In terms of 6150 LE capabilities, they're listed here.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/mobo_gpu_tech_specs.html
The 6150 LE has "1x16+2x1" PCI Express. That means the
chipset can support a PCI Express x16 slot. But you have
to visually inspect the motherboard, and see if a long
connector is present. The PCI Express x1 slots, can
be used to interface to a "short" slot (for add-in
cards), or in some cases, the interfaces will be connected
to Ethernet chips or other accessories.
This is a PCI Express x16. You can see the coupling capacitors, along
the upper edge of the picture. The small ceramic capacitors are
used to AC couple the bus connections. The big x16 slot, is
typically used for video cards, although other card
types will also fit (expensive RAID controllers).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PCI-Express-Bus.jpg
This is an example, of one of the cheaper PCI Express x16 cards that
Newegg sells. You should be able to match this price elsewhere.
This is an 8400 GS PCI Express for $30.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16814127368
You can see in the card list here, that the specs vary greatly from
one product offering to another. To hit $30, it might have less
memory, or a lower "clock" for some of the components. None of
this will matter to a person who is not playing 3D games.
http://www.gpureview.com/GeForce-8400-GS-PCI-E-card-529.html
There are currently two standards for PCI Express. There is
PCI Express Revision 1 and Revision 2. Revision 2 products are
backward compatible with Revision 1 motherboards. So you should
not have to worry about that.
*******
With respect to the Grandson, remember that computers are meant
to be used. The graphics chip, if run in 3D mode, gets warm.
The manufacturer fits cooling solutions, considered to be
sufficient for all modes of usage. So if the CPU runs at
100% computing capacity, the machine should not croak.
Similarly, if someone plays a 3D game using the build-in
GPU, the machine should provide many happy hours of usage.
Engineers are supposed to test, that the cooling is adequate
for all usage patterns, including usage of the computer
in a heated room. (At one time, they would even state
what the maximum room temperature for usage was. But
try and find that spec now.)
In some 6100 and 6150 retail motherboards, there were issues
with a small percentage of them having bad graphics output.
This required warranty service, to resolve the problem.
Whether this is part of the Nvidia "bump/underfill" fiasco,
I cannot say. But Nvidia did have problems with the
physical construction of their chips, and put aside
$200 million, as part of warranty repair for affected
computers.
So for your video card experiment, all you need spend is $30.
If the warranty is still in effect, you can talk to the
manufacturer, and see what their policy is on things
affected by Nvidia chips.
Paul
