Pci slots

J

JamesBart

New Member
i have 4 in my dell and what happens when i runout of them but say need to have usb 2.0 ports or a sound card or something? i cant seem to find external sound cards. its just an example. whats can be done. cheers! :confused:
 
You run out? I have only three on the system here. Older systems commonly saw 4 or 5 slots available due to the expansion slot devices available during those years. With more and more usb devices along with Firewire types being applied board makers have reduced the slots down to 2 or 3 on most newer boards. PCI-Express cards along with SLI or Crossfire dual video card setups now use up that board space.

One possible solution to look into is the use of only one pci slot to connect all of your pci devices to. What? ..... :confused:

Magma PCI Expansion Systems provide four, seven or thirteen additional PCI slots and drive bays in a separate enclosure. The connection to the host computer is made through PCI host interface card and cable. Magma PCI Expansion Systems provide a way for users to extend PCI functionality outside the host computer. http://www.mobl.com/expansion/products/pci_expansion/index.html

And that is only one product solution seen there. For Dell, http://www.epinions.com/Expansion_Modules--reviews--price_range_0_60--prices--dell ;)
 
Hehe, I havn't use any PCI slots in my computer... Though I really should go ahead in install my WinTV.

Anyway, there's nothing you can do except switch out cards as mentioned. Or, with USB stuff, you could get a USB hub. That'll convert 1 USB port into 4 others(maybe more, but 4's the more common) You can have up to 127USB devices connected to a computer, if I remember correctly, but I'd seriously stay away from that many...

@ PC Eye - Oh man, I'd forgotten about those extra PCI slot dealies... But man, why not just get a new PC with a few more PCI slots on it? :P
 
The main problem now is picking out a board with three not two slots. I run two pci devices here as a rule with the Audigy 4 Pro sound card and a pci type video capture card. Usb gives far more options then pci at this time. The only time to look at the pci addons would be for running older expansion devices on a newer board where you see only two or three slots.
 
The one main drawback with adding to many internal devices just like pci slot cards is the decrease seen in air flow along with more internal device drawing power. Usb devices run a far smaller current level where that is also something to consider power wise as well as heat wise.

Creative's Sound Blaster line of pci audio cards are noted for pulling on system resources when gaming or running multimedia. XP is also noted for resource sharing problems when more then one expansion card is used. Often the first pci slot has to be left unoccupied to correct this.
 
PC eye said:
The one main drawback with adding to many internal devices just like pci slot cards is the decrease seen in air flow along with more internal device drawing power. Usb devices run a far smaller current level where that is also something to consider power wise as well as heat wise.

Creative's Sound Blaster line of pci audio cards are noted for pulling on system resources when gaming or running multimedia. XP is also noted for resource sharing problems when more then one expansion card is used. Often the first pci slot has to be left unoccupied to correct this.
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A couple fans can solve the problem easily, and I would still prefer PCI over a external USB anyday if i had the choice of the same thing.

This "flaw" you speak of, hasn't existed in XP since 2002.
Also, I would love to see proof of your Sound Blaster comment. :)
 
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Resource conflicts and temps are two different things there. The more you cool down the board the easier it will be to see lower cpu temps. The only real inconvenience seen with usb devices is unplugging a number of extra cords when going to pull out a case for some simple reason.

"This "flaw" you speak of, hasn't existed in XP since 2002.
Also, I would love to see proof of your Sound Blaster comment."

Not everyone currently running XP in "2006" has SP1 or SP2 installed. Some refuse to install the first service pack let alone SP2 that came out in 2004. Are there problems seen with the Sound Blaster line off cards? Look for yourself.
http://www.vrinnovations.com/Live_Card_Fix.htm
http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/ct4620/index.htm
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1057638353

"This card will bog down your system. After installation, my system began to respond very slowly. I almost always received lockups when starting and shutting down my PC. The system sounds would no longer work. There are about 40Meg worth of downloads from the Creative site to take care of "known" problems. They obviously have a lot of issues, and the card was released to the test market(The customer!)to identify all the problems. You cannot adjust L&R balance during recording. S/W installation is not clean and simple and also gives (without asking) a lot of junk you don't want, e.g. AOL and Windows Media player. I uninstalled the s/w and removed the card, and now my PC works fine. I just bought a Turtle Beach SantaCruz to replace this Audigy. What a world of difference! Everything works fine and the installation was easy with no glitches. If you're thinking of buying this card...DON'T DO IT!!!!!!" http://tech.yahoo.com/pr/creative-sound-blaster-audigy-2-zs/1991328513
 
PC eye said:
Resource conflicts and temps are two different things there.
Click to expand...

Arm_Pit said:
Lets try some proof that supports your first statement this time? Not that a single card serois has much to do with the whole idea in the first place. Hopfully something that was not published in 2002.
Click to expand...

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_dm.htm explains how to solve resource conlficts between devices. You can use SpeedFan to monitor cpu and board temps. 4.29 is free to download at http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Well you did say my "1st" statement didn't you?
 
If you are referring to only seeing 2 or 3 pci slots on newer model boards you may want to look over some various boards to understand why someone would use the external modules when additional pci devices are added. On older boards you often see 4 or 5 slots available. If you ran a pci type video card along with a sound card and either nik or modem card you still had one or slots available. Now you would have to reserve one slot for an external module unless you have either onboard video or sound to free up a single slot.
 
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