PCI/PCI-E Extenders - Tech Savy Only
Community Forums/General Help/PCI/PCI-E Extenders - Tech Savy Only
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| I would be concerned about interference picked up by the unshielded wires, possibly leading to video noise. |
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| Well, I don't know if I'm "tech savvy" enough to answer. But I'm going to do it anyway. Generally, any data transmission through copper cables degrades the greater the distance you go. So I'd imagine that your card will give you plenty of BSODs. And the longer the cable, the more prone it will be to interference and the worse the performance will get. Can you get longer cables? I don't know. But you could chain a few of them together I guess. Personally, putting a graphics card anywhere other than directly onto the motherboard is a crazy notion that I wouldn't go anywhere near. |
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| Okay so if I ground the cables or wrap them in some aluminum foil that should cut away any interference. The guy who made the crazy setup above didn't report any BSOD error or anything like that. Long as I have stable solid power it should be fine. |
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| That picture wasn't there when I posted. Christ alive... that is a death trap. All those exposed circuits with 12V running through them, are going to hurt anybody that touches it. Just goes to prove how stupid some people are (and why the Darwin Awards exist). |
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| What do you need the spare slots for? Maybe there's an easier alternative to moving your graphics card. |
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| That picture wasn't there when I posted. Same here. |
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| I don't see the big deal about that setup above. I haven't had the side panel on my computer cases for almost 7 years so the example above doesn't scare me. This is why I would take the time to build a proper enclosure. I have access to a friends 3d printer and plenty of spare computers to cannibalize for parts. So I can make this happen just need to know exactly the best way to do it. Other than buying a new case and new motherboard? Sadly that's not an option at this time for me. |
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| I don't see the big deal about that setup above. I haven't had the side panel on my computer cases for almost 7 years so the example above doesn't scare me. If you had kids, who are generally oblivious to danger, you'd understand. Computers have side panels for a reason. |
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| Or pets, brother's cat stuck its face in my brothers case once when he was upgrading it, not plugged in or even connected to the mains so no fear of dead cat, no static shorts either, just a quick whats all this then? look from the cat. If it's just you in the house you can make as much of a fire/electrocution risk as you like as you know its there and the risks, anyone else and they might not notice it at first when spilling a soda. I've seen pc's built almost like Star trek chess tables, they look ok and all, but by crikey some people don't think and touch it as if it was interactive art. |
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| I may be barking up the wrong tree, but I'm getting the impression you're doing this just for the hell of it, rather than a lack of slots?! :D |
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| Well..... For me it has a practical purpose but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't do it also just for the hell of it. A cheap external graphics card solution would be great for people who have laptops with no ability to upgrade. Not only that I like the idea of removing all that extra heat away from my processor. I do have cats but I never let them into my office. I learned long ago that cats make every attempt to destroy technology when confronted. The reason I keep my window off my case is at one time I was so keen on upgrading stuff every month it became a chore. The airflow is a lot better with it off and the 120mm fan on the back of my case won't allot the window to close properly because of a slight manufacturing flaw in my chassis. This allows a 120mm to fit like it should but its 2mm off from where its supposed to be which stops the window from fitting correctly. |
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| Um, why would you even bother with a chassis fan if you don't have the side panels on? That's like closing the garden gate to stop the birds getting in. |
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Because I don't want the heat coming my way and next to my 22inch CRT monitor? It also saves some heat from going up into the Power supply. I drew a crude diagram. If you saw my desk it would make sense. I don't need an intake because of the window missing. Also its better to move heat away fast as possible than using a pusher fan to draw air in in a attempt to cool a cpu. All of this keeps a dual core Pent D running at 45 degrees and under severe load 57 which is pretty darn good. |
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| You think the heat is all going to get sucked out of a 120mm fan, when there's a 450x450mm hole right next to it where the side panel should be? Your chassis fan is meant to push hot air out the back, and pull cool air in from the vents - usually in the front. Really, I'd get the side panel back on it. Aside from the dangers of having open electronics (and spinning fans), having no side panels completely kills the airflow that the case was designed around. Unless you're happy to continue with this "Frankenstein's monster" of a PC. Up to you, like. |
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| I wouldn't mind the noise reduction but I control the fan speeds manually with speed fan if they get on my nerve. Trust me I tried every possible configuration with this case and with the side panel on it upped the temps 8 degrees. It made no difference trying to attach 80mm fans on the side or anywhere else I had extra room. This is what has worked for years so Frankenstein will keep living just as he is for now. :) |
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| Any chance of a pic of your Rig, Nostalgic? It sounds intriguing. |
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| FWIW: All motherboard manuals I've come across strongly recommend that you install your videocard in the slot closest to the CPU. Extenders won't be helping you there. |
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| Here are some interesting things I found through google: http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/XG_Station/#overview COMPUTEX 2007: MSI Luxium laptop external graphics cards. http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/10/msis-luxium-external-graphics-solution-spotted/ If I can come up with a way to overcome the tendecy of the signal to degrade over a long distance this should be pretty easy for a DIY project. When this project is done I'll happily show off my creation. :) The reason I was asking about extenders is encase I don't want to remove my graphics card and instead regain use of the blocked slots. If you guys don't see me post for awhile then I likely electrocuted myself. Until that happens I will be looking over this post for ideas: http://forum.notebookreview.com/e-gpu-external-graphics-discussion/397667-lets-figure-out-how-make-diy-egpu-previously-diy-vidock.html |
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| Im interested in this, i love to tinker. That pcie board the GPU is attached to.. I cant find one retail. Any links? What do you call that.. I tried "external PCIE board" |
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That part is the PE4H-EC2C DIY ViDock. I'm looking for it now but keep in mind my project is aiming to make this work with desktop and at full speed. |
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| Dang, cheapest one I see is about 78 USD. Trying to find the details on one of them though.. I cant see where it says if it is PCIE 3 or not. |
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| well after doing some of my own digging, i think ill pass on this tinker fest. What I learned is that although the GPU connected externally has its own memory , the os,cpu or whatever still has to address it. So if you are running 32bit os, and have more than 2 gig already you will hit the mem addressing wall. Also there are some laptops it just wont work on they say. I would be interested in seeing your completed project though if you get it done. |
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| well after doing some of my own digging, i think ill pass on this tinker fest. What I learned is that although the GPU connected externally has its own memory , the os,cpu or whatever still has to address it. Yup, which is why on a 32-bit OS you normally only see between 2.75GB and 3.25GB RAM on a machine with 4GB installed, the rest of the memory addresses are claimed to map the other hardware in the machine. The more video memory on the card, the less addressable RAM remains. |
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| Also the information that passes through a PCI-E slot was not designed to travel through a cable. I read once that certain HP workstations could see all 4gigs on a 32bit OS but they never said what model. For me XP with the /3gb switch enabled and PAE it improved mental ray rendering in Maya almost 10x faster than it was previously. Normally XP assigns 2 gigs to the OS and whatever is left to programs. The /3gb switch sets the windows kernal to use only 1 gig. Before I did this Maya would crash if I worked on a large scene or tried to render an image with a lot of lighting. If your motherboard supports memory hole remapping you can make use of this missing memory. For example on PCs with 4GB RAM running 32bit Win7 there's a memory 'hole' at least between 3.2GB and 4GB, usually referred to as 'OS Invisible physical memory', that's unused by Windows. You will need a software ramdisk solution like http://www.superspeed.com/servers/ramdisk.php Now back on track with external graphics card. My friend Neil has a degree in aircraft engineering, he also has built small robots and security systems and knows a lot about electronics in general. I talked to him yesterday and he seemed enthused about the idea. We will put our heads together and see what we can come up with. After checking ebay I found some people selling DYI kits around $75 to $100 to build something similar but with no enclosure. If possible I'd like to perhaps make a complete kit to sell for around $100 bucks with a enclosure for the graphics card. |
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