Celeron Plus Graphics Card

[Rapier]

Happy New Year!!

Can a Celeron be upgraded with a graphics card that would supplant using PC memory for graphics?

Mike

[Snod Blatter]

What kind of Celeron? Or, more importantly, what motherboard is that Celeron on?

[Rapier]

Celeron® D Processor 341
Motherboard specifications table
Part / Feature Specification / Support
Motherboard description

* Motherboard manufacturer's name: ECS RC410-M
* HP/Compaq name: Asterope-GL8E

CPU/Processor

* Socket: 775
* Supports the following processors:
o Pentium D 900 series Dual Core (Presler)
o Pentium D 800 series Dual Core (Smithfield)
o Pentium 4 500 (Prescott)
o Pentium 4 600 (Prescott)
o Celeron D (Prescott)
o Celeron D (Cedar Mill)

Front-side bus (FSB)

* 800/533 MHz

Chipset

* Northbridge: ATI RC410

* Southbridge: ATI IXP450

BIOS features

* AMI BIOS

Form factor

* Micro ATX size form factor, 9.6 in x 9.6 in

Memory

* Single-channel memory architecture
* 2 x 240-pin DIMM sockets support unbuffered non-ECC 400/533 MHZ DDR2 memory modules
* Maximum HP/Compaq approved memory is 2 GB

Expansion slots

* Three PCI
* One PCI Express

Video graphics

* Integrated
* Supports PCI Express x16 graphics cards ???

Onboard audio or audio card

*
Built-in Azalia 8 channel audio
*
Audio codec AC883

Onboard LAN

* Realtek RTL8100 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet controller

Back panel I/O

* PS/2 keyboard (purple)
* PS/2 mouse (green)
* One SPDIF out port
* One S-video out port
* One VGA out port
* One Parallel port
* Four USB (2.0)
* One IEEE 1394a
* One RJ-45 networking port (LAN)
* Audio ports:
o line in (light blue)
o line out (lime)
o microphone (pink)
o side speaker out (gray)
o rear speaker out (black)
o center/subwoofer (yellow orange)

Internal connectors

* Two IDE connectors
* One floppy drive connector
* One ATX 24-pin power connector
* One ATX 4-pin +12v power connector
* Four Serial ATA connectors
* One VGA connector
* One IEEE 1394a connector
* One CPU fan connector
* One PC fan connector
* One CD_IN connector
* One front panel audio connector
* One PC panel connector
* Two USB connectors supporting 2.0 ports

[Snod Blatter]

In that case, yes, you could use such a card. I take it you are referring to the nVidia 6200 with Turbocache?

[Kiwi]

Can a Celeron be upgraded with a graphics card that would supplant (stop from) using PC memory for graphics?FYI, the word "Celeron" is not a synonym for "PC" or for "computer" or most anything else you might mix it up with. It is an Intel brand name for a microprocessor based on one or another of the Pentiums, but partly castrated by a lowered cache amount, and other performance detours to make it uncompetitive in performance to any Pentium still being actively promoted, no matter how the dollars vs. MHz formulas might be calculated.

Very typically, that budget cpu is part of a budget system that doesn't allow much of an upgrade. If the information you supplied about a PCI Express slot refers to PCI-e 16X, you are in luck. Nevertheless, your PC almost certainly has a bare minimum power supply in its main system unit, such that any VGA card more powerful than a "budget" card would require that the power supply must also be upgraded.

Either an X300 or a Geforce 6200 would be fine. The "TC" model of the 6200 is not fine. "Turbo Cache" means that it still wants to use RAM borrowed from your main system, instead of having sufficent VRAM on board for normal use. Some models of the X300 use the same sort of trick, but it's called "Hyper" something.

:(

[blue60007]

You want to avoid the Hypermemory ATi cards.

Are you wanting to game with this computer? If so, and I'll be honest, you aren't going to be able to do with this computer. Like Kiwi said this is a budget system which aren't intended for gaming. You did have a spot of luck by having a system with a PCI-E x16 slot. With most budget systems you are out of luck because they don't put a PCI-E x16 or AGP slot in to cut costs.

On the other hand, (again, Kiwi already mentioned this) the power supply in there is only powerful enough for what comes in the computer and not much more. Also the Celeron would really hold you back, while the newer Celeron's aren't as bad as the older ones, they still aren't going to do to well for gaming.

If you want to game the X300 or 6200 won't cut it. It won't really be any better than the onboard video (although it could probably run older games fine). If you aren't gaming, using one of these "TC" or "HyperMemory" ones will probably end up using more system (PC) RAM and slow your system down more.

[Rapier]

Thanks for your informative answers. :o