Why are all graphics card, lan card and sound card facing down ?

[Evo7]

As above

 

[dowxp]

gravity?

 

[Evo7]

Some people told me it is because of dust. Is it ?

 

[dowxp]

well, i guess its the most efficent way, i couldnt see it any other way

 

[Pariah]

Probably so people wouldn't try installing them in ISA slots which face up.

 

[Elledan]

I don't know why this is, but I do know that without a small mirror, it's impossible to check the chipset on a PCI/AGP card without taking it out of its slot.

I doubt that PCI/AGP cards are facing downwards because ISA cards face upwards. I still must see the first guy who can properly fit an ISA card in a PCI/AGP slot

 

[Wah]

a lot of computers used to sit with the mobo facing up, so the pci card faced left.

 

[randomlinh]

Elledan, i don't think you want to really know if someone has been able to do that

 

[Oyeve]

Pariah is correct. When PCI first hit the scene, ISA was still the dominant interface. Now, we know there are a LOT of stupid people out there who would try and put this in an ISA slot, so pci was flipped.

 

[InFecTed]

Dust is the reason why it faces down, this ISA-PCI idea just makes me laugh

 

[Eug]

<< Dust is the reason why it faces down, this ISA-PCI idea just makes me laugh >>

Well for one thing, when PCI was introduced a large number of computers were true desktops still so I don't think the dust idea holds water.

Furthermore, last month I was using a face up video card. Last year I was using a face up LAN card. And the year before that I was using a face up sound card. All ISA of course.

 

[TheOddball]

<<<this ISA-PCI idea just makes me laugh>>>

You obviously were not around PC's when PCI standard came around, I have heard pc techs at the time tell customers that pci cards would fit in isa slots - i even bought a sound card (Reveal Sound Blaster 16 - reveal is out of business) that tells you, you can use isa or pci slots to put the card in.

people really were that dumb...

 

[CTho9305]

it is stupid though now...heat-wise it would be better for them to face up

 

[Jvolm]

<<I doubt that PCI/AGP cards are facing downwards because ISA cards face upwards. I still must see the first guy who can properly fit an ISA card in a PCI/AGP slot >>

I think I have met him. And he called me to help him fix his computer.

 

[Mamapajama]

<Now, we know there are a LOT of stupid people out there who would try and put this in an ISA slot, so pci was flipped. >

heheheh..

 

[Mamapajama]

Actually, I might have a reason for them being pointed down... in my system, I have a system cooler thats sucks in air.. a big fan really that takes up a space over the PCI slot but not IN it. The fan is faces upward so I put it right beneath my vid. card - there is about literally a cm or so of space between the chip of my card and the fan. Now I know.. if the card were to face UP.. then they could've made the system cooler face DOWN to cover the same effect.. but who's to say?

 

[SCSIRAID]

The reason PCI and ISA are inverted as to component sides is to allow shared PCI/ISA slots. The slot to slot spacing is the same for both standards and shared slots PCI/ISA in the same slot space requires the cards to be mirror images. If you wanted a PCI card and an ISA card to be positioned side by side in the same system it could only be done if the component side of the boards were opposite.

 

[Pariah]

Dust and heat issues didn't have anything to do with the orientation change. PCI was released back in 1993, pre original Pentium. Heat was never an issue with 486 systems, like it is today with 1.5GHZ CPU's and oven hot Voodoo5's. CPU's didn't have fans on them and no expansion cards including video cards even had heat sinks on them let alone hsf combos. My first PCI video card had no heatsink on it either. So to say they flipped the cards over to prevent dust collecting and heating the cards is pretty ridiculous. It's even more absurd when you consider heat rises, so putting the chip under the card means all the heat is trapped under the card instead of allowing it to escape up.

 

[TunaBoo]

<< The reason PCI and ISA are inverted as to component sides is to allow shared PCI/ISA slots. The slot to slot spacing is the same for both standards and shared slots PCI/ISA in the same slot space requires the cards to be mirror images. If you wanted a PCI card and an ISA card to be positioned side by side in the same system it could only be done if the component side of the boards were opposite. >>



You sir, are correct.

Also, which way do PCI and AGP cards face in WTAX (the server config? I think its WTX ro WTAX).

 

[Pariah]

&quot;Also, which way do PCI and AGP cards face in WTAX (the server config? I think its WTX ro WTAX).&quot;

The same way the face in other systems, down.

 

[lugurbrious]

maybe it's because the specification was designed in the southern hemisphere, in which case they are really pointing up *g* ))

Karl

(yes, the shared isa/pci slot thing makes the most sense...but most of us forgot that since a lot of us have mobo's which don't have a (shared) ISA slot anymore).

 

[LukFilm]

I've seen it myself. Someone was upgrading his ISA video by sticking a new PCI card in there. I almost peed my pants when I saw it stuck in there

 

[NeoMadHatter]

why not? maybe the engineers got bored, and said &quot;hey, wouldn't it be cool if we made them face each other...&quot;