Need help upgrading

[kocheez75]

ok, my current system is fairly old (2001) and It suited me well for a long time, and still runs great, just noticing some lag in more current programs. My current setup as follows:

Dell Dimension 4100 (i know dell sucks, just bare with me
Pentium III 800
256mb Ram (133 mhz?)
nVidia TNT2 M64 32mb
30gb hard drive (not sure of the speed)
XP Pro

Which would be best way to upgrade figuring cost/effectiveness. I also have a few qestions about upgrading.

1. By upgrading motherboard and processor, will I have to reinstall the OS and lose all my files (plus compatible RAM)

2. Will upgrading my video card offer significant improvement all around, or just in programs that require hardware acceleration (games, video, ect..)

With that in mind, would it be best to upgrade motherboard and processor? Or just go with more RAM and/or Video card. Thanks.

 

[01001010]

1. By upgrading motherboard and processor, will I have to reinstall the OS and lose all my files (plus compatible RAM)

Only if you get a new harddrive.

 

[kocheez75]

So if put in a new motherboard and processor, and just hook the harddrive up, it will boot as if nothing has happened? Is there any drivers or BIOS settings that need to be changed?

 

[TRDCorolla1]

I would prefer a complete reformat when installing new motherboards and CPU. Might as well since you're spending time on the installation. You can probably get away without deleting your whole hard drive away. Just make sure you install the motherboard drivers that comes on a CD.

 

[kocheez75]

ok then, will any motherboard/cpu work in the installation? I want to upgrade to an athlon 64. That leads me to another question, would a chipset on a newer motherboard be better than my current video card? Lets just take this for example...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1178956&CatId=1181

 

[Tommy Boy]

Only if you get a new harddrive.

can't do that........xp won't let you move a hard drive from one computer to another.

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Holy cow, that is a bad example. Don't use a Socket 754 supported motherboard. Budget purposes. Not good. Most mid range motherboards don't use integrated graphics. You're better off upgrading your video card too because your new motherboard will support PCI-e which is a whole new type of interface. Get a new PCI-e compatible video card while you are at it. You'll see a significant difference.

Use an AMD motherboard using Socket 939 with an nForce4 chipset. Use an Athlon 64 CPU or an Athlon 64 X2 if you wish.

 

[kocheez75]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1597450&CatId=0

How bout this for an upgrade then?

(Im new to this, I dont really know what to look for.)