HP Probook 4530s eGPU PE4L help needed

[dealstack]

I'm trying to use my PE4L on my 4530s with 10.11.1. I've learned some things and am trying to assemble a guide here for the process, but I haven't been able to successfully use the eGPU yet. There are lots of enthusiasts for OSX eGPUs with thunderbolt or expresscard to thunderbolt (w/sonnet adapter), but thunderbolt is not an option for me.

HP 4530s i3 HD3000
PE4L 2.1b w/ expresscard/34 adapter, molex to 4pin fan power, switches set SW1=1, SW2= 2-3.
Asus GTX 460, 2x6pin atx power
ATX PSU 380W
OSX 10.11.1 via Clover
SWEX power toggle

1) Download Nvidia Web Drivers for 10.11.1 (careful, it's build specific)
2) Disable SIP
3) At login screen, power on atx PSU and plug in expresscard PE4L. Make sure monitor is plugged into card and "on"
4) Fan turns on... graphics card and PE4L has power
5) Login and check system profiler, system preferences> displays
6) Set nvidia graphics utility back to OS X native drivers and repeat steps 1-5 (this will depend on your video card)

results:

Menu bar recognizes there is an expresscard plugged in. System profile says:
NVIDIA CHIP MODEL
PCIe LANE WIDTH x1

nothing shows up in system preferences > displays... only the HD3000 and my internal display

synchro3 at macrumors says "If you use the PE4L directly connected to an old MacBook Pro via ExpressCard-Slot you don't have to edit the KEXT's. Expresscard is PCI-Express. eGPU will work OOTB." This sounds good to me as the windows setup is quite a journey from what I have read. Although, nando's DIY setup 1.3 supposedly pairs well with PE4L if you want to do windows, but he mentioned having trouble with Clover.

as far as I have researched I should not have to change any board-id to enable eGPU screen output, but thats what all the cool thunderbolt eGPU kids are doing via an automated kext helper on git. https://github.com/goalque/automate-eGPU. In short, the automate script is only for thunderbolt eGPU macs.

There have been some tonymac members who have successfully implemented a PE4L or ViDock setup, but none recently or with the same configuration as myself.

http://www.tonymacx86.com/hp-probook/100094-vidock-similar-egpu-possibilities.html
http://www.tonymacx86.com/hp-probook/64102-egpu-4530s-anyone-got-working.html
http://www.tonymacx86.com/user-buil...ix-bxpi3-4010u-using-external-gpu-egpu-2.html
https://odd-one-out.serek.eu/external-graphics-card-egpu/

Also there are excellent articles on TechInferno about eGPUs and some pertaining to PE4L but nothing about pairing with a hackintosh, mostly windows and DIY setup1.3.

http://www.hwtools.net/Adapter/PE4L V2.1.html

 

[RehabMan]

Not a guide. Moved to laptop support.

 

[dealstack]

Not a guide. Moved to laptop support.

thanks, I realized shorty after I posted that it wasn't a guide... yet!

 

[dealstack]

synchro3 at macrumors says -
" 'NVIDIA CHIP MODEL' -> This is a symptom when the card has not enough power"
I can keep messing with the "perst# delay" switch (which has three positions), but nothing changed for me after adjusting these. I have ordered a power brick with a barrel plug that I will try in case my ATX PSU w/molex to 4pin fan and 2x6pin power is causing the problem. Some of the people having success with the PE4L are powering the card using a barrel plug with a laptop adapter and a low power card (<75W).

For those tonymac links above some of the members got this eGPU setup working under OSX 10.8 by modifying the distribution.dist file for nvidia web driver package. this, however, should not aid my setup because "As of the 10.10.5 driver there are no longer the checks in the distribution file for system profile and if the hardware is installed. It only checks for the OS X build number. -slim.jim"

For 10.11.1 there are two different nvidia web packages available for this build number so I assume that either package should work. I chose the second one.

If anyone thinks an ATI HD4850 1GB (AMD) might be a better card to test (rather than Nvidia cards) then I can try that one too, but I thought Nvidia would be easier.

 

[dealstack]

I bought and added a dupont 2pin connector and it helped better regulate my power (maybe the timings). synchro3 was right about it being a power issue! Now my gtx460 shows up in system profiler (booted w/nvidia web driver package) and so I installed cuda and now cuda z program recognizes all the specs and capabilities of the card. There is no mention of my external monitor in system preferences.

I plug in expresscard right after I choose my boot disc in clover. I have my external monitor already plugged into card.

update: external monitor works. now I just need to see if I can get any acceleration/GPGPU with or without the external monitor present. I'm using my setup for rendering not for gaming.

Any ideas for how to calibrate? I will start by using some benchmarking programs and see if I get a render bump with the external monitor and then see if I can adjust settings to get a render bump without the external monitor.

Update: I don't think I'm getting any acceleration from the gtx460 on my external monitor. In system preferences I am able to arrange my two displays. About this mac > displays shows both my displays (internal and external) but lists the HD3000 as the card driving them both. However in my system profiler report, I see my gtx460 as being in the PCIe lane and I get my external monitor listed below it. I can adjust arrangement of monitor two and even put them in mirror mode.

So far I have not noticed any performance difference from just having a second display hooked up to my HDMI out. How might I adjust to get some acceleration on my external monitor? Just drag the active window onto the monitor? I think I need to get the card listed correctly in about the mac which many people are able to have report properly with the thunderbolt eGPU setup.

 

[dealstack]

I moved the white bar in display arrangement to make the external my main monitor and got some promising results. I guess it's more normal than I thought to not have the external monitor show as being powered by the eGPU. So far I have used unigine heaven basic settings to show a huge jump in FPS...

HD3000 w/internal LCD= avg FPS 3.7
gtx460 eGPU on external monitor = avg FPS 32
start benchmark .. drag unigine benchmark window from external monitor to LCD laptop... avg FPS 17
mirror mode = avg FPS 3.6 does not matter which monitor was set as desktop monitor.