The highly rated HP Pavilion Slimline PC thread

try turning off automatic restart so you can see what the error message is. Control Panel > System > Advanced System Settings > Advanced tab > Startup and Recovery Settings > Uncheck Automatically Restart.
Click to expand...


If I delete the driver from the display adaptor and reinstall the upto date driver the system needs a restart it does not offer an auto restart on that reboot thats where the mode not supported shows on the monitor.

Has anyone else had any problems with the Sapphire cards? its model number is 11141-05-20R.

Many thanks in advance everyone

MrBen
 
mrben

I have a Sapphire 4550 512MB card installed on my S3323w with an Acacia Mobo, 4GB RAM and running both XP and Vista - runs perfectly, driving a 24" HP LCD HD monitor through an HDMI connection. I also have 2 cool blue fans installed on the outside of the case (see previous posts here), which suck out a hot 22cms. See my previous posts for more details - but I never had a problem with this card! :)
 
Archaea, I'm building an alternate PC to play some hardcore games, I bought the very lastest things: MB MSI 790GX-G65, Corsair DDR3 memory and a Phenom II X3 720 BE. First time I entered the BIOS and started to change date an time, after 5 minutes got an unexpected restart, since then no video from the IGP. All is working, fans, DVD burner, MB lights, HDD but no video, no POST. I've taken 3V backup battery out and put it back in place and nothing... Some help?
 
miosis said:
Yes there are 3 prongs and as far as I know nobody has addressed this issue with SPDIF. I am also interested in what is the proper or best way to interface SPDIF with the 9800 GT. Any ideas Archaea? others?
Click to expand...

I had a SPDIF cable that was attached from the mobo to my 8500GT. When I installed the 9800GT and attached the same cable to the 9800GT, the sound did not go through because the positive/negative input was reversed on the 9800GT. Since it was difficult to get to the SPDIF mobo prongs, I just cut the SPDIF cable that was coming out of the mobo, which looked like it was attached to the 3 prongs but only had two wires: positive and negative. I connected those positive and negative wires to the positive and negative wires I cut on the SPDIF cable that came with the 9800GT, plugged it in and it worked.

From what I remember from reading various boards when trying to figure out what was wrong with my sound, it seemed that all three prongs on the mobo were unnecessary and that SPDIF to video card HDMI basically worked with a positive and negative. Maybe there's somewhere that tells you which one is which or you could just use trial and error with differing connections.
 
This is just a quick post to confirm that Athlon X2 4850e works fine on the Asus M2N61-AR motherboard with HP's 5.18 bios firmware. Tested on a HP slimline model S3215.uk.
 
drpenicilin said:
Archaea, I'm building an alternate PC to play some hardcore games, I bought the very lastest things: MB MSI 790GX-G65, Corsair DDR3 memory and a Phenom II X3 720 BE. First time I entered the BIOS and started to change date an time, after 5 minutes got an unexpected restart, since then no video from the IGP. All is working, fans, DVD burner, MB lights, HDD but no video, no POST. I've taken 3V backup battery out and put it back in place and nothing... Some help?
Click to expand...

This isn't really a great thread to ask questions about a completely non-related machine, and I'm sorry but I don't have any great advice. When I get in this kind of situation I first unhook EVERYTHING, including the PSU, and PSU power cables. I then try to plug everything in with the absolute minimum. 1 stick of RAM, no video card, no Hard-drive, no cd-rom, no reostat controllers, no extra fans -- basically no extras (sound card etc) See if you can get it to turn on then. What type of PSU are you running on this setup - does it have sufficiently powerful amps on the rails? Why do you not have a dedicated video card rather than using integrated video for a hardcore gaming setup. If you don't get anywhere with this then you'll have to start swapping out components with a known good computer setup. There's not any real great ways to check this out. I'm not familiar with that motherboard, but some motherboards give you LED light codes, or beep codes. PM me if you have a reply...Let's keep this type of discussion out of this slimline thread so it doesn't clutter up the slimline material.
 
runtime said:
This is just a quick post to confirm that Athlon X2 4850e works fine on the Asus M2N61-AR motherboard with HP's 5.18 bios firmware. Tested on a HP slimline model S3215.uk.
Click to expand...

Thanks, updated first post.
 
hi,

i just ordered a slimsline s3750 with quad 9400 cpu,4g memory,integrated video card, 500g hd sata. this unit comes with a stock 230 watt PS. I was thinking about purchasing sapphire radeon 4670 w/ 512mb ddr3 or ddr4. can this stock power supply support radeon 4670 or nvidia 9500/9600 gt? or do i have to get the ati 4550?

many thanks in advance..

thanks..
 
Well back from Vacation and getting ready for my build. I received my PSU but as I figured it was too wide it's 3.9" which I could probably get to fit but did not want to modify the case metal that much in order to fit it in there.

In any event I was thinking of a Seasonic SS250-SU which seems to be more efficient than the Sparkle since when reading the specs on the Sparkle you will find it list peak amperages the actual continuous amperages is lower. Anyway the Seasonic lists its 12V1 at 8A and the 12V2 at 14A (22A total) with a peak of 10A and 16A. However it also has a minimum load of 1A do any of you think this would be a problem on the slimline? I doubt I would have much trouble drawing 1A at idle. I am also having trouble finding specs that are consistent some say it has a 24+8 others say a 24+4 the diagram I saw shows this


I do like the Sparkle as well it does have a more proven track record with the slimlines and checking the specs on the SPI220LE5 vs the SPI270 the 12V rails have the same output the only difference in the two is the 5V amperage on the 270 is higher.

Anyway any advise would be much appreciated.
 
Krad said:
I had a SPDIF cable that was attached from the mobo to my 8500GT. When I installed the 9800GT and attached the same cable to the 9800GT, the sound did not go through because the positive/negative input was reversed on the 9800GT. Since it was difficult to get to the SPDIF mobo prongs, I just cut the SPDIF cable that was coming out of the mobo, which looked like it was attached to the 3 prongs but only had two wires: positive and negative. I connected those positive and negative wires to the positive and negative wires I cut on the SPDIF cable that came with the 9800GT, plugged it in and it worked.

From what I remember from reading various boards when trying to figure out what was wrong with my sound, it seemed that all three prongs on the mobo were unnecessary and that SPDIF to video card HDMI basically worked with a positive and negative. Maybe there's somewhere that tells you which one is which or you could just use trial and error with differing connections.
Click to expand...


Hi Krad,

Thanks for the info. Out of curiosity and just to clarify, are you saying that the motherboard already has a seperate SPDIF cable attached to the mobo that appears to be attached to all three prongs, but is in fact only attached to two of them? If that is the case, do you have any idea which two of the three prongs the red/black wires are attached to on the mobo? I only have the cable that came with the 9800GT, so splicing wires is not really an option for me. I have to figure out which prongs I need to attach it to, and unfortunately, I have almost blown out my monitor speakers trying to figure this out. If you don't know, then I will definitely try the trial and error method a bit more, but so far this has been unsuccessful. Thanks again!
 
hacad said:
Anyway the Seasonic lists its 12V1 at 8A and the 12V2 at 14A (22A total) with a peak of 10A and 16A.
Click to expand...


That could spell trouble.

The Sparkle 270 has worked in every single install instance that I know about.
16AMP on 12v1
10AMP on 12v2


The PC50 has only worked in half or so.
8AMP on 12v1
13.5AMP on 12v2

It was discussed a few pages back but I wonder if the 8 AMP on the 12v1 isn't sufficient to drive the motherboard/cpu/ram, etc on a Intel based HP slimline.
 
hoboken said:
hi,

i just ordered a slimsline s3750 with quad 9400 cpu,4g memory,integrated video card, 500g hd sata. this unit comes with a stock 230 watt PS. I was thinking about purchasing sapphire radeon 4670 w/ 512mb ddr3 or ddr4. can this stock power supply support radeon 4670 or nvidia 9500/9600 gt? or do i have to get the ati 4550?

many thanks in advance..

thanks..
Click to expand...

The 4670 should be fine with the 230 watt PSU
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3405&p=9
But did you find one that is half-height/low profile?
 
i can't find one that is half-height/low profile for radeon 4670. do you know anyone that makes one? so the full size card can't fit into these silmlines?

thanks..
 
I went ahead and ordered the Seasonic (rebranded) the actual amperage should be sufficient doubt I will use a higher end Video card (right now anyway).

Also the amps listed for the Seasonic are constant the Peak is 10amp and 16amps.
Also if you look at the Sparkle output on the 12V1 and 12V2 the spec states "+12V1 and +12V2 total output shall not exceed 18A." so the actual wattage avail on the Sparkle is 216W which is exactly the same as the Seasonic.

Anyway I will see how it goes I have a feeling since the V1 and V2 combine anyway it should not be a problem.

I have a Seasonic on my current PC and have had zero problems with it so figure I would stick with them for now.

Thanks for you input Archaea for the response you have responded a few times to my posts and I know you have worked with yours for awhile.

I will try to post my system info as it evolves....:D
 
For those who have the wireless module that came with their PC. Where is it connnected to? The USB pins on the MB? Thanks.
 
hoboken said:
i can't find one that is half-height/low profile for radeon 4670. do you know anyone that makes one? so the full size card can't fit into these silmlines?

thanks..
Click to expand...


You need a half-height low profile video card for the slimlines. It can be tall, You'll lose the PCI or PCI-E slot (depending on amd or intel based slimline) underneath the PCI-E 16x slot if it's too tall, but it can't be a full size standard width. I do not have a 4670 half/height reference for you.


Athenas,

Yes, the USB wireless module that comes with all slimlines just plugs into one of the several free motherboard USB headers next to the RAM slots.
 
Archaea said:
You need a half-height low profile video card for the slimlines. It can be tall, You'll lose the PCI or PCI-E slot (depending on amd or intel based slimline) underneath the PCI-E 16x slot if it's too tall, but it can't be a full size standard width. I do not have a 4670 half/height reference for you.


Athenas,

Yes, the USB wireless module that comes with all slimlines just plugs into one of the several free motherboard USB headers next to the RAM slots.
Click to expand...

hey archea,

will the sparkle low profile nvidia 9600gt work with my slimline 3750 stock 230w PS?

thanks..
 
hoboken said:
hey archea,

will the sparkle low profile nvidia 9600gt work with my slimline 3750 stock 230w PS?

thanks..
Click to expand...

Hi Hoboken,

Chances are that you will need to upgrade your PSU if you plan on running any NVIDIA card above a 9500 series, primarily because most 9600+ cards require additional power from a 6-pin PCI-e adapter cable. I also have a 3750 and bought the 300W In-Win for about $35 (an absolute steal) and installed the Sparkle 9800GT. I love this setup, and for the extra 30 or so bucks, the performance difference between the 9600 and the 9800 is well worth it. Either way, even if you go with a 9600 card, the need for the additional 6-pin PCI-e cable means you will have to replace the stock PSU anyway if you plan on keeping your DVD-Drive installed. Otherwise, you'll have to ditch the DVD in order to have the extra cable needed to hook up the video card, since the stock HP supply only has 2 free SATA cables (one of which must be connected to your hard drive) . Hope this helps!
 
hoboken said:
hey archea,

will the sparkle low profile nvidia 9600gt work with my slimline 3750 stock 230w PS?

thanks..
Click to expand...

pigskin is right about the 9800GT being significantly faster than the 9600GT or any other low profile Nvidia card or ATI card. If you are an avid gamer with larger than a 19" LCD and like to play at native resolution with all the eye candy turned up than there is no other conclusion than looking into the 9800gt --- it is a low profile gaming power house.

If you play at 1280x1024 resolution or thereabouts you'll notice not difference a reasonable difference between the 9600GT and 9800GT...the extra horsepower only helps at bigger resolutions. One guy had a situation where he only had a 17" LCD and so he'd certaintly never notice the difference.

The above being noted - I understand the the 230watt PSU from HP has a comfy 16amps on the 12 volt rail.
That's enough amperage that the 9600GT should work with the 230 watt HP stock power supply in my opinion..... -but as pigskin pointed out - not in stock configuration. You'll have to look for some random power adapters --- assuming it is laid out the same as a stock 160 watt or 180 watt PSU with only two sata adapters as peripheral power leads (and nothing else)

If it has any molex adapters (4 pin white trapezoid like connectors) then you can just buy a molex splitter. If it does not you'll need something like this! I just did a live search for images on SATA splitter and came across multiple enumerations of these types of adapters --- choose the store of your choice.

33277big.jpg


This is a passthrough sata power (so you retain your SATA power lead to power your cd-rom or hard-drive) but it splits out to two molex connects which you'll need in order to buy the six pin PCI-E adapter that stems from two molex leads that is mentioned in my PSU upgrade video linked on the first page.

You'll have adapters coming out the ears - but it will likely work as far as how much power can be afforded on your 12 volt rail.



The 9800GT will likely require too much power from the 230 watt PSU -- so likely that I wouldn't even try it, unless you want to risk damage to your other PC components. You'll need an upgraded PSU for that attempt.
 
mrben

I have a Sapphire 4550 512MB card installed on my S3323w with an Acacia Mobo, 4GB RAM and running both XP and Vista - runs perfectly, driving a 24" HP LCD HD monitor through an HDMI connection. I also have 2 cool blue fans installed on the outside of the case (see previous posts here), which suck out a hot 22cms. See my previous posts for more details - but I never had a problem with this card!
Click to expand...


I have now solved the issues with this card it required a reinstallation of Vista due to some conflicts.

Thanks for the replys chaps.

Mr Ben
 
Arch

All I got back from Seasonic to my emails about their 400w PSU was deafening silence - unlike what we can expect from their PSU, it seems. :rolleyes:

Meanwhile, I came across this option:

http://www.weirdstuff.com/cgi-bin/item/22146#

Any opinions? (the price seems right) :D

Will this work with its ATX 20-pin connector?
 
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drpenicilin said:
Archaea, I'm building an alternate PC to play some hardcore games, I bought the very lastest things: MB MSI 790GX-G65, Corsair DDR3 memory and a Phenom II X3 720 BE. First time I entered the BIOS and started to change date an time, after 5 minutes got an unexpected restart, since then no video from the IGP. All is working, fans, DVD burner, MB lights, HDD but no video, no POST. I've taken 3V backup battery out and put it back in place and nothing... Some help?
Click to expand...

I had the exact same symtoms, and my problem turned out to be a bad bank of RAM - but I was lucky. It could easily be a bad transistor on the MB. Archea's advice make sense - process of elimination. Best of luck...
 
Hey everyone. Long time not visiting, but I figure I'd update all of you on what's up with my computer. I was having trouble exiting standby mode and through a process of deduction I discovered my PSU was weakened. So I purchased that Sparkle PSU and the cables and now everything is working just fine. Unfortunately, my Galaxy 8600 still doesn't load, so it must be fried. I may upgrade to the 9800 if I feel necessary, but my 7600gs suits all of my purposes just fine.
 
SlimKiwi said:
Arch

All I got back from Seasonic to my emails about their 400w PSU was deafening silence - unlike what we can expect from their PSU, it seems. :rolleyes:

Meanwhile, I came across this option:

http://www.weirdstuff.com/cgi-bin/item/22146#

Any opinions? (the price seems right) :D

Will this work with its ATX 20-pin connector?
Click to expand...


The ATX 20 pin will be standard sized, not micro-fit so you'll at least need an adapter from standard atx to micro-fit if you don't have one already. (available at atxpowersupplies.com - but horribly overpriced)

The stats on it look okay - it doesn't give dimmensions, so you'll want to google the model and verify it will actually fit in the slimline.
 
omjeremy said:
Hey everyone. Long time not visiting, but I figure I'd update all of you on what's up with my computer. I was having trouble exiting standby mode and through a process of deduction I discovered my PSU was weakened. So I purchased that Sparkle PSU and the cables and now everything is working just fine. Unfortunately, my Galaxy 8600 still doesn't load, so it must be fried. I may upgrade to the 9800 if I feel necessary, but my 7600gs suits all of my purposes just fine.
Click to expand...

welcome back omjeremy!

How loud is the sparkle 270 watt under load for you with your 7600GS card?
 
Thanks Archaea! Nice to 'see' you again.

I think the Sparkle psu is a little bit quieter than the oem one. Not really sure. It's still rather quiet compared to most PCs.
 
SlimKiwi said:
Arch

All I got back from Seasonic to my emails about their 400w PSU was deafening silence - unlike what we can expect from their PSU, it seems. :rolleyes:

Meanwhile, I came across this option:

http://www.weirdstuff.com/cgi-bin/item/22146#

Any opinions? (the price seems right) :D

Will this work with its ATX 20-pin connector?
Click to expand...
That PSU is too large for the slimline. For that specific model, the dimensions are 1.57"(H) X 3.9"(W) X 8.66"(D). The problem is the width is too large and it has to be at 3.2".
 
Arch

The fit seems to be OK - this unit is 8.66" long (a bit shorter than the HP 180W stock PSU). I'm wondering about the location of the power switch. Seems I would have to reach to the back of the case to turn it ON/OFF, instead of using the switch on top of the HP case - unless there is a connector on the Sparkle PSU which can be connected to the HP power switch? Is there a connector from the HP PSU to the switch? Is it a special connector or is it likely to have an equivalent on the Sparkle PSU? If not, would it be feasible to open the PSU case and re-route the power switch connector to the HP power switch? (or get a longer connecting cable). I've asked the vendor for details on the connectors that come with this PSU. Thanks for your guidance! :)
 
Thanks, athenas! - you just saved me $14.95+Shipping ($9.95) Unless I use those metal snippers to open up the case just a tad! You don't suppose there's .7" play, do you? HaHa!
 
Well I got my Travia (Sesonic rebrand) PSU today and wow super PSU. IT had a 20 +4 Pin, PLUS, 3-4 pin Molex, and 2 SATA power connectors (I still need an extension however due to the 90 degree difference between the HD and the DVD, and a 6-pin connector for a video card (doubt this PSU has enough juice for a 9800 though but you never know since it has a "dedicated" line.

Its funny I read so many different stories about the +12V1 and the +12V2 on article says the MB and CPU are run on the V2 line another says it's the V1 honestly I don't know who to believe anymore, so I will just go on the face Seasonic is always on the recommend list, rebranded or not.

Anyway the wires on this one are long however but not unmanageable, I was able to tuck the SATA, 6-pin and all the Molex lines behind the HD cage, taped together so as not to block too much air. Then taped the rest of the wires nice and tight on the 20 pin line.

We will see how it works once I get the build done. I did plug it in and with no load on it the fan is in audible I had to put my ear about 2" away to even hear it a little bit. So hopefully that will still be the case under load.

I still do not have a video card picked out yet and it does not specify if the PCI express x16 is V2.0 though. Anyone have a clue on this one?
 
SlimKiwi said:
Arch

I'm wondering about the location of the power switch. Seems I would have to reach to the back of the case to turn it ON/OFF, instead of using the switch on top of the HP case - unless there is a connector on the Sparkle PSU which can be connected to the HP power switch? Is there a connector from the HP PSU to the switch? Is it a special connector or is it likely to have an equivalent on the Sparkle PSU?
Click to expand...

You don't need to reroute any power supplies on off switch wiring. All ATX power supplies are 'switching' power supplys. The green and black wire in the PSU 20pin cable set will be switched(turn off an on) by the button on the top of your PC just like the stock PSU is.
 
Hi folks,

I've been reading this thread for the past couple of days, lot of great information on here.

I was given a HP Pavillion Slimline 3040.uk just after Christmas by a friend. The catch being it had no CPU, no memory, no hard drive and no DVDRW. Basically it had shown symptoms of the motherboard failing on the PCI-Express slot (trying another video card didn't work although the stock video card out of it worked fine in another system). Anyway to cut a long story short I didn't realise at the time time that it was a known fault that was covered by a special extended warranty (the warranty had expired about 3 months previous to it failing). So I built up a new machine for my friend and we re-used what we could out of the system.

Anyway, I've now found that the machine is covered under this extended warranty so I've arranged for HP to repair it. I've already got a DVDRW and some memory (OCZ DDR2 6400 which I've tried before and know it works) and I've ordered an Athlon X2 4400+ 65W CPU (I have away a 3800+ to my Dad for Christmas!) and Hitachi Cinemastar 500GB Hard Drive (according to the supplier it's supposed to be a cooler running drive aimed at HTPC and DVR boxes and has a slightly lower power consumption).

When the machine comes back from HP I'm hoping to set it up as a HTPC. Traditionally I would have just stuck Ubuntu on the machine with MythTV but I figured since I have a Vista licence on the machine I may as well stick with Vista (although I don't have a recovery image so it looks like I'll have to send for one from Microsoft - I see they do Vista on multiple CDs for a small charge).

I feel like I've picked up a lot of useful information from reading through this thread (up to page 74 so far). It never occurred to me before reading this about the wattage on the CPUs. Unfortunately I can't find a BE-2350 or BE-2400 for love nor money so I'm keeping my fingers crossed a 4400+ will be okay.

What I am possibly thinking of doing is running a standard ATX power supply on the machine (I see there are some adapter cables on eBay to convert from the standard ATX to the Minifit connectors). As the machine will be in a cabinet anyway I wouldn't see the PSU (I'm also planning of hacking some big 120mm fans into the cabinets to blow some cold air in).

I wasn't sure too about the CPU cooler and what the alternatives were?

I notice that the cooler appears to have mounting screws which look like what I have seen on the Intel Socket 775 chips, in fact I did try and compare the screws on the HP cooler to an Intel cooler and they seem to match so I wonder if it would be possible to maybe use an after market low profile cooler such as the Asus V72 cooler?

I did wonder too (so far from what I've read I'm expecting the answer to be no), does anyone know if a BIOS has been released for the M2NC51-AR board to support the Athlon X2 4850e CPU's at all?

Anyway, the CPU and hard drive should be arriving on Tuesday and then HP should be picking the system up on Friday (all being well) so fingers crossed by the end of the month I should have it all up and running.

Rob
 
Okay I've been doing a bit more reading up and searching. I've been thinking about cooling the system as it's not going to be out in the open. If my calculations are correct the fan on the stock CPU cooler uses about 5.4 Watts (12v x 0.45 amps). I've found another 70mm fan which uses 0.96 Watts at 12v.

I also thought about maybe getting a SATA power to Molex converter, then attaching a Molex splitter to this and a Molex to SATA adaptor (so it'll in theory give me a Molex spare which I can attach a couple more low wattage fans to).

I'm wondering if I could get 3 x 40mm fans mounted internally on the vents to suck out warm air on the back of the machine (above the ports) and maybe an 80mm fan mounted on the lid itself to blow cold air into the case. I presume the CPU cooler blows air over the heatsink and out the back of the machine?

EDIT: Had a bit more of a search and I figure with one of these 80mm fans at 0.84W and 3 of these 40mm fans at 0.72W each or 2.16W for three will work out at 3.96W if coupled with the above 70mm fan at 0.96W which is still 1.44W lower than the current 70mm fan on the heatsink.

Rob

Rob
 
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Rob,

That 65 watt CPU alone won't give you any trouble on the stock slimline power supply unless you are trying to run a more cutting edge graphics card.

What graphics card are you wanting to run?

Your heat disappation assumptions are correct. The stock heatsink and fan blow air out the back of the machine. The fan speed is regulated by the temp controller and when things get hot inside the case the stock CPU fan speeds up and helps expel air. With this mind -- a down blowing OEM type heatsink won't exhaust hot air out of the case - so you'll likely need more fans. Those fans you found look to be high quality with 2 ball bearings and that wattage use is very nice!
 
Archaea said:
Rob,

That 65 watt CPU alone won't give you any trouble on the stock slimline power supply unless you are trying to run a more cutting edge graphics card.

What graphics card are you wanting to run?

Your heat disappation assumptions are correct. The stock heatsink and fan blow air out the back of the machine. The fan speed is regulated by the temp controller and when things get hot inside the case the stock CPU fan speeds up and helps expel air. With this mind -- a down blowing OEM type heatsink won't exhaust hot air out of the case - so you'll likely need more fans. Those fans you found look to be high quality with 2 ball bearings and that wattage use is very nice!
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure yet on the video card. I'm not really a gamer (well I do play stuff on Mame, so it's mainly non 3D stuff, especially no recent 3D stuff). I have a Geforce 7300LT which was in the system although I suspect it won't be any good for offloading HD on to the GPU. I also have a Radeon HD 2350 low profile although I understand again the HD decoding isn't up to much on this card.

Long term I may put Ubuntu on the machine and MythTV which from reading the MythTV mailing list seems to suggest that NVidia cards are preferable although I'll probably stick with Vista for the time being.

I've been making notes as I read through (just finished reading all 140 odd pages!), looking at what I can find which is cheap and has a low profile bracket there is a 256MB 8400GS which is pretty cheap but by the look of the picture has a fan on there (plus according to some tests done in Linux it will decode 1080p when coupled with a Sempron!) or the other option I was thinking of is this 256MB Radeon HD 3450 which also is said to have a low profile bracket (although it's double width).

Not so fussed about HDMI, as long as the card supports HDCP over DVI I'm happy as I connect my current PC for media stuff via Coax to my home cinema system and the video goes to the TV via DVI.

Hopefully the bits should arrive tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to getting this little machine up and running. If it wasn't for this thread I would have probably ended up binning the machine, glad I found it now :)

Rob
 
Okay I have been hitting the books pretty hard on this one, trying to school myself a little on PSU's with the +12V1 and the +12V2 designations...here is what I find if it interests anyone.

THERE IS NO STANDARD...man this drives me nuts, the information sites say different things depending on who defines what component is controlled by what rail.

Now here is my findings on based on wiring diagrams I found at both Sparkle and on the Seasonic PSU I purchased.

The Sparkle 270W PSU everyone is talking about is a very good supply it's proven itself as a viable solution to power most systems with upgraded video cards. However when using the 20 pin to 24 small pin ATX adapter the board is only getting the +12V2 power.

Based on the diagram I looked at shows the +12V1 ONLY supplies the 4-pin connector. While the +12V2 line supplies the 20-pin ATX connector, the Molex connectors and the SATA power. this only has 10A or 120W available, but being that this is a very efficient PSU (much more so than the stock HP) it works fine.

The Seasonic PSU I have seems to be good so far, although I have not hooked up my video card yet.But I am thinking Archaea could be right it may go the way of his old Shuttle PSU w/ 8A on the +12V1.

Now based on Seasonics Diagram, the +12V1 line supplies the 20-pin ATX connector, the Molex connectors, SATA power, and the +12V2 ONLY supplies the 6-Pin Video Card connector which I am not even using.

However my thought is I don't want to over load the +12V1 this would cause my system to be unstable not to mention cause a major meltdown of my system, figuring I would running pretty much all of my system on the 8A (96W) +12V1 line specification.

So my thought is since I am not using my 6 pin leg and which has the +12V2 line connected to it I would cut the yellow +12V1 line running to the ATX connector (cap it), and switch the line with one of the +12V2 wires connected to the 6-pin connectore so I can now power the system using the +12V2 leg which has 14A (168W) available. This should be more than enough to power my system with a little headway since I will be putting an HD 4650 in the system which uses very little power, since ground is common to all the voltages there should not be a problem. I don't think I want to attempt to combine them as the end result would probably be a spark and a new computer......then again I doubt there are two separate 12V rails in the PSU.

So anyway before I do this do you think it's true when some forums say that it does not matter the +12V1 and +12V2 combine anyway....what really matters is total Amps? Not sure what to believe anymore.
And What are anyones thoughts on switching the wires like I stated above? workable?:confused:

Thanks
 
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I've also been researching power supplies that are greater than the 300w available in the us. Countries overseas, particularly in japan and korea, offer tfx psu's up and around 450w. Unfortunately I have been unable to find a place where I could possibly order them online...until now. I found this @ gmarket:
http://global.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=161082608&pos_shop_cd=SH&pos_class_cd=111111111&pos_class_kind=T&keyword_order=lgp400+tfx

It seems global market is a Korean based online mall/auction site that serves to ship internationally and appeals to a lot of international customers (currently ebay is trying to buy them out). You'll need to make an account (which is free) to view shipping options, etc.

Be advised, most of these tfx psu's overseas are made for input of 240v vs the US 110-120 v. I chose this particular model because it has the switch in the back that enables both us voltage and uk/japan/korean voltage inputs. i haven't searched in depth as of yet, but this was the first model I found that included the us v input.

I'm not completely certain if this will work, nor am I certain on the reliability of gmarket sellers.. but at least i feel I'm getting closer to my quest for a beefier tfx psu. In any case, the psu itself is relatively cheap, around $28 but the shipping is around $30 to the us. still, the total is a fairly reasonable $58. It might just be worth the risk.
 
hacad said:
Okay I have been hitting the books pretty hard on this one, trying to school myself a little on PSU's with the +12V1 and the +12V2 designations...here is what I find if it interests anyone.

THERE IS NO STANDARD...man this drives me nuts, the information sites say different things depending on who defines what component is controlled by what rail.

Now here is my findings on based on wiring diagrams I found at both Sparkle and on the Seasonic PSU I purchased.

The Sparkle 270W PSU everyone is talking about is a very good supply it's proven itself as a viable solution to power most systems with upgraded video cards. However when using the 20 pin to 24 small pin ATX adapter the board is only getting the +12V2 power.

Based on the diagram I looked at shows the +12V1 ONLY supplies the 4-pin connector. While the +12V2 line supplies the 20-pin ATX connector, the Molex connectors and the SATA power. this only has 10A or 120W available, but being that this is a very efficient PSU (much more so than the stock HP) it works fine.

The Seasonic PSU I have seems to be good so far, although I have not hooked up my video card yet.But I am thinking Archaea could be right it may go the way of his old Shuttle PSU w/ 8A on the +12V1.

Now based on Seasonics Diagram, the +12V1 line supplies the 20-pin ATX connector, the Molex connectors, SATA power, and the +12V2 ONLY supplies the 6-Pin Video Card connector which I am not even using.

However my thought is I don't want to over load the +12V1 this would cause my system to be unstable not to mention cause a major meltdown of my system, figuring I would running pretty much all of my system on the 8A (96W) +12V1 line specification.

So my thought is since I am not using my 6 pin leg and which has the +12V2 line connected to it I would cut the yellow +12V1 line running to the ATX connector (cap it), and switch the line with one of the +12V2 wires connected to the 6-pin connectore so I can now power the system using the +12V2 leg which has 14A (168W) available. This should be more than enough to power my system with a little headway since I will be putting an HD 4650 in the system which uses very little power, since ground is common to all the voltages there should not be a problem. I don't think I want to attempt to combine them as the end result would probably be a spark and a new computer......then again I doubt there are two separate 12V rails in the PSU.

So anyway before I do this do you think it's true when some forums say that it does not matter the +12V1 and +12V2 combine anyway....what really matters is total Amps? Not sure what to believe anymore.
And What are anyones thoughts on switching the wires like I stated above? workable?:confused:

Thanks
Click to expand...

johnnyguru - http://www.jonnyguru.com/ - says in a bunch of his reviews that on many power supplies there is no true 12v1 and 12v2. It's marketing lingo. Where did you find your wiring schematics you refer to?

Not that I doub what you so but, but I can't believe that I am only running off 12v2 using the sparkle 270 watt. Since I'm not using the four pin that would mean

65 watt quad core
25 watt DVD/RW
10 watt 1.5TB hard-drive
100+ watt 9800GT
10 watt RAM
30 watt motherboard
fans/usb reader - etc.

are all running off one 12v rail...that's impossible given the amperage draws there exceed what that rail is measured for. I also have torn apart the sparkle PSU for the 60mm fan I put on it, and as best I can tell all the 12 votl wires feed to the same soder point --- so I doubt I have true dual 12 volt rails anyway. Confusion is right - and that comes down to the point that 'marketing lingo' is the communication methods that are offered rather than truths.
 
ScarCrow:

That PSU won't fit the case just by looking at it. There are plenty of choices Seasonic has the highest I have seen at 400W but that will be noisy, then again if you are looking at a high end video card they are usually pretty noisy anyway...if I was building that type of system I would use a bigger case.

Archaea.

I think I have to agree with you Manufacture hype....then again if I start crashing I will know the diagram is correct.

Does your Motherboard have a 4-pin connector?

anyway here is the diagram link http://www.sparklepower.com/pdf/Drawing/SPI270LE.pdf
This page is pretty tough to find on their site, I found it by searching SPI270LE +12V1 http://www.sparklepower.com/proPCPS_80Plus.html

Also doubt the wattage you are listing are all being pulled at the same time, it's almost impossible....though I say almost.but get your saying, if you are burning a DVD from your HD to the DVD you would be using most of you Wattage on running the drives, ram, and CPU video card would not be pushing much but still a good pull on the supply.

What I put down was food for thought and just my way of trying to get some more input.

You did tell me that the 8A on the +12V1 does not sound good, that's why I see changing the +12V2 to the ATX supply could benefit the system. so I figured maybe it did matter?
 
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you're right, it won't fit. It will fit my smaller mini itx build, however. but I totally forgot that the hp slimline doesn't necessarily fit standard tfx psu's.
 
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