Upgrading processor and motherboard

[dhkwak]

Hey,

My current computer (desktop) is a little over 3 years old now, and I thought it was a good time to upgrade the processor and motherboard. Some specs of the computer are:

Pentium 4 processor (3 GHz)
3.00 GB RAM (recently upgraded from 1 GB RAM)
2 Hard drives
Running Windows XP

I am looking at a price range of $600 to $700 for the motherboard and processor combined. Someone suggested to me getting a Raptor HD and installing only my OS on there, allowing it to load faster. Is it worth the investment? I am wondering whether I can get a decent quad core processor and working motherboard with my current budget.

Thanks for the replies

[saphalline]

Unfortunately, it's not quite as easy as that...

Getting a new mobo & CPU likely means getting DDR2 RAM. If you don't have that already (ie, you currently have DDR) then that means dumping 3GB of RAM and getting more! Also, there's the possibility that getting a modern mobo means getting an ATX 3.01+ PSU to support the latest power requirements. In addition, do you have onboard video right now or are you using an older PCI or AGP vid card? A new mobo with PCIe means replacing that, too!

In the end, we'll need more info to help you, and in fact you may need to reconsider your plans.

[dhkwak]

Hey,
I was able to find more specs on my computer:

3 GB of DDR2 RAM
RADEON X300/X550 video card (128 MB)- I think this is in a PCIe slot right now.
2 DVD drives: Pioneer DVD-RW DVR and TEAC DVD+RW

Currently I'm housing it in a Dell case (I bought it from Dell 3 years ago.) I'm wanting to find a better case for it so installation won't be too bad. So basically, I'll take the hard drives, video card, etc. from the old computer and put it into a new case.

Thanks a lot!