What order to install PCI cards in?

[NTB]

Or does it even matter? here's what I have to work with:

Sounblaster Audigy
WinTV PVR-250 TV tuner/MPEG encoder
Sigma Designs Hollywood + MPEG Decoder (TV-out for DVD. Now that I think about it, this can probably go by the wayside - I bought a DVD player a few weeks ago )

Aside from those, if order does matter, is there any general order I should keep in mind when I'm building a system?

One other thing - It's best to leave the first PCI slot open so that your video card has "room to breath", correct? I've got a Geforce 3Ti 200; this is the way I've always done it.

Thanks!

Nate

 

[bjc112]

I normally leave the first PCI slot open since the AGP slot normally shares the IRQ with it... Along with the breathing part...

Anyhow i dont think the order matters at all.

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: bjc112
I normally leave the first PCI slot open since the AGP slot normally shares the IRQ with it... Along with the breathing part...

Anyhow i dont think the order matters at all.

I didn't think so either. But I was looking through the manual for the PVR-250 and it said that on some boards, it needs to be plugged into either the first or second slot. I was curious to find out why.

Nate

 

[Gerardjg]

Look in your mother board manual and it should tell you which PCI slots share resources
and use the slots that do not share with anything if you can. Keeping #1 open is a good idea for vid card cooling and #1 is usualy sharing resources with the AGP slot.

 

[godmare]

Largest cards on the bottom, smallest cards on the top. This will help keep hot air from being trapped at the bottom of your case, heating your cards.

 

[Jhhnn]

I've never noticed diddly-squat for difference, except for having the i/o arrangement the way you want it. If you're running XP or 2K, it's best to install all the cards prior to the OS...

 

[corkyg]

Some motherboards make a difference. The manual shows (when applicable) a table that tells you which slots are shared with which slots. Some cards share nicely - some don't. Example - SCSI cards are best not shared because they have their own bus. Slot 1 usually shares with AGP - best left open. There is often one slot not shared with any other. Then the rest don't matter too much.