Scratch-built eGPU enclosure

[Ross Siggers]

A few months ago, I had to sell my gaming rig, and ended up with only my trusty Thinkpad x230t for the foreseeable future. Whilst a great daily driver, it was hardly a gamer, even when it was new 6(!) years ago. I already run it using a docking station, outputting to a pair of monitors.

 I came across the whole eGPU scene whilst selling the desktop, and read up on the different methods for newer and older hardware, etc. Despite the underwhelming review in the LTT video, I ended up buying an EXP GDC v8.0, and hatched a plan to run an old HD6950 I had, via the expresscard slot; I wasn't keen on hard-wiring something into the mini PCIe because I want to retain portability. Here's a smattering of photos so far.

 

 

 

^^^The laptop, and the card I planned to run with it. Hardly earth shattering performance, but I don't have many 'spare' GPU's

 

 

 

^^^The EXP GDC running the card, setup was surprisingly easy, I'd heard horror stories. All it requires is a reboot each time the card is connected/disconnected

 

 

 

^^^The kit didn't come with the necessary cables to work with a power brick+adapters. So for now, an old desktop was a donor for it's PSU

 

 

 

 

[Ross Siggers]

Lots of people run these with mATX power supplies. Alternatively, you can get external 12v power bricks that the EXP GDC takes via the single pin power input.

 

Neither of these were what I wanted really. The former is too bulky(mostly because of depth of the enclosure), and the latter has a fairly low limit on the power it can supply. The dock also supports the Dell D2-A power brick, which is what I ended up going with. It's rated up to 220W which is more than I'll need, and the form factor is pretty good; it's essentially the same size and shape as a GPU. The idea is to have it as a single unit like more expensive, thunderbolt enclosures. So the power brick sits behind the GPU, inside the case.

 

Space is of a premium, so I plan to take the plastic housing off of the adapter. Not to mention this makes it easy to hard-mount, using stand-offs. I initially tried a horizontal layout, with the brick in the bottom, and the GPU floating above it, laying flat. But with the awkward port arrangement on the adapter, this proved tricky to get working. Clearance for the cables was terrible, and the whole idea was to have them exiting out the back where the power lead was, not out the side like most cheap EXP GDC boxes you see. As it turns out the adapter doesn't play ball with HDMI extensions...also I was stupid for trying to run full power through that PCIe extender. So the new plan will be VERTICAL mounting.

 

 

 

^^^The adapter itself. Ports left to right; HDMI to the laptop, usb for some reason, 12v power, the connector for  the DELL power brick, and 6-pin PCIe

 

 

 

^^^The Dell DA-2 that'll be powering the whole thing. Pretty hefty, but doesn't get too warm under full load, and definitely enough grunt.

 

 

 

^^^An initial trial layout of the enclosure. As you can see, routing the cables was terrible. extentsions didn't work, cables were crushed, etc. I knew from day 1 that the card was going to have to be on a riser of some kind. I decided to go with a vertical layout instead.

[Ross Siggers]

So the revised layout of the enclosure has kind of stuck with me till now; The power brick hangs in the top corner, like an old school mid-tower. The EXP GDC adapter sits underneath it against the back wall, giving plenty of clearance in front, for the cables attached to it of it. And the card itself sits towards the front wall, using a flexible riser card. I ended up getting one that actually has a board, with screw holes on the GPU end. Perfect, because I can use extra long stand-offs to hold the riser in place, supporting the GPU weight! That wasn't planned but should work out great when it comes to assembly.

 

 

^^^Test fitting components. The plug is only holding the GPU up, it won't be there in the final build. The dimensions were tweaked to give a little leeway mostly in length, should I want to fit a larger card in the future.

 

 

 

^^^A rough sketch of what the layout will be. 

 

 

[Ross Siggers]

Now here's something I wasn't looking forward to doing; Shortening the cable on the power brick, whilst keeping the connector. With the ends being sealed up, I wasn't sure how easy it would be to cut, then simply re-pin a new connector on the end. So for now, lets call it proof of concept, I spliced it myself. Don't freak out too much, they're all soldered underneath the electrical tape. Once I finalise everything, I'll probably get another power brick and do it much tidier, they're very cheap to obtain on eBay. 

 

 

^^^Snip! 

 

 

 

^^^ Freshly 'butchered', the power chord is now the perfect length to fit inside the box. Which is to the exact scale of the dimensions on the sketch.

 

 

 

^^^ Testing using the newly butchered cable. Works perfectly. But looks shitty  

 

[Kered124]

Seems like a cool project. Any plans to build a case around the GPU or other changes?

[Fasauceome]

So is it up and running?

[Ross Siggers]

1 hour ago, Kered124 said:

Seems like a cool project. Any plans to build a case around the GPU or other changes?

I'm getting there my good man, I'm still uploading the various stages I've gotten through so far, the blank posts above you will be filled   I definitely shouldn't have left it this late on to make a thread about it, too much has happened. I've summarised it up best I can 

It's running perfectly right now! Although my signature lies; That card is still being fixed, it's currently just running with the HD6950 in th pictures. 

[Ross Siggers]

Didn't reserve enough posts, so here's the most recent turn of events. I got a GTX680 suuuuuper cheap as spares/repair. Going to fix it up and put it in, should still be within the power limit of the enclosure. May start to bottleneck the setup on the CPU side of things, but we'll see, main advantage is the larger memory, the 2Gb HD6950 was starting to choke a little bit on newer games. Also, I got my shielded riser, tested and working alongside the shortened power lead. Starting to come together....

BUT WAIT. She's a bit...tight...time to adjust the dimensions I guess... Length is okay, height is okay, depth...if I push it back against the power brick as much as I can, it'd fit. But with the fans right up against the wall. The plan was an acrylic window, which is still possible, if it's perforated...we'll see.

 

 

 

^^^ You can see the pcb on the riser I mentioned in a previous post; when the enclosure is standing up, using tall stand-offs, this will help support the GPU's weight. For final fitting, I was planning on using a heatgun to shape the riser slightly better. 

 

 

 

^^^ She's a big bitch!

 

[Ross Siggers]

For those wondering, I actually created a seperate thread a few weeks back regarding the card, it's a PALIT jetstream GTX680

It was damaged, missing a few of the capacitors on the back. I contacted Palit and amazingly they gave me the specs of the capacitors from their original diagrams. The parts are only a few pennies online, and a local electronics shop has said they'll do the repair for me, I can't solder that well

Should it be revived, the card will have cost me around £40(52usd, 68cad, 45eur). Which I think is a pretty good deal. I'm doing this whole build on the cheap, but this was a potential upgrade I couldn't say no to

[Ross Siggers]

Minor update, still waiting on loads of little bits of hardware to come in like standoffs etc. I received some today, the super tiny screws and standoffs to mount the EXP GDC to the base of the enclosure. Awkwardly they're M2, which is different to literally all other standoffs...and looking at the pcb I'm pretty sure they could have gone a size up...anyway.

As the board is mounted below the power brick, that's actually the limiting factor when it comes to height; If the board takes up less vertical space, the case doesn't have to be so tall. Alternatively I use the extra headroom to let the riser cable sit more comfortably. These standoffs help with
A. rigidly mounting the board
B. make the pcb sit less than half the height it was with the original plastic casing. 

 

 

^ Once the threads are screwed in, the board will be mounted as low as physically possible  

 

 

 

^ Stupid M2's. Plenty of space for an M3...

[Rosinbole]

*subbed*

[Ross Siggers]

This build is currently...kinda on hold? Life has been getting in the way, and I've not had time to properly start constructing the case.  Not to mention the GTX680 I was going to use is dead, RIP. So I'm going to need to source another GPU as well. But I shall persevere, and hopefully bring a much better update soon.

I'm looking at another build that also required a GPU so I've definitely got motivation to source a new card...