looking for a riser card, (1) 8x AGP, and (3) PCI Slots, possible?

M

MATTRESS

Gawd
Joined
Sep 26, 2003
Messages
992
building an HTPC in an exceptionally small case, and need risers for all the slots.

an 8x AGP slot, and 3 PCI Slots. I think i'm looking for something like this:

26_1_b.JPG

but i need 1 more pci slot.


any ideas?
 
why do you need so many pci slots for an HTPC?

as far as one more.. get anohter riser card, put it at the end of the board and go from there... maybe with a half height card? of you need a nic, a really small nic?
 
A riser card with four slots would be almost as high as a full-size PCI/AGP card! What kind of case are you using?
 
I doubt you'll find one for the reasons already stated. You could inquire with Adex Electronics; they do custom risers, and I know they have experience with AGP8X.
 
hmm thanks for the info.

it doesn't necessarily have to be 1 single riser card ... I've heard of like ribbon cables or extensions or something.


as far as your question as to why I need so many slots ... 1 AGP 8x for video, 1 PCI for audio, 1 for first tuner, 1 for 2nd tuner...
i'm using an matx board, so that's all the slots.

As I'm going to build a custom case, I could essentially put the cards in any kind of configuration ...

Just need to know how to lay all of my cards down, cuz the case won't be tall enough ... unless I'd have to make a custom lid to accomodate the tall cards...

thanks for any info again
 
i would sugest you maybe look at a new mobo, one with integrated sound, and possbily video, i say video because you arent gonna be running anything high end, high end gets way to hot for that small of a system.
 
i'm actually going to be playing games on it, I have an ati radeon 9700 pro for graphics ... not only for games, but for connectivity, I will be using the svideo output for now, and when I get a high end HDTV, i will use the DVI port...


and scratch the onboard audio, because I got a soundcard that supports 7.1 surround, and has optical outputs to connect to a receiver.
 
you're gonna have a hell of a time getting all that into as small a case as you are talking about (wont even accept full height cards!) but you could try putting the audio and the gfx on a riser, and seeing if you still have hte last PCI slot open so you could use a half height tuner? that might work, and the ATi e-home wonder is claimed to be on par with the PVR250
 
A couple of things to think about:

1. Having one tuner be on an All-in-Wonder card. You could buy or trade up for one.
2. Having the 2 + 1 riser setup you have shown, and then have a fourth riser be a flexible PCI riser. Adex Electronics makes some pretty long ones, and even custom lengths if you wanted to. I'd definitely make the flexible riser PCI if I were you. AGP8X wouldn't fare so well.
 
all in wonder card doesn't sound like a bad idea ... i never did any research on them ... do they have hardware encoders? would the quality be equal or better than a hauppauge 250MCE ?

getting the ATi e home wonder isn't a bad idea either ... only problem with that, is if I _were_ to get the 2+1 riser i mentioned, the cards would be laying over the slot that the ehome wonder would need ....

I'll have to investigate this flexable riser ... http://www.adexelec.com/pci32.htm#PCIX32
isn't too great of a website, it's kind of confusing :p

i guess i'd be looking at the PCIFLEX32 ... no prices?
 
MATTRESS said:
all in wonder card doesn't sound like a bad idea ... i never did any research on them ... do they have hardware encoders? would the quality be equal or better than a hauppauge 250MCE ?

getting the ATi e home wonder isn't a bad idea either ... only problem with that, is if I _were_ to get the 2+1 riser i mentioned, the cards would be laying over the slot that the ehome wonder would need ....

I'll have to investigate this flexable riser ... http://www.adexelec.com/pci32.htm#PCIX32
isn't too great of a website, it's kind of confusing :p

i guess i'd be looking at the PCIFLEX32 ... no prices?
Click to expand...

i believe the r300 series of AIW's used the same decoder as the tv wonder cards, so nothing special, and def not up to par with the 250.

however, i believe the tuners on the newer ones (x series) are improved and should be on par with the 250/e home, but odnt quote me on that.

and i know nothing of this flexable riser, sorry i cant be of help there :)
 
ATi recently introduced the Rage Theater 550 chip with hardware encoding, among other features. I'll spare you the details, you can read them here,

http://www.ati.com/products/theater550/index.html

Anyways, these chips should be making their way to AIW cards, though I don't know which cards feature these chips offhand.

As for the Adex site, you basically email them to request a quote. You mention to them that you're interested in the PCIFLEX32, and then request a length. They'll give you a quote based on that. From my experience, they reply with a quote fairly quickly, and are responsive to your questions.
 
Heh, really late, but have you considered the PVR 500MCE from Hauppauge? It has dual tuners and is a single slot card. SHould be coming out later this month for around $150 street.
 
The PVR500MCE (Mentioned in post above mine by FraGGleR) seems like it would be excellent for your needs. If you can wait that long, I imagine it would be worth it. The A-I-W would be a good solution too, but the 500MCE would probably offer superior quality to an older A-I-W.
 
The sound and video could be replaced with onboard, so you'd need only a 2 PCI riser.

I'm using a Chaintech 7NIF2 in my HTPC, which has onboard video/s-video and SPDIF on a header inside. Only PCI card I have is a PVR350, which provides TV out and recording functionality - I don't even use the Chaintech's TV out anymore, and could have bought a cheaper/better board.
 
I'm pretty sure that the PVR500 is on sale now, and I'd have to agree that it makes much more sense to use it (with a rigid riser card) than looking for ribbon riser which will mean additional engineering for the card mount.
 
That, and AGP 4x, let alone 8x flexible risers are difficult if not impossible to obtain, due to the engineering difficulties of such a product.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top