Introduction
I'd to begin by saying thank you to nando4 for his work on nvidia-error43-fixer, without him or his work, this guide would not have been possible.
Ten months ago, I published my M.2 eGPU build guide, in which I demonstrated that a Vega 56 was enough to run demanding games at 1440p ultra-wide - or at least Warhammer 2. While that still holds today, consumer tastes ( including mine) have since shifted away from high resolution monitors. With the growing popularity of demanding VR games like Fallout 4 VR, the surge in $99 Virtual Reality Headsets, and the race between manufacturers to release higher resolution HMDs (VR Headsets); yesterday's flagships are becoming ill-equipped to deal with the growing demand for visual fidelity.
Up until now, if I had wanted an upgrade from my Vega 56, I essentially had two choices. I could choose to build a desktop, defeating the purpose of owning an eGPU in the first place, or I could purchase a $250 Thunderbolt 3 dock, reducing available bandwidth and possibly performance. Unfortunately neither of those two options were cheap or attractive, however, thanks to nando4's nvidia-error43-fixer, I can now run a GTX 1080 Ti through 25cm ADT-Link R43SG as I originally intended.
Hardware
- 2015 15" Clevo P750DM-G
- i7 6700k ( My laptop has a desktop CPU and desktop chipset (Z170) )
- 2 x 8GB of Ram running at 2133mhz on 13-13-13-35 timings.
- 25cm ADT-Link R43SG
- GTX 980m overclocked to 1190mhz boost
- AMD Vega 56
- GTX 1080 Ti Founder's edition with an aftermarket EVGA Hybrid cooler
- EVGA GTX 1070 Ti Hybrid
- Zotac GTX 1070 Mini
- HP Envy 34" 3440 x 1440 external monitor.
- 1080 Ti Bandwidth and System Specs ; 1070 Ti Bandwidth ; 1070 Bandwidth
ADT-Link-R43SG
Since this is the first build on egpu.io with the ADT-Link-R43SG, here are a collection of pictures for those who want a. Basically it functions like any other m.2 egpu dock and very similarly to an ADT-Link R43SL. The noticeable changes are that it uses a 4 pin CPU cable and 24 pin ATX cable for power, and that it has switches ( pictured in previously linked album) for what I believe are compatibility purposes. Note in the third picture there are ports/holes the for 5v, 12v, 3v and ground. In my limited testing, the 12v port ran at 12.31v, the 3v ran at 3.32v and the 5v port ran at 5.04v.
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Setup
1) I connected my 25cm ADT-Link R43SG to my laptop's HDD bay m.2 port, connected the 4 pin CPU cable and 24 pin ATX cable to my ADT-Link-R43SG, physically inserted my 1080 Ti in my m.2 dock and installed all necessary power cables before turning on the laptop.
2) After one or two restarts, my 1080 Ti was detected (As Microsoft Basic Display Adapter) and I installed the 411.63 drivers from Nvidia's website ( you may choose to just click update drivers as shown in the screenshot, though you may end up with a seriously outdated driver) and then rebooted.
3) I opened device manager and confirmed that I had error 43, I then proceeded to download nvidia-error43-fixer and I ran the included .bat file as administrator, when asked if I wanted to patch, I typed Y for all options culminating in this screen and then I rebooted
4) I noticed the VRM fan on my 1080 Ti was spinning erratically (4.5k RPM) and so I disabled the GTX 980m in device manager and rebooted
After which I was done, the GTX 1080 Ti behaved as expected. I performed the same installation on a Zotac 1070 Min and EVGA 1070 Ti Hybrid and found the installation process to be exactly the same.
Benchmarks
For the synthetic benchmarks, I've picked settings that are as similar to the ones found in itsage's RTX 2080 build guide. I've done this with the hope that an apples to oranges comparison could be made, and specifically that a bandwidth and performance difference could be inferred from the scores. Unfortunately I can't say I believe this is the case. As for the gaming benchmarks, I've decided to display two games
Unigine Heaven
GTX 980m ; GTX 1070 ; GTX 1070 Ti ; Vega 56 ; GTX 1080 Ti
Unigine Valley
GTX 980m ; GTX 1070 ; GTX 1070 Ti ; Vega 56 ; GTX 1080 Ti
Unigine Superposition
GTX 980m ; GTX 1070 ; GTX 1070 Ti ; Vega 56 ; GTX 1080 Ti
Warhammer 2 @ 1920 x 1080 ; Settings
GTX 980m ; GTX 1070 ; GTX 1070 Ti ; Vega 56 ; GTX 1080 Ti
Warhammer 2 @ 3440x1440 ; Settings
GTX 980m ; GTX 1070 ; GTX 1070 Ti ; Vega 56 ; GTX 1080 Ti
Rise of the Tomb Raider @ 1920 x 1080 ; Display options @ very high preset(ignore the fact it says 3440 x 1440)
GTX 980m ; GTX 1070 ; GTX 1070 Ti ; Vega 56 ; GTX 1080 Ti
Rise of the Tomb Raider @ 3440 x 1440 ; Display options @ very high preset
GTX 980m ; GTX 1070 ; GTX 1070 Ti ; Vega 56 ; GTX 1080 Ti
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
Can you tell me please if is it required only for high end GPU or for every GPU connected on this adapter?
I was thinking that 24 pin ATX cable from power supply to ADT-Link R43SG was enough for every GPU,
unfortunately I wasn't able to find nothing on net about my question, so I decided to ask you.
Thanks in advance.
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
My 1080 Ti seems to run just fine when the ADT-Link R43SG is only powered by an ATX motherboard cable. I didn't notice any difference in performance or functionality after removing the CPU cable.
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
Thanks Robert for your reply really appreciated.
I'm new into this world... so I would to be sure about correct wiring with ADT-Link R43SG Adapter.
I'm looking for one of this 2 GPUs:
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FE (TDP 250W);
- ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1080 Ti OC (TDP 275W).
Regarding PSU I get 2 choices (in order for GPUs):
- EVGA Supernova 550W G3 (Modular PSU);
- EVGA Supernova 650W G3 (Modular PSU).
Finally, like you said in your reply:
ADT-Link R43SG slots:
- "24 PIN ATX PWR INPUT" wired to PSU (necessary);
- "CPU 4P" wired to PSU or without (optional, no difference);
- "DELL 8P" no needed in my case;
- "For GPU Power" I don't know if it's better to power GPU (6+8P/8+8P) from this slot or directly from modular PSU...
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
There is important question about it, can you use egpu in your laptop screen with nvidia cards?
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
Rise of the Tomb Raider @ 3440 x 1440 ; Display options @ very high preset
GTX 980m ; GTX 1070 ; GTX 1070 Ti ; Vega 56 ; GTX 1080 Ti
It's crazy howpowerful the GTX 1080 Ti is, especially at high resolution. For almost 2 years now, AMD is lagging for years. Will they ever catch up?