PCI Express Half Mini Card Slot - Graphics Card?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

sardinesrule

Honorable
Dec 19, 2012
18
0
10,510
I'm looking to put a graphics card in my PCI Express Half Mini Card slot.
I have 2 of these, and I'm not sure if I could put a graphics card into it.
Is that possible?
I've been looking around on Newegg, and if this is possible, what type of PCI express would it be?
PCI
PCI Express 3.0 x16
PCI Express 2.1 x16
PCI Express 2.0 x16
PCI Express x16
More
PCI Express x1
PCI Express 2.0
PCI Express 2.1
PCI Express 3.0
Here are my detailed system specifications:
http://support.lenovo.com/en_PH/product-and-parts/detail.page?DocID=PD015731
I understand that this is a laptop, but I figure that since I have the slot, I might as well use it.
Also, I want to game...

Thanks for the help
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
There are no graphics cards that can fit such a slot. A common use of those slots in a laptop is for wifi cards, or cellular broadband cards or bluetooth cards. Video cards (even laptop ones) would be much too big for the space provided there.

Most laptops can't take a separate video card (when they can the connector is called MXM)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ah. I see.
However, the exact same laptop can somehow have an AMD Radeon HD 6630M...I suppose the manufacturer had some sort of part in that.
However, my laptop has a "switchable graphics driver", which leads me to believe that you could possibly add a graphics card?(http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS014099)
So, is it possible to add a video card to this laptop?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Only laptops made for gaming have a separate slot for a video card. The vast majority of laptops don't. Modern laptop CPUs include onboard video chips and if the laptop has a Geforce or Radeon card it's usually built into the board.

Switchable graphics doesn't imply the availability of a sloit: laptops that come with it can include the second GPU built into the board as well.

What does it say in your Device Manager? Go to Computer, click System Properties at the top of that page and select Device Manager from the left-hand side bar. Look under "Display Adapters." If you have switchable graphics you'll see two entries there (Intel HD plus another). The switchable graphics is designed to run the basic integrated graphics most of the time and switch to the higher end card when a game is launched.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I believe your laptop has an ExpressCard slot... Try this -> http://www.techradar.com/us/news/computing-components/graphics-cards/how-to-make-an-external-laptop-graphics-adaptor-915616

Or this -> http://lifehacker.com/5851902/turn-a-low+powered-laptop-into-a-gaming-machine-with-an-external-video-card-dock

I'm pretty sure that the ExpressCard slot on your laptop is PCI Express x1 so, you will have very limited bandwidth and it really isn't worth the hassle or expense for the graphics "boost" you'd get.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ah.
Sorry to keep persisting and bothering you, but in my device manager, while looking through, it states that I have a PCI bus.
Since I have this, could I add a graphics card?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
@jeuxbluex, I noticed that you said something about the ExpressCard slot.
If it's PCI Express x1, could I somehow add a PCI Express x1 into the slot, or is it too large?
I'm not liking the idea of external graphics cards that much...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


Just to clarify on this a bit:

The PCExpressCard Slot has the equivalent bandwidth of a PCI-Ex1 slot. Basically, that means data can transfer from the system to the card installed in the PCExpressCard slot at the same speed and quantity as a discrete card installed in a desktop's PCI-Ex1 slot. It does not mean you can directly connect a PCI-Ex1 card. As VRumor states, your only option is an external one.

-Wolf sends
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom