I have a will a PCI Universal card but not slot. Will it work in a PCI-E X16 slot?
15 Answers
Possibly ...
They do make pci to pcie adapters and I think you can put them in an x16 slot.
You'd have to get creative with some case modding but if it's a full height pci card you'd need something like this:
It will not
Typical PCI cards have either one or two key notches, depending on their signaling voltage. Cards requiring 3.3 volts have a notch 56.21 mm from the card backplate; those requiring 5 volts have a notch 104.47 mm from the backplate. "Universal cards" accepting either voltage have both key notches. This allows cards to be fitted only into slots with a voltage they support.
PCIe devices communicate via a logical connection called an interconnect or link. A link is a point-to-point communication channel between two PCIe ports, allowing both to send/receive ordinary PCI-requests (configuration read/write, I/O read/write, memory read/write) and interrupts (INTx, MSI, MSI-X). At the physical level, a link is composed of 1 or more lanes
Various PCI slots. From top to bottom:
- PCI Express x4
- PCI Express ×16
- PCI Express ×1
- PCI Express ×16
- Legacy PCI (32-bit)
PCI Express - SourceLegacy PCI - Source
2Totally different and incompatible standards.
It won't even physically fit.
So the answer is: NO.
1To summarize and expand upon what has been already stated (to produce a more comprehensive single answer), there are 3 main variants of the over-arching PCI standard that you have to look out for:
- 32-bit PCI (simply called 'PCI')
- 64-bit PCI (usually called 'PCI-X')
- PCI-e (the newer version of the overall PCI standard)
Conventional PCI (anything before PCI-e) came in 4 flavours:
- PCI 3.3 v
- PCI 5 v
- PCI-X 3.3 v
- PCI-X 5 v
For anything to work properly, you need to check the PCI slots on your motherboard, to see what bit-ness and voltage your slots require. In the best-case scenario, your board will be a Universal PCI/PCI-X bus, allowing for 3.3v, 5v, and Universal cards to be plugged in. You still need to match the bit-ness, however.
In addition to this, you also cannot plug PCI conventional cards into the newer PCI-e slots and vice versa. You mentioned that you have a Universal PCI card, and a PCI-e x16 slot. You would also need to know the bit-ness. Assuming that you have a 32-bit Universal card, a viable option has been mentioned on this page. You will need an adapter, as LawrenceC mentioned in his answer. For more on these topics, please see the following resources:
A Google Image Search using any of the pictures used in LawrenceC's post should also provide shopping results for what you may need.
Good Day to you all.
You are confusing PCIe with PCI-X. PCI-X slots were 64-bit (as opposed to regular PCI slots, which were only 32-bit), and came in a 3.3V and 5V variety. They were keyed differently so that a 5V card could not be plugged into a 3.3V slot or vice versa. A "Universal" PCI card simply means that the card can be inserted into any type of PCI or PCI-X slot.
PCI-X slots were only ever found in servers. They (like PCI) disappeared once PCIe took over. Neither standard is compatible with PCIe, nor will they fit into a PCIe slot.
2
