StarTech PCI express to PCI adapter works in my X1000

AmigaOne X1000 platform specific issues.
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mbrantley
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StarTech PCI express to PCI adapter works in my X1000

Post by mbrantley »

I bought a StarTech PCI Express to PCI adapter from Amazon and I'm happy to report it works well in my X1000. I am using it for the small PCI ethernet card (large PCI cards won't work with this adapter probably just because of their size), and the ethernet card is totally functional with no additional drivers required.

This frees a legacy PCI slot in my X1000 so that I may install either my CatWeasel Mark IV or my ATI Radeon 9250 graphics card and still have sound and ethernet under the present arrangement.

The model number for this StarTech adapter is PEX1PCI1, and the cost was around $50 US. I see the price fluctuates daily on Amazon as well as the affiliate selling the card.

Trevor made me a tad nervous when he commented in another thread that he got an adapter that looked too dodgy to install in his X1000. But my particular sample of the StarTech product looked good under close inspection. I took a deep breath, plugged it all in, powered on and was soon learning that it worked as advertised. I'm hoping Trevor had a completely different brand of PCI adapter.
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Re: StarTech PCI express to PCI adapter works in my X1000

Post by trevordick »

Good to hear it's working for you. My adapter was also from Amazon and was a cheap (<$30) unamed generic brand.

Trevor

ps you are a braver man that me ;-)
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Re: StarTech PCI express to PCI adapter works in my X1000

Post by mbrantley »

trevordick wrote:ps you are a braver man that me ;-)
Haha! No way. You are the bravest man in all the Amigaland. :-)
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Re: StarTech PCI express to PCI adapter works in my X1000

Post by trevordick »

mbrantley wrote:Haha! No way. You are the bravest man in all the Amigaland. :-)
OK, I took your lead! ;-)

The adapter was too small/weak for the 9250 card so I used it to install the PCI Ethernet card on a PCIe socket. Ive now installed the 9250 in the PCI slot that was freed up. All working OK. :-)

Trevor
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Re: StarTech PCI express to PCI adapter works in my X1000

Post by Epsilon »

Fantastic idea guys - sounds like a great solution for my X1000 too!

I tried to buy it via Amazon link you provided but they refuse to ship the item to Australia :-(

All is not lost - I found a similar one on Ebay instead and bought that (AUD$22 including shipping), so when it arrives I will try that and see how it goes!

Finger crossed it works - quite looking forward to having 3D driver support for games on my X1000 using my 9250 PCI Card :-)

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Re: StarTech PCI express to PCI adapter works in my X1000

Post by 328gts »

mbrantley wrote:I bought a StarTech PCI Express to PCI adapter from Amazon and I'm happy to report it works well in my X1000.
:D BIG thanks Mike, this is awesome news :twisted:

btw, this should be a news item on all Amiga forums IMHO
Last edited by 328gts on Sun Jul 22, 2012 1:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
A1-X1000 setup: Corsair GS800 800w PSU, Western Digital 250 GB SATA HDD (model:WD2500YS), 4GB Ram, Radeon HD7950-3GB GDDR5- Dual Slot, Lite-On RW DVD/CD, On-Board Nemo sound,8139B NIC, Catweasel MK4+
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Re: StarTech PCI express to PCI adapter works in my X1000

Post by 328gts »

mbrantley wrote:
trevordick wrote:ps you are a braver man that me ;-)
Haha! No way. You are the bravest man in all the Amigaland. :-)
no doubt sir, no doubt indeed :!:
A1-X1000 setup: Corsair GS800 800w PSU, Western Digital 250 GB SATA HDD (model:WD2500YS), 4GB Ram, Radeon HD7950-3GB GDDR5- Dual Slot, Lite-On RW DVD/CD, On-Board Nemo sound,8139B NIC, Catweasel MK4+
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Re: StarTech PCI express to PCI adapter works in my X1000

Post by Calgor »

mbrantley,

I also have this Startech adapter and use it for my RTL8139 network card. However, my adapter only seems to work in the PCIe slot next to the Xorro aligned PCIe slot and not (OS4 fails to boot) in the 2 surroundling slots (including the Xorro aligned one) that I tried. Did you have it in the same slot as me, next to the Xorro aligned PCIe slot?

These types of adapters are notorious for having compatibility problems with many motherboards due to conflicts so it is lucky that it works with the X1000. Just a warning, I do not know if such an adapter will still work if one is using all resources (e.g. all slots filled) on the motherboard due to potential conflicts. Am sure you remember all those conflicts old X86 boxes used to have with IRQs, DMA especially with fully loaded boxes.

The catweasel mk4+, a sound card and an ethernet card (latter on this adapter) do work together fine in OS4.1 on my machine so hopefully that will also work for you.

Trevor,

Which slot(s) did you try your different adapter in? And which exact one is it? The Startech adapter seemed well made to me.
Amiga 4000T: CSPPC 604e@233/060@50 146MB RAM/CVPPC/Mediator/Radeon 256MB/Realtek 8029AS/TerraTec Solo1-N/Picasso IV (Paloma Pablo Concierto)/Deneb/ZorRAM 256MB/Indivision AGA MKII/OS4.xBETA/OS4.1u4/OS3.9BB2
AmigaONE X1000: Nemo 2.1 PA6T-1682M@1.8 2GB RAM/Radeon HD 4770 512MB/Catweasel MK4+/Audigy 2 ZS/Realtek 8139D/OS4.xBETA/OS4.1u5
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Re: StarTech PCI express to PCI adapter works in my X1000

Post by mbrantley »

calgor,

Glad you found success! I also have my Catweasel working (with SID chips) in my X1000 now, with a 3.5" floppy.

I have my StarTech adapter in the upper PCIe 1X slot (closest to CPU) and that is the only one I tried it in. It worked straight away on first bootup afterward, so no futher fiddling on my part. I've got my slots pretty well loaded right now, with little room for adding anything else except maybe something in the Xorro slot.

Here's what I have in order from top to bottom:

PowerColor RadeonHD 6850 (single-slot card, same as written about by Trevor)

StarTech PCIe to PCI adapter with ethernet card

GigaByte RadeonHD 5770 (takes up two slots of space, so blocks next PCIe 1X slot)

Xorro slot empty (so there's antoher PCIe 1X socket inline here???)

Catweasel MkIV in PCI slot

SoundBlaster in PCI slot

Everything works. I have two displays going so right now I am looking at DOpus on one screen and MUIOWB on this one.

What I couldn't get going is three screens (with 9250 in PCI slot) though I followed Hans' suggestions when I tried. Not sure I will pursue this given that speed of Blender interface with wazp on the 6850 seems comparable to me to speed of Blender interface using warp on the 9250. In other words it's not as fast as I would like on either, but I expect we will get there eventually. Favoring warp on the 9250 is that I can see particles in my animations with that, and I cannot see particles without rendering on the RadeonHD card. Besides, the Catweasel is happy. :) Always good to keep your catweasels content.
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Re: StarTech PCI express to PCI adapter works in my X1000

Post by Calgor »

@ mbrantley

Good to hear, I didn't try the slot you have yours in nor the x16 slot as my Radeon HD 4770 uses those 2 slots.

Yes there is a PCIe x1 slot inline with the Xorro slot (but the adapter did not work with OS4.1 for me in that slot as described above).
Amiga 4000T: CSPPC 604e@233/060@50 146MB RAM/CVPPC/Mediator/Radeon 256MB/Realtek 8029AS/TerraTec Solo1-N/Picasso IV (Paloma Pablo Concierto)/Deneb/ZorRAM 256MB/Indivision AGA MKII/OS4.xBETA/OS4.1u4/OS3.9BB2
AmigaONE X1000: Nemo 2.1 PA6T-1682M@1.8 2GB RAM/Radeon HD 4770 512MB/Catweasel MK4+/Audigy 2 ZS/Realtek 8139D/OS4.xBETA/OS4.1u5
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