Introducing the AcceleraPCI What is the AcceleraPCI? Will the AcceleraPCI Work On My System? Benefits of the AcceleraPCI My Upgrade My Results Final Thoughts

My test system was a Packard Bell PB680 still in the original factory configuration.  This system was running Windows 95b, 32 MB EDO RAM, 2MB S3 Virge Video, 200 MHz MMX Processor and 256K L2 cache.

I started by running the Prequal software.  The system passed and told me to proceed with the hardware installation.

The Accelera fit into an open PCI slot.  The whole process took about 5 minutes (including the time to get the case off and on).  The system booted right up after the installation and I ran my tests.

Here is the raw data from this upgrade.  The upgrade doubled the amount of RAM the system had and more than doubled the MHz of the CPU.  The big question is, "Will this extra power make a difference on my aging system?"

There was little to no performance increase in the video speed, but remember the system was using the same video in both tests.  The numbers look great above, but check out the chart below.

I find the benchmarks quite impresive.  My old system is acting like a new PC.  I compared my results using the wintune data base and the upgraded system was right in line with similar systems that were designed to run Celeron CPUs.

Well I am impressed again, the upgrade performed as promised.  The AccelraPCI is one more good choice for those who want to keep an aging computer alive.  Evergreen again delivered a good product.

I do wish that the price of this upgrade was lower.  But with the RAM, CPU, BIOS and Chipset you are getting a lot for your money.   Some will argue that for the same price there are other options available that may be cheaper.  But you have to remember the jump to 466 MHz (or better) may be well worth the expense if you don't want to replace your existing hardware.   Additionally, the benefits of keeping all your data and applications intact is invaluable and can save countless dollars and time.

The ease of use of this upgrade will help sell it over alternatve choices like buying a new motherbard.  In a matter of a few minutes any PC will have new life running the latest Celeron technology.