Question about Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP and PCI card order

LH · Post by LH » Sun Jul 17, 2005 9:07 pm

I'm building my first system and I'm awaiting delivery of an Abit AN8 Ultra motherboard, Thermalright XP-120 heatsink with Nexus D12SL-12 fan, Gigabyte GV-NX66128DP graphics card, Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 TV card, and Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 LT audio card to go in my Antec SLK3000B case. I believe the WinTV-PVR-150 and Prodigy 7.1 LT should only take up one PCI slot each, but I'm not sure how much space the GV-NX66128DP takes up. Also, I hope the top heatsink of the GV-NX66128DP doesn't interfere with the XP-120.

Assuming all these components fit together, I plan to place my PCI cards in the following order:

PCI Slot #1: blocked by GV-NX66128DP's lower heatsink; otherwise Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 or empty
PCI Slot #2: Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 or empty
PCI Slot #3: Prodigy 7.1 LT

I believe it is advised to put the audio card as far away as possible from the graphics card to minimize electrical interference, so I plan to put the audio card in PCI Slot #3. If PCI Slot #1 is not blocked by the lower heatsink of the graphics card, should I put the WinTV-PVR-150 in PCI Slot #1 (farther away from the audio card, but closer to the graphics card) or in PCI Slot #2 (right next to the audio card, but farther away from the graphics card)? I guess I'm trying to figure out a compromise between possible electrical interference between the graphics card, TV card, and audio card, and also allowing for some space for airflow to the lower heatsink of the graphics card.

Any advice or recommendations?

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 11:41 am

In that config, the video and audio will probably share the same IRQ. Some people try and avoid this.

LH · Post by LH » Mon Jul 18, 2005 10:25 pm

jackylman wrote:In that config, the video and audio will probably share the same IRQ. Some people try and avoid this.

Thanks for the info.

So what, if anything, can I do to avoid this situation? I still have to plug in the cards into two of the three PCI slots.

Also, I forgot to mention that I'm planning on subscribing to Yahoo! DSL, so I'll need to install a DSL modem--which means I may have to use all three PCI slots. Or maybe I might be able to plug in the DSL modem into the Ethernet port of the motherboard instead...