Choosing the Right PC for the NI PCIe-1429 Hardware: Image Acquisition (IMAQ)>>Digital Image Devices>>PCIe-1429
Problem: There are several desktop computers and motherboards with PCIe slots in the market. Which ones has National Instruments tested and recommend for use with the NI PCIe-1429? Solution: Most new PCs and workstations advertise some form of PCI Express slot, however not all motherboards are configured to provide optimal performance with the NI PCIe-1429. The NI PCIe-1429 frame grabber is intended for a 4 lane (x4) PCIe slot. It will not fit properly and should not be used in a x1 PCIe slot. The NI PCIe-1429 will fit into, and can be used in a x8 or x16 PCIe slot. However, performance may be degraded in x8 and x16 slots with some motherboards. National Instruments has tested the NI PCIe-1429 on the following computers/motherboards. These tests verified whether the NI PCIe-1429 card was recognized in Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) and the number of lanes the card was able to negotiate with the motherboard. No tests were performed to ascertain the maximum achievable throughput (MB/s).
Entries represent the lane width that was negotiated. Multiple entries represent multiple slots. In some cases, the negotiated lane width is less than the number of lanes required for optimal performance. Two factors affect performance in x8 and x16 slots - the extent of the motherboard's support for up-plugging and whether the motherboard implements the full PCI Express interface in both directions. Up-plugging Using a smaller width device in a larger width slot is called up-plugging. When up-plugging, motherboards are permitted to limit the plug-in devices to the x1 data rate to reduce motherboard costs. If you plan to use the NI 1429 in an up-plugging configuration (in a x8 or x16 slot), with a camera that produces data faster than 200 MegaBytes/second, verify with your computer manufacturer that your motherboard will support a x4 plug-in device at a x4 data rate in the slot you intend to use. If you have already installed the NI 1429 in a computer, you can verify the data rate in Measurement and Automation Explorer (MAX). Select the device by navigating My System » Devices and Interfaces » NI-IMAQ Devices » NI PCIe-1429. In the center window, the field Negotiated PCIe Lane Width will indicate X4 if the device has been granted the x4 data rate. Reducing the frame rate, and thereby the average data rate, of a high speed camera will not necessarily allow the use of the NI 1429 in a x1 slot. The instantaneous data rate from the camera must be less than 200MB/s to use the NI 1429 in a x1 slot. Full PCI Express interface For a fully implemented x16 PCIe interface, the motherboard provides 16 data lanes going to the device and a separate 16 data lanes coming from the plug-in device. For some PCIe slots, particularly x16 slots intended for use with graphics cards, the motherboard vendor provides 16 data lanes going to the device, but only 1 data lane coming from the device. For a graphics card, the high bandwidth video data is sent to the graphics card for display on the monitor. Very little status data is sent from the graphics card to the host. By limiting the number of data lanes coming from the device, the motherboard vendor can reduce cost. For a video acquisition device, however, the high bandwidth video data is sent from the device to the host, requiring many data lanes traveling in the opposite direction relative to a graphics card. If you plan to use the NI 1429 in a x16 slot, with a camera that produces data faster than 200 MegaBytes/second, verify with your computer manufacturer that your motherboard provides all data lanes in both directions for the slot you intend to use. Note:
Related Links: KnowledgeBase 48ACS45L: Choosing the Right PC for the NI PCIe-1427 KnowledgeBase 41EBP6BE: I Cannot Get My Dell Optiplex GX620 PC to Boot with a PCIe-1429 Card Inserted into the PCIe x16 Slot KnowledgeBase 4257RKBE: My PCI-1426, PCI-1410, or PCIe-1429 IMAQ Card Is Still Not Showing Up in MAX on My Windows NT Machine Developer Zone Tutorial: PCI Express – An Overview of the PCI Express Standard Attachments:
Report Date: 02/01/2005 Last Updated: 04/23/2008 Document ID: 3I0F5B6W |
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