V15 VN7-592G egpu

wtfs · November 2016

Hi guys

Just wondering if anyone has TB3 devices attached to their laptops (I do not have any TB3 devices to test) and can see if egpu support is possible using the following steps:

Right-click on the Thunderbolt icon in your taskbar. When a Thunderbolt device is connected, this icon will appear automatically. If not, select the Start button and sroll through the program list to locate and open the Thunderbolt™ Software first.
In the context menu, select Settings and then go to Details....
Look for "External GPUs supported" to see if the AKiTiO Node will work on your system (Yes) or not (No).

https://www.akitio.com/information-center/node-gpu-compatibility

Help would be greatly appreciated

Andromedus · November 2016

I'm surprised there are no replies to this. Acer would be doing itself a favor if it would simply run this test on its Thunderbolt 3 laptops and post the results - even if only for marketting purposes. The whole Thunderbolt 3 eGPU compatability question is far too opaque and mysterious. It's time to get with the program and understand that this tech is coming to the mainstream, like it or not.

When my V17 Black arrives in the mail you can bet I'll be running this test on its Thunderbolt 3 port. If it doesn't pass I'm going to be one angry shopper.

wtfs · November 2016

Cheers Andromedus, I was kind of disappointed to see no V15 user testing their laptop with the razer core or akitio thunder 3 in the egpu community.

One key reason i bought this laptop in the first place was to run egpu in the first place with the TB3 support thinking it was excellently priced and futureproofed with the tb3 support.

Btw when you do receive your Vnitro and feel the touchpad being erratic try this fix:

http://community.acer.com/t5/V-and-VN-Series-Laptops/FIX-Acer-VN7-592G-Erratic-touchpad-fix/m-p/463325

Andromedus · November 2016

Thank you for the heads up on the trackpad. If it's an issue I will refer to your guide.

I opted for the V17 Black for the same reason. The future proofing is (in theory) undeniable. It sports a nice 17" 4k screen, a quality processor, etc. at a great price point ($1200). Even now, 6 months after release I couldn't find a better deal, and since my laptop finally died earlier this weekend I opted to pull the trigger.

A 4k screen is not likely to play well with most games unless scaled down. This makes an eGPU particularly attractive with this model, and the AKiTiO Node is set to release (hopefully) by the end of the year in the USA for $300. I find that pricepoint acceptable, while I find the Razor Core and BizonBox each to be too high. In theory I can run graphic-intensive processes scaled down to 1080p when mobile, and scaled up to 4k when at my workstation.

I will be posting the results of the test here. If the V17 doesn't pass the AKiTiO test then I will very likely return it to the seller, barring some announcement from an Acer technician that they will patch in compatibility in the near future.

wtfs · November 2016

Just something to consider, even if the tb3 solutions do not arrive or arent supported by the VN7, the NVMe NGFF M.2 PCIe solution might do the trick.

In fact based on 2 threads over at techinferno, the PE4C V4.1 with x4 Gen 3.0 (8GBps) = 32Gbps ~ 4000MBps of link speed is actually faster than tb3 and the benchmarks prove it with this guy who compared a tb3 InXtron HDK adaptor which is used in the akitio node/thunder 3 vs the Bplus PE4C NGFF solution:

https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/10579-17-clevo-p870dm-g-gtx108032gbps-ngffm2-pe4c-v41-win10-bloodhawk/#comment-150551

As far as i know, our 592G/792G M.2 M key slot is PCIe (NVMe) ready but limited to 1.5GBps (not sure if the bios fix has addressed this)

http://community.acer.com/t5/V-and-VN-Series-Laptops/Why-is-the-M2-PCIE-slot-speed-capped-to-1-5GBs-VN7-592G-71ZL/m-p/394275#M6242

The PE4C is around 180usd (amazon japan actually has it for much cheaper if you can get someone to buy it for you), throw in a full atx power supply and its still 50-70usd cheaper than the tb3 solutions which are very vague on their release dates so this might actually be a very viable option, of course if you're willing to sacrifice the m.2 ssd slot.

http://www.bplustech.com/Adapter/PE4C%20V4.1.html

https://www.amazon.co.jp/PE4C-M4060A-V4-1-x16%E3%82%B9%E3%83%AD%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%81%A7PCIe%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%81%8C%E5%8B%95%E4%BD%9C%E3%80%81%E4%B8%BB%E3%81%AB%E3%83%93%E3%83%87%E3%82%AA%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%81%AB%E6%9C%80%E9%81%A9%E3%80%82%E3%82%B1%E3%83%BC%E3%83%96%E3%83%AB%E9%95%B760cm%E3%80%81PCIe/dp/B01I26ZNY6

Andromedus · November 2016

Looks interesting. Did I just spot the PE4C on newegg for $85 or is this something different?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA8RU3967582&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC-_-pla-_-Add-On+Cards-_-9SIA8RU3967582&gclid=CK208_mfrNACFUokgQodZ5ILyA&gclsrc=aw.ds

I'm usually not a trailblazer but more of a very early adopter, so the level of tech saviness needed to set this up may be outside my comfort level vs the relatively simple TB3. I've built towers from scratch but that's pretty simple work compared to a laptop mod, and these V17 models aren't known to be easy to work with. If the TB3 works for an eGPU I would be ok with a marginal performance reduction for the simplicity of the connection type. I also have a feeling that the bandwidth-induced performance reduction will be less pronounced pushing a 4k screen than it would be with 1080p. I recall seeing evidence to this affect some months ago when I first began looking into this but I haven't been able to find it since.

With that said, if the TB3 is a bust I might consider trying it. I wonder what my options would be? I'm unsure of how many potential slots there are to connect to - is it just the one? I've seen the WiFI connection mentioned, as well as the SSD. The V17 Black has both a SSD and HDD - are they connected differently?

Andromedus · November 2016

Ok so after watching about 12 different videos of the PCIe solution it doesn't look so difficult - depending on the way the internal guts of the laptop are actually laid out. That said, there seems to be a great deal of difficulty with people getting the eGPU to boost the laptop's native monitor. If this is indeed not possible then it would be a deal breaker for me. Assuming this issue can be overcome it is something I would consider if the laptop's guts even make it possible (a big if based on pics I've seen of the V17's internals). I'm still curious as to how many PCIe slots it houses. I know generally what they look like but if there are any nuances I might mistake it for something else.

At the end of the day the elephant in the room is the question: why aren't there laptops already equipped with an external PCIex16 port? Why haven't they been available for years? I would gladly give up my optical drive or one of two hard drive slots or any number of things to have an external PCIex16 port. Slap a door on it or a removable cover for aesthetics and that's all that's needed to solve these issues. If they want to go above and beyond that they can even mod the PSU to offer the power output that modern GPUs require. A laptop with this basic mod would sell.

I've heard that older laptops had external PCIe slots (albeit not x16); even this would make for some incredibly easy eGPU modding. I wonder if there are any modern laptops that still sport them?

To me their conspicuous absence looks like planned obsolescence in action...

wtfs · November 2016

The PE4C that we need is V4.1, those on new egg are V3.0 which are for mPCIe, the VN7 may or may not have it for the wifi card but either way it has less bandwidth so the V4.1 uses the NGFF x4 gen 3.0 speeds which should be faster.

The HDD is connected via traditional SATA, the SSD is an M.2 2280 M-Key that uses the SATA interface of the M.2 slot but that same M.2 slot is PCIe NVMe compatible as well so we know that the PCIe interface works.

You are right about the running the egpu via PCIe slot back to the internal monitor, and it will use the same bandwith for transmission between the southbridge and the GPU hence it slow your eGPU performance as well. An external monitor is usually the best option

Andromedus · November 2016

My laptop showed up.

After updating every driver and windows update I could find (including all Firmware/BIOS updates) I followed the instructions that AKiTiO shows. My result:

Thunderbolt 3.png

Clearly this is nothing like what AKiTiO shows. I don't get any software details other then an application version, which appears to be an earlier version than the AKiTiO site shows (16.x).

So now I'm at a loss as to what to do next. Do I need to find more up-to-date software? Will it work with my Acer?

Acer Technicians, would you mind weighing in?