What can one do with the Advanced Dock?

[afgunst2000]

I have bought an Advanced Dock for use with my T60.
I would like to use all of the features which this piece of equipment offers, but am unable to find documentation describing how to do this.

Which PCI cards are compatible, and where can I read up on the obvious capabilities of the Advanced Dock?

[Superego]

If you have the Productivity Center installed you can go to Help & Support -> Learn about My Computer -> Stay Current -> Installing Accessories -> Using a Thinkpad Advanced Dock. That will give you an overview of the features and how to use them. As long as your PCI device is standard height (not like 2-tier graphics cards) and 6.6 in long it should work. You can check here for more about using a graphics card in the PCI slot (btw, RonS is pretty knowledgeable in this area....search for some posts by him). An Nvidea 7600GS should fit (according to the link above).

[RonS]

Quick clarification: The Advanced Dock has a PCI-Express slot, not PCI.

[cpfuller]

I am looking at the slot in my advanced dock and it sure looks like a standard PCI slot. All pictures I see of PCI Express boards have a much smaller connection area than the slot that is in my dock. Would someone please enlighten me. I am looking to add some usb ports and maybe firewire to the dock. Any recommendations will be appreciated.

Thanks
Charles

[SHoTTa35]

there are various different types (lengths) of PCI-X. There's the 1X all the way to 16X. The higher the larger ofcourse. The 8X or something i think looks like a regular PCI port.

[abu_sme]

I am a bit confused on this issue, if i were to put a XFX 7600GS w/hdmi card in there would I be able to fully take advantange of its gaming capabilities? Thinkwiki, says that it supports a 1X connection speed. I would like some clarification on this. More than anything I just want to be able to run 4 monitors at once, so if it can't do that gaming thing I am still happy.

[own6volvos]

there are various different types (lengths) of PCI-X. There's the 1X all the way to 16X. The higher the larger ofcourse. The 8X or something i think looks like a regular PCI port.

PCI-e PCI-X is a whole different beast.

[furrycute]

There is a thread in this forum describing various forum members' experiences in using various graphics cards with the advanced dock. Do a search for it.

If my memory serves, it basically comes down to something like this, because the advanced dock can only draw a limited amount of power, you'd better stick with Lenovo branded 128MB ATI RADEON X300 SE VGA, VGA PCI-e Dual Head Graphics Adapter for use with the advanced dock. Otherwise, with other kinds of graphics that draw too much power, you will have problems.

[cpfuller]

Can you put anything else in this slot besides a video card. I am wanting to put extra USB and Firewire ports. Any help?

Thanks
Charles

[sveintore]

My boss has an advanced dock, and every time he even scrolls the screen the fan speeds up, is that normal? Can it be adjusted?

[wallybear]

Can you put anything else in this slot besides a video card. I am wanting to put extra USB and Firewire ports. Any help?

Thanks
Charles

Any PCI-Express (PCI-e) card that will fit in the Advanced Dock can be used in the Advanced Dock. What types of cards are there? Well, here's one (there are several others on Newegg's site):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6815124039

The above is a Firewire400/USB2 combo. This is the most common card (that is, to add either or both Firewire or USB).

There are also SATA-interface cards (used to connect "external" drives that have the SATA interface--that is if you have one--because these cards are mainly intended to add drive interfaces to desktop machines, not to docking stations).

There are Ethernet port cards (not that you'd need one with the Advanced Dock).

There are Serial/Parallel port cards (again, not that you'd need one).

The main use of the PCI-e slot in the Advanced Dock that has been discussed on this forum is for a video card (most likely because it's tough getting one to work in the dock).

I hope this helps answer your questions. If not, write to me.

Wally

[RonS]

The Dock II, for the Thinkpad T4x line (and other previous generation Thinkpads) has a PCI slot.

The Advanced Dock, which is compatible with the T6x, has a PCI-Express slot. It's physically an x16 slot, but electrically it runs at x1., so you won't get full performance. But any card that will fit in the slot should work fine. I've run Video, Firewire, SCSI, Network, and some other cards in the slot just fine.