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Only one regular PCI slot on the new XPS desktop systems, what if I need more?
I recently upgraded my system, and the clever people at Dell are now supplying all new XPS desktop motherboards with only one regular PCI slot (which came installed with the graphics card I need) and what look like three very small PCIe x1 slots*. I have no space to put in my regular PCI M-Audio Delta 1010 soundcard, and my regular PCI fire wire card, so I was wondering if they would run in a PCI x1 slot with an adapter? Something such as this:
Trouble is, the cards will run at x1 bus speed - could this cause me problems? I've contacted the card manufacturers to ask the same question, but thought folk on the Dell forums may be able to help me out with some suggestions.
For a visual reference, this is what my soundcard looks like:
Thanks!
Paul S.
* Update: Dell online tech guy just told me my XPS 435 MT system has "One PCIe™ x16 Three PCIe x1. there are no normal PCI slots".
Thereal-dbk4297
3.4K Posts
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December 14th, 2008 18:00
Hello,
Here is the support page for your XPS 435MT system if you need it.
A picture of your motherboard and descriptions of each item are shown on this page.
The first link for the X1 to X16 adapter will work if you need PCI Express 16 at lower speeds, but your sound card looks to be a regular PCI card, and I assume your firewire card might also be regular PCI. edit: I found an X1 to regular PCI slot adaptor for you now. And it will not be slower that a regular PCI card slot. :emotion-15:
Thereal-dbk4297
3.4K Posts
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December 14th, 2008 19:00
You're welcome, glad to help.
If you search for the same type adapters, I'm sure that you can find them for less. That was just the first link that I found.
:emotion-21: :emotion-15:
Thereal-dbk4297
3.4K Posts
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December 14th, 2008 19:00
By the way ...
How long did it take you to find out a place to ask a question once you found this site? :emotion-31:
Could you please look here and reply to the thread with your new user input?
PTS74
9 Posts
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December 14th, 2008 19:00
Wow, thanks - that's some good info. Somewhat expensive hardware adapter, but hey - gotta move with the times I suppose :)
Thanks again!
Paul S.
PTS74
9 Posts
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December 14th, 2008 21:00
Oh, about 5 minutes to find an area that I felt where best to ask my question. I voted yes on your "was this helpful" poll.
You're right, there's a European online store that sells the same adapter for half the price. You say this particular adapter will keep the speed of my regular PCI card - what in the adapter specs makes this clear? It's all a little over my head, but it does leave me wondering if a cheaper adapter will do practically the same thing.
A bigger wonder is why Dell ditched the whole regular PCI slots altogether? I mean, they're still commonly sold.
Edit: Cheap version, looks like it may do the same thing?:
http://cgi.ebay.com/PCI-32Bit-To-PCI-E-PCI-Express-1x-Riser-Card-Adapter_W0QQitemZ180306492803QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCOMP_EN_Networking_Components?hash=item180306492803&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50
Thereal-dbk4297
3.4K Posts
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December 16th, 2008 06:00
Hello again,
The new PCI express is and better faster. Progress
And yes, your eBay link looks like your ticket to success. (use proper caution when buying from eBay)
Dev Mgr
9.3K Posts
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December 16th, 2008 10:00
PCI (32bit 33MHz (standard for pretty much all desktops)) has a bandwidth of ~133MB/s to be shared among all the PCI slots on a motherboard.
PCIe (PCI Express) 1.0 uses 250MB/s in bandwidth for each 'link'. So a PCIe 1x slot has a dedicated 250MB/s in bandwidth, and a PCIe 16x slot would have 4GB/s in bandwidth. This has even doubled for PCIe 2.0.
So using one of these cards won't slow your card down, but not all PCI cards are guaranteed to work behind a PCIe-to-PCI bridge chip.
Post attempt #3