- Is it possible to plug a "normal PCI" card into a PCI-X slot and have it work? i.e. is PCI-X backwards-compatible with PCI?
- Similarly, will a 32-bit PCI card work in a 64-bit PCI slot?
- Will a 66MHz (PCI?) card work in a 133MHz (PCI-X?) slot and/or vice versa?
PCI bus compatibility?
Author
Hey all,
For those of you who are more attuned to your hardware than I am... I've been wondering about the compatibility of the different PCI standards/bus variations that there seem to be. For example, 64-bit PCI-X on server motherboards, 32-bit PCI, 66 MHz and all that kind of stuff. A couple of basic questions:
I'm not too familiar with PCI-X, but isn't the physical slot different size? I know PCI and PCI-X have no relation to PCIe though.
A "normal" 32-bit PCI card will work with a PCI-X slot as long as the card to be put in utilizes 3.3v level logic. PCI-X version 2.0 is also compatible -- 3.0 may be as well.
Edit: From here, your PCI-X bus will slow down to the speed of your slowest card in order to synchronize the data rate for the entire bus.
Edit: From here, your PCI-X bus will slow down to the speed of your slowest card in order to synchronize the data rate for the entire bus.
Author
Quote:A "normal" 32-bit PCI card will work with a PCI-X slot as long as the card to be put in utilizes 3.3v level logic. PCI-X version 2.0 is also compatible -- 3.0 may be as well.
Would I be correct in stating that most off-the-shelf PCI cards use 5v logic (i.e. a Creative sound card)? If that is the case, then I will not be able to plug that card into a PCI-X slot?
Thanks!
Quote:Original post by fyhuangQuote:A "normal" 32-bit PCI card will work with a PCI-X slot as long as the card to be put in utilizes 3.3v level logic. PCI-X version 2.0 is also compatible -- 3.0 may be as well.
Would I be correct in stating that most off-the-shelf PCI cards use 5v logic (i.e. a Creative sound card)? If that is the case, then I will not be able to plug that card into a PCI-X slot?
Thanks!
The slots are keyed so that you can't plug the card in, if it has the wrong voltage (this is also true of agp and ram slots). From looking at neweggs site all but the oldest creative cards are universal (meaning that they can use 3.3 or 5v slot). In a 32bit card if there's two notches on the connector it's universal (on a 64 bit card there's another notch between the 32bit area and 64bit area), if there's one near notch near the panel it's 3.3v if it's away from the panel it's 5v.
This Page I found on google has pictures.
Just making sure here, you do know that PCI-X and PCI-Express are entirely different things, right?
Author
Quote:Just making sure here, you do know that PCI-X and PCI-Express are entirely different things, right?
Yes. My question is of compatibility between PCI and PCI-X devices/buses, not between PCI and PCI-express.
Thanks!
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