Sound card for a Dell PowerEdge SC440?

October 15, 2008 7:37 AM

Sound card for a Dell PowerEdge SC440?

I have a Dell PowerEdge SC440 which is a server so does not have standard desktop slot connections. I'd like to add a sound card to it. Dell said that they don't offer them. Does anyone know where I can get one that would fit? I understand that it would not be validated for this computer by Dell.

posted by hokie409 to computers & internet (3 comments total)

Could you just get a USB sound card? There are plenty available.
posted by jtfowl0 at 7:42 AM on October 15, 2008

according to the manual, you have bog-standard PCI-Express and 32-bit PCI slots in your machine. so buy a PCI-Express or PCI sound card that's supported in your OS and shove it in there.
posted by mrg at 7:47 AM on October 15, 2008

Seconding mrg: there's no difference between "server" and "desktop" internal expansion slots, beyond just the various types of expansion-slot options (PCI, PCI-X, PCI Express, &c.).

Unless you are looking for a high-end multichannel card, there is really no need for the bandwidth of PCI Express, so I would just get a 32-bit PCI card of your choice. They are quite cheap these days and well-supported on most OSes.

The exception would be if you have something else on the PCI bus that you wouldn't want competing for bandwidth (an add-on GigE PCI card, f'instance, takes up pretty much all the bandwidth of the bus). Then I'd look at PCI Express.

The only other argument for going with PCI Express over PCI is that it would be more likely to work in a future computer, since many systems are being made now without regular PCI slots. However, I would only take this into consideration if you are planning on upgrading in the immediate future (6-9 mos., max) since otherwise you'll just be paying more than you have to for the card.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:54 PM on October 15, 2008