I have an Acer Veriton M261. I am trying to put in dual monitors and need to upgrade to a card that has two outputs. I have one that is built into the motherboard right now. Here are my specs...

Intel Celeron CPU 430

1.8GHz

1Gig Ram

80Gig hard drive

I can't seem to find one that show the requirements for the pc. I bought a Diamond Ati Radeon X1550 and it reuires a cpu speed of at least 2.4GHz, so I need to return it and get one that willl work with my system.

Thanks for all your assistance.

Here is a PCI card that has two D-sub (VGA) connector outputs for $41 including shipping.  This will work, but it is very old technology...older than your machine. 

 Here is a PCIe x16 card that may work for $73.  It requires a "Pentium 4,"  which leaves many questions.

  Here is a PCIe x16 card that will work for $73.  But it is not as powerful as the one above, and uses the same chip as the PCI card.

Thanks that def helps.

How do you know that it requires Pentium 4, I couldn't find the requirements section on any of the cards??

Would it help upgrading memory to maybe 2 gigs instead of 1??

I found one, but it says that it has PCI EXPRESS 2.0, is there a difference between that and PCI EXPRESS??

It also says it has Directx 10.1, will that work with XP Home??

Thanks

I would suggest a simple card like the ATI 4350 - it has very low standards/specs and will likely work with any processor practically as it is not even a mid-line card. Recommendations for 'requirements' are not always truthful. I believe that Celeron 430 is actually close if not surpassing the Pentium 4 series... And yes, your motherboard does support PCI-E 2.0

Slmclarengt

Thanks for all your help, but I found out that my computer doesn't support dual monitors. I am guessing that means I need a new motherboard?? Would anyone know if I need a mother board, and if so which one would support dual monitors?? Here are my specs for the motherboard...

Manufacturer   Acer

Model  Name   M261

Serial Number    PSV540600580802D982701

I have no clue which mother board would work with the rest of my computer...

Thank You!!!!

The motherboard has nothing to do with supporting dual monitors. The integrated video might not support two monitors, but it's up to the new video card to support monitors. Your old motherboard will be fine.

P.S. That on top of the fact that if you get a new motherboard, you'd have to reinstall windows and everything else.

Inplabth:

The motherboard has nothing to do with supporting dual monitors. The integrated video might not support two monitors, but it's up to the new video card to support monitors. Your old motherboard will be fine.

Quite correct.  The SiS onboard video does not support dual monitors, but the video card you want does (and you will be disabling the onboard video).  

 As to how I know what it requires I went to the manufacturer's web site, and looked in the manuals or spec sheets.  Newegg also had the info on one or two in their spec list.  My problem with "Pentium 4" is that a Cerelon is a hobbed Pentium 4, and may or may not work...I just wish they would be more precise.

The person who said video cards may work with less than the specs is perfectly correct.  That ATI card may have worked. 

Yes, having 2G of ram is a very good idea for any XP installation for any reason. 
 

Edit -- No, your motherboard is not a PCIe X16 (v. 2.0), but a 2.0 card will work in it at the 1.0 specification -- no biggie.   That MSI 4350 may work... it claims a maximum 25W power usage.  I could not find a manual, and cannot see what its recommendations are...but might be worth a chance, nice card.  You will need either a DVI-I compatible monitor or cable or a D-sub adapter (which may come with the card) for the second monitor.  I am somewhat concerned that your 250W power supply may not provide an additional GPU power connection (if required) -- the heat sink blocks my view.   I would take a chance for tht price (and for $5 more you get a faster GPU, twice the memory).

As to memory, since your motherboard supports 2 x 2Gb DDR2 @ 667Mhz in single channel mode only, may I suggest this.  If you decide to add another 2G later a slot will be open.  [yes, you can try to stick one of your old sticks of memory in later (after you are up and running with the new memory) to see if it will work ... I am betting it will, but if it is slower than 667, your memory on both sticks will drop to the slowest stick.]

FascistNation:

Edit -- No, your motherboard is not a PCIe X16 (v. 2.0), but a 2.0 card will work in it at the 1.0 specification -- no biggie.   That MSI 4350 may work... it claims a maximum 25W power usage.  I could not find a manual, and cannot see what its recommendations are...but might be worth a chance, nice card.  You will need either a DVI-I compatible monitor or cable or a D-sub adapter (which may come with the card) for the second monitor.  I am somewhat concerned that your 250W power supply may not provide an additional GPU power connection (if required) -- the heat sink blocks my view.   I would take a chance for that price (and for $5 more you get a faster GPU, twice the memory).

I was correct to be concerned:

ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series – System Requirements

• PCI Express® based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard
• 450 Watt or greater power supply with 75 Watt 6-pin PCI Express® power connector recommended (550 Watt and two 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)
• Certified power supplies are recommended for ATI CrossFireX™ technology support. Refer to http://ati.amd.com/certifiedPSU for a list of Certified products
• Minimum 1GB of system memory ....
  

 I apologize for not thinking to look on the ATI web site for this information.  Your old 250W power supply may or may not work -- if it has the 6-pin GPU connector.  It will definitely be under a strain and may fail, or potentially cause a power surge with catastrophic results.  If you take the chance and it works I would recommend replacing it with a much better power supply soon.  [And I hate to break it to you, but this is about the least expensive I would recommend.  It may only be 420W, but it is an honest 420W @ 40oC, which beats most 450W claims any day.]