The highly rated HP Pavilion Slimline PC thread

I have a S3400f with no mods except a Chaintech 8600GT from Newegg (fanless model). I received this card over the weekend, and I installed it with no problems, however I cannot update the driver for this card. My computer cannot read the Utility CD that came with the card, and when I go to NVIDIA or the Chaintech site and download the appropriate driver, my computer crashes. This has happened about 5 times. When I try to update the driver directly from the Device Manager it says that I have the latest driver installed. This is my 2nd 8600GT, the first one just quit on me 2 weeks ago, but my lowest score for graphics with that card was a 5.0, now it is 4.0 for this card. Does anyone know why this is happening, and should I talk to Newegg in regards to the Utility CD not working? (BTW Athlon 64 X2, 5200+, 2.70 GHz, 4.0 GB RAM)
 
Markster33139,

The Utility CD has nothing more but the driver on it, which at this point is probably outdated anyways. I don't really understand why your computer is crashing in regards to the driver update though. My first idea as to correct your issue is that maybe you are downloading and trying to install the wrong driver for the wrong OS or bit system. In which case there are the ones you should be downloading for Vista (Select your proper bit.):

GeForce Release 178.24 WHQL 32-bit Vista
GeForce Release 178.24 WHQL 64-bit Vista

If that doesn't work my only other idea is for you to try taking out your video card, booting the computer without it (use your on-board display), and turn it off again and reinsert your video card. That should reset any temporary settings made in the bios for the card.

I really don't know what else to tell you besides that. If your still having issues I would return the card and get a new one. As for the graphics scores becoming lower, it may have something to do with the fact the card is passively cooled and not fan cooled. Fan cooling is way more efficient than passive and results in lower temperatures and better performance. Either that or there is an issue with the card itself. It's difficult to tell.
 
chklin, I'd also be interested in your review and would appreciate if you could post the link to that review here or PM me. In that thread, please mention its footprint and how it compares to the Slimline's. Good luck w/ that quad core. :cool:

Getting back on topic, I currently see 2 s3500z and 7 s3500t Slimline's on ubid.com. I'm pondering if I should make a bid. :)
 
Someone in Colorado keeps trying to snatch up all the S3500 aucitons :) Must be a reseller.
 
madpoet said:
Someone in Colorado keeps trying to snatch up all the S3500 aucitons :) Must be a reseller.
Click to expand...
That someone may be in for a surprise. I have been watching my local craiglist, and many people are trying to flip deals for profit. There is the Fry's Q8200+ECS mobo combo from last month, the eMachines system from BestBuy on Black Friday, and the HP A6614F Phenom system (also from BestBuy). Not bad prices really, but as far as I can tell, they all just sit there.

Must be the economy.
 
madpoet said:
Someone in Colorado keeps trying to snatch up all the S3500 aucitons :) Must be a reseller.
Click to expand...

Yeah, which makes it that much tougher to find a good deal. Maybe one would be better off for another $150 off (or better) coupon directly from HP, which would make its price almost as good as a Ubid. :confused:
 
sorry long first post..been lurking around in this thread for quite awhile taking in upgrading tips, this whole thread has been mighty helpful, i currently own a slimline s3280d and i just recently upgraded it (4gb ram, ati hd3450)

i was thinking about buying a 9500gt but im still not quite sure if my rig could really take it, i play an average of 2-3 hours, mostly fps games, right now most of the games that im playing are old ones and i kinda want to try some new games like far cry 2 and crysis

anyways my processor is an e4500 im not much of a techie i kinda need help and some convincing regarding the 9500gt..thanks everyone
 
I'm getting an s3600t and I'm in the same situation basically. My graphical needs would be a little less demanding than ..er...Crysis though, lol
I just want to play The Witcher :(

For your card, I'd probably get this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GeForce-9500-GT...HICS-CARD_W0QQitemZ280269034922QQcmdZViewItem

It's the only decent priced one I've seen that doesn't seem like a complete rip off and it even comes with brackets apparently. It's 256MB of memory too, so it shouldn't blow out your PSU. Your choice though, I'm still contemplating between that and an 8600GT.

See, I would get this if it EVER becomes available! It has even been proven to work in slimlines! Even for the Witcher game! *sigh* my luck

http://www.ncixus.com/products/index.php?sku=26441
 
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This is the Best Priced 9500GT in my opinion 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150319
Includes free bracket, and $20.00 mail in rebate. It comes out to be 49.99 + 6.99 shipping.
It's the route I am going when I get my Slimline this thursday. I will keep everyone up to date after I get it.

From what I have been reading the 9500GT is supposed to be more power efficent than the 8600GT, although they perform about the same the 9500GT a little above it.But what they say it does and what it realy does may be 2 different things. The 9500GT does use a smaller manufactoring process 65nm. I guess I'll see when I get both
 
Hi all.

I havea HP slimline s3140uk and upgraded the graphics march of this year to a 8600gt (hdmi ver). The power supply in this unit is 160w.

The graphics device seemed to work ok untill recently then one day i switched the unit on and it booted but nothing displayed on the screen and nothing even at bootup. I sent the card back via RMA and they say nothing is wrong with the card.

I emailed HP to see if there is any reason and i got the following

"Due to overload the system by installing add-in cards (Graphic Card) that draw excessive current, this may lead to malfunction of the Motherboard or other components. Therefore I recommend you not to install the add-in card which consumes more power. HP Desktop PCs are designed to provide an average of 2 amps per expansion slot. The total amperage draw of a system must not exceed the number of slots times 2 amps.
HP recommends installing a graphics card with power consumption of 25 watts or less. These specifications are tested and recommend by HP. And also. never attempt to disassemble or repair the power supply. Always replace the entire unit.
Please visit the below weblink for the specifications of the PC:"

So i assume I will need a bigger power unit so which do i buy ? I assume I will have to mess about with the atx power lead as it is a mini version of the 20 pin.

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1762.html

or

http://www.powersuppliesonline.co.u...-pc-power-supply/220w-1u-flex-psu/default.htm

any advice would be appreciated.
 
tsmorty said:
This is the Best Priced 9500GT in my opinion 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150319
Includes free bracket, and $20.00 mail in rebate. It comes out to be 49.99 + 6.99 shipping.
It's the route I am going when I get my Slimline this thursday. I will keep everyone up to date after I get it.

From what I have been reading the 9500GT is supposed to be more power efficent than the 8600GT, although they perform about the same the 9500GT a little above it.But what they say it does and what it realy does may be 2 different things. The 9500GT does use a smaller manufactoring process 65nm. I guess I'll see when I get both
Click to expand...

The only thing that bothers me about that is the 512MB. The price is better than the one I put up, but the site I use to reference PSU in ratio to video card says this:

9500 GT______________##¦)#|' 19W-35W § (256MB)

Which....would make me believe that the 512MB would exceed that wattage. The range right there that I just posted seems good for the 180 PSU, but wouldn't a 512MB video card memory be pushing it?
 
Blaire said:
The only thing that bothers me about that is the 512MB. The price is better than the one I put up, but the site I use to reference PSU in ratio to video card says this:

9500 GT______________##¦)#|' 19W-35W § (256MB)

Which....would make me believe that the 512MB would exceed that wattage. The range right there that I just posted seems good for the 180 PSU, but wouldn't a 512MB video card memory be pushing it?
Click to expand...
Not at all. The 9500GT is one of the lowest power draw cards there is (as has been mentioned several times, including just a few pages back...). The 8600GT you were looking at consumes almost twice the power, and is slower to boot. 256meg cards are quickly becoming a hindrance in modern games, don't bother with them.

Really, the 512meg 9500GT is the best option right now for the slimlines. You won't be in danger of overloading your PSU by any means, and it's also the fastest card without requiring an external GPU. The only better solution would be a 512meg GDDR3 9500GT LP which Galaxy lists on their site but AFAIK hasn't been released yet.
 
When you guys mention stutters in playback of 1080p movies are you talking about 1080p rips or did you install a blu-ray drive and are playing them straight off of a blu-ray?
 
so I decided to purchase a xfx low profile 9400gt as it was uber cheap and just incase my 8600gt is broke.

Now what i need to know is will my current 160W psu allow me to use it without any problems.

I have the s3140 it has the 4400 x2 @ 75W i think 2 gig ram 1 hdd and a lg bluray/hd-dvd drive.

If i need to upgrade will a 220w be ok and will I have to find a smal power atx power cable ?
 
Blaire said:
See, I would get this if it EVER becomes available! It has even been proven to work in slimlines! Even for the Witcher game! *sigh* my luck

http://www.ncixus.com/products/index.php?sku=26441
Click to expand...

It's not your luck Blaire, that card hasn't been available for quite a number of months and I wouldn't be surprised if Galaxy has stopped manufacturing it.

The nice thing about that card form Ebay is that is has DDR3 and not DDR2. Sure it's not going to preform up to par with the 9600GT, but it'll still get the job done. I would go with that rather than getting that terrible passively cooled 8600GT now being offered on Newegg. In my opinion any passively cooled card for a low profile machine really isn't a good idea. There's just too much heat build-up and nowhere for it to go.
 
both the 8600gt and the 9400gt dont seem to boot when in. Do you guys think its a power thing ?
 
Probably need a tad bit more info. When you put those cards in does it appear that your computer does still proceed to load into windows?(IE do you hear the windows sound, does the HD light chug away?). If it stops there then I would make sure they are getting seated properly as well as check to see if there are any further options in the BIOS.

If it is still going plug your Monitor back into the integrated Video card while it is still running to see if it is just not swapping over to your discreet card.

Also try updating your BIOS. I don't know your tech level, so I apologize if I am mentioning stuff you have already tried. Plus sometimes I forget some of the basics even though I should already know them.

With the above info we might be able to garner a better idea of what's happening.
 
its soo wiered.

8600gt was working perfect since march and this was with the 4400 2 gig ram and blu-ray drive, then i booted one day and no image not even at bootup.

9400gt does the same.

I even took out the blu-ray drive and still would not boot but the original 7600le@2x boots with everything in.

the power is 160w only thing I can think of is the power just aint pumping out enough juice and has been damaged with the 8600gt running for several months.

Getting a little flustered now because its going to mean changing the psu but also making a compatible mini atx power connector to go with.
 
wow so it died over time huh, no fun. Did you have any heat issues? I just purchased the 9500GT which is supposed to require less power then the 8600GT. I guess we'll see soon enough. I also have 2 additional USB devices: wireless transceiver for Keyboard and mouse and a USB Level One wireless Network Adapter. I will then be all good. My wife already loves the slimline though. She had to use an old laptop before.
 
yea just dies after time.

The 8600gt still works just not in the slimline and as i said I also purchased a 9400gt and that does not work although that has 512mb of ram.

I dunno if its a power thing or the pci-e slot will no longer allow 16x powerful cards.

The standard le card does the buisness but will not work proper on 1080p stuff or ure blu-ray/hd-dvd which is why I wanted a good card in the machine.

Little scared to pull out £60 for a new psu which will give me 250 - 270w of power if it is the slot that is broke.
 
Try to borrow (or buy)a "Kill a Wat". Record the figures during bootup with the functioning graphics card. Then do the same with the 9400. Then You have a indication if it is the power draw or the slot.
If You can get the machine to boot, try to underclock the vga, that also might help to indicate the issue.Typically Slimlines have a weak design regarding cooling. That might kill the psu or other components.

Have been running my own slimline with the side open due to full hight card( 4670) and everything is cooler than in original config. Not a single issue since install. On the other hand, have only been able to record a difference(increase) of about 20 wat compared to the original vga (7500le). That should on the paper be much higher, so consumption seams to be very brand/component specific.
 
So another card does work in that slot or it boots up and uses integrated but neither of the other cards. :( Hmm, I would definitly see if you can find someone that has a PCI-e 16x card for networking or sound and try to see if they work. If they do then wierd, and if they don't no good. Also do you have a PCI card to slap in the lower slot to see if it works?
 
tsmorty said:
So another card does work in that slot or it boots up and uses integrated but neither of the other cards. :( Hmm, I would definitly see if you can find someone that has a PCI-e 16x card for networking or sound and try to see if they work. If they do then wierd, and if they don't no good. Also do you have a PCI card to slap in the lower slot to see if it works?
Click to expand...

sorry for teh confusion.

never used the intergrated graphics it has alway been turned off.

card 1 (original) 7500le w0rks fine but i think it only runs @2x via the slot i think in runs at 25w

card2 8600gt was running excellent untill last week and now no picture even from bios boot.

card3 9400gt 3 days old does exactly the same as the 8600gt

now i fully disconnected the blu-ray drive including power and tried bootup but no go on both gt cards.

I will see if i can get a hold of that device in the other post. I just find it odd it worked brilliantly without any probles no lockups nothing.

appreciate the help guys.
 
The slot only allows the card to pull a certain amount of power I believe the max is 75watt from what I was reading. I hope that it is just the fact that the Powersupply doesn't have enough juice to power up those two cards or slot.
I am kinda curious though, you could try putting a VGA card in the bottom slot to see if it's both slots. I know there are many more variables, but just a thought if you have one laying around.
 
tsmorty said:
The slot only allows the card to pull a certain amount of power I believe the max is 75watt from what I was reading. I hope that it is just the fact that the Powersupply doesn't have enough juice to power up those two cards or slot.
I am kinda curious though, you could try putting a VGA card in the bottom slot to see if it's both slots. I know there are many more variables, but just a thought if you have one laying around.
Click to expand...

nope only spare cards i have is a pci-e 8500gt and a atix700 pro. got rid of all the other old stuff :(
 
Hi it my first post and i purchased a galaxy 9600gt with the psu 300w gpu power booster for my slimline s3127c and i dosen't understand how to plug the psu booster why i need sata to molex converter where plug evreything where please i need help in detail please because i don't always understand english (reason:am a fucking frog lol ) so if someone can help me maybe with picture that should be great
 
Argh...now my 9500GT refuses to ramp up the fan speed in 3D after working great for 2+ weeks, so eventually artifacts start appearing. Was working fine yesterday, I could tell the difference even in Vista with the slight fan rampup in Aero (tried it both under XP and Vista). I'm going to test it on a work machine (we have plenty of these) and see if it still occurs, if it doesn't then it's my slimline (I guess?) - note this is the same model where the 8600GT eventually stopped working, even though it worked fine in my brief testing on work HP SL's afterwards. Perhaps I damaged the PSU even further, who knows.

May have to hop off the slimline bandwagon and go to a micro-atx solution, this is getting tiresome.

Motherfu$%#%#$%!!!
 
yikes..and i was just about to buy a 9500gt today..anyways, since ive been using an ati hd3450, i was kinda wondering if there are any other cards from ati that would work well my slimline?
 
Regional Coffee said:
Argh...now my 9500GT refuses to ramp up the fan speed in 3D after working great for 2+ weeks, so eventually artifacts start appearing. Was working fine yesterday, I could tell the difference even in Vista with the slight fan rampup in Aero (tried it both under XP and Vista). I'm going to test it on a work machine (we have plenty of these) and see if it still occurs, if it doesn't then it's my slimline (I guess?) - note this is the same model where the 8600GT eventually stopped working, even though it worked fine in my brief testing on work HP SL's afterwards. Perhaps I damaged the PSU even further, who knows.

May have to hop off the slimline bandwagon and go to a micro-atx solution, this is getting tiresome.

Motherfu$%#%#$%!!!
Click to expand...

Yea seems odd, possibly damaged your PSU I think I have done the same.

Iam considering my self to upgrade to a micro atx , its easier to upgrade power and put basically anything you want in.

Such a shame because the slimlines are nice .
 
False alarm!

The issue is with Prince of Persia: Sands of Time on my rig. Regardless of the GPU temp I get specs/artifacting during gameplay which looks exactly like the symptoms of an overheating GPU. I'll try alternate drivers, very odd. The fan never ramped up during my gaming but it depends on the game when it does, I just wasn't patient enough. Tried a few other games and the fan eventually ramped up when necessary, no artifacts.

Phew!

Edit: Exact same artifacts under Vista, very odd.
 
bigtree said:
For those with sudden failure of display there is a known display failure issue with the M2NC51 motherboard, something to do with the 6150 chipset. HP have issued a limited warranty extension, details:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c01514044
Click to expand...

Indeed but as my original 7500le pci-e card works in it they wont count it as defected because it works, only higher cards such as my 8600gt or 9400gt will not work.

I emailed HP and they said it was a power issue that the 8600gt would not work due to low power yet it worked for 7 months without problem and no extra heavy appliences on top.

not to bother i can get a mini cube case with mini atx board 650w power and a Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Socket AM2 2.7GHz Energy Efficient L2 1MB (2x512KB) Retail Boxed Processor
all for 150 delivered , i will just harvest what is in the slimline for now and upgrade at a later date when i have more money :)

Many thanks to everyone who helped I just think its safer and cheaper to upgrade to a new model :)
 
nobody can help with to good way to plug the fsp boosterx 3 i don't kno how to do a sata to molex connector? must i take the power sata connector from the dvd drive
actualy i run a hp slimline s3127c
thanks to anybody who can help me
 
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