What slots are these?

[cclloyd9785]

My brother brought home a computer that his college was going to trash, and there's no model printed anywhere on it.

What slots are those available?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

If you get out your flashlight and glasses, you certainly should be able to see a manufacturer's name somewhere on that motherboard.

From left to right, those slots look like PCI Express x 16, PCI Express x 1, conventional PCI, conventional PCI.

 

[Kipper]

Have to agree with ignatzatsonic on the slots.

If it was a candidate for the trash do you know what is wrong with it? You will find the manufacturer on the board somewhere or at least a model number on the board and perhaps the make and model of the system and with that we can chase down the specs of the board.

A couple more pics, close ups of the entire board will show if the board as any capacitors bulging or leaking.

 

[karlsnooks]

Agree with all advice.
Get yourself a bright light to shine on the board.
Get yourself a magnifying glass.
Google the cryptic info you find.

You might want to ask your brother why the college wanted to trash the board.

 

[cclloyd9785]

They were trashing the towers cause they were upgrading to macs. The weird thing is they did it early cause these are prefectly good computers. Easily run modern apps, but not by any means a gaming computer. Basically the same specs as my laptop.

 

[Layback Bear]

Going to Mac systems is not a upgrade.

 

[karlsnooks]

+ 1

 

[DeaconFrost]

Going to Mac systems is not a upgrade.

I have to agree, especially if this college plans on educating students for the business world.

 

[whs]

This college must have a lot of money to waste. Someone should audit their books and cut their budget. "Upgrading" to Macs is hilarious.

 

[Kipper]

Come on guys, be nice. Macs are great, I have a 6 year old 13 inch MacBook that is rock solid and the best thing about it is "bootcamp" so I can run windows on it.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Come on guys, be nice. Macs are great, I have a 6 year old 13 inch MacBook that is rock solid and the best thing about it is "bootcamp" so I can run windows on it.

Thanks for proving our point. Why pay the Apple tax to run Windows? I always have to laugh when someone pretends their Mac is more durable. You do know they are built in the same factories as Dell, HP, etc, right? Do you realize that "under the hood", they are identical to a PC laptop, yet can often cost more than double?

When you apply common sense to the situation, you soon realize there's no way to justify an Apple computer purchase, aside from the "image" factor.

Now, in keeping with common sense, a college's job is to prepare students for the business world. Many of these students will often leave these colleges and find a Dell on their desk at their first job.

 

[karlsnooks]

The real business world is NOT MAC.

How many enterprises have networked MAC systems?

Last stats I saw, MAC is still < 5% of the computer world.

A positive is that now with Office being available on the MAC then the kids are learning to use PowerPoint and Word.

 

[Kipper]

I have a friend who is the number one Apple Fan boy, has to have the latest apple has to offer and why I will never know. This guy cannot even send a reply to an email. Every time we hit the road on the Harleys I have to show him how to work his Ipad; once he gets it turned on he becomes lost.

He gave me the MacBook for helping him setup his new Iphone and the Pad. Like I said the first thing I did was change out the 60GB hard drive and put on Snow Leopard and get windows on it so I can do what I do with it. LOL

 

[UnknownReverent]

Mac's really aren't bad. Overpriced, yes... but they do have some nice features. The fact that you have way much less of a chance for a virus is helpful. They're good for editing and web design. It's not good for gaming, but there are some uses to it. The price you have to pay for one is ridiculous though.

 

[essenbe]

I thought upgrsding to a Mac was an oxymoron. As for the slots, maybe this will help.

 

[cclloyd9785]

It was actually cause the computers in the room they're replacing them in was becoming an apple developer classroom.

 

[Skylais]

Come on guys, be nice. Macs are great, I have a 6 year old 13 inch MacBook that is rock solid and the best thing about it is "bootcamp" so I can run windows on it.

So you can run windows on it

 

[alphanumeric]

I would say the long black slot is a PCIe (express) x16, usually used for a PCIe video card. The short black slot a PCIe x1, usually used for a PCIe sound card or WIFI card. And the two white slots are for regular PCI interface cards.

 

[DeaconFrost]

Mac's really aren't bad. Overpriced, yes... but they do have some nice features. The fact that you have way much less of a chance for a virus is helpful. They're good for editing and web design. It's not good for gaming, but there are some uses to it. The price you have to pay for one is ridiculous though.

What features do they have that aren't available on the PC side? All of the same top quality software is available for both platforms, such as Adobe Suites. The fear over malware is very misleading. Most Mac users don't even run AV software, and Apple insists there's no need. So how would a person know they were infected...or even dodged an infection? Now, on the flip side, there are excellent free tools on the PC side that will keep you clean. Add that to common sense usage, and you can nearly guarantee a PC to be virus-free (with proof). It is ridiculously easy to keep a PC malware free. If you don't believe me, start a thread asking people to post how often they get infected, or how long it's been.

As for the cost, that's reason enough to avoid them like the plague. Why anyone would pay extra for identical hardware that's in a 6-9 month old PC blows my mind. Apple doesn't get the high end procs first. They are always lagging behind what's available on the PC side.

My point is, there's no way to actually justify an Apple purchase, aside from admitting your paying more for a status symbol.

 

[Dwarf]

If you look closely at the image, the board is a Foxconn G33MO2, and is the OEM motherboard for several Dell models. From l-r, the slots are: PCI-E x16, PCI-E x1, and 2x PCI.