2015 15" Dell Latitude E5570 (R7 M370) [6th,4C,H] + GTX 1060 @ 32Gbps-M2 (ADT-Link R43SG) + Win10 [tilchev]  

 

System specs

2015 15.6" Dell Latitude E5570, i5 6440HQ, Intel HD 530, AMD R7 M370, Win 10 64-bit

 

eGPU hardware

32Gbps-M2 ADT-Link R43SG, Gainward GTX 1060 6GB Phoenix "GS", powered by a standard/stock/generic Delux ATX 300W PSU, gainward carboard gpu box "enclosure" for now

 

Hardware pictures 

It's nice how my gpu's box had a hole for the cardboard 'lock' that the M.2 cable went trough perfectly:

 

The E5570 can't fit a regular sized 2.5'' drive and an M.2 drive at the same time so I had to sell my Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SATA 3 and replace it with an Kingston UV500 480GB mSATA SSD + mSATA to SATA adapter.

 

Because my laptop came with a SATA SSD, it didn't have the required M.2 mounting bracket. So I ordered one (part 0X3YR8) along with the R43SG, but it got lost and I got tired of waiting (the ADT Link board had arrived), so I built my own mounting bracket from an old plastic fitness card (finally got some use out of that! xD ) and a sawed in half motherboard standoff. I used clockwork saws to do all the cutting. The picture with the proper mounting bracket isn't from my laptop. Note that I put the standoff on the 60mm mark of a M.2 board, although the stock bracket is for the 80mm mark. I thought it would hold better this way.

 

I got a spare second hand bottom cover (part 00VJ58) to cut a M.2 shaped whole in, so the cable can go trough and I can unplug it without removing the bottom plate. You can cut the original one of course but I wanted to preserve it.

 

The laptop stand I used is a HAMA-51062 15.6'' 360. It is cheap (8EUR at a local PC store), rises the laptop quite a bit and keeps the sides free for the M.2 cable. I removed the 360 part because I did't want it to spin - it is on 1 screw. It is also pretty compact when folded, so it's easy to carry around if I want to take my whole setup with me.

 

Installation steps

1. Do all the hardware steps as described in the 'Hardware pictures' section.

2. Make sure to put SW-2 on the R43SG to 2. This will give the correct delay for the laptop to power on the eGPU along with it.

2.5. UPDATE: Initially I had powered the R43SG via 24pin + 4pin CPU connectors and then used its GPU power to 6/8 pin cable to power my Gainward GTX 1060 6GB Phoenix "GS", so it looked something like this (example pictures are from ADT link site):

I was using this method because my PSU doesn't have a 6pin connector. This turned out to cause random power issues (the eGPU suddenly shutting off in some games - Watch Dogs 1, even at low). So now I tried using a 2xMOLEX to 6pin adapter cable instead, luckily my PSU at least has 2xMOLEX:

This solved my power issues. Of course it would be best to just use a PSU with a dedicated 6pin connector, so I am considering that as a future upgrade.

3. Boot into windows, check on device manager showing the GTX 1060 card is detected. Install the latest driver from NVidia and restart the laptop.

4. Device manager will show "error 43" as I'm using a 10XX series card. Run the  nvidia-error43-fixer  (big thanks to  nando - you got one coffee from me ;) , then reboot again and the error should be gone.

5. Work complete !

I am really glad I didn't have to do any BIOS changes or DDU my R7 M370 dGPU. AMD or NVidia? Why not both!

 

Benchmarks

I haven't clocked my CPU, so I presume the very similar results in internal and external display are in fact due to a CPU bottleneck. But this is good enough for real world usage so at least for now I don't plan to clock anything. Might also have to do with my external monitor - it is a nothing special LG-W2353V connected to the eGPU via HDMI?

External	Internal

 

The games I'm playing are:

EA SW Battlefront 2 - ultra, max AA, 60FPS, DX11.

WWZ - ultra, 60FPS, both DX and Vulkan.

Watch Dogs 1 - high/ultra, 40-60FPS, but I've been having random crashes. Look at the UPDATE in Installation steps 2.5 for a solution.

Thinking of getting SW Fallen Order - gonna report how it goes.

 

Comments

I bought this business oriented laptop 3+ years ago to mainly work on it and didn't think I needed a gaming laptop because I was rarely playing games and even when I did they were old so it would do the job. However, during all the COVID19 stuff I started playing more and newer games, so it started to be a pain. I was already thinking of selling it and buying a gaming laptop when I got the idea to see if I can connect an eGPU to it somehow. That is how I came to this forum and more precisely to Jkeychen Liew's build - many thanks to him! Now I am playing all the games I want on high/ultra settings with 60fps, where before they barely even ran at low.

One might argue that it would still have been better to sell the laptop and get a desktop for cheaper, not to mention the price of the eGPU itself (more on that later). However I still occasionally have to carry a laptop around for work and maintaining 2 systems seems like too much of a hustle. Why not get a gamer laptop then? Well, where is the fun in that! xD For me this was as much about the journey if not even more, than about the destination.

Lastly I want to go over how much everything cost me, because I really wanted to keep this on a budget in order to justify it better and not get buyers remorse:

1. mSATA SSD 100EUR - selling old SATA SSD 50EUR = 50EUR

2. Spare bottom cover for Dell E5570 25EUR

3. R43SG 50EUR

4. Second hand 1060 6GB 115EUR

That is a total of 240EUR, which I think is a pretty good deal. Also, 1 and 2 aren't really part of the actual eGPU, but I included them never the less.

 

Future upgrade ideas:

1. I'm thinking of modding a Mini-ITX/Micto-ATX or some other small form factor case for the eGPU later on. They are kinda pricey so I would have to get a good deal - wouldn't want to spend half of the cost of the whole eGPU on that. I might also keep it like it is, cuz I like looking at the bare GPU (that's why a protective backplate was a must for me) and the box still is kinda portable. I also might make something entirely custom. Will update if I end up doing anything.

2. I've already ordered a ~50EUR UPS to address some concerns I've described in this thread. I probably don't need to be worried but researching, waiting for delivery and assembling this took me 2 months and I don't want anything to get damaged.

UPDATE: got the UPS and I'm pretty happy with it.

3. Better PSU - wattage is fine, but I want to get one with a dedicated 6/8pin gpu connector. See Installation steps 2.5 for details.

UPDATE for 1. and 3. - https://egpu.io/forums/custom-egpu-chassis/cheap-diy-transparent-case-from-generic-storage-box-no-3d-printing-or-power-tools/