Will any PCI video card work in a PCI express slot?

Question

If not, what kinds of video cards will work in a PCI express slot?

Answer 1

No, absolutely not, it MUST be a PCIe, PCI express card.

It is pretty hard to find straight PCI video cards these days, so your two choices will be AGP (Wrong one) and PCIe, (Right one)

Good Luck

Answer 2

Even though they sound alike, and indeed, the slots may even LOOK a little alike, rest assured that they are COMPLETELY incompatible.

While they share a similar array of "pins" in the center, it's the way they USE them that's different.

To put it in short, PCI is a "parallel" interface, meaning that it uses ALL of the pins for each signal pulse; using them, it can transfer up to 32 bits at a time. Given that PCI operates at 33MHz, that yields a potential maximum transfer rate of 133 MB a second.

PCI-e, in spite of the name, is a "serial" interface, meaning that it uses multiple independent channels; (called "lanes" here) for a PCI-e graphics card, there are 16 of them: hence, that "PCI-e x16" or "PCI-e x1" names you might've seen listed the numberl of lanes that slot had. Each lane can only transfer one single BIT at once, but they can then run at absurdly high speeds; I believe it's 2,500 MHz (2.5GHz) for PCI-e. Because some "overhead" (error correction, etc.) are figured in, it works out to an effective 2,000 MHz, for 250MB a second PER LANE, or a total of about 4GB per second for a PCI-e x16 graphics card.

As you would now realize,it's technically impossible to get one to work with the other.

Source :
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/PCI-Express-card-PCI-slot-ftopict189051.html

regards,
Philip T

Answer 3

PCI video card is different to PCI express, When you buy a video card find the word PCI Express in the package!

Answer 4

Only PCI-E video cards will work in a PCI-E slot. I think their also, but if you have a 16x video card make sure you have a 16x PCI-E slot. Another misconception is that PCI X is the same as PCI-E but PCI X is for servers.

Answer 5

a million) They run on thoroughly distinct architectures. 2) they are distinct actual dimensions. basically because something says "PCI" in 2 places would not magically make it nicely matched.

Answer 6

Just because it sounds the same does not mean a thing. check websites for the card you have and then check your pc website for compatibility. Here they will show you the right upgrades made for youe pc.

Answer 7

yes, i guess