Confused with the PCI

[charlie-j]

Hey,

What's the difference between PCI, PCI-Express, PCI-16 etc. I'm really confused.

Thanks for your time.

Charlie.

 

[SwaleSmith]

Google is your friend

pci is for peripherals.

pci express is commnly used for graphics cards and can come in diffferent speed (data bandwith) e.g 8x 16x this merely means the speed although all primary slots now tend to be 16x speed

 

[charlie-j]

Oh... so with an Asus p5n-e SLI, are the 2 graphic slots pci-express?

 

[FarFarAway]

Yep. PCI-E has a far higher bus speed than PCI.

Here's a bus speed listing for your info:

PCI 132 MB/s

AGP 8X 2,100 MB/s

PCI Express 1x 250 [500]* MB/s

PCI Express 2x 500 [1000]* MB/s

PCI Express 4x 1000 [2000]* MB/s

PCI Express 8x 2000 [4000]* MB/s

PCI Express 16x 4000 [8000]* MB/s

PCI Express 32x 8000 [16000]* MB/s

IDE (ATA100) 100 MB/s

 

[charlie-j]

Oh, that's huge.

So does this mean I can get a PCI-Express sound card and use it in the second one on the p5n-e sli?

 

[deathwish]

pci-e x1 or standard pci cards would be your best bet

 

[FarFarAway]

Yep Deathwish got it spot on I believe

I haven't seen any PCI-E x16 sound cards as frankly sound just doesn't need that kind of bandwidth. Hey, you can have a look and let us know if you find one

 

[charlie-j]

Oh right now I understand. So is a PCI-E sound card any better than a normal PCI one?

 

[monkey7]

PCI cards are just as good as PCI-e x1 cards. As long as the cards (chipset etc.) is similar of course.

However, if you can get a pci-e x1 version I'd definitely go for it. PCI-e x1 is starting to replace PCI and most of the time PCI slots get covered by dualslot graphics cards. With a PCI-e x1 connection you will have way more installation options and you will be able to use it for at least a few years.

 

[charlie-j]

So... am I right in saying graphics cards use PCI which is the old type and then there is PCI-E which the the new type?

 

[monkey7]

No Most modernday graphics cards use PCI-e x16 slots.

 

[Diablo]

I would be very surprised to see a PCI graphics chip. They are either very very old (circa early 2000s or earlier) or very expensive for the newer mini itx style computers which only have PCIs.

PCIe is the way to go.

 

[charlie-j]

Ok, I thought that but then I got confused with one of the past posts.

This helped me, and the last post:

So I was right in saying that a PCI-E sound card would take up the second graphics card slot, but there is no need in using a PCI-E slot for sound cards because they only run at 1x speed even though PCI-E is capable of 16x.

 

[Diablo]

The PCIe on that board is x16, x1 x16 (at least in slot size). As it has a switcher card next to the pcie x1 (the little white one where you could stick a pcie x1 sound card) indicates a x16 x1 mode, where the top pci express will operate at x16 in non sli (ie with one gpu) and the bottom one will operate at x1. The middle one will always be x1 which is good for sound cards. The card can be flipped to give x8 and x8 speed on the full size slots. This probably confused you more.

Any how the pcie sound card would sit separately from the graphics cards:

 

[charlie-j]

Oh ok I understand now, thanks

 

[Rastalovich]

Cards designed for the pcie x1 slots will also work in the larger pcie x16+ slots.

 

[monkey7]

I would be very surprised to see a PCI graphics chip. They are either very very old (circa early 2000s or earlier) or very expensive for the newer mini itx style computers which only have PCIs.

PCIe is the way to go.

I've got one, retrieved it from my sister's rig when I built her a new one. Has actually been put in there just over a year ago or so because she didn't have proper video slots.

It's currently in my rig building box to act as a troubleshooter when I'm not getting anything on the monitor

 

[Rastalovich]

Bought a pci graphics card for $6 last year, some fx5200 or even mx4400. It's a must for testing mobos tbh.

 

[charlie-j]

That's a bargain!! I suppose I could get something cheap from computer exchange, they offered £120 exchange for my old phone.

Another one sold for £125 cash on Ebay yesterday so I think I'll sell it there instead

 

[Diablo]

The most recent ones tend to be ridiculously expensive (8500 £60 no thanks) due to the tiny market for them. Then again for testing its always nice. I bought myself an 8400GS for £18 (PCIe tho) for emergency driver reloads when the 280s go stupid.