Dustin said:
I looked over the custom built option, but it just added up to high.
This computer has everything i want, because media center edition is
something that i will be useing alot. Overall it seems like a good
deal, so far all of the problems you said it had are easy fixes (new
graphics card etc..) The only one that i would have no idea on how to
change is the one suggested by DaveW dedicated AGP or PCI-E but thats
only because i dont know what those mean.
Overall it seems like if i just got a better video card (this one looks
pretty good)
http://www.memoryexpress.com/index....dProductDetail.php&DisplayProductID=6746&SID=
everything would be fine and i'd have windows media center to boot.
So from the sound of your previous posts thats the only change that i
would need, to turn this sissy computer into a lean mean battlefield
machine
Yes, but once you open up a pre-built machine, and try to add hardware
to it, you have to deal with the characteristics of the stuff you got.
For example, did you look at the free slots in this product ?
"HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7330n PC"
http://shopping.hp.ca/cStoreCA/Base...Id=49&FamilyId=136&BaseId=2720&BEId=5&Lang=EN
"Expansion Slots
3 PCI slots (one available)
1 PCI-Express x16 (available)"
So, you are right, a "eVGA e-Geforce 6800 GS 256MB PCI-E" will fit
in the PCI Express x16 slot. Now, look at a closeup of the 6800GS
video card. It has a 2x3 PCI Express power connector on the end of
the card.
As a home builder, the first thing you'd check, is whether the new
power supply you were buying for your build, has a PCI Express power
connector. For example, this one does:
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/assets/T51SLI/mb_T51SLI.gif
The second issue is, how much power does the HP computer have left
for adding hardware ? To know that, we need a spec for the HP
power supply. If we were building the computer ourselves, this
would be easy, as we wouldn't buy a power supply without seeing
the current available on +3.3V, +5V, +12V and so on. (This info
is also printed on a label on the side of the supply.) I tried
to look for info from HP, and this is all the info they give.
(Go to the HP parts store, and enter M7330N, to get this info.)
Power Supply [Electronic Parts]
5188-0129 Power supply - 300 watt (Merlot B, Reg. with latch)
So we know if has a 300W supply, but we don't know how much of the
300W is available on +12V. We also don't know if the power supply
is a standard ATX supply or not. If it was, it could be upgraded,
again assuming the case has standard dimensions in the power
supply area, and a new unit can be fitted.
So sure, the HP is a great bargain, you get software lockin to the
hardware, and you'll have fun getting help with adding stuff to
it. If you never want to open up a computer, then a pre-built is
perfect. If you can see yourself adding hardware to the inside
of the computer, then you'd better know _a lot_ about the product.
If the power supply had a spec, we could give you a guesstimate
of whether the new video card would work out or not. (And buying
the HP and then looking inside, is pretty risky, if some detail
doesn't work out for you. And the odds of finding one with the
side off it, at the Best Buy, are pretty slim.)
Here, the 6800GS is 8.5" long, and is listed as 54.6 watts. That
would be
[email protected], assuming it all comes from the PCI Express
2x3 power connector. If the HP doesn't have the 2x3 power connector,
then a Molex 1x4 to PCI Express 2x3 adapter would be needed.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gpu-consumption2006_6.html
HTH,
Paul