ViDock Laptop Questions

[droid200]

ok, i have a laptop, and i found a great solution for my slow gpu rendering times (which would be the vidock). now my question is: are there any video cards that are powerful and can go back into my laptops internal display so i dont have to use an external monitor? i want this to be as portable as i can get it. iv heard of something called optimus technology in some nvidia cards that could do that but i am not sure :/ im confused, can someone please help me?

[Geek-9pm]

To my knowledge, most laptops have no provision for removing the GPU. The only pratical possibility is a few laptops that use a mini PCI card for video. And those a rare a new GPU pricy and so-so performance.

But if you are motivated, here is an article that was published a while back. It was done with the premiss that nothing is impossible.
Upgrading Your Laptop's Graphics Card
Like they say, it is not a walk in the park.
You may be looking for this:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5846&review=how+to+upgrade+laptop+graphics+notebook

[Transfusion]

What is the make and model of your laptop? If you have an ExpressCard slot you can use the ViDock.

Optimus has nothing to do with the problem at hand: http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus_technology.html

NVIDIAŽ Optimus™ technology intelligently optimizes your notebook PC, providing the outstanding graphics performance you need, when you need it, all the while extending battery life for longer enjoyment.

Only if your internal GPU supports it.

[droid200]

i have a Sony Vaio PCG 3C2L, but i dont have enough for a vidock (plus another  desktop gpu)

[Transfusion]

Your laptop has an ExpressCard slot which can be used with this. http://www.villageinstruments.com/tiki-index.php?page=ViDock
It also has a mini-PCIe slot which can be used-you will have to sacrifice your WLAN card though.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-egpu-experiences.html

[droid200]

But i have read that thread you linked to, and i think this is exactly what i need! i already have a spare 135W power supply laying around here somewhere and all i need is the PE4H-EC2C adapter, a PCI-E x16 GPU, and a monitor, relatively cheap! (compared to the vidock) 

[Transfusion]

Yeah I would go with the ExpressCard solution as it wouldn't involve voiding your warranty and seems relatively easy


DISCLAIMER: I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY EQUIPMENT DAMAGE OR BODILY HARM THAT MAY OCCUR.

[droid200]

woah, wait a sec, that laptop has the rig on it but it has no external monitor, why not? i mean, it needs one.

[Transfusion]

The desktop video card outputs to it's HDMI/VGA/DVI connector. The notebook's LCD display uses a LVDS input on your systemboard with no external jack to connect to it. Meaning then they cannot be physically connected together unless adapt a US$30 ebay kits allowing external input to the internal LCD as discussed, which only quite an advanced user would ever attempt.

Another more elegant solution would use a HDMI input expresscard as described at Play PS3/X360 on laptop screen using new HDMI Input Express Card. . Though current costs of $170 for the item makes it unattractive AND you'd need to then do a mPCIe eGPU implementation.

There are however these less drastic ways of getting your accelerated graphics card to render to the internal LCD, all of which will have lower performance than when running using an external LCD:
NVIDIA Optimus driver provides a transparent internal LCD cloning mode for systems with a 4500MHD/HD/HD3000 iGPU primary video when using a NVIDIA GTS4xx/GTX4xx card.

Use Lucidlogix virtu drivers to provide transparent output using the internal LCD if you have a Sandy Bridge cpu. (timohour)

Ultramon/Chung Gun method can clone from the desktop eGPU's window to the internal LCD for windowed games/apps.

USB 3.0 framegrabbers have sufficient bandwidth to capture the image from the desktop eGPU and pipe it back to your notebook's display.
It is not feasible to use USB 2.0 framegrabbers. The desktop video card outputs HDMI/S-Video. To try to clone the output from the desktop video card via a USB frame grabber can be done, but consider say 1280x800x32-bit = 4MB per image. If gaming at 30FPS that's 120MB/s bandwidth required. USB 2.0 is 480Mbps (60MB/s in *best case* scenario.. more like 30MB/s in real-life).

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-egpu-experiences.html #4 Can I make this work using just my notebook's LCD display?

[droid200]

ok, Thanks