Video card in a D/Dock (the hard way) ... The nVidia Quadro FX350 in the M65 does not work very well with one of the two external monitors that I have. It can n ...

oPossum · 06-18-2008, 05:54 PM

The nVidia Quadro FX350 in the M65 does not work very well with one of the two external monitors that I have. It can not sync properly at it's full native resolution. PowerStrip can fix this, but the problem comes back after wake from sleep. There are also some minor problems with Vista. I have considered trying a PCI video card in the D/Dock, but was concerned that it would not perform well. The bandwidth of the PCI bus is much lower then PCI-e. Could the acceleration of a current model graphics chip compensate for this? The only way to know for sure was to try it.

The card I chose is the PowerColor HD 2400. It has an ATI HD2400Pro chip with a PCI to PCI-e bridge. This is a current model chip, so Vista and DX10 are supported. It has dual link DVI, so a 30" monitor could be used.

The large heat sink prevented it from fitting in the D/Dock, so some hacking was required...

D/Dock before modification. Power supply on the left, D/Bay on the right.

Power supply, D/Bay and PCI riser removed.

Power supply relocated to right side. Video card installed in PCI slot. The power supply will be held in place by two screw through the top sheild.

Heat sink of the video card protrudes in to former location of power supply.

Power cord connects to the left rear. The D/Bay area was covered with duct tape before reassembly to promote air flow form the other side.

The performance is mixed. Anything that can take advantage of the GPU's power works quite well. Aero effects work well. Dragging a window is flawless with aero on - turn it off and the limited PCI bandwidth causes jerky movement and tearing. Video play back with WMP or Media Center works well. Quicktime video is very bad. Scrolling is not as good as the FX350, but acceptable.

The problems with video sync are gone and no driver quirks have been noted so far.

MrEvil · 06-18-2008, 06:00 PM

Dang, that's one heck of a mod. I think far more than folks here could stomach undertaking. I'd love to see a shot of it all put backtogether.

HIndewarrie · 04-04-2009, 03:44 PM

wow, great topic
I wanted to try the same: using a HD 2400 PCI videocard in a d/dock with my Latitude D620.
At first I didn't realize that the heatsink would cause a problem, but this topic makes me feel comfortable I can overcome that.
My main purpose is to use the laptop also as a HTPC. I didn't buy the dock nor the videocard yet.
Did you ever try to play 1080p video with this config? I would love to know before spending whether this combo will work.

oPossum · 04-04-2009, 05:47 PM

I use a Silicon Dust HD Homerun to record OTA HD (replaced an ATI 650 USB that was not reliable). The FX350 in the M65 could play 1080, but it wasn't perfectly smooth. I hoped that the HD2400 would be better. Unfortunately it does not work well despite the claimed ability to accelerate HD playback. It is always very choppy at first (worse then the FX350), and will usually get a bit better after a few minutes. The PCI bus is a severe bandwidth restriction and can't keep up with HD.

My solution to HD playback was to get an XBOX 360 Arcade (Jasper) to use as a media extender. It works great with Vista Media Center. 1080i and 720p recordings play very smoothly. It makes more noise that I expected - the new Jasper is cooler, but still needs a lot of air flow.

HIndewarrie · 04-04-2009, 06:19 PM

So you are saying that it is a definite no go?

I think PCI bandwidth should be enough, but external PCI that needs to communicate with CPU to run 1080P maybe not?
Did you play a lot with the combo? Tried different drivers?
Was is always smooth after few minutes? Then it sounds like fixable to me... Of course a near smooth 1080p is not workable in the end and I'll probably build a cheap diskless front-end with AMD ATI mobo then.

Here people claim 1080p with even poorer configs and PCI:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Vdpau
BTW I do not run lunix nor mythtv and this is only NVIDIA, but this card is supposed to do better 1080p.

06-18-2008, 05:54 PM	#1
oPossum Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 27 Credits: -312	Video card in a D/Dock (the hard way) The nVidia Quadro FX350 in the M65 does not work very well with one of the two external monitors that I have. It can not sync properly at it's full native resolution. PowerStrip can fix this, but the problem comes back after wake from sleep. There are also some minor problems with Vista. I have considered trying a PCI video card in the D/Dock, but was concerned that it would not perform well. The bandwidth of the PCI bus is much lower then PCI-e. Could the acceleration of a current model graphics chip compensate for this? The only way to know for sure was to try it. The card I chose is the PowerColor HD 2400. It has an ATI HD2400Pro chip with a PCI to PCI-e bridge. This is a current model chip, so Vista and DX10 are supported. It has dual link DVI, so a 30" monitor could be used. The large heat sink prevented it from fitting in the D/Dock, so some hacking was required... D/Dock before modification. Power supply on the left, D/Bay on the right. Power supply, D/Bay and PCI riser removed. Power supply relocated to right side. Video card installed in PCI slot. The power supply will be held in place by two screw through the top sheild. Heat sink of the video card protrudes in to former location of power supply. Power cord connects to the left rear. The D/Bay area was covered with duct tape before reassembly to promote air flow form the other side. The performance is mixed. Anything that can take advantage of the GPU's power works quite well. Aero effects work well. Dragging a window is flawless with aero on - turn it off and the limited PCI bandwidth causes jerky movement and tearing. Video play back with WMP or Media Center works well. Quicktime video is very bad. Scrolling is not as good as the FX350, but acceptable. The problems with video sync are gone and no driver quirks have been noted so far. __________________ DellBook Pro Turbo Deluxe Special Edition with Cheese (AKA Precision M65)

06-18-2008, 06:00 PM	#2
MrEvil The Dr House of PC repair Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Amarillo TX Posts: 4,344 Credits: 499	Dang, that's one heck of a mod. I think far more than folks here could stomach undertaking. I'd love to see a shot of it all put backtogether. __________________ Notebook Forums' resident Dell/IBM/Sony field service technician. My Notebook: Dell Latitude D820 \| Intel Core Duo T2500 \| 2GB DDR2 \| 15" WSXGA screen \| nVidia Quadro 120m \| 250GB Hard Drive \| Samsung DVD-RW drive My Netbook: ASUS Eee(vil)PC 1000HE upgraded to 2GB of RAM running Windows 7 My Desktop: Intel Core 2 Quad QX9300 @ 3.5Ghz Liquid cooled \| 4GB Corsair Dominator DDR 1066 \| ATi Radeon 4870 \| Western Digital Velociraptor 300GB \| ASUS Maximus Formula motherboard \| Vista Ultimate x64

04-04-2009, 05:47 PM	#4
oPossum Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 27 Credits: -312	I use a Silicon Dust HD Homerun to record OTA HD (replaced an ATI 650 USB that was not reliable). The FX350 in the M65 could play 1080, but it wasn't perfectly smooth. I hoped that the HD2400 would be better. Unfortunately it does not work well despite the claimed ability to accelerate HD playback. It is always very choppy at first (worse then the FX350), and will usually get a bit better after a few minutes. The PCI bus is a severe bandwidth restriction and can't keep up with HD. My solution to HD playback was to get an XBOX 360 Arcade (Jasper) to use as a media extender. It works great with Vista Media Center. 1080i and 720p recordings play very smoothly. It makes more noise that I expected - the new Jasper is cooler, but still needs a lot of air flow. __________________ DellBook Pro Turbo Deluxe Special Edition with Cheese (AKA Precision M65)

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04-04-2009, 03:44 PM	#3
HIndewarrie Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2 Credits: 221	wow, great topic I wanted to try the same: using a HD 2400 PCI videocard in a d/dock with my Latitude D620. At first I didn't realize that the heatsink would cause a problem, but this topic makes me feel comfortable I can overcome that. My main purpose is to use the laptop also as a HTPC. I didn't buy the dock nor the videocard yet. Did you ever try to play 1080p video with this config? I would love to know before spending whether this combo will work.

04-04-2009, 06:19 PM	#5
HIndewarrie Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2 Credits: 221	So you are saying that it is a definite no go? I think PCI bandwidth should be enough, but external PCI that needs to communicate with CPU to run 1080P maybe not? Did you play a lot with the combo? Tried different drivers? Was is always smooth after few minutes? Then it sounds like fixable to me... Of course a near smooth 1080p is not workable in the end and I'll probably build a cheap diskless front-end with AMD ATI mobo then. Here people claim 1080p with even poorer configs and PCI: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Vdpau BTW I do not run lunix nor mythtv and this is only NVIDIA, but this card is supposed to do better 1080p.