How can I speed up this crutch best? (Celeron J1800)

[Shehriazad]

So, a friend of mine bought a "new" PC about a month ago (and got ripped off big time I guess) for like $450.

Inside is a Celeron J1800, 1 module of unbranded (u wot mate?) 1333 Mhz DDR3L ram(4GB)...and an obscure motherboard with only 2 Sata ports (wha?).

Let's put aside the fact that even the PSU inside is a total timebomb (the thing doesn't even tell me its max output...again...just obscure numbers)...what can I do to make it at least SOMEWHAT bearable?


He wanted to have the thing feel faster and my first action was to get him a dedicated GPU...even though his budget was a total joke.
I was able to snatch a GT440 for $20 and that certainly made gaming somewhat possible.

Loadtimes are still unbearable, though.

Now here's the thing...on the MB...the ram slots aren't even next to eachother...they're on opposite ends. Is it possible that the board wouldn't even support proper dual channel mode?

Or does the CPU even properly support it? Because I was thinking to give him an upgrade to 8GB of Ram...but not sure if I should get 2x4 or if it's not worth the hassle and just try 1x8....but since the Intel site for the J1800 says 8GB is the max TOTAL...does it even accept 8Gig modules?

Is there anything else I can do? Like...can this thing somehow be OCd? I got no idea why these kinds of funny CPUs even exist. *sigh*

 

[frozentundra123456]

Well, that is a dual core atom 2.4ghz base, 2.6ghz "burst". It would be ok in a 200.00 small laptop, but for a 450.00 desktop, ouch. For that price, you should be able to get a big core i3 with 8gb of ram. I am actually surprised you can game on it, even with a dgpu. I dont know what you can do to make it faster, except maybe get an SSD.

That said, I think you should be able to surf the web and do other basic tasks. Just get rid of as much crapware as possible, and be very conscientious about keeping background tasks to a minimum. Or maybe try linux??

 

[gorion]

Can he return it?

I don't think there's room for improvement on that thing, no matter what RAM or SSD you would put in it.
Return or sell it and get something better.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Return it if you can. Those are not gaming machines. They are for (minimalist) e-mail and web browsing only. Doing anything more demanding with it, is going to be painful.

Edit: That's basically a netbook processor, not a "true" desktop processor. At least, those are the types of loads that it was designed for.

 

[Arachnotronic]

My iPad is faster than that desktop

Tell your friend to return it if possible.

 

[videogames101]

Return it if you can. Those are not gaming machines. They are for (minimalist) e-mail and web browsing only. Doing anything more demanding with it, is going to be painful.

Edit: That's basically a netbook processor, not a "true" desktop processor. At least, those are the types of loads that it was designed for.

Someone should let Intel know

"Intel® Celeron® Processor J1000 Series for Desktop"

http://ark.intel.com/products/series/77504/Intel-Celeron-Processor-J1000-Series-for-Desktop#@Desktop

Dual-core Bay Trail in a desktop is horrifying to me.

As far as speeding it up, a lightweight linux distro is your only real option. An SSD would help, but you're still going to chug in Windows.

 

[Shehriazad]

He ordered it from some wayyyy shady site...I think he might be stuck with it.


Well shyte!!

Overclocking is probably a no-go...will try to go for 1x8 GB since I still got one of those DDR3L modules somewhere at my place...also, I cannot get an SSD for this machine yet...it only has 2 S-ata ports (lol) and he needs his DvD and can't afford a large enough SSD to replace his HDD.
I guess the GT440 was the best upgrade I was able to get for him at that budget...

 

[gorion]

Why don't you try to sell it on ebay? even if you get $300 or so with another $100 you can get an haswell pentium or i3 which would run circles around the J1800

 

[ShintaiDK]

There isn't any fix for Atom/Kabini systems besides buying something with a proper CPU.

Considering it a paid learning experience and move on.

 

[Magic Carpet]

There isn't any fix for Atom/Kabini systems besides buying something with a proper CPU.

As a Kabini owner myself. Pretty much this.

Also, are you ready for this? NOT EVEN AN SSD UPGRADE DID MAKE THAT SYSTEM "SIGNIFICANTLY" ANY BETTER, IT IS THAT SLOW. (ST is really that bad) Yeah, I had to use caps, sorry about that.

It's one of those rare cases, when if you had to choose, you would rather prefer mechanical storage over SSD but with a decent CPU instead of that crap.

Using it ONLY for movie playback, which it does all right.

 

[myocardia]

does it even accept 8Gig modules?

I highly doubt it, since my J1900 wouldn't boot with a single 8GB stick, yet works perfectly with 2x4GB sticks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I highly doubt it, since my J1900 wouldn't boot with a single 8GB stick, yet works perfectly with 2x4GB sticks.

Hmm, my Dell with a Bay Trail-M N2830 had a single DDR3L SO-DIMM, and I upgraded it with a single 8GB SO-DIMM, and it took 8GB just fine in a single slot.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Hmm, my Dell with a Bay Trail-M N2830 had a single DDR3L SO-DIMM, and I upgraded it with a single 8GB SO-DIMM, and it took 8GB just fine in a single slot.

Maybe it just didn't like his stick, sometime it happens. By the way, you tried maxing out that Bay of yours? Should accept 16 gigs, no?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Maybe it just didn't like his stick, sometime it happens. By the way, you tried maxing out that Bay of yours? Should accept 16 gigs, no?

Do they make 16GB DDR3L-1600 unbuffered SO-DIMMs?

Edit: Laptop has only one slot, so no possibility of 2x8GB in that laptop.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Do they make 16GB DDR3L-1600 unbuffered SO-DIMMs?

Of course they do. Although, I was thinking of using 2 x 8 GB instead, seeing as the max memory mentioned on ark was restricted to only 8gb. Sometimes, it's artificial, sometimes it's real. Thus, I asked you as the lucky owner

For reference, the lousy Kabini CAN use up to 32 gigs of ram (2 x 16).

Imagine the day, if/when Intel locks down Celeron/Pentium further to like 4 or 8 gigs of max ram, forcing the upgrades the "smart" way. Heh.

 

[crashtech]

To make it go fast, drop it from the highest place you can find. I'm sure the most exciting thing you could elicit from it would be measuring its terminal velocity.

 

[Azuma Hazuki]

Crash, you just read my mind. I was going to say something along the lines of "chuck it out a window; its terminal velocity is the fastest it will ever go."

But for a more serious answer: VG101 above is correct. Lightweight Linux + SSD. And I mean light, something like a barebones Debian with LXDE or even Fluxbox.

The internet is going to bring that poor machine to its knees. Install netsurf and dmenu and he'll have an extremely Spartan, Webkit-based browser...er, that requires him to hit ctrl+g to type a URL in but yeah.

This setup (FB + Netsurf + URxvt on Arch) actually worked surprisingly well for me on a Celeron 430M/2GB machine (don't ask...).

I like to say there's no bad hardware, only bad matches between hardware and use case, but...eeeesh ><;

 

[VirtualLarry]

I like to say there's no bad hardware

Could AMD use that as their new marketing slogan?

 

[Magic Carpet]

Could AMD use that as their new marketing slogan?

Can't trump this one => "I play on MAX, I play on AMD."

 

[hhhd1]

The good thing about this computer, is that it probably uses almost no power, maybe like 20 watts at full load (without the nvidia gpu).

Try getting an SSD, that is if you are really stuck with this computer.

 

[crashtech]

An SSD, and some lessons in how to understand and use the Task Manager, since any errant processes will make a J1800 unusable.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I like to say there's no bad hardware, only bad matches between hardware and use case, but...eeeesh ><;

Maybe the use case is you are a shady computer website that wants to rip off customers! Then it is a perfect fit!

 

[VirtualLarry]

You'all are making me feel bad I built some ITX rigs using AM1 3850 Sempron quad-core 1.3Ghz APUs. They overclock mostly successfully to 1.65Ghz, and at that frequency they're "bearable" in Linux Mint for web browsing, but when overclocked, the DVD drive doesn't work. So I had to down-clock them.

I haven't found any customers for them yet. They cost me roughly $200 ea to build, including an SSD and 4GB of DDR3.

Sigh. No wonder those APUs were marked down to $19.99.

Edit: I could pull the AM1 ITX boards and replace them with Haswell ITX boards. I have several, and a few unopened G3258 CPUs. Hmm.

 

[Torn Mind]

He's burnt toast.

Even an AMD A4 would have done better, and they are slow and not very powerful in their own right.

Don't pour more money into it. Hit up craigslist. Look for i3 rigs.

 

[littleg]

Yeah, trying to pimp that rig is just throwing good money after bad. You'd be better off just salvaging the case and whatever else you can get and buying a new motherboard and CPU, maybe a pentium if you really need to keep the costs down.