission at that speed. In addition it is recommended that you get a NVidia Fermi as your system is x1.2Opt capable where link compression sees performance increase 20-333% performance. However, you'll need to disable your NVS4200M for that using the Setup 1.x software as no bios facility exists to do it.

So, the version of ExpressCard is irrelevent in this case... the card runs at PCIe 2.0 speeds which is the fastest so far (3.0 is up and coming right?). I'm only doing 1x since it's ExpressCard only. Yes, eventually I'll get a newer graphics card (will 500 series work as well?). I thought for sure that the BIOS had a disable discrete option on it... I'll check. I was hoping not to need any fancy third party software.

I was thinking about waiting for the PE4H 3.0 since I might take apart my old laptop and do a 2x link. Will this work? Also, do you have a link to where I might find the PE4L 2.1b in the US? I was reading on the FAQ thing that it might be better to order from someone other than Bplus since I'm in the US. The other website linked to wasn't very clear on what versions things were, etc.

[ap1991]

Hi guys what is the best diy egpu for me?

Model Presario CQ62 Notebook PC
Total amount of system memory 8.00 GB RAM
AMD Phenom(tm) II N660 Dual-Core Processor
System type 64-bit operating system
AMD M880G with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250

i have no express card slot and i have a friend giving me a radeon 6780 (i think thats what it is)
thanks in advance

[Tom_ger]

Here are my latest results with following system:

Lenovo ThinkPad T520
Intel Core i7-2670QM
Intel Cougar Point QM67, Intel Sandy Bridge
8075 MB (DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM)
HDD INTEL SSDSA2BW160G3L (160 GB, SATA-II)
64-bit Windows 7 Prof.
nVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti together with a Dell U2412M (Digital) 24” LCD
PE4L 2.1b

BIOS:
GPU: Integrated Graphics
OS Detection NVIDIA Optimus: Enabled

Scores:

3DMARK05
With internal gpu (NVS4200M)
4175 3DMarks

Detailed Score
SM2.0 Score
1378
HDR/SM3.0 Score
1613
CPU Score
4934
GT1 - Return To Proxycon
10.93 FPS
GT2 - Firefly Forest
12.03 FPS
CPU1 - Red Valley
1.67 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley
2.33 FPS
HDR1 - Canyon Flight
14.18 FPS
HDR2 - Deep Freeze
18.08 FPS


With Zotac 560ti
19537 3DMarks

Detailed Score
SM2.0 Score
7562
HDR/SM3.0 Score
9507
CPU Score
5288
Game Score
N/A
GT1 - Return To Proxycon
64.17 FPS
GT2 - Firefly Forest
61.87 FPS
CPU1 - Red Valley
1.79 FPS
CPU2 - Red Valley
2.5 FPS
HDR1 - Canyon Flight
111.2 FPS
HDR2 - Deep Freeze
78.94 FPS

[Kuro-D]

Tom_ger

I havent gotten around to doing the egpu on my T520 yet.. (probably will within the next two weeks, I have my PE4L 2.1b and my 203w xbox psu right here. my gtx680 is on order)

did you have any issues or tips to give? I assume it was pretty plug and play after disabling the nvs4200m in the bios.

[Daisho]

Does anyone know what size the screws are that come with the PE4L 2.1b and SWEX? I'm trying to find the right size standoffs so I can mount them in a case i'm building.

[ujkman]

Hi
I am new in this forum, so please do not upset with my question. I have searched this forum for any experience or issue with the F3SV and eGPU, but didn’t find any.

I have built an eGPU using guidance from your forum. I have used PE4H ver2.4 with EC2C and HD6540 graphic card to build this eGPU. Once I connected this eGPU to my ASUS f3sv laptop (and an external LCD monitor to the eGPU) it recognised by the laptop and asked me to install the graphic driver. After installing the driver I can see ATI HD6450 is active in the list of display adopter in the device manager with no error and no conflict with the resources allocation.

But when I try to select the 2nd display (via Windows Display Control Panel) to re-direct the display output to the external screen via the windows display property screen then the only screen is available is the laptop screen. Could someone please help me to resolve this issue.

My laptop spec is given below:

Model – Asus f3sv
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 / 2.2 GHz
C2D T7500 2.2GHz, 800MHz, 4MB On-Die L2 Cache
2 x 1GB DDR2 667 MHz SDRAM
1GB NAND Turbo Memory
15.4" WSXGA+ Colourshine
nVidia Geforce Go 8600M G 256MB
OS - Windows® 7 32 bit professional

I really appreciate for your help.

Thanks in advance.

[User Retired 2]

DIY eGPU vs others (updated 5-7-2012)

Download: ->> DIYeGPU-vs-others.xls <<--

This above Excel spreadsheet contains the info as shown in the screencap below (links can't be clicked) to highlight the main differences b/w DIY eGPU vs other solutions. I do intend to make it HTML later on. I'm not including DIY eGPU or VT Thunderbolt solutions because if MSI market one for $200 (150W) then it will be very difficult to compete against.

I encourage reviews of this so an updated succinct and accurate version can be added to the first post Pre-sales area of this thread.



Evaluating this table when considering VT collaboration

The amount of yellow in the DIY eGPU solution highlights just what great value it and the MSI TB solutions would also be in tighter GFC times. The amount of red highlights why VT sales would now be take a serious hit from these other competitors.

This also helps us maintain perspective on what we have and what any VT collaboration could offer us. The 'for-profit' and 'non-profit' and large difference in pricing means there is no place for VT's current products supported on here. Can't blame them for having a go to get a foot in for their products in this thread. They could change that if the made a non-profit product (VillageEco) to price compete with the BPlus/HIT products as discussed in the VT collaboration proposal summary (SimoxTav).

The reasons I don't support Villagetronic products here

Villagetronic ViDock setup/driver support goes to Villagetronic

While they may have very similar functionality, it is important to recognise that the DIY eGPU community supports the DIY eGPU hardware as a voluntary service in return for a very low hardware cost. People like nando4, Khenglish, SimoxTav, kizwan, Palda and others spending a lot of their free time to support it.

The current Villagetronic offerings are a much higher 'for-profit' piece of hardware and so comes with support as part of that cost. That is available at ViDock | Facebook

I don't support VT here nor encourage others to do so either. VT's CEO VillageHubertChen made an debut appearance on NBR a week or so ago here then disappeared from discussion in this thread just as quickly when his costs, profits and reasons why his product should be discussed in this thread were questioned.

Clearly, if a community rallied and self-supported his product then it would reduce his support costs. That is great as long as the reduced costs are passed to the buyer. If reduced support costs are simply used to increase profit margin then it's taking advantage of the generous spirit of his customers.

The real test came when it was proposed that Villagetronic to come up with a VillageEco product to compete with PE4L/PE4H, but without support and no-ties with his other products (read: foot-in-the door to get them endorsed and supported on here). Making a VillageEco product would show his commitment to budget eGPU solutions.

We've not heard a word from Villagetronic's CEO since. Could it be that he is looking for larger rates-of-return elsewhere?

expresscard-to-pcie extenders/enclosures is $35 worth of technology

A Villagetronic ViDock is overpriced imho for what is basic technology. Consider that it's easy to purchase a basic notebook for $400. Comparatively, the technology to make these expresscard-to-pcie enclosures/extenders is not worth more than $35. That was the original aimed price for the BPlus gear.. which went to $55 then $70 (pci-e 2.0). Inflationary pressures I guess.

Can probably understand then why manufacturers are eagerly wanting TB chips.. same $35 worth of tech + TB chip could get them $200+. Magma is aiming for for $800. So it's a 500%-2300% return on investment. Lucrative to say the least with PCI-SIG, Intel, Microsoft and DIY eGPU community (error 12, x1.Opt/x1E, DSDT override) doing the hardyards to get it all to work.

Can see the comedy that results when someone grows their business anticipating those TB profits but is denied them at https://www.facebook.com/VillageViDo...10559025650555 . Intel putting the brakes on VT's gravy train and now seeing a win-win legal stick being waved at them. I wouldn't want to be the monkey taunting that gorilla.

Villagetronic's CEO claims his company is non-profit amongst other questionable statements

Worth noting, Villagetronic's CEO is now claiming his company is non-profit in his most recent post. The mincing of words being 'non-profit, donation, community, open-source effort to resolve error 12 issues'. See the relevant remarks from his response here captured in the blurb:

Spoiler :

* C² is backed by Village Tronic, a self funded, community-owned, beyond-profit organization ( English legal term "Nonprofit" organization, which in some cultures would be misinterpreted as no success ). Village Tronic is the pioneer in shipping low cost PCIe expansion boxes since 2008.

C² is independent

We have no investors to satisfy. We do not use any single source components. We do not need a critical contributor. We do not require the adaption in the Industry. C² stands on its own. It was created by the community and it is used by the community. We welcome every contribution. Every added engineering resource. Every donation. When you buy ViDock product-line from Village Tronic every surplus money goes into the C² development.

Management of Error 12 for external graphics cards

The industry remains deaf to fix the Error 12 issue. But we create an open source project C² Tuner to compile all knowledge of Error 12 and to support the open source community to develop a boot loader that fixes Error 12 on systems which BIOS does not grant enough resources.