MSI orange PCI slot

[the FooL]

So I'm contemplating upgrading to a PCI-E board and was looking for some that offered 3 PCI buses even when I use a 2slot cooling solution for my vid card.

I looked at the MSI Neo4 Platinum (non-SLI) and noticed it seemed to have 4 PCI slots.
However, the orange one is marked as a reserved for communications slot.

Can anyone explain this?
All the reviews I found didn't offer any insite and I don't see an accessories on MSI's web site that fit here.

Thanks.

 

[FelixDeCat]

I believe its for a CNR Modem. Basically its a software driven (aka winmodem) dialup modem which you have to buy separtely.

Back in the day when people used modems, you would avoid a software modem and use one thats driven by the hardware itself without being in system memory.

 

[MikeyC]

Yup ^^^

I think it's called a "communications network riser" or something like that. When mobo manufacturers get the specs for a chipset from Intel or AMD, they can decide what legacy components get put in/taken out. I'm guessing they do market research to see what demographic would fit their products the best, and if they determine that a majority of people still use these components, they get put in. Sort of like how most mobo's still have serial and ps2 ports--I can't tell you the last time I've used mine--it also helps when you can list more compatibility with hardware on the spec sheet.

So it's just best to ignore it in your case I think; it won't affect the overall performance of the board at all.

 

[the FooL]

Thanks for the replies.
I guess it's similar to the WiFi riser that Asus had in some of their MBs.

I'm guessing then I couldn't put in my TV tuner card or a soundcard there.
My only gripe is that with the layout of the board... I still won't be able to use 3 PCI slots, since any 2-slot cooling solution will block the 3rd true PCI slot.

 

[pkrush]

It's actually the same as a regular PCI slot, it just has better voltage regulation and is set up in the BIOS with its own IRQ. I had an old sound card in the orange slot on my Neo4-F, and it worked fine. However, the MSI wireless card only works in the orange slot.

 

[chilled]

Originally posted by: pkrush
It's actually the same as a regular PCI slot, it just has better voltage regulation and is set up in the BIOS with its own IRQ. I had an old sound card in the orange slot on my Neo4-F, and it worked fine. However, the MSI wireless card only works in the orange slot.

QFT

 

[n7]

Yeah apparently it works for everything.

 

[Shmalls]

Originally posted by: pkrush
It's actually the same as a regular PCI slot, it just has better voltage regulation and is set up in the BIOS with its own IRQ. I had an old sound card in the orange slot on my Neo4-F, and it worked fine. However, the MSI wireless card only works in the orange slot.

Same here, you can use that slot for anything if you want ( anything PCi anyway)

 

[Aluvus]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
I believe its for a CNR Modem. Basically its a software driven (aka winmodem) dialup modem which you have to buy separtely.

Back in the day when people used modems, you would avoid a software modem and use one thats driven by the hardware itself without being in system memory.

CNR slots are available almost exclusively on OEM boards (think HP, Dell). They are typically used for combination modem/sound card/sometimes other things cards.

Software modems are fine enough these days (for some people, dialup modems are not a "back in the day" thing), provided you're running Windows, because the drain they put on system resources is pretty small. They're also incredibly cheap.

 

[the FooL]

Thanks for the responses.
Guess the MSI Neo4 is what I'll look into if I decide that I don't want to wait for the AM2 boards.