A Warning About SDVO Slots That LOOK like PCIe 16x slots but aren't...

[bravotsx]

I had never heard of SDVO or ADD2 until having to deal with a particular crappy intel motherboard.

To sum it up, ADD2 is an intel proprietary extension to the PCI express standard. While PCIe 16x connectors are used, ADD2 cards use a different protocol versus normal PCI Express cards. In the end, in a slot that looks like a normal PCIe 16x slot, you might not be able to use a regular graphics cards! (Some implementations support both PCIe 16x and ADD2 depending on what you have in the slot) (The particular crappy board I was working with has ADD2 support ONLY).

What ADD2 allows for is the easy addition of more display output options for ~$10-60+. Graphics are driven by the integrated intel chipset.

A Word From Intel about this crappy technology:

An ADD2 card is an adapter card that can be inserted into the PCI Express* port of Intel® G35 Express Chipset, Intel® G33 Express Chipset, Intel® G31 Express Chipset, Intel® G965 Express Chipset, Intel® Q965 Express Chipset, Intel® Q963 Express Chipset, Intel® 946GZ Express Chipset, Intel® 915G Express Chipset or Intel® 945G Express Chipset based systems.

ADD2 cards utilize the PCI Express x16 port to receive SDVO signals from the GMCH. ADD2 cards allow configurations for TV-out, LVDS, and TMDS output (i.e. televisions and digital displays/flat panels). Combined with an Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator Driver, ADD2 cards can be used to display system output to a television, digital display, or simultaneously to a monitor and digital display.

ADD2 cards provide display output options that expand the range of display devices a system could support. Here are some examples of SDVO Devices for use on ADD2 cards (available through third parties)
Combo Devices:
Dual Link DVI: dual independent DVI displays
TV-Out (Composite): primary or secondary TV-out display (standard definition in PAL or NTSC formats)
HDTV-Out: primary or secondary HDTV display
VGA-Out: drive second RGB independent display

DVI: primary or secondary DVI display

LVDS: LVDS interface for integrated flat panel

Attached is a typical ADD2 card. Notice the lack of a GPU and how simple the card is.

[Citat3962]

Wheeeee I had this same problem not to long ago~~!

Except the issue was I sent a regular Video card to a person with a SDVO computer..

Very irritating to send a known good card to someone... have it show up and (BEEP BEEP) no boot no Video.. Then get it back a pop it in a machine and have it work normally.

I read up on it and discovered this was the issue but it drove me nuts at the time...

[ythe1300]

Thanks for the warning, also WTH.... I mean why..

[bravotsx]

indeed. i ordered a gfx card and it turns out i can't use it. oh well. I mean, electrically, they don't even NEED to be pcie 16x. why not just make it a 4x slot, or maybe 8x. so not that much stuff can fit, because when you see a pcie 16x, you automatically think gfx but noooo...