Intel celeron D: upgrade or scrap advice needed

[smartkid95]

I'll first start-off saying I am not too familiar with intel computers so I don't know too much about them. Right now I have an IBM I got for free after My amd athlon died on me. I currently have Celeron D 1gb ram And no graphics card. It's in an Ibm Thinkcenter That I got from a school when they upgraded there fleet. So what I want to know Is what could be done to improve this situation if anything. I have alot of games Left over from my athlon pc but now I need to know What parts are available to upgrade this with. And if there are some is it worth it. What I need is a computer that can do some games and is heavy on processor power and stamina. This celeron D has Issues with gaming and since it's single core It can't multi task which cripples it for my usage. What I do know Is I need a ram upgrade and graphics card thats capable. What I don't know is if the processor is up for that or what other processors are available for the same socket as Celeron D. The thinkcentre might need a n3ew case because honestly I don't think the one on it can handle a larger graphics card or that much heat. I have Hardware modding experience and if I can save money by modding the case I can handle that. I have spare heatsinks I can mod to work on an intel mobo. I'm not sure what graphics interface this has I really can't tell. all I see is a pci slot and I know I'm screwed If thats my only option. Rumor has it that these HAVE SUPPORT FOR pci EXPRESS. ANY HELP WOULD BE ICE. i NEED A NEW PC but I don't have enough money to buy one. I need it asap. Thanx in advance.

 

[skora]

Can you give us the model nunber of the IBM?

And what exactly is your budget?

What is your monitor resolution?

Might help if you can take a look at the link in my sig and provide answers for the questions asked in there.

 

[smartkid95]

Can you give us the model nunber of the IBM?

And what exactly is your budget?

What is your monitor resolution?

Might help if you can take a look at the link in my sig and provide answers for the questions asked in there.

I have the 8171 model and my monitor is 1920x1080

 

[smartkid95]

I googled it and apparently pci express x16 will work with a simple mod and it will work fine. So I will probably pick up a cheap vga card and test my luck and if it works I'll do it with a nvidia geforce series so any input on that

 

[smartkid95]

Correction to my reply to skora: my current monitor is 1024x78 but I'm upgrading it to a 1920x1080 because I'm soon buying an HDTV and that will double for my computer monitor

 

[skora]

Looking at the specs: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-58546.html#processor
doesn't look good for upgrading much.

Aside from the fact that the PSU can't run any GPU and the limitation of a single core CPU, the mobo doesn't have a pcie x16 slot, but just a pcie slot.

So with that, what is your budget? Maybe we can start with something for gaming. Any parts left over from the Athlon system?

 

[smartkid95]

Looking at the specs: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-58546.html#processor
doesn't look good for upgrading much.

Aside from the fact that the PSU can't run any GPU and the limitation of a single core CPU, the mobo doesn't have a pcie x16 slot, but just a pcie slot.

So with that, what is your budget? Maybe we can start with something for gaming. Any parts left over from the Athlon system?

Left over athlon parts are most likely dated by now that one was about 3 years old. I have the case and cooling accesories left over in fine condition. That will take some price off.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

You should still have hard drive, dvd drive, PSU. (although you may need to replace the PSU with something beefier) Things like that that add up, you have to have them, but don't directly think about to start. You could set up the system you got for free to sell on ebay and "save" some more that way. So hopefully we're looking at just getting motherboard/CPU/RAM/GPU, which is not too bad by itself, especially if you stick with AMD (and it seems like you would). The cheapest way to go would be with a AM2+ motherboard, because you can get chipsets like the 780G for about $60. The RAM seems to be going up, but if you're fine with rebates you can get $50 for 4 gigs of DDR2 RAM. That should give you some leeway for the CPU, and GPU which you can have from about $110 combined up to... pretty high.

 

[smartkid95]

You should still have hard drive, dvd drive, PSU. (although you may need to replace the PSU with something beefier) Things like that that add up, you have to have them, but don't directly think about to start. You could set up the system you got for free to sell on ebay and "save" some more that way. So hopefully we're looking at just getting motherboard/CPU/RAM/GPU, which is not too bad by itself, especially if you stick with AMD (and it seems like you would). The cheapest way to go would be with a AM2+ motherboard, because you can get chipsets like the 780G for about $60. The RAM seems to be going up, but if you're fine with rebates you can get $50 for 4 gigs of DDR2 RAM. That should give you some leeway for the CPU, and GPU which you can have from about $110 combined up to... pretty high.

Oh yeah I have optical drives and everything but The mobo or cpu or PSu is dead. which one i didn't bother to find out. honestly I don't want to. Heres an idea If I can get some graphics cards going on a PCI-E mobo and used a core 2 duo how would that be or core 2 quad I'm sure the price has come down on quads

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

What? I'd take the possibly broken pieces off your hands if you'd ship 'em to me >.>

Are you talking about the celeron D again? You can't just plug a x16 PCI-E link graphics card into a x1 link PCI-E slot - it doesn't work that way. Wikipedia pcie they've got much more than one kind of plug.

 

[smartkid95]

What? I'd take the possibly broken pieces off your hands if you'd ship 'em to me >.>

Are you talking about the celeron D again? You can't just plug a x16 PCI-E link graphics card into a x1 link PCI-E slot - it doesn't work that way. Wikipedia pcie they've got much more than one kind of plug.

I'm familiar with the different types of PCI-E slots and this one a x16 card will fit in it but like I said this is free it didn't have a manual so I'm not really sure what kind it is. andThe possibly broken parts are from an athlon xp, there isn't much to be done with them because the graphics card even tought it worked good eough is worth all of 10 dollars if it works, the mobo is damaged, the cpu was overclockeed to 1.9 ghz. it isn't worth the time to ship it.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

I'm just saying that you apparently don't know for sure what actually died. I've gotten stuff to work before when it was supposedly not going to happen. I've also got people I know running comps less than 1 gigahertz still...

A x16 card running correctly in a x1 slot makes no sense at all.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=SF05-D0065
See? They even have an issue where people try it and it doesn't work.

You could get an x1 graphics card, like
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161280
but in my opinion that's too much. (admittedly I only looked there.) You'd be better off selling the computer to a someone who doesn't play games, cause that's enough of a computer for that purpose; and go back to what I was suggesting. The use of other parts like hard drives from the dead system like I said before is about a $200 build (with rounding) which isn't bad especially compared to a graphics card that will work for $100.

 

[skora]

smartkid, you're not going to be able to game on that system. The link I provided above shows the PCIE slot is just an x1, not x16.

Use the link in my sig to answer the questions about what you have, what you need, usage type, budget and monitor. We'll do the best we can to get you the most PC for your money. If you don't have any funds available, you'll just have to wait to game as that free system is good for nothing more than basic productivity apps.

 

[smartkid95]

okay I'm sorry but I'll admit I don't get it it can't be a pci-e x1 it's to long. pci-e x16 slots are the exact same size. I even tested it with a xfx mother board and pci-e x16 is the sime size. I don't know what kind of slot this is. I'm about ready to get a core i7 after dealing with this one but it'll be next summer. maybe Ill take a picture.

 

[smartkid95]

I'm just saying that you apparently don't know for sure what actually died. I've gotten stuff to work before when it was supposedly not going to happen. I've also got people I know running comps less than 1 gigahertz still...

A x16 card running correctly in a x1 slot makes no sense at all.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=SF05-D0065
See? They even have an issue where people try it and it doesn't work.

You could get an x1 graphics card, like
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161280
but in my opinion that's too much. (admittedly I only looked there.) You'd be better off selling the computer to a someone who doesn't play games, cause that's enough of a computer for that purpose; and go back to what I was suggesting. The use of other parts like hard drives from the dead system like I said before is about a $200 build (with rounding) which isn't bad especially compared to a graphics card that will work for $100.

I apologize but I rally don't know what it is it can't be a x1 slot because it is to long and also the model number could be incorrect because this one was second hand and had some modifications done. I think the best way would be to show it. If i took a picture of it could you please tell me what it is? I'm confused over this more than anything else.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

Oh, well. I've got a HP case labeled a810n - I just sold the guts of it to someone else, and rebuilt it from scratch using that case. If that computer ends up in someone else's hands looking up that model number will give them no info, cause the only similarities is that I used the same optical drives and it's still an AMD processor. It could be that that comp is the same way. You'd need to run CPUZ or something to tell us what the components really are instead of what everyone is assuming they are.

PS I still want the old stuff >.>

 

[smartkid95]

Oh, well. I've got a HP case labeled a810n - I just sold the guts of it to someone else, and rebuilt it from scratch using that case. If that computer ends up in someone else's hands looking up that model number will give them no info, cause the only similarities is that I used the same optical drives and it's still an AMD processor. It could be that that comp is the same way. You'd need to run CPUZ or something to tell us what the components really are instead of what everyone is assuming they are.

PS I still want the old stuff >.>

Ok I tried everest and hwmonitor neither were much help they just said
ibm for motherboard name and ID was blank. so I don't kno what's up with that. the athlon parts I decided to keep for a while and see if I can get e rebuild on that going. What i'm gonna do is experiment with the graphics card issue. if it works geeat I'll keep it if not take it back to the store. The processor upgrade will definately work. In my local craigslist theres a guy that has P4's for 10 bucks. so I'll let you know how that works out.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

Ok. There are Pentium 4's better than pentium D's?

 

[smartkid95]

Ok. There are Pentium 4's better than pentium D's?

I didn't know they had pentium d for socket 478. If I can locate one for a price as ceap as the guy on craigslist is I will get one if it's better. I don't know a whole lot about intel I have been using AMD the last 8 years so I really wouldn't know. my first pc was the original pentium.

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

You should make sure of what the CPU is with CPUZ and buy accordingly. Although maybe you should borrow a graphics card first or something to see if it's worth it.