The highly rated HP Pavilion Slimline PC thread

Blaire said:
A couple of things here:

1) What does the USB storage cage do? I would like to know before I take it out.

2) Does the adapter come with it? I see a white plug that looks like it's a part of the box set that might be what you're referring to or is it something that you order additionally when you are finally making the purchase?

:confused:
Click to expand...


If you are referring to the proprietary HP docking bay, it doesn’t do anything unless you are willing to pay for overpriced external storage. I removed mine long ago and clipped the door open to allow more airflow.
 
2) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814998301 is the bracket that you will need. Let me explain why you need it. The metal part that you have to screw down to secure your card inside your computer, with the 9500GT is too long. It is the standard length but for the smaller computers like our you have to swap that bracker with the one at the link above. (To do so you loosen the nuts(not sure what they're called) around the DVI brack and pull off the cord attaching the VGA cable. This will make since when you get them. Without the Bracket adapter you won't be able to shut your case.

The USB Bracket I am speaking about allows you to insert a "HP Pocket Media Drive" directly into the PC. Look at the pic at the bottom of this page . Since I am guesssing you didn't purchase one when you got your pc nor will you. You can go ahead and remove it. To do so open the case find the cage at the front bottom. Push the black plastic piece and slide the unit backwards. Pull the cord up(it's connected like a jumpter so you can't break it).

Hope that helps.

The.ronin
Smart Idea about clipping the door open. Although if you want more performance, I would recommend it since NVIDIA's drivers would be more up to date then the ones microsoft has included with Vista. This means better performance, stability, and options.
 
Ah, ok. It kind of makes sense now. Thank you for explaining it morty. With me till the end I see! :D I'm sure it will become more obvious when I see the card and get the computer. I plan on ordering the card tonight, I just wanted all crucial details.

So I just buy the video card itself and the bracket kit and then just remove that HP pocket drive and I should be good to go. Sounds like good advice. It should definitely help to keep the whole system a lot cooler. And no, I shouldn't need an external hard drive. I've never used and/or needed one before.

Although I did have one question. You mentioned loosening the screws around the DVI port specifically...is that because you have to remove it? I've heard of other people doing that, but I had read that the DVI port is the best since it plugs into the monitor for better graphics.
 
tsmorty said:
2)
The.ronin
Smart Idea about clipping the door open. Although if you want more performance, I would recommend it since NVIDIA's drivers would be more up to date then the ones microsoft has included with Vista. This means better performance, stability, and options.
Click to expand...

Thanks tsmorty ... yes, I am kicking myself for not installing the chipset drivers first. I will have to do a fresh re-install tonight. Can I verify that these are the latest chipset drivers?

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_vista64_15.24.html

Regarding cooling, removing the pocket bay and clipping the door open is just one of the measures I have taken. I’ve attached 2 fans on the rear grill and have and have also placed an Antec laptop cooling strip for the Slimline to stand on. I’ve also removed the plate covering the unused PCI slot.

breathe4is5.jpg


Check this post for more.
 
the.ronin said:
Anyway, my Chaintech 8600GT started acting up – the fan was making awful noises. So I swapped it out for an XFX 9400GT. Everything works great.
Click to expand...

I'm so glad I decided not to go with that card. I had heard about the awful noises and such. The 9500 GT sounds so much nicer and it has less power consumption. I can't wait to get mine in. Loads of good reviews and I want to be one of them!

*EDIT*

OMG OMG OMG! The computer gods must be smiling down upon me, because they added the combo feature to the card and I was literally JUST about to buy it, lol!
This will make things so much easier.
 
Blaire said:
OMG OMG OMG! The computer gods must be smiling down upon me, because they added the combo feature to the card and I was literally JUST about to buy it, lol!
This will make things so much easier.
Click to expand...

Hahahaha, Well I am glad to hear that. From your previous post you are right on the track, make sure the back of your unit has room for airflow. I noticed a big difference when I flipped my unit 90 Degrees so the back has tons more room(doesn't look as nice but couldn't get it to fit with DVI to VGA adapter.

the.ronin you don't have to do another fresh reinstall now, just install those drivers and they will replace the windows default drivers. That's what I did. Although you may have another reason, I am too tired, and I will read your reason in the morning.

Also thanks for the Pic what card are you running? I see that it looks like the 9500GT but you are using the secondary VGA port as the primary(how did you get that to work) I couldn't figure how that cable was supposed to attach to make it work. No combination seemed to work. I would love that because it would allow me to maybe flip my computer again.
 
I don't know much about it..but it looks like you'd need a dual-link cable.

If you look at the side view picture of the DVI port:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150319

And you compare with the image shown at the bottom of this website for dual-links:
http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/dvi_info.html#Page06

...you'll notice that the "flat-blade" single hole is surrounded by four other slots. I'm guessing that that is what it means. If you look at the pictures though it sort of makes sense.
 
tsmorty said:
the.ronin you don't have to do another fresh reinstall now, just install those drivers and they will replace the windows default drivers. That's what I did. Although you may have another reason, I am too tired, and I will read your reason in the morning.

Also thanks for the Pic what card are you running? I see that it looks like the 9500GT but you are using the secondary VGA port as the primary(how did you get that to work) I couldn't figure how that cable was supposed to attach to make it work. No combination seemed to work. I would love that because it would allow me to maybe flip my computer again.
Click to expand...

I just did a fresh install ... done so many of those I can do them in my sleep now haha.

That is an old photo with the 8600GT Chaintech. I’ve since removed the VGA plug and just went with DVI. Same with the 9400GT. What you see in the photo was just the XFX half height brackets. If you click on the link at the bottom of my post, you can see the setup with the Chaintech.
 
I just wanted to entertain you all with how I think I will go about using my bracket adapter kit since I am still a bit unsure of the process. My medium...MS paint!
Also, this is not the 9500 GT, I'm just using this card for show.

forfunbracket.jpg
 
Yeah, this site doesn't like some photos I guess. First it made the image smaller to the point where you couldn't read the text and now it looks like it just deleted it all together...weird

Oh well, it was kind of lame anyway, haha
 
Is the power draw on the XFX 9400GT kosher for the slimline power supplu?

I'd figure it was less than the XFX 9600GT and based on recent posts, that seems to work fine with our power supply.
 
It seems like a downgrade..why would you really consider it? I would assume that since the XFX Geforce 9500GT 512MB is the best borderline card to what the PSU will take, it seems like the best option. Therefore, I would imagine that the 9400GT would consume even less power. I can't find how much it draws on the internetz.

And from what I've heard about the 9600GT it is definitely not supported by the 180W PSU that the intel version comes with, without having to replace the power supply entirely...
That is the way the story goes anyway.
 
I have no pressing need for a 9600GT. My Chaintech 8600GT worked fine until the fan crapped out. That and I got the 9400GT for $40 haha.
 
So I have a heart-warming story to inspire you all. And around Christmas too! New Egg screwed up my order, but because I called and straightened it out, the guy was so nice about it, he told me he'd express ship my card. So considering I ordered it like...last night. I now have it and my adapter kit! Excellent service as usual.

So, I was bored and I went ahead and replaced the bracket with the new adapter bracket with no problems at all. You were right about that morty, it was very easy. I'm just hoping I wasn't too rash about that since I'm not going to be putting it in my system right away. I still have to wait till tomorrow morning :(

My baby should be safe until then though <3
And that's my inspiring Christmas story. Tada

vidcard1.jpg


vidcard2.jpg
 
Now I know why Archaea don't show up anymore and why we're in our 107 page with 2137 replies... His thread has evolved to some sort of MSN Messenger or ICQ system were we talk to each other and congratulate (which is very dissapointing) the wrong guy for the good and helpful ideas. So, think about it and maybe we'll be less redundant and this thread will be what it was intended to be... Merry Xmas!
 
While I appreciate all the work the OP put into first starting this thread, it is impossible for him to address every single issue and/or every single question a person may have about these slimline computers. Also, computers change a lot as the years past, therefore it IS relevant. I have been writing notes from this thread for the past couple of weeks and I'm glad that it has evolved into something with this much information.
As long as the topic doesn't stray, I don't see the need to get grumpy about it :/

*EDIT*
So, since I'm getting rushed out of the thread, I thought I would just add as a side note that I got my card in my computer and it works great! Excellent service from new egg and a little Christmas luck helped me prosper in the end. I would like to thank all of you for all your advice and help. Thank you so much! :D
 
My parents new Slimline was a big hit on Christmas. Compared to their XP2200+ it's a speed demon even though it only has the 4850e
 
Well, I got the XFX GeForce 9500 GT like so many people in this thread, but after only 3 weeks my machine is now dead. It was working fine for the first few days, then I started to get lock-ups, sometimes during boot, sometimes when already in Windows. The lock-ups became more frequent, until yesterday when the machine won't even start at all. BTW I have a s3500f which had a 160 Watt PSU.

I plan to replace the PSU with a 300 Watt one. I'm going to get the same one that Irwatson got (on page 74 of this thread) but newegg is out of it. I plan to get it from amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UY4XEK

I wanted to know from among you who already replaced the PSU: Is there an easy solution for getting the power connector of the old PSU to the new PSU? Sadly I don't know how to solder.

Edit: After searching around I found this: http://www.atxpowersupplies.com/20-pin-to-24-pin-hp-slimline-atx-converter.htm I think it will allow you to use any PSU with your HP slimline. Even though it's expensive ($15 just for a connector) I think I'll just get it rather than attempt to splice wires myself.
 
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jamesvill said:
Edit: After searching around I found this: http://www.atxpowersupplies.com/20-pin-to-24-pin-hp-slimline-atx-converter.htm I think it will allow you to use any PSU with your HP slimline. Even though it's expensive ($15 just for a connector) I think I'll just get it rather than attempt to splice wires myself.
Click to expand...

nice find! You could use just about any PS that will fit in the case with that dealie-bobber.

[edit] hum...the same company that makes that power supply also makes this:
http://www.in-win.us/products_pccase_series.php?cat_id=1&series_id=49&model_id=253

That's quite a takeoff on the HP case!!
 
^ guys...hopefully people will take note of these failed PSUs...

I and a couple others tried to warn over many many pages that you are stressing the 160 watt PSU's to the limit with these newer cards. I'm sorry, but I'm not surprised in the least to see these 160 watt PSUs fail. I hope people take note before rolling the die, because it may not only be your power supply that fails in some instances. Sometimes when a PSU is overloaded it starts throwing out too much fluctuation in the voltages and you'll possibly fry your motherboard, videocard, RAM, or CPU. People have that happen and they think the slimilnes have crappy components or crappy quality control and they bad mouth the product to others --- but it's not that at all - it's just when you push the components past what they were engineered to do in both terms of heat and power draw your bound to reap a failure. Run a motor at redline long enough your going to see oil on your windshield.

At any rate - mod if you like - I encourage it - I just hope new comers understand the risks!

Just an FYI - My S3200N slimline still works like a champion with its stock 8500GT - it's had no problems and been a fantastic home-theatre PC. I'm happy with its performance - I'm running Vista and a virtual PC instance of Windows Server 2008 on it. It does exactly what I need it to do and seems to be very reliable!


To the poster above - That PSU 24/20 pin convertor is cool! First I've seen of those. When you look for a PSU make sure it has decent amperage on the 12 volt rail. A lot of PSU's have heavy five volt rails. In fact Some several dozen pages back somebody found a significantly more powerful PSU in terms of overall wattage that was actually a lessor power supply when using modern components. Most everything in a modern PSU feeds off a 12 volt rail, so amperage on the 12 volt line is most important. But only 3 or 4 hardware genrations ago most everything fed off the 5 volt rail so you'll see that older style power supplies had real high amperage on the five volt rail (that doesn't give you any help with your slimline components). Since that PSU from Amazon makes no mention of rails and the amps provided on each you'll have to be prepared to return it "if" it arrives and you find you have more amps on the 12 volt rail of your 160 watt slimline stock PSU. (There are 12AMPS on the 12 volt rail of the stock HP slimline 160 watt PSU)


http://www.putfile.com/album/186901


Truth be told I've kinda stopped watching this thread, it derailed for me about the time a clown - I mean a guy (to remain un-named) was saying put a 9600GT in there with a quad core on your 160 and 180 watt PSUs and you'll have not problems - - "look at me I'm doing it --- it'll work for everybody if it works for me." While at the same time having no background in computers, nor hardware, and admitting he was new to this realm."

Whatever, -- at any rate - I'm always just a PM away if you have any questions that I can assist with. There are seemingly plenty of knowledgable people in this thread - so it seems the threads taken on it's own wings. I wish everybody well in their continued use and modification of their slimlines!
 
^ Good to hear from you, Arch. And good to hear your Slimline is still running like a champ. :cool:
 
jamesvill said:
It's the same power supply that newegg has:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817374002

It has 16A on the 12V rail. Would that be good enough?
Click to expand...

Actually from the specs thats a very good power supply for the money. It actually has 32 amps on the 12 volt rail. It has two 12 volt rails with 16 amps on each. That's a TON more usable power than the stock slimline power supply!

Two strikes against it - both not super important
- No active PFC
- 70% efficiency

Overall for 30 bucks --- seems like a very sound purchase for slimline owners - coupled with that adapter a couple posts above or some above average soddering skills and patience to modify the motherboard connector yourself.
 
Archaea said:
^ guys...hopefully people will take note of these failed PSUs...

I and a couple others tried to warn over many many pages that you are stressing the 160 watt PSU's to the limit with these newer cards. I'm sorry, but I'm not surprised in the least to see these 160 watt PSUs fail. I hope people take note before rolling the die, because it may not only be your power supply that fails in some instances. Sometimes when a PSU is overloaded it starts throwing out too much fluctuation in the voltages and you'll possibly fry your motherboard, videocard, RAM, or CPU. People have that happen and they think the slimilnes have crappy components or crappy quality control and they bad mouth the product to others --- but it's not that at all - it's just when you push the components past what they were engineered to do in both terms of heat and power draw your bound to reap a failure. Run a motor at redline long enough your going to see oil on your windshield.

At any rate - mod if you like - I encourage it - I just hope new comers understand the risks!
Click to expand...

I just did a build to order s3600z about a month ago (as noted elsewhere in this thread) and the 9500GT is a factory option. So either HP has put an increased power supply in the newer machine, or the existing power supply can handle it. Or are not all 9500s created equal? At any rate there seems to be a disconnect because HP is offfering the same card that people are trying to put in, yet you discourage.
 
Link please

What processor with the 9500GT? If it's a 45 watt processor then I might see it possible.

HP also put quad cores in these slimlines for just a little while. Then they yanked them, when problems started being reported due to heat and power draw....I've not followed lately to see if they ever started offering them again. I've been out of the loop for a few months on the newest slimline stuff --- but I'm not the only one in this thread who has exp. trouble with overloading a stock HP slimline PSU. As you read through this 100+ page thread you'll discover multiple people who have overloaded their PSU with a 65 watt AMD processor and a video card upgrade alone. I did it with my original s3020n and only an 8400GS with a 65 watt processor x2 5200+ processor and HP confirms the 8400GS is fine too. There are people that have success and people who have failure based on the same upgrades which means to me that the PSU is teetering on the brink of its capability. The calculations have been done in this thread several times and there is no way 160 watts is NOT too small an amount to be easily overloaded by upgraded slimline components. That's why HP warns not to put more than a 25 watt power draw card in the PCI-E slot and more than a 5 watt draw card in the PCI slot. (most of these video cards we are talking about use 40watt +) But enough doom saying -- it's already been said. I'd strongly recommend a 45 watt processor in these slimlines anyway because of the lessor heat production and much lower power draw. They typically come with a 65 watt - if you drop to a 45 watt you just gave your video card a bit more leg room to be a bit more power hungry.
 
I use my s3400 with Q9300 and 8400GS with no problem. As the 8400GS is pretty much pointless, and I don't game any way, I may remove it.
 
^ before you remove it - if you'd like you may try to run a stability test.

Try this...

Go to screensaver settings.
Go to power options.
Turn to full performance mode. (allows all components to draw max power if otherwise controlled by windows API)

Download PRIME95 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime95)
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/
Run Prime 95 on all four cores (very important to run it on all four cores so that all four cores are showing 100% processor utilization)
It'll max out your processor's power draw, heat, and use every last bit of processor power in mathmatical calculations. If your computer is stable and power draw acceptable to your PSU your PC won't lock up. If not you'll either lock up the PC or more likely the Prime95 program will crash or encounter an error in a short period of time. With my S3020N, 160 watt PSU, 8400GS, and upgraded 65 watt AMD x2 5200+ CPU I could only get a couple minutes before the Prime 95 program glitched and crashed.

Stable is considered letting Prime95 run overnight on the "torture test"

I learned some 20 or 30 pages back that the q9300 is about a 70 watt processor - rather than the original 95 and 115ish watt Intel quad cores. --- so that's a bit better. But I'm curious if your system is stable under full power draw and heat generation!

If you aren't using the 8400GS ---- (after you test :) ) you should take it out for power consumption and heat generation reasons alone. The onboard GPU is very power efficient, the 8400GS uses about 40 watts at full tilt and prolly something less than that at idle --- but definately still more than the onboard video card would use.
 
I apologize if I contributed to this post becoming an IM. I am really appreciative for this thread. It's been nice to bounce things off people. This little machine is a great joy for me and my wife(mainly her since I have a work laptop), but now it can play some games that she really enjoys, and play them well. I am using the 9500 GT XFX 512MB DDR2. So far so good, but my processor is 45nm, as well as I don't have any other real addons. But I have only had the card for awhile. Heat hasn't been too much of a problem, but I don't play crysis. :)

Curious "jamesvill" what processor does your's have and what kind of gaming did you run it on? I just would like to know.

brons2 - I can' get a 3600z with a Factory 9500GT(only gs) do you have a link so maybe I could call HP and get some card info on that guy.

Archaea - I thanks for all your comments. I am in total agreement with you. Don't think adding something not supported, is not going to cause problems(sorry double negative, my Czech gets me sometimes.)

Good luck to everyone, I may eventually do the PS upgrade, but for now I am fine.
 
That's a nice find - I've got my notify on from newegg when they get more in (Sadly amazon.com does not ship to Canada). With the connector that basically seems to solve the PSU problem in the slimlines.

Only question now is *noise* - be sure to report back if/when you get it and let us know how much louder it is than the stock HP unit.
 
First post updated. --- If anybody has any "must" updates let me know. By the way - who discovered that snazzy little 300watt PSU so I can give them credit in the first post.
 
brons2 said:
Look, I'm not disputing what you say as far as it being a lot of drain on the system compared to the capacity of the P/S, but if you want to see the 9500GT being offered, just go to HP's site. I'm not going to do your homework for you. I just bought one of these new from HP as a Christmas present and the 9500GT was a new build option. I didn't choose that option though, I got a 9300GS instead which had HDMI, which I wanted to have to be able to hook into an HDTV.
Click to expand...

I just went to HP's Web site and configured a Slimline for both the AMD and Intel scenarios. In either case, the best video card it had available was:
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9500GS [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

Edit: I just saw you edited your post.
 
Sparkle to Release Low Profile GeForce 9600 & 9800 Cards

There's quite a few things I like about these cards:
1. GDDR3
2. 512MB of it!
3. Looks to be a lot more quiet than the KFA2 9600GT.
4. Roughly double the stream processors on the 9800GT (112) from the KFA2 9600GT (64).
5. HDMI(!!!!!) and DVI
6. Comes out in January

Cons:
1. Needs an extra PCI-e power connector. (No prob for me.)
2. Gigantic heat sync. (Don't plan on a PCI card with this.)

Providing power consumption is within range of my current 9600GT, you can be sure I'll be upgrading to this ASAP.:D

Here's some more high-res pictures of the cards. Click on the pictures at the bottom.
 
beowulf7 said:
I just went to HP's Web site and configured a Slimline for both the AMD and Intel scenarios. In either case, the best video card it had available was:
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9500GS [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]

Edit: I just saw you edited your post.
Click to expand...

Yeap, I had to remove my foot from my mouth as quickly as possible :D
 
The In Win Flex model seams like a good and reasonable priced option for the slimlines. However, the amps on the 12V rails might need a clarification. The specs are presented in a slightly unclear maner on the product page. As the total max output is 300W, the max theoretical amps on 12 V is 300/12 = 25A. But as the *MAX2:( representing purely 12V rails, all together) output is mentioned to be 240W, it seams like the max 12 V amps are 20A, both rail together.

This Is much higher than on the original psu, so fair enough, however just considered to mention, as noted higher estimates on a previous post.

Unfortunaely can't get the In Win model, but stil consider how to fit the Hec SFX model in to this case, ast the fan is badly located considering a slimline.
 
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