Can I remove my Serial Port to make room for a PCI Card?

I'm planning to add a new USB PCI card to my 6 year old motherboard (ASUS A7N266-C...for the whole story see my recent thread "HELP - Should I mess with my old computer's BIOS?" here in the Hardware Forum).

I opened up the computer to check out the PCI slots on the motherboard, and it looks like the only room I've got is if I remove what I think is my Com1 or Com2 serial port.

My question is: Do I need a serial port on my computer? I'm not using it - not sure if I ever did. Plus, it looks like I have another (also unused) serial port in a bit higher up.

See the 4 attached photos for a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Please excuse my ignorance about these things - Any opinions?

 

Well it does look like a serial port. However, I think that you have a Creative sound card in your system and they were supplied with an add-on card for use with game controller (which I think this is). Look in device manager under Sound and see if you have an entry called 'Game Port'.

In theory removing the existing hw ie the add-on card is not likely to be problematic. Installing the USB add-on card may cause IRQ issues. Depends on whether slot 3 shares it's IRQ eg with any other slot.

Why not also consider an external powered usb hub as a possible alternative.

Good Luck

PS. I also just noticed that you have 2 other pci cards that you may well consider as candidates for removal. A modem and what appears to be a pci card with firewire ports (which appear to be unused).

PPS. Also noticed that if you remove the add-on card to which you refer, then you will be using pci slot 1 (adjacent to the vga card). Slot 1 invariably shares an IRQ with the vga slot so in this case I think installing a usb add-on card will create issues. Heat issues may also be another side effect even if your usb add-on card did work.

 

Thanks for the advice, yes I suppose that's a game port - I checked out the Device Manager under Sound, it lists: Standard Game Port Location: on PCI standard ISA bridge

I suppose I'll swap the Firewire card for this: Koutech FireWire/1394 & Hi-Speed USB2.0 Combo PCI Card

Here's the link:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815104236

It's got a pair of USB headers, so my front-mounted USB could upgrade to 2.0 as well - Cool!

Anyone have any ideas?

 

The newer reviews on this card suggest that it is only one now.

Two aspects to take into acccount with this type of add-on card:

1. The card's chipset
2. The PCI compliance of the card.

eg. 1. The card you are thinking about has a via chipset. This chipset may clash with your mobo's (soutbridge) chipset which I believe is Nvidia. I don't know whether that is case but before buying best ask. 2. This card requires a mobo which is PCI v2.2 compliant (on manufacturer's site). It is my understanding that the card is not backwards compatible but I may be mistaken.

I would guess that you mobo is almost certainly PCI 2.2 compliant but again best to search first. A good place to start might be on the mobo's forum.

Good Luck

 

Thanks RR, for your very detailed help.

I checked it out - the ASUS A7N266-C is PCI 2.2 compliant.

As for the VIA chipset/Nvidia compatibility problems - that's something far beyond my little pea-brain to understand. However, I do want to understand it
so I can order a card that has a very good chance of working.

I looked over the 10 choices for USB/Firewire combo cards on NewEgg (for example), and judging from the photos-only the ADS Tech card doesn't have a VIA chipset
(what exactly it does have I can't tell). This card is $45 - about twice what I wanted to pay honestly. Here's the link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815203001

Again - Help - Please.

 

Okay, I think I'm beginning to understand.

I probably need to go with a PCI card with a NEC chipset, like this one from Koutech:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815104216

It has just ONE header, USB only-- no Firewire, on the other hand it's only 15 bucks.

Am I starting to get the right idea?

 

Well I was not stating categorically that the add-on card's Via chipset would conflict with your mobo's nvidia chipset. I was merely pointing that this card (in fact any add-on card's chipset) may cause this issue.

The pci & usb bus on a mobo generally run of the southbridge chipset. So an add-on card would have to communicate at that point eg the chipset on the card would communicate with the chipset on the southbridge. If you see what I mean.

Compatability with pc hw is not guaranteed some work, some don't and some work with issues.

Why not google say your mobo's chipset with the chipset of the add-on card eg "nvidia nxx necxxx conflict".

Good Luck