PCI & PCIe?

Ironside

Ironside

Member
I'm going to be using some software that connects to the serial ports on my computer. It is related to amateur radio but that isn't really important. Unfortunately a lot of the software and gadgets that connects your radio to your computer in amateur radio has not quite caught up with the computer world and are lots of these devices still use serial rather than USB. I was contemplating getting a brand-new PC, however I have got a Fujitsu SCALEO 600 which is a Pentium 4. When I first got it back in 2002 it only had 512 MB of RAM, I have since increased that to 1 GB but I'm going to need to increase this a little more.. I believe that the maximum amount of RAM you can have with XP is 2 GB? I'm also assuming that the RAM would have come with this computer is DDR (I haven't opened up the computer yet to see?

How different is a PCI to a PCIe slot? I was contemplating getting a new computer but it would be futile if my equipment that plug into it properly. I was wondering whether it be possible to buy a new computer is actually get some PCI cards to fit in. But I need more than one serial ports, I'd need a 25, and a 9 pin port. This is one reason why I have decided to bear with the Fujitsu SCALEO 600.
 
Post your computer make and model and we can tell you what RAM you need. As for PCI vs PCIe, PCIe is the new standard, and is much faster than the older and outdated PCI. There's a really good page about it here: http://www.directron.com/expressguide.html

Something like this should work out nicely for you:

I would shop around the web to try and find a better price though...
 
Thanks for the expedient reply, I will certainly have a look at what you have suggested. Funnily enough, I just found another forum which incidentally I was already a member of, I don't even remember joining, must have been years ago.

It looks as though somebody had the same question as me. However, it seems that their memory upgrade wasn't working to begin with.I can't get to the other computer for the moment, but it is called a Scalio 600.

If I get a new computer that has the PCIe cards, is there any way of using any of the equipment that have the PCI adapters?
 
Just had a look at the links, I have actually contacted cyber Power of whom I have had computers from in the past and asked them if they can fit some of these cards that you linked to. I did buy a couple of USB to serial cables have been told they are not very good.
 
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