DELL XPS Gen 4 PCI-E and PCI Connectors Usage

[davehour]

Hi guys,

I have an old Dell XPS Gen 4 gaming pc.The motherboard has one PCI-E X16 connector, 4 PCI connectors, and one PCI-E X1 connector.

I once upgraded the graphic card to a GeForce 9800GT. The sound card came installed in PCI connector 2, but I would like to move it to PCI connector 3 so the GeForce fan has more room between both cards, which now is practically none.

Will moving the sound card to PCI connector 3 affect the performance of the graphic card?

Thanks in advance.

David

 

[Ubrales]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware Forums!

Go ahead and make the change; the performance of the graphics card will not be affected.

 

[davehour]

Hey, that was fast. Thank you very much.

I'm planning on taking a computer course in a distant learning school, CIE (Cleveland Institute of Electronics) to gain some good knowledge of computers. I admire you guys. You got some real knowledge.

 

[Ubrales]

Hey, that was fast. Thank you very much.

I'm planning on taking a computer course in a distant learning school, CIE (Cleveland Institute of Electronics) to gain some good knowledge of computers. I admire you guys. You got some real knowledge.

Thank you on behalf of Tom's!

Start here at Tom's; follow some threads and you will definitely build on your strengths and weaknesses. Why pay CIE right away? There are some great guides and tutorials here.

After you gain some insights here, decide which path to pursue.

 

[davehour]

Ok, sounds it's the way to go.

The machine has XP. I'm planning on installing Win 7. Is this desirable, or should I go straight to Win 8?

Later or sooner, I'm going to buy a new pc but this system still working well for what I do.

 

[davehour]

The machine has 2G of RAM. It had 3G but I had to remove the two 512MB modules as they were causing booting problems.

 

[Ubrales]

Windows 8 Pro (or 8.1 Pro) upgrade will be cheaper if you shop around and look for sales. I have seen it for as low as $80 at TigerDirect. Newer Windows OS have better security features. This is another reason to go with Win 8.

My one concern is that Win 8 needs 2 GBs of system RAM and that is the minimum. 4 GBs will be desirable. Check your motherboard specs to determine the RAM specs so that you can add some RAM.

When you go to Win 8 get the 64-bit version. The upgrade package comes with both versions DVDs; 32-bit as well as the 64-bit versions.

I have Win 8.1 Pro on a laptop as well as on one desktop. We are comfortable with the new look and features. After months of use I decided to download and install "Classic Shell" - what this does is to make it look exactly like Win 7 with the 'Start' button, Start Menu, and all. One click takes me to Win 8.1.

For your information, Newegg has a "Student" offer for Win 8 upgrade for $40. All you need is a valid ".edu" email address to complete the purchase. Look into this offer. Perfect for $40!

 

[davehour]

My system can go up to 4G of RAM. I can upgrade to Win 8, and if all goes well, I can raise the RAM to 4G.

Thanks for the information!

 

[Ubrales]

My system can go up to 4G of RAM. I can upgrade to Win 8, and if all goes well, I can raise the RAM to 4G.

Thanks for the information!

Yes that will work well! Look into the student $40 offer!