IBM ThinkCentre 8086 Graphics Card Options

[mrsav25]

Hi all

I have just aquired an IBM ThinkCentre 8086 ITX base unit.

Yep it's pretty old but it's busting out a 2.8Ghz P4 and 2Gb of PC3200 RAM so good enough for an internet machine for the front room telly.

I have tested it and all is well apart from videos i.e. Youtube etc. I'm 99% sure this is down the the onboard graphics not keeping up.

I 'think' the PCI slot is standard PCI - not PCI-E...and i'm pretty sure it needs a low profile/half height card due to the *** box size of this thing.

My question is - can anyone confirm what I have stated above i.e. PCI only, Low profile and/or half height?

Also - does anyone know where I can find an affordable PCI Video card at half height? Seems noone sells them? This has been free up to now so don't want to spend too much...

Thanks

 

[Wolfshadw]

According to the specs I found here, you are correct in that it has a PCI (not PCI-E) slot available and it requires a half-height (low profile) card.

What has me worried is that it only has the one expansion slot. There are a lot PCI, Low Profile Ready cards available (Normal Height with additional low profile brackets), but we'd need to know what connection port you need to use connecting this to your TV. Also, given that PCI is no longer the standard, expect to pay a premium.

At Newegg.com, use the advanced search to narrow your results by selecting PCI as the interface. Most of the cards listed there are low profile ready.

-Wolf sends

 

[mrsav25]

Thanks for that link - I guess being from the UK i get a different set of results/stores.

I can either go for DVI or HDMI. I can go VGA too on my TV but I think I want to move on from VGA.

It's annoying how out dated products seem to always go for a premium. Makes no sense, yet it does at the same time - weird.

 

[Wolfshadw]

If you're ready to go with a digital connection (DVI/HDMI) then you can pretty much just search for "Low Profile Ready" cards. Unfortunately, I don't know how prevalent these old cards are across the pond.

-Wolf sends

 

[mrsav25]

Yeah none available in the UK. Newegg do a couple but they wont ship internationally, plus they're about $80-90 which isn't worth it in the long run.

I think i'll just keep this as an internet only machine....

 

[hang-the-9]

I don't think you need a half-height card, if you look at it, the PCI slot is on a riser off the motherboard, and the slot on the case is wide enough for a full size card. You may need to watch how deep it is though.

Check the used market for a card, a new one would be about 3-4 times what it actually should cost.