Needing an upgrade, and some help...

[bigheavy]

Hello, everyone. I'm getting ready to go to school, and some of the upgrades I need won't work with the current configuration I've got. I'm looking to upgrade my video card to one with S-Video outputs, and everything I've found requires an Intel Pentium 4 processor. My discount computer (thanks, Wal-Mart), is equipped with a Celeron. I've spent the last 3 hours looking all over the internet trying to find out exactly how to upgrade and if so, what I need to do. If there's an easier (or cheaper) way to upgrade my computer, I would be most appreciative of any advice given. Thank you.

 

[Rik]

If its a cheap computer then upgradability will probably probably be very limited.

We need some information about your pc in order to help.
We need to know what it is and what graphics slot it has (if it even has one).
We need to know where abouts you are in the world you are for parts prices.
We need to know what you intend on making the pc fast enough to do.

 

[bigheavy]

It has a Celeron D 356. 512 DDR Memory. 160 GB Hard Drive. The video card is an ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series. I'm in the United States, and the major places I've looked that I can actually see what I'm getting are the major retailers, Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry's Electronics. I've looked on a few websites, like amazon.com and tigerdirect.com. They're fairly decent prices, but I'm not comfortable enough with my computer knowledge to buy something without knowing if it's what I need or not. All that I'm trying to do is connect my computer with a DVD Recorder and home theater system. I have a bunch of videos and pictures that I would like to view on my tv, and I've burned them to discs before, but the home theater "system" I have is a little too low tech to be able to read them all.

 

[Rik]

You still havent said what your pc is, we need make and model number.

Mobo make and model number would be handy too.

If you dont know how to find that info, google and get Everest home edition.

 

[bigheavy]

Oh. Sorry. I apoligize for my computer ignorance, but I'd much rather look stupid amongst people who know what they're doing and can tell me what I'm doing wrong, than looking REALLY STUPID to the guy at Best Buy when I buy a new computer because I fried mine thinking I knew what I was doing. I ran the program you mentioned, and I wasn't sure what information you needed, so I just copied most of it.

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
User Name Owner

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Celeron D, 3333 MHz (25 x 133)
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset ATI Radeon Xpress 200
System Memory 368 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type Intel (04/20/06)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series (128 MB)
Video Adapter ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series (128 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon Xpress 200 (RC410)
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (MRJ6650023765)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter ATI SB450 - High Definition Audio Controller

Storage:
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Disk Drive Generic USB SD Reader USB Device
Disk Drive Generic USB CF Reader USB Device
Disk Drive Generic USB SM Reader USB Device
Disk Drive Generic USB MS Reader USB Device
Disk Drive ST3160212A (149 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H552D (DVD+R9:2.4x, DVD+RW:16x/4x, DVD-RW:12x/4x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:40x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 148514 MB (119233 MB free)
D: (FAT32) 4094 MB (1418 MB free)
Total Size 149.0 GB (117.8 GB free)

BIOS Properties:
Vendor Intel Corp.
Version GC11010M.15A.0009.2006.0420.1045
Release Date 04/20/2006
Size 512 KB
Boot Devices Floppy Disk, Hard Disk, CD-ROM, ATAPI ZIP
Capabilities Flash BIOS, Shadow BIOS, Selectable Boot, EDD, BBS
Supported Standards DMI, ACPI
Expansion Capabilities PCI, USB

System Properties:
Manufacturer GATEWAY
Product W3503
Version 100
Serial Number GRC6610006306
Universal Unique ID A374A57A-D2E111DA-9341000C-6E080250
Wake-Up Type Power Switch

Motherboard Properties:
Manufacturer Intel Corporation
Product D101GGC
Version AAD54032-300
Serial Number BTGC616027CP

Processor Properties:
Manufacturer Intel(R) Corporation
Version Intel(R) Celeron(R) D CPU 3.33GHz
External Clock 133 MHz
Maximum Clock 4000 MHz
Current Clock 3333 MHz
Type Central Processor
Voltage 3.0 V
Status Enabled

Cache Properties:
Type Internal
Status Enabled
Operational Mode Write-Back
Maximum Size 16 KB
Installed Size 16 KB
Supported SRAM Type Asynchronous
Current SRAM Type Asynchronous
Error Correction Single-bit ECC
Socket Designation Unknown

Cache Properties:
Type Internal
Status Enabled
Operational Mode Write-Back
Maximum Size 512 KB
Installed Size 512 KB
Supported SRAM Type Asynchronous
Current SRAM Type Asynchronous
Error Correction Single-bit ECC
Socket Designation Unknown

Memory Device Properties:
Form Factor DIMM
Type Detail Synchronous
Size 512 MB
Speed 400 MHz
Total Width 64-bit
Data Width 64-bit
Device Locator DIMM2
Bank Locator BANK1
Manufacturer 0xC100000000000000
Serial Number 0x0112CB27
Asset Tag Unknown
Part Number 0x363444363433323048553543202020202020

Memory Device Properties:
Form Factor DIMM
Device Locator DIMM3
Bank Locator BANK1
Asset Tag Unknown

System Slot Properties:
Slot Designation PCIE X16 SLOT
Type PCI-E x1
Usage Empty
Length Short

System Slot Properties:
Slot Designation PCIE X1 SLOT 1
Type PCI-E x1
Usage Empty
Length Short

System Slot Properties:
Slot Designation PCI SLOT 1
Type PCI
Usage Empty
Data Bus Width 32-bit
Length Long

System Slot Properties:
Slot Designation PCI SLOT 2
Type PCI
Usage In Use
Data Bus Width 32-bit
Length Long

Port Connector Properties:
Internal Reference Designator PRIMARY
Internal Connector Type On-Board IDE
External Connector Type None

Port Connector Properties:
Internal Reference Designator SECONDARY
Internal Connector Type On-Board IDE
External Connector Type None

Port Connector Properties:
Internal Reference Designator ATX_PWR
External Connector Type None

On-Board Device Properties:
Description ATI Azalia Audio Device
Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID GC11010M.15A.0009.2006.0420.1045
Motherboard Name Unknown

Chipset Properties:
Motherboard Chipset ATI Radeon Xpress 200
CAS Latency (CL) 3T

SPD Memory Modules:
DIMM1: Infineon 64D64320HU5C 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (3.0-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (2.5-3-3-7 @ 166 MHz) (2.0-2-2-6 @ 133 MHz)

Graphics Processor Properties:
Video Adapter ATI Radeon Xpress 200 (RC410) Chipset
GPU Code Name RC410 (PCI 1002 / 5A61, Rev 00)
GPU Clock 301 MHz (original: 300 MHz)

CPU Properties:
CPU Type Intel Celeron D, 3333 MHz (25 x 133)
CPU Alias Cedar Mill
Instruction Set x86, x86-64, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
Original Clock 3333 MHz
Min / Max CPU Multiplier 12x / 25x
Engineering Sample No
L1 Trace Cache 12K Instructions
L1 Data Cache 16 KB
L2 Cache 512 KB (On-Die, ECC, ATC, Full-Speed)

CPUID Properties:
CPUID Manufacturer GenuineIntel
CPUID CPU Name Intel(R) Celeron(R) D CPU 3.33GHz
CPUID Revision 00000F64h
IA Brand ID 00h (Unknown)
Platform ID 0Fh (Socket 478)
IA CPU Serial Number Unknown
Microcode Update Revision 4
HTT / CMP Units 0 / 1

Instruction Set:
64-bit x86 Extension (AMD64, EM64T) Supported
Alternate Instruction Set Not Supported
AMD 3DNow! Not Supported
AMD 3DNow! Professional Not Supported
AMD Enhanced 3DNow! Not Supported
AMD Extended MMX Not Supported
Cyrix Extended MMX Not Supported
IA-64 Not Supported
IA MMX Supported
IA SSE Supported
IA SSE 2 Supported
IA SSE 3 Supported
CLFLUSH Instruction Supported
CMPXCHG8B Instruction Supported
CMPXCHG16B Instruction Supported
Conditional Move Instruction Supported
MONITOR / MWAIT Instruction Supported
RDTSCP Instruction Not Supported
SYSCALL / SYSRET Instruction Not Supported
SYSENTER / SYSEXIT Instruction Supported
VIA FEMMS Instruction Not Supported

Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID GC11010M.15A.0009.2006.0420.1045
Motherboard Name Unknown

Front Side Bus Properties:
Bus Type Intel NetBurst
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 133 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 533 MHz
Bandwidth 4266 MB/s

Memory Bus Properties:
Bus Type DDR SDRAM
Bus Width 64-bit

Physical Memory:
Total 366 MB
Used 316 MB
Free 50 MB
Utilization 86 %

Swap Space:
Total 884 MB
Used 413 MB
Free 470 MB
Utilization 47 %

Virtual Memory:
Total 1251 MB
Used 730 MB
Free 520 MB
Utilization 58 %

Physical Address Extension (PAE):
Supported by Operating System Yes
Supported by CPU Yes
Active Yes

[ DIMM1: Infineon 64D64320HU5C ]

Memory Module Properties:
Module Name Infineon 64D64320HU5C
Serial Number 0112CB27h
Manufacture Date Week 16 / 2006
Module Size 512 MB (2 ranks, 4 banks)
Module Type Unbuffered
Memory Type DDR SDRAM
Memory Speed PC3200 (200 MHz)
Module Width 64 bit
Module Voltage SSTL 2.5
Error Detection Method None
Refresh Rate Reduced (7.8 us), Self-Refresh

Memory Timings:
@ 200 MHz 3.0-3-3-8 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 166 MHz 2.5-3-3-7 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
@ 133 MHz 2.0-2-2-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

Memory Module Features:
Early RAS# Precharge Supported
Auto-Precharge Not Supported
Precharge All Not Supported
Write1/Read Burst Not Supported
Buffered Address/Control Inputs Not Supported
Registered Address/Control Inputs Not Supported
On-Card PLL (Clock) Not Supported
Buffered DQMB Inputs Not Supported
Registered DQMB Inputs Not Supported
Differential Clock Input Supported
Redundant Row Address Not Supported

[ North Bridge: ATI RS400 ]

North Bridge Properties:
North Bridge ATI RS400
Revision 01
Process Technology 0.13 um

Memory Controller:
Type Dual Channel (128-bit)
Active Mode Single Channel (64-bit)

Memory Timings:
CAS Latency (CL) 3T

Memory Slots:
DRAM Slot #1 512 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)

[ South Bridge: ATI SB450 ]

South Bridge Properties:
South Bridge ATI SB450
Revision 80

High Definition Audio:
Audio Controller Type ATI SB450
Codec Name Unknown
Codec ID FFFFFFFFh
Codec Revision FFFFFFFFh

BIOS Properties:
BIOS Type Intel
System BIOS Date 04/20/06
Video BIOS Date 05/10/04