I have purchased an HP ProLiant ML350 G5 Server which will run software that requires 256mg video card as a minimum and optimally I would like to run 512mg. HP says not -suprisingly that they do not have anything that is compatible and I am looking all over for something that would work. CDW who built the server sent a GeForce Nvidia 8500 GT however it is a X16 and it won't fit. The PCI slots are labelled 1 @ PCI X 64/133, 2 @ PCI X 64/100 and 3 @ PCI Express X4 I have ordered a riser card from orbit micro as it states that the Geforce card will run only at X8 speed but obviously until I get it and install it I have no idea if it will work.
The specifications [http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12475_div/12475_div.pdf ] indicate it only has PCIe x4 slots ... so you won't be able to use an x8 adapter. ... and if you ordered an x4 adapter for the x16 card, it will run at x4 speed => NOT at x8 speed. Some video cards work okay in these adapters; some don't ... so you'll simply have to try it.
The ATI ES1000 built into the motherboard of your server supports (as you've noted) up to 256MB of assigned memory ... and is an excellent server display GPU. I'm curious as to why you think you need a 512MB video adapter??
