Razer Blade eGPU, Bios Mod, PCIe 3.0, Lid Mod, Power Button Mod

Hi Everyone,

I just finished modding my Razer Blade 14 QHD+ Multitouch GTX 870M



So what will this thread contain?

- eGPU mod with a GTX 780 Ti
- Bios Modding / all Options enabled
- PCI 3.0 x16 Mod
- Power Button on the side Mod / Lid Mod ( the Razer wont boot with a closed Lid) /Repasting CPU / GPU

All right lets begin

(This will work with the Razer Blade 15 as well i suppose)


The first thing i want to share is the BIOS MOD.




BIOS MOD


What you will need:

- AFUWINGUI
- AMIBCP
- Optional one of my modded Bios


After trying some ways to backup the BIOS, I finally succeded with a program called AFUWINGUI

Just Download

http://www.ami.com/download-license...IOS_and_Aptio_AMI_Firmware_Update_Utility.zip

You will find the AFUWINGUI in this directory:


\AMIBIOS_and_Aptio_AMI_Firmware_Update_Utility\AMIBIOS_and_Aptio_AMI_Firmware_Update_Utility\Aptio\afuwin\64

Unpack it it and its ready to go.

It looks like this when you start it:



Just hit the SAVE Button and it will be dumped



To modify the Bios you will need AMIBCP

https://www.sendspace.com/file/owfsdf

Just start it and open the file you dumped. It looks like this now:




On the Left side you can choose the directories and on the right side you can enable them.

Just change the values you want to see in your BIOS to USER in the ACCESS/USE Section

Dont change things like FAILSAVE or OPTIMAL. These are Lifesavers. Trust me.


Save it (DO NOT OVERWRITE YOUR BIOS DUMP)

Then just go back to AFUWINGUI press OPEN and then FLASH.

The first time i did this i prayed and everything went well.


I have made 2 modded BIOS Files:

This is my original Bios:

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=73218273329004568988

EGPU Modded BIOS ( in this bios i just enabled the things i want to change for EGPU Settings and some other stuff)

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=66128885758044761070

FULL ENABLED BIOS ( this is a little bit messy beacause of all the features enabled)

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=08524545073568834427


I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FAILURE YOU MAKE

If you want to be sure, just mod your bios your self. I just showed how you can do it.

If you flash the EGPU enabled BIOS it looks like this:







so thats it with the BIOS mod. Very simple

IF YOUR RAZER BLADE WONT BOOT AFTER CHANGING SOME VALUES IN THE BIOS:

UNPLUG THE BATTERY
UNPLUG THE BIOS BATTERY. ITS ON THE LEFT SIDE NEAR THE LEFT SPEAKER WITH TWO WIRES
LET THEM UNPLUGGED
PRESS POWER BUTTON FOR SOME SECONDS
PLUG IN AC POWER SUPPLY
PRESS POWER BUTTON

then just plug in all the things you unplugged again (Please be wise and Power off/ unplug Power Supply before you plug everything into everywhere)

if it wont help try it one more time. it helped me alot.
If you changed the FAILSAVE values, this wont help you anymore. Buy a new BIOS or desolder it and Flash it with a Flasher.




Now lets get to....





EGPU MOD with a GTX 780 Ti


What you will need:

- EXP GDC Beast V6 with a mini PCIE cable
- Graphic Card
- 400 W Power Supply
- Optional a mini pcie to mini pcie extender
- modded Bios




For the eGPU mod i am using:

- EXP GDC Beast V6 with a mini PCIE cable. (lightly modded for gtx780ti)




- 400 W Power Supply



- GTX 780ti Gigabyte



- Optional a mini pcie to mini pcie extender ( it came today )

/ this can be used to get the mini pcie connecntion out of your blade. So you dont need to open the case everytime you want to plug in the eGPU



So how does it work?

First:

This is very important. I always got error 43 with this controller. After two weeks of dispair i realizes that the GTX780ti needs 2x 8 pin Power cables. But the EXP GDC just had 1x 8 pin and 1x 6 Pin.

So i modded the Cable to have 2x 8 PIN OUTPUTS.

Like this:





Reboot into the modded Bios. you will find the Graphic options under Chipset/System Agent (SA) Configuration/Graphics Configuration:



THE PRIMARY DISPLAY MUST BE SET TO IGFX ELSE YOU WILL GET BOOTLOOPS

(this option is set to SG from Razer/default)

You can try the other settings. for me it ended with reseting the bios many times.

Power Off the Blade and open the back:




Remove the WIFI Card and Plug in the MINI PCIE Cable of the Beast ( or some other eGPU controller)



A HDMI SOURCE MUST BE PLUGGED IN!!! And of course the Power cables for the GTX780ti
(these are not yet plugged in in my picture)





When you boot into windows now, you will be able to install the latest Nvidia drivers. If it gives you errors and reboots, try to install it over the Device Manager.

if you have done it right all 3 Gpus will be recognized and GPU-Z will give you this:








I DID NOT GET OPTIMUS TO WORK WITH THE INTERNAL LCD. I think it can be done through right bios settings or setup 1.x

I get more than double of the frame rates with the GTX780ti,

with the 3D Benchmark Furmark :

- GTX870m gets around 40 Frames/s
- GTX780ti gets around 130 Frames/s
Yes 130 Frames/s





So thats it with the EGPU MOD.


Lets keep it going.





POWER BUTTON MOD on the right side of the Blade


What you will need:

- Power Button
- some Wires ( i took them from an old USB Cable)
- beginner Soldering skills
- Cooling Paste
- Screwdrivers
- optional a scalpel or some other sharp knife






Open up the Blade and fully disamble it. the following pics will guide you:
( i made the pics after soldering the Power Button)







Just dismantle everything











its easier to diamble the LCD this way





If you want to open the LCD. Just push the black cover panel from right to the left and it will get loose








This is the Motherboard with the Power Button.

I used an USB Cable to get very thin wires. let them be long enough. You can cut them later.
Just solder it to the points i did:








This is the Motherboard. The Problem is that the Razer Blade wont boot up when the lid is closed. A Button on the side wont function like this. I learned it the hard way .

At this stage i hadnt hacked the Bios. i needed to disable the Lid closed Sensor
(i still dont know were to enable it in the bios).

My solution was to find the IC Magneto Sensitive sensor and cut one of its legs. This way i can resolder it if necesary.

Another way is to disamble the lcd and get rid of the magnet in it. ( was too risky)




Lets zoom in....



One of these i assumed must be the Sensor. It was really not easy to cut the right IC . After a long research and some Datasheets i learned which Leg to cut.


Lets zoom in a little bit more....





THIS is the Sensor. I tried to desolder it, but it is sooooo small it was like hell. It just looks like its big...I gave up. Got me a scalpel and cutted one leg. Under that leg i taped it. Now it can get no contact to the Motherboard. Reassembled it and it worked!!!

Now reassable it and make a proper REPASTE

For the Button i used something like this. Its form an old monitor. Find something small else it wont fit.



soldered one of the buttons to the cable and choosen a way/track that would be good for the cable:





ZOOOOM....




I placed it into the security Lock hole. Perfect for a Button, cant push it on accident:




JUST USE SOME HOTGLUE TO FIX IT ON PLACE OR SOME PAPER, OR SOMETHING THAT HOLDS IT IN PLACE

Here is a video of the Power Button Mod in action:





I played for hours with a closed lid and it did not get too hot or rebooted or crashed.




The last one is:



PCIE 3.0 x 16 mod



Razers Pcie works with PCIE2.0 x16. But somehow it can work with 3.0 .

Its very simple. Go into the Bios under Chipset/System Agent (SA) Configuration/NB PCIE Configuration
you just change the values into GEN3





Thats it.

Hope you liked it. It was Hell of a ride. But its finished now.

If it helped you and you liked it. You can donate me. It doesnt matter if it is 1 cent or 1oo dollar.

Paypal: [email protected]


Thank you,


Now for the real fun:

I love to Mod things and now my Razer Blade GTX870m is fully modded. i now need another thing to mod.
I also would mod Razer Blades for other people if they want to.

So i sell my Razer Blade if someone is interested. Its in near mind condition. This is what you can get:

- Fully modded razer Blade GTX870m
- 512 GB Crucial CT512M550SSD4
- 256 GB Original Razer Blade M.2 SSD ( not plugged in because there is no second M.2 Slot)
- EXP GDC Beast V6 eGPU controller modded for newest GPUS (2x 8 PIN Power supply)
- Original AC Power Supply ( normal usage)
- 400W Power Supply for the eGPU
- mini pcie to mini pcie extender ( so you dont need to open the back of the razer blade to plug in the eGPU)
- Xbox One Wireless Controller - Play & Charge Kit

Just PM me or send me an email: [email protected]



I hope you liked my mods.

 

This is very interesting.

 

Hope you guys will like it, like i do

 

Subbed.

 

I'm curious about the eGPU mod with a GTX 780 Ti mod

 

Curious if this enables the RAM to be OC'd at all.

 

it enables it. RAM and CPU i think. But i havent searched for the RAM entries

 

Crazy cool, following this one for sure.

 

Definitely interested in this. There's only one mini-PCI-E slot in the Blade correct? I take it you're removing the wifi/bluetooth card?

 

YES you need to remove the wifi card. but is no big deal because you can use a Wifi dongle for gaming.

 

Ah ok that's what I figured, just wanted to confirm. Ya there's definitely other ways to connect wifi connectivity. I have a USB dock with ethernet so I'll probably use that if I decide to go this route.

 

How exactly did you get the both the M550 SSD and the original M.2 into the 2014 blade? Or is it a 2.5" with an Apricorn USB 3.0 cable?

I think a mod to use a PCIe SSD instead of the WiFi adapter might be interesting if you could fit one of the 80mm PCIe SSD's in there. Especially one of these new speedsters.. http://www.thessdreview.com/our-reviews/kingston-hyperx-predator-m-2-pcie-ssd-review-480gb/

 

Is there any reason to use PCIE 3.0 instead of 2.0? Is there any bandwidth restriction on 2.0 for our cards?

 

This is very serious bios mod, me likey

 

This blows my mind !!! Great work

By the way, I always thought the Blade only takes M.2 sata SSD. But based on what you are saying, it can actually take PCIe SSD? Did you just change the M.2 slot into PCIe with a bios change?

 

Hello everyone. The Blade has just one M.2 Slot. i just have one 512 GB ssd in it. The Pcie slot can be used to plug in a second ssd. The ssd i tried was just too long. It must be the size of the Wifi Modul or it wont fit. i searched for ssds in that dimensions. But I could not find any bigger than 64 GB that would fit.

I dont know if the PCIE 3.0 x16 mod gives the system a boost. I just wanted to share that it is possible.

 

Nice Write up, however this might be my OCDC kicking in but for each mod could you create a small listing of the parts necessary. This way if someone wants to do one (Like Me ) I can have a mini shopping list before attempting the mod.

Thanks!

 

I agree with you, I will add it to the thread

 

Just did some tests between PCIE 2 vs 3 enabled. 3DMark had negligible differences (3 runs on Firestrike Ultra for each, all tests were within about 5 points of each other). Furmark was exactly the same, so it seems to have no or little impact on the GTX 870m. Dragon Age: Inquisition had the same framerates as well.

 

OOOh so you are the first one that modded the Bios? How did it go? smooth?

 

Would it be possible to modify the bios to allow a lower minimum brightness, as Anandtech suggested?

 

Very smooth. Backed up my original bios, then flashed your "Full enabled" BIOS. Pretty easy actually (though there is always a risk when doing stuff like that).

 

I searched a little in the bios but couldnt find anything.

Only found an option to set the lcd to 24bit instead of 18bit/Default

 

co´###

cool. i am pleased that it works, nice,
thanks for trying.

Did you notice. when you are in the bios on the main menue, you can go all the way down to a point with no text on it. If you press enter you will be in a list of all the options the bios contains.

you can get there easily by pressing up once in the main manue and then enter.

 

Damn, any idea what might control the minimum brightness setting if its not the BIOS? Using the laptop in complete darkness is like looking into the sun...

 

click on the battery icon in the bottom right, click on brightness level or some thing like that. maybe that works

 

Turn off Windows adaptive display?

 

Huh. Well that's interesting. Nice tip, thanks! That is one massive list though.

 

Yeah thats right. To put every one of these to USER in the ACCESS section was a little bit of work. Everytime you change that value, it will jump back to the first one...

 

LOL, I just meant that the 90 nit minimum setting is still too bright for my liking.

 

LOL. Ok i understand. I found an option in the LCD section to disable the Backlight maybe thats something for you

 

Man this is a really amazing work!
I did a similar egpu mod on my 14 inch 2013 blade with a pe4c v2.1 pcie x16 adapter and an Asus Strix gtx 970 and it doesn't work like i expected... Maybe with this bios mod i can enable some things i (maybe the 2013 blade also supports pcie 3 gen)
Again this is a great job, thanks for share it

 

thank you for the kind words. I am happy people like it. If it works just tell me and i will add iit to the Thread

 

Awesome work, I have a Thinkpad sitting here getting no use and would love to do this. Already got BIOS modded from previous adventures to take advantage of the two mini pcie ports in it.

 

Would have been nice if you change the title to reflect this is for the 2014 model and nothing else... -_-

 

Wow that is what this community needed, MODDERS! Thanks man.
Do you know if with the fully unlocked BIOS one could disable the iGPU and force the system to see and use only the GTX870m?
Cheers

 

yes this

Maybe it is possible, but the intel gpu and the gtx870m use the sam lanes i think. i dont know for sure, but i think i did it one time and it worked. do not remeber how, or if it is really a wise choice.

thank you for the appreciation.

 

Hi bro can you show the GPU-Z bus interface?? is that current use is 2.0/3.0 x16 or x1???

 

I would also love to figure out a way to lower the minimum brightness on the Blade. I just picked up a 2015 Blade and the minimum brightness is absolutely ridiculous for dark room viewing, it is indeed like looking into the Sun.

I've installed f.lux - and that does work to lower the brightness but its not nearly as pleasing to look at (it basically just applies a dark filter over the image). Really this is ridiculous, it's been mentioned by multiple review sites as an issue - how hard could it be to adjust this??

Also something I've noticed is that there doesn't appear to be any bios updates released for ANY of the blade laptops. Does Razer not release bios updates for their products? (I'm a first time Razer owner).

 

Didn't realize you updated the first post. This is pretty bad ass man. Congratulations on such a nice mod.

 

Thanks for the bios man , I have been trying to dualboot osx on this beast for a while (mainly if I'm not going to be playing games at the moment), but the preallocate value was set too low by default so the max res was like 720p, and no higher.

Because of your mod, I am now able to bump it up to 128mb, and hopefully I can run Yosemite, in all its hd goodness

 

This is really awesome. I was wondering if you saw vt-d or iommu ? Can i enable this in the bios as well?

I want to run Linux but then virtualize using KVM and run windows in the VM to get near native performance.

 

Found it..nvm...thanks for the tut.

 

Just got a Blade 2016 and im trying to get OS X working on it....
one of the issue seems to be the QHD+ resolution and I was wondering if you knew a way to change the DVMT-prealloc set to 96MB or 128MB in BIOS do i need to create a modded bios can i change it another way ?
i have no experience in BIOS modding

Thanks

 

i just know that you can change it in the bios. i modded the razer blade 2016 bios as well. just search in the forum or google it.

 

I'm curious, what is the benefit of playing games with the lid closed? Is it supposed to reduce heat?

 

No. In fact, because the blade's keyboard gets so hot, it can damage the screen. I think this happened to mine).

 

Yup, happened to me too.

Tho they would replace my screen for free; too bad it'd take 1 month min from Italy to US (they sell it in EU but they don't have any repair lab in EU, WTF?) and I'd have to cover IT->US shippings.

 

i did play with the lid closed and had no issues.

 

When I try to revert my BIOS settings back to DEFAULT and flash nothing changes. I still have all the menus and sub-menus unlocked. I am open to any advice possible. Thanks.