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The research lab where I work has been offered a bunch of IBM rack-mountable servers for very little money. The hardware is a bit outdated but it would suit our needs perfectly -- If we can fit one of our customized PCI cards into one of them.

I looked around but just can't find any information on how much space is available for PCI cards. They have been referred to me as "IBM xserie 345" [sic], but I believe they meant "xSeries 345".

Do you have any link to official documentation that can help me? I need to know exactly how big a PCI card must be to fit into a server.

jscott
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lorenzog
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  • Are you asking for the maximum size PCI card that will fit? If you think that a card you want to use is too big, you're better off measuring one and asking that question. – gWaldo Nov 05 '10 at 12:22
  • @gWaldo, yes, but I'd rather have a precise answer from an official document rather than a binary 'fits/doesn't fit' answer from a SF user. It's helpful to justify the money for the purchase. – lorenzog Nov 05 '10 at 14:08
  • Help me to help you. – gWaldo Nov 05 '10 at 15:14

2 Answers2

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kind of backwards but here is a doc that shows a full length PCI card can fit into a 345

http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=an&subtype=ca&appname=redbooks&htmlfid=897/ENUS103-206

and another doc states that "Full-length PCI cards are 107mm (height) X 312mm (long)."

johnh
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If it's a standard size PCI card (such as a add-in card for a desktop for extra USB, Soundcard, NIC, etc) it should be fine. If it's larger, "it depends".

Provide dimensions.

gWaldo
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  • This is not an answer. I need a spec that says 'the server can fit cards of lenght X" so I can show it to management and justify the spending. I can tell you the dimension, you will tell me 'yes' or 'no' and then what do I do with that? – lorenzog Nov 06 '10 at 10:04