Only 3 PCI slots

[moymike]

I currently have a three year old Dell Dimension 8400 with only three PCI slots, one of which is being used by my sound card. I have a PVR150 and a PVR500 for a total of three tuners installed. I have an unused PVR150 on the shelf.

I am looking to pick up another machine, and I am partial to Dell... It appears thought, that three PCI slots is the max any of their machines currently have. The only advantage would be to get one with a soundcard on the motherboard, so I can use all three.

I am considering a PVR USB2, but since I am looking at upgrading my computer anyways, was hoping to pick one up with more PCI slots.

What's the deal with only 3 PCI slots? They are giving us PCIe slots now, so are there any decent capture cards for PCIe? I could buy two more PVR500's for six tuners, but the PVR150's seem to have a much nicer picture.

[K.S.]

ain't PCIe slots compatible with PCI? some thread here was about that, if so you could stick a PCI card in your PCIe slot

[moymike]

I'm no hardware person, but I think PCI-X is compatible, but not PCIe. Most new computer coming with PCIe nowadays though, with a few standard PCI's.

[bgowland]

moymike - first you're right about PCIe not being compatible - if for no other reason than I think the slots are of a different type.

The reason for so few slots on mobos these days is that everything is on the mobo. They only provide any slots at all simply to allow you to put your own card in if you don't like the onboard sound or NIC, for example or for specialist cards.

You say you're not a hardware person but if you know someone that can build you a machine (and you're prepared to go away from Dell and the security of manufacturer's warranty) that might be the way to go. I know a lot of OEM mobos these days are similar to Dell's with only 2 or 3 PCI and the rest in PCIe but I think you can still get 4, 5 or 6 PCI slot mobos.

Cheers,
Brian

[rowle1jt]

Or... use the on board sound and fill the PCI slots...

[martint123]

And watch out if you buy a fancy graphics card - sometimes they are so wide that the adjacent PCI slot is useless. Don't ask how I know

[HtV]

but I think you can still get 4, 5 or 6 PCI slot mobos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroATX

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atx

[zaphod7501]

There is a PCIe version of the new Hauppauge HVR1600 called the HVR1800: dual tuner, one analog NTSC (Cable or Antenna) and one digital ATSC (OTA HD).

[nitrogen_widget]

Or, a USB sound card.

[jerryg]

Yeah i have the same issue with new pcs. I have a pvr150, pvr 250, hvr3000, audigy2 and an xcard. Would hate to not be able to use any one of the cards, fortunatly when my motherboard broke two months ago, i was able to get something similar with 5 pci slots. But it's something that is stopping me upgrading to better newer hardware. It seems a bit pointless having pcie slots since apart from videocards, manufacturers aren't developing much hardware for them.