What's this here motherboard slot?

July 14, 2008 3:02 PM

It's been a while since I've needed to know anything about the innards of a PC, but I just got a new one (new to me, anyway) at work and my dual-head AGP video card won't work with this machine. Good news is that I get to buy a new video card, the bad news is that I have no idea what to shop for in terms of interface. So, without further ado, can you tell me anything about the long black slot with the blue retaining clip pictured here, as well as the small slot below it? Many thanks, MeFis!
posted by DandyRandy to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

The top slot is a PCI Express x16, and the bottom one is a PCI Express x1.

PCI Express entry on Wikipedia
posted by Lokheed at 3:09 PM on July 14, 2008

Odds are very good that any video card you buy will plug into the PCI Express x16 slot (the longer one).
posted by fvox13 at 3:15 PM on July 14, 2008

The good news is that great PCI Express cards can be had for a very good price. The technology seems to be cheaper this generation. I recently bought the Nvidia 8800 GT with 512MB from NewEgg for $129 after rebate, and it can handle just about anything I throw at it.
posted by Benevolent Space Robot at 4:35 PM on July 14, 2008

If all you need is a dualhead pci-express videocard, you can probably budget $20-$30 for it. Maybe check fatwallet, bensbargains, or techbargains for current deals. I doubt you'd require (for work) anything beyond an ATI/AMD 2400 or Nvidia 8400.

Probably not relevant, but certain amd/nvidia integrated-graphics motherboards will support dual-displays without an add-in card, and triple/quad displays with one..
posted by unmake at 12:00 AM on July 15, 2008

A little off topic, but...

Says the inquirer, all G84 and G86 cards are bad (basically, any 8xxx Nvidia card), and will fail sooner than they should.
posted by Chuckles at 10:01 PM on July 15, 2008