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ExpressCard/54 in XPS Gen 2?

post #1 of 4
2/28/09 at 5:41pm
Thread Starter 
Is it possible to use an ExpressCard (54 pin, the L-shaped one) with an XPS Gen 2?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm looking to get an "external" sound card and I was looking at the SoundBlaster X-Fi Notebook, but it says it's ExpressCard/54.

Excuse my ignorance on the subject
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post #2 of 4
3/2/09 at 6:50pm
No you can't it's a different architecture. What you have on your XPS Gen2 /M170 is a PCMCIA slot aka a "Cardbus" slot. The 2 are not pin compatible and can not be interchanged. An ExpressCard connects directly to the PCIe bus and operates at a much broader bandwidth than "Cardbus" which is a technology nearly a decade older and considerably slower.

So if you're looking for an upgrade, it needs to be either a PCMCIA / Cardbus or a USB device.

I hope this helps.

Ciao
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post #3 of 4
3/2/09 at 7:25pm
The most popular sound card I know of for PCMCIA is the Audigy 2 ZS. While this isn't X-fi, its better than the stock speakers and the only other option would be using headphones.
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post #4 of 4
3/3/09 at 4:34am
Thread Starter 
Thanks! I just grabbed an Audigy 2 ZS off of one of my friends for cheap. Thanks for clarifying!
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