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Confusion about PCI Express compatibility
paris1_
Member
05-27-2005 01:17 PM
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I have a pc that, among having other types of PCI slots, has one PCI Express 4x slot. I need to know if an NI card I just bought, a # 778930-51 NI PCIe-GPIB, NI-488.2 for Windows 2000/XP, with a 2m X2 Cable, will work in the above mentioned slot... The NI board has 36 pins and I think I read somewhere that makes it a 1X card... First, am I correct about that??? Second, will it work in the 4X slot I mentioned above??? The pc, by the way, is a new Dell Precision 670 Workstation... The bottom line is this computer only has one standard PCI slot and I have another card I need to put in that slot... In addition, I need GPIB so I need to find a GPIB card that can work in some other slot of this machine... To state in total what the pc has (PCI wise), it has one PCI Express x16 graphics slot (which I assume is used by the graphics card, I can't get at the PC itself today to look), one standard PCI 2.2 slot, three PCI-X slots (is there a GPIB card that is compatible with PCI-X???) and the PCI Express 4x slot I already mentioned...
I am hoping the NI card will work in the 4x slot... Any help would be much appreciated... thanks... bob....
I am hoping the NI card will work in the 4x slot... Any help would be much appreciated... thanks... bob....
Collin M
NI Employee (retired)
05-27-2005 01:44 PM
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Bob, your NI PCIe-GPIB is a x1 (pronounced "by one") PCI Express card. According to the PCI Express specification, a x1 card must function in any PCI Express slot. Your PCIe-GPIB will work in any of the PCI Express slots in your system (or any other system).
Additionally, the newest PCI-GPIB card will function in a PCI or PCI-X slot. The newest PCI-GPIB cards are keyed for universal signaling and have two notches on the PCI edge connector. If you bought your PCI-GPIB within the last few years it is probably one that is universally keyed. If it is not universally keyed it will not physically fit in the PCI-X slot. One potential issue with using a PCI-GPIB in a PCI-X slot is that it will slow down that entire logical PCI-X bus. This means that if you had some other PCI-X card capable of 66MHz or 100MHz, the entire PCI-X bus will only run at 33MHz when the PCI-GPIB card is installed. All of this will happen transparently to you although you may get a BIOS message saying the PCI-X bus is running at 33MHz.
Also, make sure you have the latest BIOS from Dell. When they started shipping the 670 it had a BIOS problem that caused the system not to boot when certain PCIe cards were plugged in.
Additionally, the newest PCI-GPIB card will function in a PCI or PCI-X slot. The newest PCI-GPIB cards are keyed for universal signaling and have two notches on the PCI edge connector. If you bought your PCI-GPIB within the last few years it is probably one that is universally keyed. If it is not universally keyed it will not physically fit in the PCI-X slot. One potential issue with using a PCI-GPIB in a PCI-X slot is that it will slow down that entire logical PCI-X bus. This means that if you had some other PCI-X card capable of 66MHz or 100MHz, the entire PCI-X bus will only run at 33MHz when the PCI-GPIB card is installed. All of this will happen transparently to you although you may get a BIOS message saying the PCI-X bus is running at 33MHz.
Also, make sure you have the latest BIOS from Dell. When they started shipping the 670 it had a BIOS problem that caused the system not to boot when certain PCIe cards were plugged in.
05-27-2005 03:56 PM
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Thanks... The information is much appreciated... And I do see what you're talking about regarding the standard gpib cards now having two slots instead of one... I see that in the picture on the product page of the national site... The gpib cards I have are of the older variety as they only have one slot...
So in summary you're saying my pcie card should work in the one slot and as a second option, if I buy a new PCI-GPIB card, you're saying it should work in a PCI-X slot. I think I will buy a new card from National just as insurance in case the pcie card gives me any trouble... We use gpib a lot so having a spare around is a good thing... Again, thanks for the help... bob..
So in summary you're saying my pcie card should work in the one slot and as a second option, if I buy a new PCI-GPIB card, you're saying it should work in a PCI-X slot. I think I will buy a new card from National just as insurance in case the pcie card gives me any trouble... We use gpib a lot so having a spare around is a good thing... Again, thanks for the help... bob..
Collin M
NI Employee (retired)
05-27-2005 06:49 PM
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Yes, a new PCI-GPIB will work in any PCI or PCI-X slot in your computer.
