Vostro 5890, identify PCIe slots

Oops — I meant slot 1 or slot 4. (There is no slot 0.)

Dell has not released engineering detailed info on this unfortunately.
The max throughput is 500MB/s vs 980MB/s.

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@redxps630 wrote:

PCIe 2.0 x1 interface limits read/write speed to 500MB/s
if you have a device that has speed higher than that you can test it.  For example a pcie adapter with a ssd installed.  If the ssd reads/writes faster in one vs the other PCIex1 slot, you will know which one is Gen 3 vs Gen 2.

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Many thanks for the reply. I appreciate the specs and the testing suggestion, but it'd be a whole lot easier if Dell just told us which slot is which. The Setup and Specifications manual doesn't even mention the slots! I don't know if Dell is being secretive, careless, or just stupid here.

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it is quite strange Dell would go back time to design a white pci slot in this model.  One does not see pci slot often in modern pc these days.  What is Dell thinking?

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I'm guessing some enterprise customer(s) demanded the slot. They must be using ancient special-purpose cards that would cost a fortune to re-engineer for PCIe. As they say, money talks.

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if one has to guess the bottom PCIex1 slot 1 is Gen 2, next to white pci slot.

the top PCIex1 slot 4 is Gen 3, next to PCIex16 slot.

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I dunno... if the owner installed a double-slot graphics card in slot 2 it'd block slot 1, so it'd be good if slot 4 were Gen 3. (Slot 3 is PCI-32.) But we shouldn't have to guess. The big performance difference you mentioned is a great reason to just document it. Anyway I'm emailing with a support rep as well; we'll see if they have an answer.

PCIe 2.0 x1 interface limits read/write speed to 500MB/s
if you have a device that has speed higher than that you can test it.  For example a pcie adapter with a ssd installed.  If the ssd reads/writes faster in one vs the other PCIex1 slot, you will know which one is Gen 3 vs Gen 2.
it is quite strange Dell would go back time to design a white pci slot in this model.  One does not see pci slot often in modern pc these days.  What is Dell thinking?  To allow user to use old pci sound card?  In the old pc the slot is either for sound card or modem.

if one has to guess the bottom PCIex1 slot 1 is Gen 2, next to white pci slot.

the top PCIex1 slot 4 is Gen 3, next to PCIex16 slot.

agree. Dell documentation of OEM spec is quite subpar on recent models.  Some engineering info they kept secretive (such as #of lanes in M.2 slot) unless enough users prod them.  But in this instance there is no excuse to tell partial info of Gen 2 +3 without mentioning which is which.  I would call it sloppy.

My Dell support contact (the one I mentioned back on 21 November) reportedly pushed the issue up the chain to product engineering, and reports that ALL the PCIe slots are Gen3. She references the Chipset table in the Vostro 5890 Setup and Specifications manual (page 13 of the current revision) which says the chipset supports "Up to Gen3". That seems kind of thin to me, especially since the same manual doesn't acknowledge the existence of the slots at all, but since product engineering is behind the answer, I must assume it's true. I'm going to tag this as the solution. Thanks to everyone who read and responded!

@NJDave 

Please press the blue Accept as Solution button below if this post answers your question.

The system is not marketed or priced for consumers running games.

The 32 bit 33mhz PCI 2.2 slot is to support older data aquisition cards and or serial cards like a multi serial port card or GPIB IEEE 488 card.

National Instruments pci gpib 

PCI-E  2.0 slots are needed for older expensive cards used mostly in labs etc which is what the precision line is designed for.

The Line code for PCI-E 2.1 and 3.0 is not compatible at all with older 2.0 and 1.X cards.   8b/10b  vs 128b/130b.

This is a known issue back to 2009 with the introduction of windows 7.

INTEL PCI-E 3.0 documentation from 2009

Both the line code and the bus speed are incompatible backwards or forwards.

Fitting into the slot DOES NOT mean it will work.

Putting older cards in newer slots can hang the machine or worse damage the motherboard. The same is true for newer cards in older systems like the Precision 490 690.  CANNOT use newer cards.  Taking older PCI-E 1.X cards and putting into new system with PCI-E slots can permanently damage the system.  Line code, Power requirements, Link Speed, etc.

These systems are sold mostly to government clients for research and Mechanical CAD (MCAD) , Adobe,  VR, 3d modeling and simulation.  They are not Crossfire or SLI certified and not for games.  That doesn't mean you cannot run games on them but its not meant for consumer workloads.

When utilizing two Quadro Sync II boards, one system can support up to eight RTX 4000 GPU’s, synchronizing 32 separate displays.  This is totally different from the NVLINK Cards that sit on top of Geforce 3090 cards.  4 way and 6 way SLI is already dead since NVIDIA no longer supports it. ATI followed that lead by dropping crossfire support.

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@speedstep wrote:

The system is not marketed or priced for consumers running games.

Good thing that's not my intention, then. I just wanted to know where I could install a USB 3.x expansion card.

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PCI-E  2.0 slots are needed for older expensive cards used mostly in labs etc which is what the precision line is designed for.

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Putting older cards in newer slots can hang the machine or worse damage the motherboard. The same is true for newer cards in older systems like the Precision 490 690.  CANNOT use newer cards.  Taking older PCI-E 1.X cards and putting into new system with PCI-E slots can permanently damage the system.  Line code, Power requirements, Link Speed, etc.

These systems are sold mostly to government clients for research and Mechanical CAD (MCAD) , Adobe,  VR, 3d modeling and simulation.  They are not Crossfire or SLI certified and not for games.  That doesn't mean you cannot run games on them but its not meant for consumer workloads.

I fear you may be right that there's a PCIe 2.x slot in the system to support older cards (similar to the PCI 2.0 slot, whose identity is visibly obvious, fortunately). This totally makes sense to me. What doesn't make sense is Dell not documenting it, or telling their customers — heck, their own support staff! — that such a slot exists, and which slot is which. If installing a card in the wrong slot can permanently damage the system, all the more reason for Dell to document it. Is this info reserved for enterprise/government customers with support contracts?

In my (admittedly limited) experience, pro systems have made very good general purpose computers. If this system is marketed for a few very specific uses, Dell should make that clear up front and save their potential and actual customers a lot of grief... but beyond that, there's no excuse for basic information like this not to be in the documentation, regardless of the platform's intended customer base. I especially feel bad for Dell's support staff, working through the night in their modest homes in India, the Phillippines and wherever else, with the merest trickle of support from the mother ship.

Given this uncertainty, I've un-tagged my earlier reply as the solution. I consider it still an open question what slots are in the 5890.