Accelerator board

A hardware electronic board (containing a microprocessor) that can be added to some computers in order to speed up the processing in slow computers. The speed gains are confined to internal calculating and sorting such that no apparent gains are obtained for file management and other busing activities. (See also CPU, Board, and Bus)

(1) Short for graphics accelerator.(2) A type of expansion board that makes a computer faster by adding a faster CPU or FPU. Most modern computers are designed to accept simpler upgrades. Built into the motherboard is a socket in which the CPU sits. It is usually possible simply to remove the CPU and replace it with a faster model. This is particularly easy if the socket is a zero insertion force (ZIF) socket.