# [SOLVED] External Graphics Card(or eGPU) on a samsung Laptop



## sleesong (May 28, 2012)

Hello, I've recently got a new samsung laptop with the model 300E4A/300E5A/300E7A/3430EA/3530EA (This is apparently the whole model number), and tried to run GTAIV on it. 
None of my textures loaded, and in the options it told me it was over the resource usage, currently using 210mb out of 59mb. 
At first, I thought it was a graphics card recognition problem. 
But I later found out that I only had 1 grahpics card, being the Intel(R) HD Graphics Family, which only came with 64MB Dedicated Graphics Memory. 
There was an additional 1632MB Shared System Memory, but GTAIV apparently doesn't count this at all. 
So I searched how to install a graphics card, and found it's nearly impossible in most laptops. 
I decided to check if I could get an external graphics card, from which I found a few products such as ViDock(extremely expensive though), and PE4L.
I've also come across some terms that I have no idea about, and I was wondering if someone could answer just a few questions out of many, if not able to answer all of them! =).

1) What is a PCI-E?
2) Apparently my laptop has 5 PCI-E slots, but is this the same thing as an "ExpressCard"?
3)Is there any way to get GTA to recognise my shared system memory?
4)What are the differences between PCI-E x1, x4, x8, x16? Does it matter?(I have 5 x1 slots, according to a detection program).
5)Considering these PCI-E things are weird looking attatchment holes like the USB port, and considering it's inside my laptop.. Would I have to take it apart, and whatever i'll stick into it, it'll stick out of my laptop perpenticularly?
6)Some products say a PSU would be needed, but it doesn't specify exactly how. Would that mean buying another cord and sticking it in, or just overpowering my laptop a bit?
7)(I speculate) I don't think I have an ExpressCard slot. According to some websites & google, an ExpressCard slot apparently has a USB bus AND a PCI-E bus. Thus, using a USB to ExpressCard adapter would not work, as it wouldn't connect to the PCI-E. But I know that I have a PCI-E, so is there any way to get this to work?
8) What is a PE4L? I heard it's only manufactured by a Taiwanese company at the moment, and it's needed in all external GPUs.
9) And no, i'm trying to do all this without buying another laptop. Don't ask why x)


Sources and Information of help:

Village Tronic Support
Second question and answer about USB-Express card adaptors

DIY eGPU experiences
General information on external GPUs apparently.
300E4A - SUPPORT | SAMSUNG
Service Manual download for my laptop.



SPECS:
Processor: Intel Pentium CPU B950 @ 2.10Ghz
RAM: 4.00GB
System: 64-bit Windows 7, SP1
Hard Disk: 444GB
Display Adapter: Intel(r) HD Graphics Family
Total Graphics Memory: 1696MB
Dedicated Graphics Memory: 64MB
Dedicated System Memory: 0MB
Shared System Memory: 1632MB
Model: Samsung 300E4A/300E5A/300E7A/3430EA/3530EA
BIOS: Phoenix SecureCore-Tiano(tm) NB Version 2.1 03QA



Thanks!


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: External Graphics Card(or eGPU) on a samsung Laptop*

As you have come to realize, laptops are designed for convenience and do not make good gamers primarily because of their poor graphics and their inability to properly dissipate the extra heat produced when the components are stressed.
It is possible to use an external GPU but they are expensive. I've never used ine so I can't comment on their abilities.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: External Graphics Card(or eGPU) on a samsung Laptop*

Well I can sum up alot of your questions to a simple answer.

With only an intel pentium and a standard intel graphics chip , you are not going to be playing any gtaIV on it.

You're mixing up laptop and desktop terms. About 90% of laptops do not have gpu's that can be upgraded or changed , they are laptops , made for portable computers tasks , they aren't game consoles.

That being said , as for an external option , even with the beast external gpu in the world , your standard pentium will just lag like crazy on gtaIV. The game really only runs smooth on upper end dual or quads.

Also , it would literally be cheaper to buy a game console and the game then it would be to convert that laptop to run it.


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## sleesong (May 28, 2012)

*Re: External Graphics Card(or eGPU) on a samsung Laptop*



emosun said:


> Well I can sum up alot of your questions to a simple answer.
> 
> With only an intel pentium and a standard intel graphics chip , you are not going to be playing any gtaIV on it.
> 
> ...


What terms are you talking about? Can you actually tell me about those?
And I understand most laptops don't have GPUs that can be upgraded or changed, but I also understand that there are alot of people who have external GPUs working just fine. 
And exactly what I was saying. I am NOT buying any other computer, console, desktop, nothing. I am merely attempting to upgrade this computer.

I don't want any alternative solutions, but just the one here, may it be a complicated one. Just think of it as a hypothetical situation.


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## ampageg2 (May 26, 2012)

*Re: External Graphics Card(or eGPU) on a samsung Laptop*



sleesong said:


> What terms are you talking about? Can you actually tell me about those?
> And I understand most laptops don't have GPUs that can be upgraded or changed, but I also understand that there are alot of people who have external GPUs working just fine.
> And exactly what I was saying. I am NOT buying any other computer, console, desktop, nothing. I am merely attempting to upgrade this computer.
> 
> I don't want any alternative solutions, but just the one here, may it be a complicated one. Just think of it as a hypothetical situation.


The price you would pay to upgrade your laptop to the point of being able to play GTA IV would be just as much as a gaming desktop. I have a moderate-power laptop with 6GB of RAM and 3GB of VRAM but even then, I cannot play GTA IV.


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## sleesong (May 28, 2012)

*Re: External Graphics Card(or eGPU) on a samsung Laptop*

And yet again no one is ansewring my question directly.

Could someone actually EXPLAIN the components, technical processes, and terms, rather than just write a post saying it's expensive? I understood that before I started this thread, I just want to know the details of it.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: External Graphics Card(or eGPU) on a samsung Laptop*

Laptops are designed for convenience and, as with most OEM units, are not upgrade friendly. 
About the only upgrade that can be done to a laptop is adding RAM.


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## sleesong (May 28, 2012)

*Re: External Graphics Card(or eGPU) on a samsung Laptop*

I understand, could you go into the details though? That's really what I want to know. I'm pretty sure I saw tons of videos and examples of people going through this stuff and plugging in an external GPU, I just want to know then, why it wouldn't work with my laptop as well?

I also found alot of similar threads on this forums regarding a similar external GPU problem/question. It seems you just reccomend them to get a better laptop. But as a forum that specialises in technical support, could you just explain the details? Out of pure curiosity and frustration. xD Thank you.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: External Graphics Card(or eGPU) on a samsung Laptop*



sleesong said:


> 1) What is a PCI-E?


It's a bus type used to connect devices to a motherboard chipset.

This is a question you could have googled and really isn't suitable for a forum.

PCI Express - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




sleesong said:


> 2) Apparently my laptop has 5 PCI-E slots, but is this the same thing as an "ExpressCard"?


no. Once again a question for wiki

ExpressCard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An express card slot is mostly used for network adapters.



sleesong said:


> 3)Is there any way to get GTA to recognise my shared system memory?


Gta is detecting that your entire gpu in the system doesn't have the hardware requirements for the game. Your actual gpu is a standard intel display adapter , made for basic tasks. Your could have all the video ram in the world and it still wouldn't help the actual gpu.



sleesong said:


> 4)What are the differences between PCI-E x1, x4, x8, x16? Does it matter?(I have 5 x1 slots, according to a detection program).


Devices on a motherboard can use certian bus types without actually having the slot. A common one would be integrated gpu's that use agp or pci-e as their bus , even though the actual slot doesn't exist on the board.

Meaning those 5 slots probably exist in circuitry and not reality.



sleesong said:


> 5)Considering these PCI-E things are weird looking attatchment holes like the USB port, and considering it's inside my laptop.. Would I have to take it apart, and whatever i'll stick into it, it'll stick out of my laptop perpenticularly?


If your laptop actually had such a port , then yea you would probably loose all portability.

The only port available is the pcmcia slot and go figure , everything that goes in there sticks out a bit.



sleesong said:


> 6)Some products say a PSU would be needed, but it doesn't specify exactly how. Would that mean buying another cord and sticking it in, or just overpowering my laptop a bit?


This is a pc term that doesn't apply to laptops.

Laptops do not use a power supply , but rather directly convert dc voltage from a battery or power brick on the motherboard. They don't use power supplies.



sleesong said:


> 7)(I speculate) I don't think I have an ExpressCard slot. According to some websites & google, an ExpressCard slot apparently has a USB bus AND a PCI-E bus. Thus, using a USB to ExpressCard adapter would not work, as it wouldn't connect to the PCI-E. But I know that I have a PCI-E, so is there any way to get this to work?


As has been explained above , aside from the pcmcia slot , your not going to find any pci-e port inside or outside of that machine.



sleesong said:


> 8) What is a PE4L? I heard it's only manufactured by a Taiwanese company at the moment, and it's needed in all external GPUs.


I's an adapater that basically extends the 1x speed pci-e port outside of the laptop.

A 1x pci-e port is 10 times slower then what was available in desktops , ten years ago. To put a videocard on this might actually be even slower then the intel the machine came with.

Not to mention , you need and external monitor , and say bye bye to portability.



sleesong said:


> 9) And no, i'm trying to do all this without buying another laptop. Don't ask why x)


I won';t ask why , but buying another laptop would only postpone the problem of game compatibility.

Every laptop since the dawn of the computer age has been significantly slower then it's desktop counterparts.


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## emosun (Oct 4, 2006)

*Re: External Graphics Card(or eGPU) on a samsung Laptop*

Also , even if you did achieve an external gpu setup with your laptop , you are forgetting about the cpu.

I've installed gta 4 on multiple machine , and I KNOW it requires a good cpu to run it , such as an upper end dual core , or any decent quad.

Your standard pentium , isn't going to cut it.


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## sleesong (May 28, 2012)

*Re: External Graphics Card(or eGPU) on a samsung Laptop*

Definitely helped alot! Thanks for taking the time to explain all of those, I think I get it now.. No eGPU for me. xD Not on this low-end laptop anyways. 
Well cheers emosun, thanks for your patience! =P


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