Foiled by motherboard heatsink

[Brad]

So I bought this Osprey 530 PCI-X card to capture 720x486 SDI.



The website says it's compatible with a regular PCI slot, and I looked up the various forms of PCI/PCI-X on Wikipedia to confirm as well. It seems that the right-most connector should just hang there unused while the rest plug in for a PCI slot.

• PCI-X™
• 64-bit/66 Mhz
• 32-bit/33 Mhz (PCI™ compatible)

What I didn't consider until I was down attempting to shove it in, is the layout of my motherboard.



The useless connector I'm wishing I could chop off is blocked by a heatsink.

[rnb5500]

You're gonna need a riser.

Maybe something like this: http://www.circotech.com/1u-1-x-32bit-5v-pci-with-7cm-flex-cable-right-angle.html?gcli...FW_NOgodPCcACg

And a little ingenuity in how to mount it.

[usually_quiet]

If there is a half-height slot cover for the card maybe a PCI-e to PCI adapter would let you use a PCI-e slot that isn't blocked http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158165
http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/Slot-Extension/PCI-Express-to-PCI-Adapter-Card~PEX1PCI1

Other than this problem, how do you like that motherboard? I'm thinking of buying one for a new build.

[Brad]

Hmm, interesting. If they make a riser like the first one with a longer cable, could I screw the card into the empty spot below the motherboard?



The card itself is full-height so I don't understand the half-height suggestion.

I don't fancy myself a computer hardware reviewer and I'm not sure what differentiates motherboards besides connectivity. I have run into issues trying to use any of my USB2 capture sticks at the same time as I have a bunch of other USB stuff plugged in: two USB3 HDDs, a Wifi stick, mouse+KB, sometimes more. I suppose it would be the same with any system, but strangely some of the sticks are far better behaved than others.

[Nelson37]

Take some needle-nose pliers and/or a flat-blade screwdriver and bend the bejeezus out of the fins on the heatsink, you may be able to get enough clearance that way. If the sides are solid, use a hacksaw after removing the sink from the mobo.

[jan5678]

Another more drastic way is to chop off the extended piece very carfuly. Try to cut of just as much as needed to clear the card from the heatsink. It's not very likely that you ever gonna use that anyway, but your warranty will be expired!

removing the heatsink from the motherboard and cut it would be my last option.
A risercard would be the best solution but i think you need to fabricate a mounting bracket yourself and make sure it all fit's in your computer case.

[usually_quiet]

As far as the PCI-e to PCI adapter, I thought there might be enough headroom in your case to allow it to work with a full height card using a half height bracket. There is a generic half-height bracket included.


A PCI riser cable is probably better. Maybe a PCI riser cable like this one would work. Note the orientation of the slot. The second link is for another less expensive source I found.

http://www.amazon.com/32Bits-Single-Riser-Flexible-Extension/dp/B00G9O7WCK/ref=sr_1_19...qid=1384006877
http://dx.com/p/32bits-single-slot-pci-riser-card-flexible-extension-cable-for-2u-grey...FWrNOgodpEoAgA

There are other cables with different orientations but I think these other orientations wrong for what you want to do

http://www.amazon.com/Riser-Card-High-Speed-Cable/dp/B0054CEFY6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electroni...qid=1384006877

http://www.amazon.com/Primeshop--Adapter-Extender-Flexible-Extension/dp/B00EVN7RYO/ref...qid=1384006877

Thanks for the info on the motherboard. Doesn't look like there are any glaring problems with stability or chips on the board.

[nic2k4]

Hmm, interesting. If they make a riser like the first one with a longer cable, could I screw the card into the empty spot below the motherboard?

That's the safest thing to do. Even if you cut off the connector it would still hit the heatsink, you can't cut into the green part there may be hidden copper lines between the PCB layers.

If you were to cut the heatsink, you should remove it, but keep in mind that the engineers chose it for a specific thermal dissipation. Before you re-install it, you have to clean off the old thermal compound and apply new one. If you fiddled with the heatsink and now it's sitting loosely on top of the chip, the thermal interface is broken and the heatsink should be removed and re-installed.

This riser cable is 6" long that should be more than enough to reach that empty slot. Keep in mind the video connection doesn't have to be outside the case, you can always run a video cable out of the case.

[Brad]

Thanks for the info on the motherboard. Doesn't look like there are any glaring problems with stability or chips on the board.

I just remembered some issues I've had with the integrated graphics:

• Momentary random "corruption": for example, scrolling in a text document and portions of the screen fail to update such that some letter segments are from before the scroll. It doesn't fix itself; it stays garbled until I do something else to update the display (scroll more, minimize the window).
• DXVA playback of H.264 files in MPC-HC almost always starts with a green screen, followed by a semi-garbled green display as it gradually morphs through motion compensation to start resembling an image and finally becomes the correct output once it hits the second keyframe in the file.
• Using "Stretch to window" mode in the Capture module of VirtualDub, the overlay fails to keep up with the live input and drops batches of frames.

Back to the thread topic, a few days ago it struck me that I may as well try the card in the old computer in the closet that I was using prior to this new build. Two of the PCI slots on that board are similarly blocked by a heatsink, but the bottom two have a wide area available.

Unfortunately it looks like I needn't bother trying to get it working with the new PC. Aside from the acceptable 8-bit limitation, in "Direct Mode" the contrast and saturation are insanely boosted.



With Post Processing turned on and the Proc Amp at defaults, the levels are still wrong. I'm reminded of all the troubles people have trying to capture bit-perfect digital audio on Windows.

[usually_quiet]

Thanks for the info on the motherboard. Doesn't look like there are any glaring problems with stability or chips on the board.

I just remembered some issues I've had with the integrated graphics:

• Momentary random "corruption": for example, scrolling in a text document and portions of the screen fail to update such that some letter segments are from before the scroll. It doesn't fix itself; it stays garbled until I do something else to update the display (scroll more, minimize the window).
• DXVA playback of H.264 files in MPC-HC almost always starts with a green screen, followed by a semi-garbled green display as it gradually morphs through motion compensation to start resembling an image and finally becomes the correct output once it hits the second keyframe in the file.
• Using "Stretch to window" mode in the Capture module of VirtualDub, the overlay fails to keep up with the live input and drops batches of frames.

Thanks for the update. Now I really am glad that I had already decided to delay my upgrade. Maybe there will be a better choice by the time I'm ready, or maybe this is a driver issue that will be fixed in the meantime.