PCI/PCIe 1x cards

[da na]

I am looking for a good, cheap PCIe 1x or PCI video card for an old system. Can be half height or full height but cannot be dual slot. Budget of $50 but can be extended under circumstances. Only good one I've found so far is this Zotac GT 710. It's for a ThinkCentre that has a switchable PCI/PCIe 1x slot, and the card needs to be new enough to be compatible with Ubuntu 20.04. I know Zotac made a PCI GeForce 210 but cannot find one at all - the only PCI cards I've found are quite old and don't meet my needs.

Thanks in advance!

[birdflyer]

How does a GT720 sound?

 

(edit: I guess you said PCI though)

Edited September 21, 2021 by birdflyer

[da na]

Just now, birdflyer said:

How does a GT720 sound?

If I can find one cheap, yes. 

[birdflyer]

This is what I've got, from an old dell.

[da na]

Just now, birdflyer said:

This is what I've got, from an old dell.

That is neither PCI or PCIe 1x so will not work, but thanks - will keep those in mind for other systems.

[birdflyer]

Just now, Mel0nMan said:

That is neither PCI or PCIe 1x so will not work, but thanks - will keep those in mind for other systems.

No Problem, I am unsure whether I am going to use it for something or not, so probably for the better.

[Kilrah]

21 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

That is neither PCI or PCIe 1x

Cut dat PCIe slot end?

[mariushm]

PCIe is designed to be modular  - you can get any pci-e x16 or x8 video card you don't care too much about and cut the edge connector down to x1 and it will work.

Basically, you need to leave just 7 contacts after the notch for pci-e x1, as can be seen in the pinout : https://pinouts.ru/Slots/pci_express_pinout.shtml

 

If there's some room at the bottom of the board, you could also get a pci-e x1 to pci-e x4 or pci-e x16 riser cable and mount the video card outside the motherboard area.

OR, get a low profile video card ... when screwed to the case, naturally the connector won't go all the way to the motherboard, so you can use a pci-e x1 to pci-e x4/x8/x16 riser cable to connect the edge connector of the video card to the motherboard.

You can also buy riser cables with a pci-e x1 or x4 or x8 connector that doesn't have the end wall, so that would allow the x16 edge of the card to plug into the x1/x4/x8 connector.

Here's such a cable : https://www.amazon.com/Mustpoint-Express-Extension-Gold-Plated-Connector/dp/B07PMPDGGX/

 

The end of the connector doesn't have a wall, allowing you to plug x4/x8/x16 cards in the slot, with some edge connector just sitting in the air, doing nothing (and that's perfectly fine, legal, BY DESIGN of the people that made the pci-e standard.

 

 

 

 

[da na]

20 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Cut dat PCIe slot end?

 

17 minutes ago, mariushm said:

PCIe is designed to be modular  - you can get any pci-e x16 or x8 video card you don't care too much about and cut the edge connector down to x1 and it will work.

Basically, you need to leave just 7 contacts after the notch for pci-e x1, as can be seen in the pinout : https://pinouts.ru/Slots/pci_express_pinout.shtml

 

If there's some room at the bottom of the board, you could also get a pci-e x1 to pci-e x4 or pci-e x16 riser cable and mount the video card outside the motherboard area.

OR, get a low profile video card ... when screwed to the case, naturally the connector won't go all the way to the motherboard, so you can use a pci-e x1 to pci-e x4/x8/x16 riser cable to connect the edge connector of the video card to the motherboard.

You can also buy riser cables with a pci-e x1 or x4 or x8 connector that doesn't have the end wall, so that would allow the x16 edge of the card to plug into the x1/x4/x8 connector.

Here's such a cable : https://www.amazon.com/Mustpoint-Express-Extension-Gold-Plated-Connector/dp/B07PMPDGGX/

 

The end of the connector doesn't have a wall, allowing you to plug x4/x8/x16 cards in the slot, with some edge connector just sitting in the air, doing nothing (and that's perfectly fine, legal, BY DESIGN of the people that made the pci-e standard.

 

 

 

 

I would typically do this but the Thinkcentre's PCIe connector is weird AF. It's the physical length of a 16x slot, but imagine this - as being slot and this X as being blocked off. Slot looks like:

-XXXXXXX-XX-XXX-

Looks like the first connector is PCIe 1x but I honestly have no idea why it's designed with extra holes and some blocked off. Sadly I don't know the model #. 

Edit: Can post a pic in 15 minutes or so if needed? 

[mariushm]

It may not be pci-e 

It could be pci-x   - old pci on steroids , 64 bit version:

 

 

Best take a picture of the slot and post it here.

 

Note that pci-e slots are a tiny bit deeper inside the case compared to pci slots. In the picture, you can see if you draw a vertical line, pci-e starts a few mm to the right of location where the pci slots start.

 

 

Or maybe it's AGP port ?  See pictures on : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port

 

 

[da na]

10 minutes ago, mariushm said:

It may not be pci-e 

It could be pci-x   - old pci on steroids , 64 bit version:

 

 

Best take a picture of the slot and post it here.

 

Note that pci-e slots are a tiny bit deeper inside the case compared to pci slots. In the picture, you can see if you draw a vertical line, pci-e starts a few mm to the right of location where the pci slots start.

 

 

Or maybe it's AGP port ?  See pictures on : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port

 

 

It’s not agp.

Theres this board that plugs into a pci slot on the motherboard, you can flip it around depending on if you want pcie or pci. The top slot looks like pcie 1x as it has the 7 pins but no idea what the rest of the slot is for, and for reference the side of the pcie connector closest to the bottom of the picture faces the back of the case.

Edit: brought the board to my IT teacher and we figured out that one side of that connector is for PCIe 1x and the other is for ADD2 DVI cards that use the integrated graphics to provide another display out.

[Biohazard777]

11 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

the only PCI cards I've found are quite old and don't meet my needs.

I think the last GPU that you could find with a PCI (non express) variant is the GT 610... Released all the way back 2012, so yeah 10 years old.

Like this one: https://www.zotac.com/product/graphics_card/gt-610-pci
There are some listed on eBay as "new":

https://www.ebay.com/itm/324458403800?hash=item4b8b3a57d8%3Ag%3Aa5sAAOSwzJ9gB-F0&LH_ItemCondition=1000

It is unbranded, so it could be that the PCB and all of the electrical components are new but the GPU chip (and possibly memory) was salvaged from a used card...
Finding new old stock for these cards could be hard, so you either buy these Chinese no-name "new" ones or you buy a used one. Honestly both options suck because after 10 years the chance for them to fail increases a lot.

So I would definitely go for a new PCI-E x1 card or like @mariushmsuggested use an x1 riser cable.

57 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

PCIe 1x or PCI video card for an old system. Can be half height or full height but cannot be dual slot.  Budget of $50 but can be extended under circumstances.

New, single slot, PCIe x1... and almost x2 your budget sadly:

https://www.newegg.com/asus-geforce-gt-710-gt710-4h-sl-2gd5/p/N82E16814126433?Item=9SIAMHYFPC4647

 

 

[mariushm]

6 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

It’s not agp.

OK, yeah.

You can use the pci-e x1 part  with a pci-e x1 riser cable or just use a pci-e x1 card. Can't cut the things blocking the slot to make it a bigger slot, because they repurpose those pins for other things and video cards won't like that.

 

Unfortunately you have to keep that board to convert the proprietary slot into the pci-e x1 and pci pair.  You could maybe desolder the PCI slot to make some room if you want to / have to.

 

I think the rest of the slot is supposed to be used with some adapter cards that have only DVI ... basically add an  extra monitor output from the integrated graphics.

 

Here's an example of the original card supposed to add the extra monitor output : https://www.ebay.com/itm/274889313415

 

 

Quote

Theres this board that plugs into a pci slot on the motherboard, you can flip it around depending on if you want pcie or pci. The top slot looks like pcie 1x as it has the 7 pins but no idea what the rest of the slot is for, and for reference the side of the pcie connector closest to the bottom of the picture faces the back of the case.

 

[da na]

11 minutes ago, mariushm said:

OK, yeah.

You can use the pci-e x1 part  with a pci-e x1 riser cable or just use a pci-e x1 card. Can't cut the things blocking the slot to make it a bigger slot, because they repurpose those pins for other things and video cards won't like that.

 

Unfortunately you have to keep that board to convert the proprietary slot into the pci-e x1 and pci pair.  You could maybe desolder the PCI slot to make some room if you want to / have to.

 

I think the rest of the slot is supposed to be used with some adapter cards that have only DVI ... basically add an  extra monitor output from the integrated graphics.

 

Here's an example of the original card supposed to add the extra monitor output : https://www.ebay.com/itm/274889313415

 

 

 

Thank you - I will be purchasing one of those Lenovo cards (Doesn't support my only VGA monitor for an unknown reason).  I edited my original post with the photo saying that I figured out it was for the ADD2 cards. Thanks again for your help!