# PCI to ISA?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pci-to-isa/309148>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 21, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pci-to-isa/309148 "2005-06-21T02:47:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pci-to-isa/309148/1 "2005-06-21T02:47:07Z")

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Putting aside the question of, “But why?”, does there exist any converters that you can plug into a PCI slot and get an ISA slot? I’ve tried Googling it and saw some links about PCI to ISA bridge cards, but couldn’t get much information.  
Anyway, thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pci-to-isa/309148/2 "2005-06-21T03:12:33Z")

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Just from the mechanical aspect I don’t think it can be done with the card mounting in the original slot. IIRC the card is on the opposite side of the back plate but I doubt if there is room enough to fit an adapter. In any event it won’t be as simple as connecting pin 1 to pin A, etc. so it would not be a passive connector.

The why may be useful as you may need to find an alternative way to do this. I suspect you have a legacy card of some kind.

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pci-to-isa/309148/3 "2005-06-21T03:46:45Z")

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Something like this?

[http://www.contec-europe.com/products/expansion/bufpcpci.htm](http://www.contec-europe.com/products/expansion/bufpcpci.htm)

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**Author:** ![sewalk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@sewalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sewalk)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pci-to-isa/309148/4 "2005-06-21T04:08:48Z")

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Don’t expect **scr4** ’s suggestion to be cheap. The ISA card in the picture in the link will reside in an expansion chassis (think extra computer case) with a passive backplane in it. I wouldn’t expect it to cost less than $1000 based on my experience with ISA\>ISA and PCI\>PCI expansion chassis.

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**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pci-to-isa/309148/5 "2005-06-21T04:20:47Z")

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> [@Padeye](#):
>
> Just from the mechanical aspect I don’t think it can be done with the card mounting in the original slot. IIRC the card is on the opposite side of the back plate but I doubt if there is room enough to fit an adapter. In any event it won’t be as simple as connecting pin 1 to pin A, etc. so it would not be a passive connector.
> 
> The why may be useful as you may need to find an alternative way to do this. I suspect you have a legacy card of some kind.

The OP may make it look like I need one, but I actually don’t.