ATI Radeon 9500 Video Card too long for slot on motherboard - help?
February 22nd, 2008
free2smile_04 asked:
I bought my computer in the fall of 2006, directly from Dell. I purchased an ATI Radeon 9500 video card to add to it (all it had was an Intel Graphics Controller). My motherboard has two PCI-e slots, which match up with the ATI card, with one exception - the ATI video card is too long, so the PCI-e slot does not align properly with the video card. Is this a peculiarity to Dell computers, maybe they make them so they can only use Dell components? Or are there actually different lengths of video cards? What am I missing here?
According to the link you gave me, and to the instruction manual that came with the ATI card, it is definitely a PCI slot on the motherboard. However, you may be right that the video card is an AGP card instead of PCI. I will have to check. Thank you!
Thank you, Antonio, for giving me respect. It looks like the other responder was correct, however - the video card I purchased was AGP, not PCIe, and my computer has PCIe slots. Thank you all for all your help - I am learning as I go.
But Antonio was also correct in that my Dell is “shallow” and needs a shorter card. Thanks for the links!
Sequim PC
I bought my computer in the fall of 2006, directly from Dell. I purchased an ATI Radeon 9500 video card to add to it (all it had was an Intel Graphics Controller). My motherboard has two PCI-e slots, which match up with the ATI card, with one exception - the ATI video card is too long, so the PCI-e slot does not align properly with the video card. Is this a peculiarity to Dell computers, maybe they make them so they can only use Dell components? Or are there actually different lengths of video cards? What am I missing here?
According to the link you gave me, and to the instruction manual that came with the ATI card, it is definitely a PCI slot on the motherboard. However, you may be right that the video card is an AGP card instead of PCI. I will have to check. Thank you!
Thank you, Antonio, for giving me respect. It looks like the other responder was correct, however - the video card I purchased was AGP, not PCIe, and my computer has PCIe slots. Thank you all for all your help - I am learning as I go.
But Antonio was also correct in that my Dell is “shallow” and needs a shorter card. Thanks for the links!
Sequim PC
Are you sure it isn’t an AGP slot ?
are you trying to put the graphics card into a AGP slot or a PCI slot. AGP slots are brown in color and pushed back from the edge of the motherboard by about 2 inches, and are sometime accompanied by a second, smaller slot directly behind it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port). a PCI slot is white and just off the edge of the motherboard. make sure you have the right type of card for the slot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_Component_Interconnect).
Read the ATI box and ensure that it is a PCI-e card.
Then, check Dell’s site again to ensure that your Motherboard does have EITHER an AGP or a PCI-e slot.
If the card is PCI-e AND the slot is too, then they will fit.
My guess is your MoBo has an AGP slot. If so, you’ll have to exchange the ATI for an AGP version.
Check this Picture
you’ll find the difference , youre probably trying to insert a pcie 16x graphic card into an agp
good luck
I won’t patronize you by asking if you have the right card/slot, you sound tech savvy enough to know the difference.
Some Dell boxes are shallow, and this is why your card/s won’t fit.
Contact Dell for a list of compatible cards, eBay list cards that will fit in Dell boxes like yours.
This is an example of a card spec-ed for a shallow Dell box: