Advanced Dock specs (and possibly small project)

[Marin85]

Hi,

I stumbled yesterday across this amazing thread Lets figure out how to make a DIY ViDock at notebookreview. It immediately made me think about the internals of the Advanced Dock. Now, from RonS Mini review: Advanced Dock with T60p I understand that modding the Advanced Dock (for instance in order to make a bigger graphics card fit in) is pretty much impossible without destroying the dock. From the same thread I also understand that the PCIe slot in the Advanced Dock is only x1. So, here are my two questions:

(Q1) What is the type of this PCIe limitation: i.e. is it some kind of x1-to-x16 adapter, meaning you plug in 16x graphics card, it is then limited to x1 by this adapter, which is then connected to real 16x interface that goes right to the dock connector for the laptop, or is it straight-forward x1 that delivers the x1 output right to the dock connector for the laptop?

(Q2) Assuming the second case: on hardware level, is the x1 interface in the advanced dock soldered to the internals? If not, there is the theoretical possibility to replace it by a full-sized PCe x16 interface. But even if it is replaceable, the question still remains whether the laptop/the dock would be able to take/transmit the full x16.

It would be also very helpful if someone could share ot point to some high-res images of the Advanced Dock from different sides, or even of its internals

Thanks in advance,

Marin

[bhtooefr]

I believe it's an x16 connector with only the x1 pins connected, and I believe only x1 is available on the dock connector.

[Marin85]

Thank you for your response!

It turns out that someone has already done this, so here is the solution -> Guide to getting a Radeon 5770 working with an Advanced Dock.

The only downside is that, besides the docking station, one also needs an external monitor as the new graphics card would not provide output to the laptop screen.

Cheers,

Marin

[bhtooefr]

Right, unfortunately, there's no way to do that unless the laptop manufacturer provides a way for the laptop's display to be driven over DVI, or using a card designed by the laptop manufacturer to feed back into an LVDS input (I believe there's some Nvidia design, might be on an MSI laptop, that can do that.)

[jbren]

It seems like the dock link is only X1 Pci-e (that is what Everest shows and what various threads on this board concluded in the past).

On my T60 (8743-CTO), the dock's slot shows up as Pci-e #4...with a Radeon 4650 (connected to an external monitor).
Pci-e #1 shows as LAN, #2 as wireless and #3 empty. Maybe #3 is the ExpressCard slot?

The option to use the "X1E" tweak mentioned on the DIY Vidock thread on that other forum (to speed up an odd-numbered Pci-e port on an Intel chipset) would not seem to be an option for the dock's Pci-e...unless there were a way to reassign Pci-e port #s.

If pci-e #3 happens to be the ExpressCard port I suppose it would be possible to use one of the DIY-vidock parts (from HWTools) and get a X1 link faster than the one in the dock...
...Or maybe even X2 if you could tie the dock's pci-e into it. The DIY Vidock threads (there are two) have some posts playing with that idea but it requires some soldering.

By the way, there are a bunch of posts/threads about extending the dock's Pci-e port and powering a card externally on this forum. Look for RonS posts on the topic.

[Marin85]

Thank you for your input! Yes, I am already aware of RonS amazing setups, his threads were the starting point for me As for the project itself, it seems I have to terminate it prematurely as I don´t have enough space for all that stuff on my desk... At least it is good to know what are the options with the Advanced Dock and that someone has already done this type of setup.

Cheers,

Marin

[AMATX]

The question I'd ask about a DYI ViDock2 is why bother. The empty ViDock2 box is ~$200. Add in a favorite video card, and in under 10 minutes, you're up and running. Yeah, if I had unlimited time and my time was worth $.50/hour, maybe this'd be worth looking at.

I can see where this might be interesting to electronics hobbyists, but other than that, wayyy too much time for wayyy too little $ savings.

Btw, one of the things I like best about RonS's video demo is using an extender + external power supply to power up a video card that's either too big for the Advanced Dock or which requires more power than the dock can supply. However, that's a different issue than DYI ViDock2.

[jbren]

Btw, one of the things I like best about RonS's video demo is using an extender + external power supply to power up a video card that's either too big for the Advanced Dock or which requires more power than the dock can supply. However, that's a different issue than DYI ViDock2.

I gather from reading the cited threads (especially the one linked below) that this is precisely a target for these DIY products. They seem to offer similar (or better) functionality to the $200 product without the enclosure and under $100. Both probably do fine with gfx cards that use under 75W since both are providing some external power.

The hobbyist aspect--again, from what I gather--is related to trying to use more powerful/power-hungry cards, getting more than a 1X Pci-e link and/or using any free mPci-e slot available besides the ExpressCard slot.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming- ... ost5324240


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"El tiempo es un gran maní" (quoted from Les Luthiers, Argentinian comedy group)

[crashnburn]

Interesting I'd to hear more when you do get underway with your Desk space. I recommend Ikea Galant L-shape desks.

[jtreble]

The question I'd ask about a DYI ViDock2 is why bother. The empty ViDock2 box is ~$200. Add in a favorite video card, and in under 10 minutes, you're up and running. Yeah, if I had unlimited time and my time was worth $.50/hour, maybe this'd be worth looking at.

I can see where this might be interesting to electronics hobbyists, but other than that, wayyy too much time for wayyy too little $ savings.

+1.

[jbren]

Some of the work on the DIY project (here) helps explain the limitations of the Advanced Dock's X1 connection...