Find PCI slots. Rectangular slots opposite rectangular holes (covered with plugs) on the case are just what you need. Most likely, one or even 2 PCI slots (those closest to the processor) will be occupied by a video card. Free will be, respectively, 1-2 slots, unless you already have some other boards installed.

• If you can't find PCI slots, take the motherboard manual, everything will be written there.

Remove the cover opposite the empty PCI slot. The place in front of each slot is covered with such a plug so that dust does not get into the case. Do not be afraid, in our time it is no longer necessary to break out the plugs, they, as a rule, are on clamps, or even on a single clamp. The main thing at this stage is not to make a mistake with the stub.

• Do not remove extra plugs so that excess dust does not enter the case (and it is all there - superfluous).

Ground yourself. Remember what we said about static? Remember: before you climb into the inside of the computer, you need to ground yourself. If you do not ground, then there is a risk of killing the board with static.

• An electrostatic wristband, available from a computer supply store, is fine (you'll need to put it on your arm). However, you can ground yourself in another way - by touching something metallic.

Take the board out of the box. Pull it out carefully, do not touch either the contours etched on the board or the contacts.

Insert a card. So, put the card with its contacts to the PCI slot and push it down so that it enters the slot. Use force wisely, don't break anything! Then be sure to check if the card is up to the end.

Pin the card. With the same fasteners that you removed to pull out the plug, now secure the card, but more securely so that it does not stagger!

• The map will be in a horizontal position, so the issue of pinning is much more important than it might seem at first glance.

Close the computer case. return sidebar into place, do not forget about the bolts. Then put the computer back and connect everything that you previously disconnected to it. However, if you have connected a board that, say, adds new USB ports, then do not connect anything to them yet.

Spring 1991 Intel completes the development of the first mock-up version PCI bus. The engineers were tasked with developing a low-cost, high-performance solution that would enable the 486, Pentium, and Pentium Pro processors to be realized. In addition, it was necessary to take into account the mistakes made by VESA when designing the VLB bus (the electrical load did not allow connecting more than 3 expansion boards), as well as to implement automatic tuning devices.

In 1992, the first version of the PCI bus appears, Intel announces that the bus standard will be open, and creates the PCI Special Interest Group. Thanks to this, any interested developer gets the opportunity to create devices for the PCI bus without the need to purchase a license. The first version of the bus had a clock speed of 33 MHz, could be 32- or 64-bit, and devices could work with signals of 5 V or 3.3 V. Theoretically, the bus throughput was 133 MB / s, but in reality the throughput was about 80 MB/s

Main characteristics:

• bus frequency - 33.33 or 66.66 MHz, synchronous transmission;
• bus width - 32 or 64 bits, multiplexed bus (address and data are transmitted over the same lines);
• peak throughput for the 32-bit version running at 33.33 MHz is 133 MB/s;
• memory address space - 32 bits (4 bytes);
• address space of input-output ports - 32 bits (4 bytes);
• configuration address space (for one function) - 256 bytes;
• voltage - 3.3 or 5 V.

Photo connectors:

MiniPCI - 124 pin
MiniPCI Express MiniSata/mSATA - 52 pin
Apple MBA SSD, 2012
Apple SSD, 2012
Apple PCIe SSD
MXM, Graphics Card, 230 / 232 pin
MXM2 NGIFF 75 pins KEY A PCIe x2 KEY B PCIe x4 Sata SMBus
MXM3, Graphics Card, 314 pin
PCI 5V
PCI Universal
PCI-X 5v
AGP Universal
AGP 3.3v
AGP 3.3 v + ADS Power
PCIe x1
PCIe x16
Custom PCIe
ISA 8bit
ISA 16bit
eISA
VESA
NuBus
PDS
PDS
Apple II / GS Expansion slot
PC/XT/AT expansion bus 8bit
ISA (industry standard architecture) - 16 bit
eISA
MBA - Micro Bus architecture 16 bit
MBA - Micro Bus architecture with video 16 bit
MBA - Micro Bus architecture 32 bit
MBA - Micro Bus architecture with video 32 bit
ISA 16 + VLB (VESA)
Processor Direct Slot PDS
601 Processor Direct Slot PDS
LC Processor Direct Slot PERCH
NuBus
PCI (Peripheral Computer Interconnect) - 5v
PCI 3.3v
CNR (Communications/network Riser)
AMR (Audio / Modem Riser)
ACR (Advanced Communication Riser)
PCI-X (Peripheral PCI) 3.3v
PCI-X 5v
PCI 5v + RAID option - ARO
AGP 3.3v
AGP 1.5v
AGP Universal
AGP Pro 1.5v
AGP Pro 1.5v+ADC power
PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express) x1
PCIe x4
PCIe x8
PCIe x16

PCI 2.0

The first version of the basic standard, which was widely adopted, used both cards and slots with a signal voltage of only 5 volts. Peak bandwidth - 133 MB / s.

PCI 2.1 - 3.0

They differed from version 2.0 in the possibility of simultaneous operation of several bus masters (eng. bus-master, the so-called competitive mode), as well as the appearance of universal expansion cards capable of operating both in slots using a voltage of 5 volts and in slots using 3 .3 volts (with a frequency of 33 and 66 MHz, respectively). Peak throughput for 33 MHz is 133 MB/s and for 66 MHz is 266 MB/s.

• Version 2.1 - work with cards designed for voltage of 3.3 volts and the presence of appropriate power lines were optional.
• Version 2.2 - expansion cards made in accordance with these standards have a universal power connector key and are able to work in many later varieties of PCI bus slots, and also, in some cases, in version 2.1 slots.
• Version 2.3 - Not compatible with PCI cards designed to use 5 volts, despite continued use of 32-bit 5-volt keyed slots. Expansion cards have universal connector, but are not capable of working in 5-volt slots of earlier versions (up to and including 2.1).
• Version 3.0 - completes the transition to 3.3 volt PCI cards, 5 volt PCI cards are no longer supported.

PCI 64

An extension to the core PCI standard introduced in version 2.1 that doubles the number of data lanes and therefore throughput. The PCI 64 slot is an extended version of the regular PCI slot. Formally, the compatibility of 32-bit cards with 64-bit slots (provided there is a common supported signal voltage) is complete, while the compatibility of a 64-bit card with 32-bit slots is limited (in any case, there will be a performance loss). Operates at a clock frequency of 33 MHz. Peak bandwidth - 266 MB / s.

• Version 1 - uses a 64-bit PCI slot and a voltage of 5 volts.
• Version 2 - uses a 64-bit PCI slot and a voltage of 3.3 volts.

PCI 66

PCI 66 is a 66 MHz evolution of PCI 64; uses a voltage of 3.3 volts in the slot; cards have a universal or 3.3 V form factor. Peak throughput is 533 MB/s.

PCI 64/66

The combination of PCI 64 and PCI 66 allows four times the data transfer rate compared to the base PCI standard; uses 64-bit 3.3-volt slots compatible only with universal ones, and 3.3-volt 32-bit expansion cards. PCI64/66 cards are either universal (but with limited compatibility with 32-bit slots) or 3.3V form factor ( last option fundamentally not compatible with 32-bit 33-MHz slots of popular standards). Peak bandwidth - 533 MB / s.

PCI-X

PCI-X 1.0 is an expansion of the PCI64 bus with the addition of two new operating frequencies, 100 and 133 MHz, as well as a separate transaction mechanism to improve performance when multiple devices are working simultaneously. Generally backwards compatible with all 3.3V and universal PCI cards. PCI-X cards are usually implemented in 64-bit 3.3 format and have limited backward compatibility with PCI64/66 slots, and some PCI-X cards are in universal format and are able to work (although this has almost no practical value) in the usual PCI 2.2/2.3. In difficult cases, in order to be completely confident in the performance of the combination of the motherboard and expansion card, you need to look at the compatibility lists (compatibility lists) of the manufacturers of both devices.

PCI-X 2.0

PCI-X 2.0 - further expansion of PCI-X 1.0 capabilities; frequencies 266 and 533 MHz have been added, as well as parity error correction during data transmission (ECC). Allows splitting into 4 independent 16-bit buses, which is used exclusively in embedded and industrial systems ; the signal voltage is reduced to 1.5 V, but the connectors are backward compatible with all cards using a 3.3 V signal voltage. Currently, for the non-professional segment of the high-performance computer market (powerful workstations and entry level) that use the PCI-X bus, there are very few motherboards that support the bus. An example of a motherboard for this segment is the ASUS P5K WS. In the professional segment, it is used in RAID controllers, in SSD drives for PCI-E.

Mini PCI

Form factor PCI 2.2, intended for use mainly in laptops.

PCI Express

PCI Express, or PCIe, or PCI-E (also known as 3GIO for 3rd Generation I/O; not to be confused with PCI-X and PXI) - computer bus(although it is not a bus at the physical layer, being a point-to-point connection), using programming model PCI bus and high performance physical protocol based on serial communication. The development of the PCI Express standard was started by Intel after the abandonment of the InfiniBand bus. Officially, the first basic PCI Express specification appeared in July 2002. The PCI Express standard is being developed by the PCI Special Interest Group.

Unlike the PCI standard, which used a common bus for data transfer with several devices connected in parallel, PCI Express, in general, is a packet network with star topology. PCI devices Express communicate with each other through a medium formed by switches, with each device directly connected by a point-to-point connection to the switch. In addition, the PCI Express bus supports:

• hot swapping of cards;
• guaranteed bandwidth (QoS);
• energy management;
• integrity control of transmitted data.

The PCI Express bus is intended to be used as a local bus only. Because programming model PCI Express is largely inherited from PCI, then existing systems and controllers can be modified to use the PCI Express bus by replacing only the physical layer, without modification software. The high peak performance of the PCI Express bus allows it to be used instead of AGP buses, and even more so PCI and PCI-X. The de facto PCI Express has replaced these buses in personal computers.

• MiniCard (Mini PCIe) is a replacement for the Mini PCI form factor. Buses are displayed on the Mini Card connector: x1 PCIe, 2.0 and SMBus.
  • M.2 - second Mini version PCIe, up to x4 PCIe and SATA.
• ExpressCard - Similar to the PCMCIA form factor. The x1 PCIe and USB 2.0 buses are output to the ExpressCard connector, ExpressCard cards support hot plugging.
• AdvancedTCA, MicroTCA - form factor for modular telecommunications equipment.
  
• Mobile PCI Express Module (MXM) is an industrial form factor created for laptops by NVIDIA. It is used to connect graphics accelerators.
• Cable specifications PCI Express allow you to bring the length of one connection to tens of meters, which makes it possible to create a computer, peripheral devices which are located at a considerable distance.
  
• StackPC - specification for building stackable computer systems. This specification describes the StackPC , FPE expansion connectors and their relative position.

Despite the fact that the standard allows x32 lines per port, such solutions are physically cumbersome and are not available.

PCI Express 2.0

The PCI-SIG released the PCI Express 2.0 specification on January 15, 2007. Main innovations in PCI Express 2.0:

• Increased throughput: 500 MB/s single line bandwidth, or 5 GT/s ( Gigatransactions/s).
• Improvements have been made to the transfer protocol between devices and the software model.
• Dynamic speed control (to control the speed of communication).
• Bandwidth Alert (to notify software of changes in bus speed and width).
• Access Control Services - Optional point-to-point transaction management capabilities.
• Execution timeout control.
• Reset at the function level - an optional mechanism for resetting functions (eng. PCI functions) inside the device (eng. PCI device).
• Power limit override (to override the slot power limit when connecting devices that consume more power).

PCI Express 2.0 is fully compatible with PCI Express 1.1 (older ones will work in motherboards with new connectors, but only at 2.5GT/s, as older chipsets cannot support double the data rate; new video adapters will work without problems in older PCI Express 1.x standard slots).

PCI Express 2.1

In terms of physical characteristics (speed, connector) it corresponds to 2.0, the software part has added functions that are planned to be fully implemented in version 3.0. Since most motherboards are sold with version 2.0, having only a video card with 2.1 does not allow 2.1 mode to be enabled.

PCI Express 3.0

In November 2010, the PCI Express 3.0 version specifications were approved. The interface has a data transfer rate of 8 GT/s ( Gigatransactions/s). But despite this, its real throughput was still doubled compared to the PCI Express 2.0 standard. This was achieved thanks to the more aggressive 128b/130b encoding scheme, where 128 bits of data sent over the bus are encoded in 130 bits. At the same time, full compatibility with previous versions PCI Express. PCI Express 1.x and 2.x cards will work in slot 3.0 and vice versa, PCI Express 3.0 card will work in slots 1.x and 2.x.

PCI Express 4.0

The PCI Special Interest Group (PCI SIG) has stated that PCI Express 4.0 may be standardized before the end of 2016, but as of mid-2016, when a number of chips were already being manufactured, media reported that standardization is expected in early 2017. It is expected that he will have a bandwidth of 16 GT / s, that is, it will be twice as fast as PCIe 3.0.

Leave your comment!

And PCI-X are slotted connectors having pins with 0.05 inch pitch. The slots are slightly further away from the rear panel than ISA/EISA or MCA. PCI card components are located on the left side of the cards. For this reason, the outermost PCI slot usually shares an adapter slot (a slot on the back of the case) with an adjacent ISA slot. Such a slot is called shared (shared slot), either an ISA card or a PCI card can be installed in it.

PCI cards can be designed for 5 V and 3.3 V level interface signals, and can also be universal. PCI slots have signal levels corresponding to the power supply of motherboard PCI devices (including the main bridge): either 5 V or 3.3 V. To avoid erroneous connection, the slots have switches that determine the voltage rating. The keys are the missing rows of pins 12, 13 and/or 50, 51:

• for a 5 V slot, the key (partition) is located at the site of contacts 50, 51 (closer to the front wall of the case); such slots are abolished in PCI 3.0;
• for a 3.3 V slot, the partition is located at the site of pins 12, 13 (closer to the rear wall of the case);
• there are no partitions on universal slots;
• on the edge connectors of 5 V cards there are reciprocal slots only at the place of contacts 50, 51; such cards are abolished in PCI 2.3;
• on cards 3.3 V slots only at the place of contacts 12, 13;
• universal cards have both keys (two slots).

The keys do not allow you to install the card in a slot with the wrong voltage. Cards and slots differ only in the power supply of the buffer circuits, which comes from the +V I/O lines:

• on the "5V" slot, the +V I/O line is supplied with +5V;
• on the "3.3 V" slot, the +V I/O line is supplied with + (3.3-3.6) V;
• on the "5V" card, the buffer ICs are rated for +5V supply only;
• on the "3.3 V" card, buffer microcircuits are designed only for + (3.3–3.6) V supply;
• on a universal card, buffer chips allow both power options and will normally form and accept signals according to the specifications of 5 or 3.3 V, depending on the type of slot in which the card is installed (that is, on the voltage on the + V I / O pins).

On both types of slots, there are supply voltages of + 3.3, + 5, + 12 and -12 V on the lines of the same name. PCI 2.2 defines an additional 3.3Vaux line - "standby" power + 3.3 V for devices that generate a PME # signal when the main power is off.

NOTE!

The above are from the official PCI specifications. On modern motherboards, slots are most often found that are 5-volt by key. However, the voltage on the +V I/O lines and the levels of the interface signals are 3.3 V. All modern cards with 5V dongles work normally in these slots - their interface circuits work with both 3.3 and 5V power supply. The 5V interface can only operate at a frequency of up to 33 MHz. "Real" 5V motherboards were only for the 486 and early Pentium models.

The most common are 32-bit slots ending with A62/B62 pins. 64-bit slots are rarer, longer, and terminate in A94/B94 pins. The connector design and protocol allow 64-bit cards to be installed in both 64-bit and 32-bit connectors, and vice versa, 34-bit cards in both 32-bit and 64-bit connectors. In this case, the bit depth of the exchange will correspond to the weakest component.

For signaling about the card installation and its power consumption, two pins are provided on the PCI connectors - PRSNT1# and PRSNT2#, at least one of which is connected to the GND bus on the card. With their help, the system can determine the presence of a card in the slot and its power consumption. Power consumption coding is given in the table; here are the values ​​for small-sized Small PCI cards.

PCI-X cards and slots by mechanical keys correspond to 3.3V cards and slots; supply voltage + V I / O for PCI-X Mode 2 is set to 1.5 V.

The figure shows PCI cards in the design of PC / AT-compatible computers. Full-size cards (Long Card, 107x312 mm) are rarely used, shortened cards (Short Card, 107x175 mm) are more commonly used, but many cards also have smaller sizes. The card has a frame (bracket), standard for the ISA construct (earlier there were cards with a frame in the MCA IBM PS/2 style). For low-profile cards (Low Profile), the height does not exceed 64.4 mm; their brackets also have a lower height. Such cards can be mounted vertically in 19-inch 2U high (about 9 cm) cases.

The pin assignment of the PCI/PCI-X card connector is shown in the table below.

Note!

1 - M66EN signal is defined in PCI 2.1 for 3.3V slots only.
2 - Signal introduced in PCI-X 2.0 (previously there was a reserve).
3 - Signal introduced in PCI 2.2 (previously there was a reserve).
4 - The signal is entered in PCI-X (in PCI - GND).
5 - Signals introduced in PCI 2.3. In PCI 2.0 and 2.1 pins A40 (SDONE#) and A41 (SBOFF#) were used for cache snooping; they were released in PCI 2.2 (these circuits were pulled high with 5 kΩ resistors for motherboard compatibility).

The PCI slots have pins for testing adapters via the JTAG interface (TCK, TDI, TDO, TMS and TRST# signals). On the motherboard, these signals are not always used, but they can also organize a logical chain of adapters under test, to which external test equipment can be connected. For chain continuity, a non-JTAG card must have a TDI-TDO link.

Some older motherboards have a Media Bus connector behind one of the PCI slots that outputs ISA signals. It is designed to be placed on PCI card an audio chipset designed for the ISA bus. Most PCI signals are connected in a pure bus topology, i.e. the pins of the same PCI bus slots are electrically connected to each other. There are several exceptions to this rule:

• the REQ# and GNT# signals are individual for each slot, they connect the slot to the arbiter (usually a bridge connecting this bus to the higher one);
• the IDSEL signal for each slot is connected (perhaps through a resistor) to one of the AD lines, setting the device number on the bus;
• INTA#, INTB#, INTC#, INTD# signals are cyclically shifted over the contacts, providing the distribution of interrupt requests;
• the CLK signal is driven to each slot individually from its synchronization buffer output; the length of the lead wires is aligned, ensuring signal synchronism on all slots (for 33 MHz tolerance ± 2 ns, for 66 MHz - ± 1 ns).

When we talk about the PCI Express(PCI-E) bus, perhaps the first thing that distinguishes it from other similar solutions is its efficiency. Thanks to this modern bus, computer performance is increased, graphics quality is improved.

For many years, the PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus was used to connect the video card to the motherboard, in addition, it was also used to connect some other devices, such as a network and sound card.

Here's what those slots look like:

PCI-Express has effectively become the next generation of the PCI bus, offering improved functionality and performance. It uses a serial connection in which there are several lines, each of which leads to the corresponding device, i.e. each peripheral device gets its own line, which increases the overall performance of the computer.

PCI-Express supports "hot" connection, consumes less energy than its predecessors, and controls the integrity of transmitted data. In addition, it is compatible with PCI bus drivers. Another remarkable feature of this bus is its scalability, i.e. pci express card plugs in and works in any slot of equal or greater bandwidth. In all likelihood, this feature will ensure its use in the coming years.

The traditional type of PCI slot was good enough for basic audio/video functions. With the AGP bus, the multimedia data processing scheme has improved, and the quality of the audio/video data has increased accordingly. It wasn't long before advances in microprocessor microarchitecture began to further demonstrate the sluggishness of the PCI bus, which made the fastest and latest computer models at the time literally drag on.

Characteristics and bandwidth of the PCI-E bus

It can have from one bidirectional connection line x1, up to x32 (32 lines). The line functions on a point-to-point basis. Modern versions provide much more bandwidth than their predecessors. x16 can be used to connect a graphics card, while x1 and x2 can be used to connect regular cards.

Here's what x1 and pci express x16 slots look like on:

PCI-E
Number of lines x1 x2 x4 x8 x16 x32
Bandwidth 500 Mb/s 1000 Mb/s 2000 Mb/s 4000 Mb/s 8000 Mb/s 16000 Mb/s

PCI-E versions and compatibility

When it comes to computers, any mention of versions is associated with compatibility issues. And like any other modern technology, PCI-E is constantly being developed and upgraded. The latest available variant is pci express 3.0, but the development of the PCI-E bus version 4.0 is already underway, which should appear around 2015 (pci express 2.0 is almost obsolete).
Take a look at the following PCI-E compatibility table.
PCI-E Versions 3.0 2.0 1.1
Total Bandwidth
(X16) 32Gb/s 16Gb/s 8Gb/s
Data rate 8.0 GT/s 5.0 GT/s 2.5 GT/s

The PCI-E version has no effect on the functionality of the card. The most distinguishing feature of this interface is its forward and backward compatibility, which makes it secure and capable of synchronizing with many card variants, regardless of interface version. That is, you can PCI slot xpress of the first version, insert a map of the second or third version and it will work, albeit with some loss of performance. In the same way, a PCI-E version 3 card can be installed in the PCI-E slot of the first version of PCI-Express. Currently, all modern video cards from NVIDIA and AMD are compatible with such a bus.

And this is for a snack: