The highly rated HP Pavilion Slimline PC thread

For those who have the new s5000 series. Have you ever tried to put any micro-ATX motherboard inside? Does it fit? Does it work?
 
The s5xxx series uses a 9.6x9.6 microatx board, and from what I could tell from the HP pictures (detailing their motherboards), uses a standard 24pin connector.

Bust make sure the pci slots and CPU location fit (since the cooler may get in the way if it is too far over)
 
Jeremy,

The built in power connector available for the optical drive is molex.

The motherboard feeds data to the optical via ide; but there is also an open sata data slot.

I agree that more fans are better. What would an extra fan be attached to within the computer?
 
I have just had to replace the motherboard on my S3320, but the new Motherboard has the normal 24 pin atx connector, but the stock power supply has the 'small' 24 pin connector.

Ther seem to be plenty of adapters going the other way when you upgrade the power supply, but I can't find an adapter to got from the small connector on the PSU to the normal ATX on the motherboard..:mad:
 
On the back, above the many ports, do you see an equally sized area with many roundish holes? That is where is mount the fans.

In later designs, this is not used to the fullest extent, so adding exhaust fans has become a good way to help cool doen the system. Since you are going to be replacing the main fan, you need to use additional exhaust fans.

Is the power connector on your drive molex? or is it sata-power? Or does it accept both (not uncommon for an era of drives)?
 
beanpoleuk said:
I have just had to replace the motherboard on my S3320, but the new Motherboard has the normal 24 pin atx connector, but the stock power supply has the 'small' 24 pin connector.

Ther seem to be plenty of adapters going the other way when you upgrade the power supply, but I can't find an adapter to got from the small connector on the PSU to the normal ATX on the motherboard..:mad:
Click to expand...

Oops. sorry, hold on

Replace the PSU? You can get an inwin 300w for just 25USD+shipping.

There is no known Micro to normal adapter, the HP microfit adaptor is used in only 2 generations of slimlines, later generations have replaced it with the normal sized adaptor.

You can either buy a standard 24 pin 'head' at an electronics store, and slowly repin the wires (be careful, and it is not too hard).
Or you can buy a normal power supply (TFX, and a little bit smaller, like the INWIN 300w TFX or the other power supplies mentioned on the first post), as it will allow you to upgrade in the future (and will fit ALL motherboards of newer design).

Did you buy your slimline from within the last 2 years? There is an HP warranty extention for busted HematiteXL boards (appears yours has one).
 
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Thanks for the help, looks like I would be better off with a new PSU, where can I get an inwin 300w shipped to the UK ?
 
jeremyshaw, could it be some issues with the motherboard backplate's fitting? I mean, can I replace the original one with the new micro-ATX board that I want to use?
 
I recently bought a used s3000 series Slimline and am in the process of upgrading it for use as an HTPC for my family. I've spent the last few days skimming through this thread (which is an amazing resource) for ideas and have settled on either an ATI HD4350 or HD4550, plus a 1TB hard drive. I'm hoping to keep the stock 160W power supply and have a couple questions about wattage and cooling.

From what I've read here I should be fine with the stock 160W PSU, 65W processor, 4350/4550 card, and adding 2 - 3 fans for cooling but I'm planning to use the built in wireless and haven't been able to find how much wattage the wireless card uses - if it's already been posted here I couldn't find it so apologies if it has. Searching the web I've found varying amounts - anywhere from 1 or 2 watts up to 25W. Does anyone know how much power is used while streaming video wirelessly and am I pushing my luck by using it instead of a network cable?

As for the fans (mine just came with the PSU and CPU fans) I'm planning on putting one or two 40mm on the back and maybe one on the side. I haven't decided on my GPU yet, but by looking at the case I'm thinking/guessing you could put a thin 80mm x 15mm fan inside the case between the video card and case to keep the card cool. If there actually is enough room has anyone tried this and how good is the air flow since the holes on the side of the case are a bit small? Cutting the case like others have done is always an option, but would prefer that be a last resort. Also since all the fans will be powered through the PSU since the motherboard doesn't have any extra fan connections, is it worth while to add a 12V to 5V/7V adapter for noise reduction?

Where is the best place to get good cheap fans? Newegg has decent prices but currently charges a minimum of $7.49 to ship three. (Yet if you order 2 fans on Newegg, then 1 fan in a seperate order it only costs $6 total in shipping - go figure.) Ebay obviously has low prices but I don't know if I could trust the cheap no name brand ones.

Many other questions have been answered by reading through this thread so thanks to everyone who has shared info.
 
I have a 4350 in my slimiline, and it works fine without any fan changes at all.

I am looking at fan changes...but due to a desire to change out the optical drive.

If you have MicroCenter nearby, that is a good store for fans.
 
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H2IK said:
I recently bought a used s3000 series Slimline and am in the process of upgrading it for use as an HTPC for my family. I've spent the last few days skimming through this thread (which is an amazing resource) for ideas and have settled on either an ATI HD4350 or HD4550, plus a 1TB hard drive. I'm hoping to keep the stock 160W power supply and have a couple questions about wattage and cooling.

...........

Many other questions have been answered by reading through this thread so thanks to everyone who has shared info.
Click to expand...

In my opinion, nearly all small fans, even from antec and thermaltake, just are not even halfway decent. They will almost always by a little on the noisey side (maybe just me...), and out of ten, one will fail (but, I have already mentioned I have ridiculously bad luck with keeping electronics alive).

Do you have a local retailer? Frys Electronics, while they aren't much cheaper then NewEgg (actually, more), have a retail presence.

I have bought a few from here: http://www.xoxide.com/casefans.html

but I don't remember if it was cheaper then NewEgg.




The 4350 and 4550 will both work perfectly fine, in the HP service guide, they recommend a 25w limit, but HP already ships their computers with 43w cards, so...

Anyhow, the WiFi adaptor cannot take much, it's USB powered, so 2.5w... tops.
 
beanpoleuk said:
Thanks for the help, looks like I would be better off with a new PSU, where can I get an inwin 300w shipped to the UK ?
Click to expand...

Well, I know a few... but none are cheap.

There are 3 power supplies referenced by the first post of this thread.

Take note: the PC50 has been supercedded by the PC60.

I couldn't really find it cheap, at least with shipping.

The Sparkle is the best, so far, as we have yet to see PC60 results, especially after reported pc50 instabilities.

I cannot come up with any UK webstores with one.

However, ebay.co.uk may do fine, as there may be more local sellers.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PC50-300w-pow...s_EH?hash=item4ceac8c379&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

is one such link for a pc50.

When searching, using 'win 300 tfx' may work better than 'in-win 300w tfx', due to the more inclusive nature of less text in a search string. Just make sure if the picture contains a SLIM unit, not a fatter one.


However, I don't know if you think so, but I look at the prices in the UK, and... woah!
The prices are not low...
 
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It's 9.6x9.6, and it has identical hole placements, it WILL fit. However, due to the placement of the PCIeX16 slot, you will have to use the lower slot on the motherboard for graphics, so you can't have decent graphics cards like the 9800gt or even the 9600gt (same goes for the ATI 4650).

It seems like ALL Gigabyte boards have the same placement issue (for the Slimlines, anyhow), due to where Gigabyte places the chipset on all of their boards (I have only looked at the AM3/AM2+ boards.).

Looks like the ECS boards (will link later) are all the proper placement and size... but the quality reviews can leave people cringing. The ASUS boards (the manufacturer for the HP boards) are all wrong place, too.

Okay, I got two others, not ECS.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135231
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135233
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500015
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813153142

Please note, they are NOT cheap.

And on the s5xxx series, the PSU blocks the bottom 2 slots (max 4 in the MicroATX spec, 2 useable, so 2 blocked).
The JetWay board has 2pciex16 slots... but the other one is blocked.

However, given the horrible reviews on most of these, I'd recommend you to keep your current motherboard, and add a graphics card (if that is what you are going for).

Some of the Retail AMD boards have 4 DIMM slots, some only have 2 slots...
They seem to sometimes come with the nforce 600, or the nforce4, either way, I hate nVidia chipsets now because I have twice seen them overheat with the factory heatsink, stock running. Seems all the way into 8200 has this issue. Try to steer a little clear of nVidia when looking for AMD socket boards.


Just in case if this is a little wierd/confusing:
You can use the board you referenced, however, you will not be able to plug a decent graphics card (by slimline standards) into it, due to the slot location for PCIe16! The location requires a card with a small heatsink/cooling solution on it.
Not sure what path you are going (HTPC, gaming, RAM upgrade, hobbist), but this is a fair warning!

If you want bigger graphics cards (2 slot size cards, such as the 9600gt and the 9800gt), look for boards where the PCIx16 slot lines up with the first screw hole next to the last port on the motherboard (typically the audio jacks). Most boards have a x1 slot here, due to chipset placement.
 
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Well, I decided to upgrade my memory in my s3020n and ran into a problem.
I installed the memory, 2 sticks of Corsair 2GB, to bring the system up to 4gb. I used DDR2-6400 memory. When I booted up my PCI Intel Pro/1000 adapter in the PCI slot was recognized and showed as installed in Windows, but wouldn't actually function. It couldn't pick up a DHCP address and assigning a static address didn't work either.
When I put the 2gb of PC2-5300 back in the network card worked fine.
When I put just 1 stick of PC2-6400 in the network card works fine
When I put 1 stick of 2gb PC2-6400 + 1gb PC2-5300 the network card works fine
Only when I install two 2gb PC2-6400 memory sticks do I have a problem.

The memory I pulled is 5-5-5-15 1.8v, the memory I'm installing is 5-5-5-18
Windows memory perf test went from 5.5 to 7.0 with the 4gb 6400, but I can't use the network once installed.

Any thoughts?

Machine Specs:
s3020n
CPU: AMD A64 X2 5600 2.9G AM2 65N R - Retail
Memory: (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)
GPU: ASUS EAH4550/DI/512MD3 Radeon HD 4550 512MB 64-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Low Profile Ready Video Card - Retail
HD: 500gb Seagate 7200rpm
Network: Intel PRO/1000 GT Desktop Adapter
 
jeremyshaw really knows his stuff and I confirm his accuracy on every single post of his I've read.

Good job!


The wireless max draw for the built in wireless that comes with the HP slimlines is very small. It is on a USB header which means max of 500ma on the 5 volt rail. So Jeremyshaw even nailed this one right - the MOST this USB wireless can draw is 2.5 watts without overloading the USB header port and you'd figured HP wouldn't risk that because you can typically pretty easily blow out a USB header.

H2IK - you can buy fans cheapest from Xoxide as I mentioned early in the thread and Jeremyshaw linked as well. Shipping is only $1.50 for 40 mm fans, and like $2 for 120mm fans as an average. Don't buy from ebay - I bought four 40mm fans from a china seller to try to save money and they were all four absolute junk - couldn't use any of them. Xoxide sells good stuff and is reputable. That's where I bought my 120 mm fan linked on the first post and it has cooled my slimline exceptionally welll and is quiet to boot. You'll likely want to run a 40mm fan at 7 or even 5 volt if you want silent, but it won't push much air through the metal grid at 7 volt --- heck they don't push much at 12 volt. However - the small amount of air it does push may just be enough --- as it was in my case for my HTPC slimline.

You won't be able to use a 80mm fan effectively between the side of the case and the video card because the horizontal row of holes is 'shorter' than 80mm - you might fit a "slim" 40mm or 60mm because a normal thickness 80mm or 60mm would not fit between the case and video card -- with a slim ---- what's the point --- they don't push much air in the "slim" configuration. A single 40mm, or perhaps two 40mm fans on the back of your slimline (in the configuration you are using) will suffice. I do the exact same (single 40mm) for my HTPC slimline a s3200n. Mine is loaded with a 1.5 tb drive, a 9500gs, a 45watt AMD BE-2400, 2GB ram, and a PCI TV tuner. The single 40mm fan running at 5 volt (off the USB header) is enough to keep the slimline cool for HTPC purposes. Without the 5 volt 40mm fan the top of the case gets REALLY hot, with the 40mm fan it just gets warm. Now if I was to really max out that HTPC I might need two 40mm fans,(IE gaming or video encoding) but it mostly just sits there and browses the web, or plays the TV tuner or some recorded video from time to time and never really gets worked hard. The 45 watt processor helps keep it cool over the 65 watt processor configuration however - so perhaps I would advise you pick up two 40mm fans for your configuration and run them off the USB header at 5 volt or run them at 7 volt to keep the machine quiet.
 
natewin said:
Well, I decided to upgrade my memory in my s3020n and ran into a problem.
I installed the memory, 2 sticks of Corsair 2GB, to bring the system up to 4gb. I used DDR2-6400 memory. When I booted up my PCI Intel Pro/1000 adapter in the PCI slot was recognized and showed as installed in Windows, but wouldn't actually function. It couldn't pick up a DHCP address and assigning a static address didn't work either.
When I put the 2gb of PC2-5300 back in the network card worked fine.
When I put just 1 stick of PC2-6400 in the network card works fine
When I put 1 stick of 2gb PC2-6400 + 1gb PC2-5300 the network card works fine
Only when I install two 2gb PC2-6400 memory sticks do I have a problem.

The memory I pulled is 5-5-5-15 1.8v, the memory I'm installing is 5-5-5-18
Windows memory perf test went from 5.5 to 7.0 with the 4gb 6400, but I can't use the network once installed.

Any thoughts?

Machine Specs:
s3020n
CPU: AMD A64 X2 5600 2.9G AM2 65N R - Retail
Memory: (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)
GPU: ASUS EAH4550/DI/512MD3 Radeon HD 4550 512MB 64-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Low Profile Ready Video Card - Retail
HD: 500gb Seagate 7200rpm
Network: Intel PRO/1000 GT Desktop Adapter
Click to expand...



I guess I should ask you, are you useing a 64bit OS?

The nForce4 chipset, reserves about 1gb for the PCI slots.

So at 4gb, it takes the extra gigabyte, and puts it into the 5-6gb address range, making it unavailble for 32bit os.

I'm not sure it that is the issue, but other then faulty ram, I cannot be sure if this is the issue here!
 
Ah, forgot to mention I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 RTM.
I have a PCI Express video card and it is working fine, just the network card is detected and set up, but unusable for some reason. I don't know if addressing like you mention would affect the vid card too.
I did try each stick of 6400 individually and they worked fine. I also tried each stick of 6400 along with a 1gb 5300 and that worked fine (all 3gb ran at 5300 in that case)
Could it just be the dual sticks running at 6400?
Thanks for looking
 
Natewin,

I saw your PM, unfortunately I do not have any solid reason why this is occuring. You'll not get good support from HP because they will state that machine is only specified to accept 2GB of RAM and state you don't have drivers that are certified for windows 7. You'll likely just need to work around the problem since you've verified it isn't the RAM modules themselves, but rather the quantity. You maybe able to pick up a USB/LAN adapter that would suffice if you want to stick with windows 7. I assume this problem does not occur in Vista right? Vista has been worked over pretty well and is now much better performance wise than at launch IMO --- you might consider just going back to Vista if you want to have your cake and eat it too.
 
I never got a chance to try the 4gb in Vista, I went to Win7 before looking at upgrading to 4gb ram. I may just run 3gb @ 5300 for now... I want to try 2x2gb of 5300 and see if it is the 6400 that is the problem using 2
 
I assumed the issue lay with the AM2 socket (something to do with a memory controller/ address) and the nForce4 chipset, I'm sorry.

A way to isolate the issue, is to see how much ram your bios shows when running at pc6400 , 2x2gb configuration while running the card.

Windows 7 automatically downloads drivers, so I am not sure if that may be the issue.
(sorry, software issues are a little out of my leauge here, but not too far).
 
On an off note, the 8500gt is fast, rather fast (well, relative to whatever intel makes), but it's heavily limited by it's memory bandwidth.

Until I got the 9800gt (sparkle), I had never realized how slow the limited memroy bus was.

Is that the reason why many NerdRage people on forums bash the 8500gt? Or is it just that much slower? (to me, the 9800gt only has faster loading times for CoD4[the only game I have], but I have never seen any 'jerkyness' or 'lag issues'). Or is Call of Duty 4 that much better coded then other games?
 
On another off note, I remember the s3120n chipset heatsink being a large, L-shaped device. The default HP photo shows a small, square heatsink.

Looks like HP did try to do some for the bad overheating issues the 6150le chip has.
In addition, the s3430f has a prety big/decent heatsink which is cube shaped.

The L-shaped heatsink obviously did not do enough, as this unit was previously in the New England area, yet still managed to fry itself...

Either way, when HP decides to give my computer back (probably next month), and I get a working digital camera, I will start showing off in earnest.

(hint: I will never try 'refurbished' cameras again.)
 
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jeremyshaw said:
On an off note, the 8500gt is fast, rather fast (well, relative to whatever intel makes), but it's heavily limited by it's memory bandwidth.

Until I got the 9800gt (sparkle), I had never realized how slow the limited memroy bus was.

Is that the reason why many NerdRage people on forums bash the 8500gt? Or is it just that much slower? (to me, the 9800gt only has faster loading times for CoD4[the only game I have], but I have never seen any 'jerkyness' or 'lag issues'). Or is Call of Duty 4 that much better coded then other games?
Click to expand...
jeremyshaw,

what resolution do you game at? what detail settings?

The 8500GT has a 64 bit interface. The 9800GT has a 256 bit interface. This is a tremendous difference for the higher resolutions and higher details settings including AA and AF. Download a program like 3dmark to compare. Or just change max out resolution and detail settings. We are incredibly lucky, IMO to see a manufactorer make the 256 bit memory interface in a low profile/half height card. I actually didn't think we'd see one come out, for a long time people even said it was impossible to fit that much circuitry on such a small PCB. At the higher resolutions that extra bandwidth is required for any kind of reasonable performance.

An 8500GT compared to a 9800GT at 1920x1200 with full details on any modern game is going to be an absolute night and day difference.

An 8500GT compared to a 9800GT at 800x600 and medium settings won't make any difference at all to the casual gamer.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-cards-charts-2009-high-quality/benchmarks,62.html
check out some benchmarks on this comparison.
 
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Ah... in my sig (new!), I finaly put I have an old, Dell, notwidescreen, 15".

I run (my only game) Call of Duty 4 at default settings (I didn't see them until 1 week ago), at 1024 and 768.

The only difference I have had between the 8500gt and the 9800gt were loading times. The 9800gt takes about... 2 seconds to load the game. The 8500gt... about 30seconds and windows Vista always thinks it's close to "APPCRASH" (I could tell then the application screen turns white) and wants me to close the program.

Maps also show the same difference in loading times.

I toyed around with the settings after seeing your post (and backing up the game folder!)... and it is night and day.

I never realized how much futher the 9800gt could be pushed!

I'm getting about 30+ frames (too fast for me to really tell, but human eyes max out at ~30 frame per second, so it's just a guess), with all the options on the "options" tag turned to the maximum allowed (the 2 video cards switch, off). I'm not exactly sure about the "AF" option I'm told about in some youtube videos, so I don't know where it's setting is (whatever default is).

I transfered the install from my s3430f hard drive, and (I think, I have a bad habit of clicking buttons before my brain registers) I told it not to 'optimize(?)' settings. I used to never like changing any software settings, because (I really don't know how to get them back), so these stayed for a while...

My previous system (the s3430f, which I originally got for myself), had the settings set to lower (well, they had to be, compared to what I am seeing now), but was way better then an Intel card I used to have - wouldn't even launch the game (and I had to try it AFTER the 30 day return period. I bought Call of Duty 4 just before midterms [silly me], and never got time to play it).

I hope I don't get addicted to the graphics (like some people I know). I bought the 9800gt after promising to NEVER compromise on another computer (after buying the Slimline... of course, and a little after I saw this excellent thread), over the fact I spent 300USD on a eMachine a few years back, and it could not do anything, not even windows XP/office 2003 without taking a long time (looking back, then, I thought it was fast... but not as fast as the Fry's demo machines!).

Maybe it's just Call of Duty 4, but I found the s3430f, which has the 8500gt, also could run the game at maximum available settings. There were some problems with the "AA" option past 2x, so it is now off. I cannot see any difference in what it does (I do know, however, it 'makes lines smoother').

I used to use the s3430f to do some 3D Amimation rendering (from class, this was its purpose when I bought it), and it was faster then the school computers, even the multimedia room computers, at this task (Softimage 6.5?).


I'm sorry if my sentance structure is hard to follow, but I am a little woozy from trying to even write perfecly (if that makes sense), especially on a cursed Thursday night.

EDIT: I also have a 24" monitor the company I work for uses for trade shows, on occasion (well, I bought it in the City of Brotherly Love [without reimbursement!], while at Cable-Tec trade show. I didn't buy one later in CA after I was told there was a 'technology LCD' fee for LCD monitors.). It is at 1920 by 1200 (I remember it making my laptop heat up very hot). I tried it on that, and I see what you mean by real night and day. The 8500gt has trouble, much trouble, on that display. The 9800gt can do well, very well. (naughty mode off).

I never seen Windows Vista past a 15" monitor!
Nor have I seen Call of Duty 4 on such a huge screen!
And I just realised my good friend compromised (over a PCIe [6pins... and we thought it was optional on a geforce 250] power connector, I didn't know at the time) with a 9500gt!
I finally have the one-up-manship ability! This will rise steam from him.
 
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Woah... I got a little type happy.

Either way, thank you for opening this [pandora's?] window, Archaea!
While this won't convince me to buy more games, I had a massive doh' moment over realising why I even bought the 9800gt in the first place (other then to show off/satisfy my CDO - the way it's meant to be spelt).

EDIT: Archaea, isn't 3dMark trialware?
 
Thanks Archaea, jeremyshaw, and originalsnuffy for responding to my GPU / fan / wireless questions. Looks like I will be able to use WiFi as planned and I will put in two fans on the back for cooling.

I bought an HD4350 today and it works good, although the Vista WEI for graphics only went up to 3.8 (with the latest drivers). Gaming score went up to 4.7. The GPU temp is holding steady at 58 - 60°C but that's without any case fans installed yet.

The video card isn't taking any load off the processor while playing video though. For example: full screen Hulu used ~50% of both cores with the on board nVidia 6150 and with the HD4350 both cores are still at 50%. The same is true for Youtube at 40 - 45% CPU usage both before and after. My understanding was that it would dramatically reduce CPU load - am I overlooking a setting somewhere in CCC? I did change the BIOS video to PCIe.
 
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You also need a video player that would offload (or at least codecs) the video processing.

Something like VLC (for some files, such as the h.246 codec), will do so, and paid codecs, such as those included in PowerDVD will mostly use GPU acceleration to help decode.

Not all codec/players will, however.
 
Jeremyshaw - yeah, why you didn't see any difference makes sense now - since you were using the 15" monitor with the same settings. I'm glad you have discovered what the 9800GT can do! It can pretty much handle any game at max settings on that 24" monitor at 1920x1200 resolution except for titles based on the crysis engine - for those games you'll have to drop the settings a bit.

3dmark is a benchmarking utility, they now call it futuremark. You can download the demo, but to unlock the software it costs about $20. It's a good tool for overclockers to verify their tweaks are actually enhancing performance. It doesn't have a whole lot of relevance in the slimline world because our BIOS settings are locked down and for the most part we can't overclock. It does purpose to expose the huge discrepancy between say the 8500GT and the 9800GT if you ran it against both cards.
http://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks/

If you want to buy a 24" monitor -- this is the cheapest one I know of and it's a decent monitor. I have a Soyo 24" Topaz (8 bit panel) which is a bit better monitor, but the Soyo TN's aren't bad and for that price they are unbeatable. I have a friend who has a Soyo TN (6 bit) and he likes it a lot. Just an FYI - a 6 bit TN panel is typically 'faster' to change pixel colors (ms rating), while an 8 bit PVA panel is more accurate in color display. Most modern 8 bit panels have ms ratings that are acceptable for gaming (though this used to not be the case) and so pretty much the 8 bit panels are better all around - but more costly.
http://bensbargains.net/deal/111251/

I don't know how you stand a 15" display in day to day use --- time to upgrade man....
 
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I use my 12.1" laptop as a primary for school. The 15" is a massive step up for me!

Turns out, I can do 1280 by 1024 on it, so that will be my new resolution.

The s3120n I have has a digital TV tuner... I hooked it up to our rooftop antenna (nobody uses it, due to 'great advances' of cable) and I can see 7 local channels, about 4 of them in HD. Problem is, I now would need to run a ~30cable (due to the arcane placement of the antenna) to actually watch TV in my room, not the attic!


I am posting from Pacfic Time, mostly in the early morning and 3PM in the afternoon.
 
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Archaea said:
check out www.monoprice.com for the cheapest cable deals...You could buy 30 foot of coax cable for cheap.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I forgot to state: I cannot use the 9800gt (my new best-computer-part-friend) with the TV tuner. It has to extradite itself from my case with the 9800gt in it.

Maybe there is a low profile cooler, but considering performance/heat dissapation of that type of cooler, I don't think it is worth it.
I didn't have time for gaming (and still don't really have any time. This forum just stays in the background mostly... but it's now Labor Day weekend!).
In effect, I don't have time for TV.
I'm sorry if my morning posts are a lither on the edge of cringe; I do get up just then!
 
jeremyshaw, I still have one more question! I'm about to get one of those s5150t but I'm concerned about the length of my Galaxy 9600GT LPLP and all those cables inside the Slimline just in front of the PCI Express slot. It's going to fit anyway?
 
drpenicilin said:
jeremyshaw, I still have one more question! I'm about to get one of those s5150t but I'm concerned about the length of my Galaxy 9600GT LPLP and all those cables inside the Slimline just in front of the PCI Express slot. It's going to fit anyway?
Click to expand...

It will. The HP s5150t can come with decent graphics cards, it should fit!. (the s5000 series is a little bit roomier on the inside then the s3000/s7000 series, and we can fit 9800gt cards in there).

The cables are headers for the (now) reincluded pocket media bay slot and are also cables leading to the front usb/audio ports. They are rather long for the system, and the s3000 series gives them a slot to run through (probably just lazy system builders...), as to not interfere with the graphics card. In the worst case scenario, you loose the pocket media bay slot, but who pays for overpriced HP external hard drives, anyway? (Do NOT give flak about the xbox hard drives I have!).

The Galaxy 9600gt is overpriced... but for not upgrading the origional PSU, may do alright.

Take a look here: (discount I found)
http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/Coupon-HP-Pavilion-Slimline-s5150t-Desktop-PC/13247.aspx


Archaea:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?board.id=Monitor&thread.id=2103

look at the last post -at least somebody is spreading the wealth.
 
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I am up for any problems! (though if it is software... it may be out of my scope).

I've now given up on looking online for Digital Cameras. I think Fry's and Sam's Club are far more reliable.
 
Good news;

I was able to put the LG HD DVD/Blu Ray drive into the slimiline, and successfully boot using the spare SATA connector. No need to get an IDE to SATA adaptor.

So now I have successfully upgraded my s7712n from a 250 gb machine with DVD internal to 1.5 TB with a Blu Ray/HD DVD drive.

For the internal case fan....I modified the existing fan assembly to fit into the case. Basically, I used a pair of pliers and a dremel tool to cut it down in size considerably to fit into the case. Please recall that the problem was that the new optical drive is quite a bit longer than the old drive.

I also had to turn the modified fan assembly 180 degrees to fit into the case. But the fan works, and does not hit anything inside the case so it turns freely.

Now I have noticed that the stock fan is fairly noisy. Has anybody upgraded the case fans for the 7000 series for something quieter? Also, I don't know much as how to measure these things. What size is the stock case fan?

By the way, Jeremy was correct, the case fan (before modifications) is positioned by the fan assembly right above the cooling fins for the microporocessor, but does not actually touch the processor.

Thanks all.
 
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