CAN YOU VISUALLY TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PCI AND PCI-E SLOTS?

I’m trying to get a graphics card, but im not sure if my PC has pcie…please help!

Hope this helps…

http://www.geeks.com/techtips/2006/techtips-24sept06.htm

The quick and dirty…

http://img414.imageshack.us/img414/4941/800pxpciexpresswa4.jpg

The top 4 slots are types of PCI-E (4x, 16x, 1x, 16x). The bottom one is regular PCI. They are very different.

EDIT: Sometimes they actually label them on the board.

Wow, I’ve never seen a standard PCI slot in any color other than white.

Really? Here’s one of my mobos from Biostar. Green and orange.

http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/7340/biotforcelf9.jpg

Schweet!

What kind of processor is that board for? And what would you use the small 1x and 4x pci slots for?

Small PCI slots can be used for gigabit ethernet and other peripherals.

http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/7166/nyr56vh4.jpg
Wow, UserID=4644, join date Aug 2 2004, this is only the second post. That’s some good lurking. Makes me kind of wonder what nyr56’s other post was.

Good question. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a reply.

Try this Belarc advisor It will give you a detailed report of your computer system.

unless he’s figured out some way around the system… i only show him as having one post:

http://www.jqubed.com/images/pwa/nyr56.gif

Socket 939… AMD Athlon 64s and Sempron.

Oh . . . well, I recognize AMD Athlon . . .

Socket 939 is just the pin configuration on the back of the processor. It’s an AMD specification and it fits Athlon 64s, Opterons and Semprons. Socket A is the older Athlons and Athlon XPs. Socket 775 (T) is Pentium 4s, Ds and such… It’s not so complicated. :slight_smile:

Thanks; that’s useful info. Do you prefer AMD over Intel? Why/not?

I always buy AMD. It’s less expensive with comparable, if not better, performance and reliability. Intel really only wins out if you want the very latest, fastest processor for gaming and such and price isn’t an issue. Even then you can get an AMD for less that will do the job. I think they’re more open to overclocking and you can get nice mobos for them for little money as well.

It’s not like they’re cheap, crappy processors. I think they’re as good if not better than Intel. They just don’t charge you as outrageously for the name. I probably wouldn’t be able to build as many computers and buy as much hardware for them as I do without AMD processors.

There are nitty gritty structural differences in their architecture as well, but we don’t really need to get into that. In the end someone may say, well this has this so it’s better, but you’d probably never even notice it in performance which is what counts. People could, and do, make a case for Intel, but I personally don’t need 'em.

I’ve heard they run hotter than Intel . . . is that true?

I think they do, but I’ve also heard they can handle more heat. Regardless, you almost always want to install an aftermarket heatsink/cooling system and correctly applied thermal paste whenever you build a computer, so it’s not really an issue. Zalman is a good company. I think it would only be a problem if you overclock or run it very hard for extended periods of time with bad air flow, blocked vents and a crappy cooling system. If you’re building a computer and you don’t pay attention to those things, it’s your own fault and you should be buying an Intel from Dell anyway. I’ve never even remotely had a problem with heat on an AMD.

EDIT: On another note, AMDs generally use a lower wattage. Added bonus.

I’ve never heard of using thermal paste. What is it and where is generally applied?