Mini PCI

A mini PCI slot for Type IIIA and IIIB

One Mini PCI slot with inserted Mini PCI card (Type IIIA)

A Mini PCI plug-in card (Type IIIA) compared to a Mini PCI Express plug-in card

Mini PCI is the miniature format of the PCI bus. It is designed for notebooks , laptops, and other small devices like routers and embedded systems . Nowadays mini PCI cards are mainly used for wireless LAN ; in the area of ​​embedded systems are e.g. E.g. cards for Ethernet , RS-232 , CAN-Bus , ATA / ATAPI , Serial ATA or frame grabbers are also available. Like the conventional PCI interface, the Mini PCI interface is only accessible by opening the device when it is switched off, which is why PCMCIA , ExpressCard or USB are used for tasks that require changing the card during operation .

With a few differences, Mini PCI corresponds to the PCI standard version 2.2 .:

• significantly smaller dimensions (approx. 60 mm × 43 mm × 5 mm - type IIIB)
• Use of standard sideband signals for audio and communications
• Support for CLKRUN # statements
• no support for JTAG signals and 64-bit extensions as with conventional PCI

There are six different types of Mini PCI cards (I A / B, II A / B, III A / B), which differ in form, function and the connector used.

Mini PCI types and form factors

Type	connections	Dimensions in mm
		length	width	height
IA	100-pin stacking	70	45	07.5
IB	100-pin stacking	70	45	05.5
IIA	100-pin stacking	78	46	17.44
IIB	100-pin stacking	70	46	07.5
IIIA	124-pin Card Edge	59.75	48.8	05
IIIB	124-pin Card Edge	59.75	42.45	05

Type IIIB is the most common for WLAN cards to be built into laptops. These cards also fit into the IIIA sockets of the same width (59.6 mm × 50.95 mm). The other way round (deeper card in a small card holder) is only possible if there is enough space on the carrier board.

The successors to the Mini-PCI cards are the much smaller (30 mm × 50.95 mm) cards called Mini PCI Express , or Mini-PCIe for short.

See also

• Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)
• Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA)
• Industry Standard Architecture (ISA)
• Micro Channel Architecture
• XT bus architecture
• Mobile PCI Express Module (MXM)
• Mini PCI Express

Web links

Commons : Mini PCI cards  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• PCI-SIG Mini PCI
• PCI-SIG Mini PCI FAQ
• Mini PCI pin assignment (English)
• How to install Mini PCI cards in a notebook step by step

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mini PCI Specification Revision 1.0. (PDF; 542 kB) PCI Special Interest Group, August 13, 1999, pp. 37–55 , accessed on February 7, 2015 (English).