Yes, I believe that's a PCI Express slot. Dude, if it's a factory-built HP, just go to their website, type in the model name and check out the specs and factory manual.

But I'm pretty sure that's PCI Express.

Yeah looks like a PCI-E to me. Your definitely good to go.

I agree - pci-E.
re: ATI cards- I'd spend $20-$50 more and get a current gen 2600 card. That will give you a technology margin for future media you might want to manage like hidef video (dvd/pvr). The 2600pro is adequate, but for a little more you can get the XT with hardware decoding which eases cpu duty. I just picked up this XT with the $28 rebate.

So with a PCI-E card and an external HD I should be good to go. Is there anything im missing?
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I dont like externals. If you have no reason to move it just get a cheaper internal

Yes, the only reason to go external would be if you're setting up a NAS.

Well what would be best for storage. I want to be able to store any movies/music I download
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And hard drive. I like seagate, at least they used to be good. It changes every 3 or 4 years. I dont know who is good now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148137

Get the biggest drive you can afford. Even you strip out all the junk from your movies, it doesn't take long for a collection (~4gb each) to fill up a drive. I got two 1tb external hitachi SATA (I see a sata port in your pic) drives for my work NAS at $200/ea. I got a 500gb last year and it filled up with movies and tv damn quick.

I re encode my movies to xvid so they are only 2 gigs each.

DVDdecrypt, then encode with xvid. Cuts everything in half (i dont take special features, just the movie)

Is the sata port the white port on the bottom right of the pic?
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If anyone's interested.. I can hook them up w/ my low profile Media PC for like 125 + shipping. It doesn't get much usage anymore.

Specs?
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Using h.264/x.264 codec will help a bit with filesize. I think I'm usually around ~600-650MB per hour of footage, at 480i/p resolution, 128kbit audio, and about 1500kbit video. Most of my stuff is 24frames/sec.

I will have to look.. I pretty much had it stripped down for low power consumption. I use it for internet movie streaming, and as a media server for my PS3/house. I will include only the OS 80GB HD.. not the big boy HD in it.

AMD Low power Athalon Mobile I forgot clock speed
512 Ram
80 GB HD

This case:
http://www.digilinkcomputers.com/pro...roducts_id=935

Need Help Please
 

Ok so I bought this video card- http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814161178 as recommended by m2cupcar. I need help now. I installed it last night and now I have no sound. Someone please help me. :bowdown:
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Did you hook up the audio?

what do you mean? I plugged the wire into the output if thats what your asking.
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into which output?

That's a video card :confused:. I guess we need some details on what you're doing. You need a way to get audio out of the computer. That means using the onboard audio (on the mobo) or a pci card. I use a diamond pci audio card that sends an optical signal to my tuner which does the decoding.

The factory PC output.


1st let me say thanks for your help guys. I just uninstalled and removed the video card and now the sound works.:confused: Last night I installed the card according to instructions and then downloaded the drivers. When it was all done the sound was gone. No sounds at all. When I looked in the device manager under the Sound, Video and game controllers it has my video card listed. Its says ATI audio..... My factory Realtek AC97 audio is not listed there anymore.:confused: Now according to the box this card has a "Built in HDMI with HDCP and 5.1 surround audio (optional with the ATI Radeon DVI to HDMI adapter)" I do not have that adapter nor does my TV or stereo have an HDMI input. Help:bowdown:
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You should be able to enable your MoBos sound over the ATIs

how?
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I dont remember, i havent done is since the windows 98 days

if you select the ATI sound driver in the device manager and get properties, you should be able to click disable this device. I'm running that card w/o the sound, using the sound from my pci card, so I know it'll work. Windows just needs a lot of guidance. :D

I saw where you can disable the ATI sound driver, but how do I enable the original sound card? It isnt listed anymore.
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you should be getting a "new hardware found" wizard box- if not, you can scan in the device manager window which should bring it up. Or look for the yellow "?" - sometimes it shows it in another category. The driver should be backed up somewhere in an OS directory since it was an OE install, so let it "automatically" install. If not, then you'll need the driver disk that came with the computer, or go to the site, find your computer and download the driver.

I got it guys.:yippee: I disabled the ATI audio card in the Device manager. Restarted the PC and went into setup while booting. I had to change the factory audio from auto to enable and now it works.:bigtu:

Thanks again for your time and help.:bowdown:
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:bigtu: enjoy