this defective pci-e extender ok to use?

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WhiteFireDragon

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 16, 2009
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i think i just got a lemon pci-e 1x from hong kong. certain pins seem to be bad, so i'm wondering if these certain pins are crucial to the functionality of this extender. i looked at wikipedia for the pci-e pinouts, and i boxed the pins that are defective in red:

missingpins.png


basically there are two 3.3v and two ground pins gone. since the most important power line is the 12v line, and also since there is still one functinal 3.3v line, would it be ok to not have the two missing 3.3v lines? and also the grounds aren't that important, and since there are plenty other ground leads, two missing grounds should be fine, right?
 
I'm no EE, and I wouldn't gamble with any hardware that is more than the cost of the PCI-E extender.
 
I AM an EE and I wouldn't hook that up. If you have bad pins, you don't know what ELSE is bad. just not a good idea. I don't know enough about the PCI-e x1 to know if it could still work, but I just wouldn't do it.
 
Hmm, I'd say voltage and ground pins are equally important. I wouldn't risk it unless you hate the videocard.
 
Ground pins aren't such a big deal, 3.3v ones are. Especially the bus pins. I bet it just won't work. No chance of killing anything... But little chance of it working IMHO.
 
WhiteFireDragon said:
basically there are two 3.3v and two ground pins gone. since the most important power line is the 12v line, and also since there is still one functinal 3.3v line, would it be ok to not have the two missing 3.3v lines? and also the grounds aren't that important, and since there are plenty other ground leads, two missing grounds should be fine, right?
Click to expand...
The Vdd and ground pins are almost certainly joined on the expansion card. My biggest concern is that the PCIe CEM only specs the pins to 1.1A each; x1 cards are limited to 10 or 25W depending on their class though. I think it is pretty safe and would try it.
 
Flyinfinni said:
I guess the real question is how are the pins defective?
Click to expand...

he said in the OP that they are mising.

i am not an EE, but im super smart and i say it was meant to be that way. just because there are a certain number of pins possible doesnt mean that theyre all used. single link dvi, for example, doesnt use all the pins in the dvi spec. you cant kill anything by giving it too much power since if anything youre not giving it enough power by missing two 3V wires. if it needs those 3V wires, it simply wont work. and since those two missing grounds are undoubtedly grounds corresponding to the two 3V wires you wont be short on grounds either. i say go for it. please point out if my logic is flawed EEs. :D
 
I am a EE, and I wouldn't use it. Although its my belief that it wouldn't KILL your card. It could result in some really funky performance, say artifacting.

Having those pins missing rather than defective is probably better, as you aren't getting short circuits or anything. But anything trying to draw power or more importantly drain power (closing circuit) from those missing pins will malfunction. Worst case it might blow a capacitor.

Not knowing exact specifications and requirements for video card and pcie, i'd say you should find out for sure before you try to use it. but as it stands right now, I wouldn't bet my lunch on it working.
 
Ahh- missing pins probably won't harm anything then- I thought he was talking about defective pins which COULD cause problems. However, just missing pins shouldn't hurt. It may or may not work, but its unlikely to damage anything.
 
yeah most likely theyre "missing" because theyre extraneous. usually machines dont just forget to put a couple pins in. :)
 
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