Linus should really do a video on these cheap external GPU Docks

[SImoHayha]

So I'm really tired and honestly a little bit pissed off at various Youtuber's definition of "cheap" gaming laptops or gaming builds.**COUGH COUGH** 1000$, 1500$  Honestly cheap to us normal users and new users would be a budget of 400-500 dollars. But I think this true cheap external GPU dock would also be an interesting thing for Linus and crew to properly test and see how everything works.   

 

The dock in question is called this: EXP GDC V7.0 Beast Laptop External Independent Video Card Dock
 https://www.banggood.com/EXP-GDC-Laptop-External-PCI-E-Graphics-Card-p-934367.html  

And here is a video explaining how everything works.

 

This would be a cool thing for everyone to know about, it would allow those with crummy and shitty laptops or even laptops without GPU's to become mobile workstations or even truly mobile gaming laptops. Although there is a catch, Nvidia GPU's allow the laptop screens to be used while AMD GPU's require another screen. I think this should be a great thing and experience for the Linus team, and they can get to see how honestly/truly cheaper it is to actually have a gaming PC with a tiny little device such as this.

[Droidbot]

Yeah... no. 

 

The issue with the GDC Beast (and to an extent, similar docks) is that the hardware support is INSANELY hit or miss. Different manufacturers have different hardware TOLUD implementation, and around 70% of the time it doesn't work on your machine due to either a lack of TOLUD or whitelisted PCIe ports. 

 

On top of this, it depends on your GPU as well. The X1 bus is super bottlenecking by itself, especially on older laptops, where it is just x1 1.0. With other machines, it's x1 2.0, and AMD GPUs will be boxed into x1 2.0 and that's it, whereas Nvidia GPUs will have x1 2.0 with compression, which really makes a difference. 

 

Finally, there is only three ways to get around TOLUD limitations, and they all have tradeoffs. 

One is building a DSDT with a big ol' space for the GPU to slot in, and then using the registry to apply it and turning test signing on, which denies you from playing the online components of most online games as it allows a cheater to run whatever code he wants at the kernel level. 

The other way is building a DSDT and applying it using Clover bootloader, which is the most buggy and strange piece of software. it can also lead to hard bricking some hardware, due to differing EFI implementations. 

Another way is building a DSDT and applying it using eGPU Setup by nando4, which is a quite nice piece of software, but it is paid, which requires you to front up more money to get this fucking thing to work. 

 

signed, GDC beast v8 Expresscard owner

[manikyath]

here's your review:

 

the banwidth is that low they'll bottleneck a GT640.

..and if you want to be able to afford a good GPU dock.. FRESHBOOKS!

[SImoHayha]

34 minutes ago, manikyath said:

here's your review:

 

the banwidth is that low they'll bottleneck a GT640.

..and if you want to be able to afford a good GPU dock.. FRESHBOOKS!

Well again it's a crappy CPU of course. Toss in a I5-2xxx or i5-3xxxx then toss in a 750 TI and you're good to go. 

[manikyath]

Just now, Ramamataz said:

Well again it's a crappy CPU of course. Toss in a I5-2xxx or i5-3xxxx then toss in a 750 TI and you're good to go. 

nothing to do with the CPU, the socket used quite simply does not have the required bandwidth.

[SImoHayha]

Just now, manikyath said:

nothing to do with the CPU, the socket used quite simply does not have the required bandwidth.

Im pretty sure it has to do with CPU and other factors buddy boi.

Look at this and tell me it's not because of a better GPU and CPU
 

 

He's using an I5 3320M along with a 750TI

[SImoHayha]

43 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

 

 

Honestly don't know what you mean. At least the TOLUD part anywho. Most of the time from what I see on youtube videos is they basically plug and play. 

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, Ramamataz said:

Im pretty sure it has to do with CPU and other factors buddy boi.

Look at this and tell me it's not because of a better GPU and CPU
 

 

He's using an I5 3320M along with a 750TI

what about that video exactly proves that the socket isnt a low bandwidth piece of shit?

[SImoHayha]

Just now, manikyath said:

what about that video exactly proves that the socket isnt a low bandwidth piece of shit?

Oops i'm a dummy. By Socket I thought you meant CPU. I guess you were meaning like the socket generation yes? Unless I'm still not understanding clearly.

[manikyath]

Just now, Ramamataz said:

Oops i'm a dummy. By Socket I thought you meant CPU. I guess you were meaning like the socket generation yes? Unless I'm still not understanding clearly.

the "dock" these chinese folks sell plugs into the socket where usually the wifi card goes, which is by default too slow for *any* GPU to be a worthwhile investment, you're tossing money down the drain.

 

did a quick google search, 750Ti should be able to run at higher FPS, at (slightly?) higher setiings, at higher resolution than that video.

[Droidbot]

2 minutes ago, Ramamataz said:

Honestly don't know what you mean. At least the TOLUD part anywho. Most of the time from what I see on youtube videos is they basically plug and play. 

TOLUD is the memory that is required for the GPU to be used on the computer (so it can set its shit up) 

 

On the video you put above, it is mentioned: 

- +thanh duy TOLUD : 3,25GB I use Setup 1.30

- It's about 256mb

 

also, this: 

- however, My old GTX 560 se just plug n play.

probably due to Kepler and Fermi-based cards being 128MB dedicated, which is what most UEFIs will give it. 256MB for 750Ti however as it's Maxwell. 

[SImoHayha]

Just now, manikyath said:

the "dock" these chinese folks sell plugs into the socket where usually the wifi card goes, which is by default too slow for *any* GPU to be a worthwhile investment, you're tossing money down the drain.

 

did a quick google search, 750Ti should be able to run at higher FPS, at (slightly?) higher setiings, at higher resolution than that video.

Well personally it seems to be a nice cheap investment, especially if you're low on funds and wanting to play modern games at a stable 30 or maybe 50FPS or you just have a crappy laptop around that you wanna mess with and take to go and use it as a mobile deskstop or something.

[SImoHayha]

2 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

TOLUD is the memory that is required for the GPU to be used on the computer (so it can set its shit up) 

 

On the video you put above, it is mentioned: 

- +thanh duy TOLUD : 3,25GB I use Setup 1.30

- It's about 256mb

 

also, this: 

- however, My old GTX 560 se just plug n play.

probably due to Kepler and Fermi-based cards being 128MB dedicated, which is what most UEFIs will give it. 256MB for 750Ti however as it's Maxwell. 

Well that was a crummy shitty laptop truth be told, and from what I see a majority of people use higher end laptops which I guess in theory and I think should have more than enough TOLUD to use said GPU's. Again it's just an educated guess from all the youtube videos I see.

[manikyath]

Just now, Ramamataz said:

Well personally it seems to be a nice cheap investment, especially if you're low on funds and wanting to play modern games at a stable 30 or maybe 50FPS or you just have a crappy laptop around that you wanna mess with and take to go and use it as a mobile deskstop or something.

if you have a crappy laptop, it's got a crappy cpu and/or crappy cooling, you have to factor in the cost of a power supply, the dock, and the GPU, you'll need a screwdriver every time you then want to switch said laptop from frankenstein back to laptop, calling this piece of equipment a "dock" is highly overrated, because it's not really a "dock", it's more so a wire with a fancy looking connector on one end. if you're low on funds, get a freaking AMD APU, when factoring in all the bits, and considering this solution you're clearly okay with forgetting about a case, a desktop isnt *that* much more, and will allow you to still use said crappy laptop.

 

it's a matter of either you buy something better, or you dont buy at all.

--

you could buy an old porche for $2000, but i guarantee you you'll regret doing so for every day you own it, either buy a more expensive one, or dont buy one at all.

[Droidbot]

Just now, Ramamataz said:

Well that was a crummy shitty laptop truth be told, and from what I see a majority of people use higher end laptops which I guess in theory and I think should have more than enough TOLUD to use said GPU's. Again it's just an educated guess from all the youtube videos I see.

Dell Latitude/HP Elitebook/Lenovo ThinkPad machines are the best machines for eGPU hands down. 

 

Latitude and TP give access to TOLUD adjustment. Elitebook does not, and is capped at 128MB effective. (lucky me, I have to override using Clover, which I was using anyway so idc). 

 

 

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, Droidbot said:

Elitebook does not

why would you do crap like this to an elitebook tho?

 

elitebooks are very nice workhorse laptops.. but for the love of god dont try to game on them... (besides, my 4 year old model has thunderbolt..)

[Dabombinable]

I'd be tempted to try one, since I recently got given a laptop with dual mini PCIe slots (it only has a rather shitty 1.7GHz Pentium , which will be replaced with a 45nm 3GHz C2D or lower clock speed 45nm C2Q) that'd be an interesting test (it also doesn't have a compatibility whitelist like my HP Pavilion DV6 3010AX-hotswapping PCIe cards proved that HP are fucking scumbags).

And if my Mum's HP Elitebook 2760p doesn't have the whitelist BS, it'd be good for a non CPU limited test (I'd use a PXC 5750 in the dock-its far better than the Intel GMA X3000)

[SImoHayha]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

 

 

Again this is for people that just have a laptop with somewhat a modern CPU at least a second or third or fourth gen Intel CPU and honestly that a majority of Nvidia GPU's don't even require that much juice anymore still means you could run this shit with like a 250+ watt power supply.  I mean look at the GTX 1050, that thing doesn't even require power.  Then, of course, expresscards are also something, this is a majority for ThinkPad's and like the other guy said dell laptops.

 

I rather have a bloody Intel CPU and an eGPU than an AMD APU because of well better emulation and other stuff.  Again things are extremely cheap,  and second-hand goods are well good. Then this can also make said laptop be somewhat a desktop in an essence. In my case, I would be using this when I'm going around, for example, my father's house and wanna play PC games with the lads but I don't wanna literally lift and take apart my desktop.

[Droidbot]

Just now, manikyath said:

why would you do crap like this to an elitebook tho?

 

elitebooks are very nice workhorse laptops.. but for the love of god dont try to game on them... (besides, my 4 year old model has thunderbolt..)

I have a ExpressCard version of the GDC beast, which works through a port in the side. Instead of this janky garbage that the mPCIe port version is. 

 

My little 2570p is my little workhorse, and sometimes I want to game on it. I don't need insane performance from a system I'm going to use once every two weeks and I wanted to try it for giggles. 

 

Something like this, it's quite cool. 

 

 

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, Ramamataz said:

Again this is for people that just have a laptop with somewhat a modern CPU at least a second or third or fourth gen Intel CPU and honestly that a majority of Nvidia GPU's don't even require that much juice anymore still means you could run this shit with like a 250+ watt power supply.  I mean look at the GTX 1050, that thing doesn't even require power.  Then, of course, expresscards are also something, this is a majority for ThinkPad's and like the other guy said dell laptops.

 

I rather have a bloody Intel CPU and an eGPU than an AMD APU because of well better emulation and other stuff.  Again things are extremely cheap,  and second-hand goods are well good. Then this can also make said laptop be somewhat a desktop in an essence. In my case, I would be using this when I'm going around, for example, my father's house and wanna play PC games with the lads but I don't wanna literally lift and take apart my desktop.

every point you just gave for the dock, may as well be used as a point against the dock, i'm done debating here.

 

as for you rather having an intel cpu and an eGPU.. that's all you.

[SImoHayha]

Just now, manikyath said:

 

 

Understandable have a great day. 

[manikyath]

Just now, Droidbot said:

I have a ExpressCard version of the GDC beast, which works through a port in the side. Instead of this janky garbage that the mPCIe port version is. 

 

My little 2570p is my little workhorse, and sometimes I want to game on it. I don't need insane performance from a system I'm going to use once every two weeks and I wanted to try it for giggles. 

 

Something like this, it's quite cool. 

 

 

two things here:

1: out of curiousity, which GPU and how much is it bottlenecked by the slot's troughput

2: expresscard doesnt require a screwdriver, this is at least somewhat acceptable as a dock if it wasnt for expresscard being a long foregone era.

[Dabombinable]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

two things here:

1: out of curiousity, which GPU and how much is it bottlenecked by the slot's troughput

2: expresscard doesnt require a screwdriver, this is at least somewhat acceptable as a dock if it wasnt for expresscard being a long foregone era.

Expresscard is found on laptops which had Core 2 Duo and Quad, so you can still get good performance out of graphics cards of a similar age.

[Droidbot]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

two things here:

1: out of curiousity, which GPU and how much is it bottlenecked by the slot's troughput

2: expresscard doesnt require a screwdriver, this is at least somewhat acceptable as a dock if it wasnt for expresscard being a long foregone era.

GTX 950, and it is a little bit bottlenecked. With optimus the extra bandwidth is quite nice. I'd say it's around 75-85% of the normal card's performance. 

 

It still exposes pci-e x1 2.0, which isn't bad. This requires Sandy Bridge or above however

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, Dabombinable said:

Expresscard is found on laptops which had Core 2 Duo and Quad, so you can still get good performance out of graphics cards of a similar age.

mobile core2 was painfully slow tho.. and as i said, a long foregone era

 

i dont know anyone who had a core2 laptop with more than 4GB ram.. which.. good luck playing more than an indie game.