When is a PCI-E not a PCI-E?

[slaughteredlamb]

My knowledge of graphics cards ended with AGP.

So here's the thing, we bought new monitors for work only to find that the graphics cards we had aren't compatible (even though they say they are) so I now need to order some new graphics cards.

We have a bunch of Dell Optiplex GX620's some of which are in half-height (low profile) cases and some are in standard desktop cases.

In looking at the spec for these machines Desktop & Low Profile they appear to support different types of PCI Express?

The Low profile seems to say that it supports PCIe x16 but has a 164pin connector
The Desktop seems to say that it also supports PCIe x16 but with a 120pin connector

Umm, what's the difference? On all the PCIe graphics card I've looked at none of them mention the number of pins they have, is it just that low profile cards use 164pins whilst 'normal' height cards just use 120pins?

As I said in another thread, one of the problems we have at work is getting graphics cards to work properly with the Jaws screen reader. This card does work with Jaws, will it fit in the 'normal' height systems?

[JasonD]

Slot size (length x{number}) may be greater than how many lanes (I think that is the correct term) are usuable, usually limited by the controlling chipset on the board, sometimes configurable to some degree.

Height is simply a matter for how big the case is. If the card physically matches up to the slot length (usually X16) then it will work, you don't seem to be doing anything graphically intensive (ie gaming) so you shouldn't have any problems(tm).