graphics card - Dell Vostro 3550 have a PCIE or MPCIE or MXM slot?

07
2014-07
  • Powermaniac

    So I was wondering if the Dell Vostro 3550 has a PCIE or MPCIE or MXM slot that I could swap out the current component using it and replace it with a gpu? I've tried looking at service manual's and the motherboard to see if it has but can't quite identify one way or the other.

    Anyway any information would be appreciated.

    Thank you.

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    performance - How can I differentiate between the unmarked PCIE slots on my motherboard?
  • Giffyguy

    The motherboard in question is the ASUS P5MT-M Micro ATX

    The following image shows a couple sections of information taken from the official ASUS manual for this motherboard, along with an image of the entire motherboard taken from the ASUS website. (The motherboard in the image is REV:1.01, whereas mine is REV:1.03 - I don't think this matters too much for the question at hand.)

    The PCIE slots are not identical - one has an x8 link and one has an x4 link. However, they are both x8 size to make this micro motherboard slightly more robust. They appear identical visually - and as you can see from the image of the motherboard, every square millimeter of this motherboard is crammed with a chip or a capacitor or something. There's absolutely no room for component labels - or anything helpful at all, really.

    What I need to figure out is which one of the PCIE slots is x8 and which one is x4 - in order to maximize performance of PCIE expansion cards. I have provided a link to the most recent official manual from ASUS - but I can't find anything in there that says which slot is which. Does anyone know where this information might be found, or how I might figure it out for myself?

    enter image description here


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  • 8088

    Without powering up the system, you can most likely tell from visual inspection which slot is x8 and which is x4. Each PCIe pair of traces (differential pair) has two series capacitors (AC coupling capacitors). The capacitors will be lined up on the top and/or bottom in pairs parallel to the long edge of the slot starting closest to the interior of the board. Given that the manufacturer won't populate the capacitors on the unused traces to save money, you'll see 4 pairs of capacitors for a x4 slot and 8 pairs of capacitors for a x8 slot.

    Here is a picture of the an example CAD layout of one set I found through a Google image search. The rectangular pads are where the capacitors would be populated:

    alt text

    You can easily see the AC coupling capacitors on either side of the top slot in this picture:

    alt text

  • EvilChookie

    I'm willing to bet that the topmost card is the x8 link. Motherboard manufacturers will typically place the fastest or highest performance slot at the top, closest to the board.

  • JFV

    You can always check CPU-Z to tell you which is which. Or you can use SIW.

    Both of them should give you a good look at your board. I think that SIW should be better thatn CPU-Z.

    -JFV