upgrade help

[firehawk1120]

Ok i have an old computer HP Pavilion 8776c and i need to know if it is cheaper to upgrade certain components so that I can run a few programs I want or if I should just get a whole new Tower.

I have 1.0 ghz and need at least 2

I have 128 mb ram I need 512

my video card is fine, i have an 80 gb hard drive no problems there.

So let me know how hard is it to upgrade those components and if it would be cheaper to do it myself or just buy a new computer.

Thanks...

 

[THEpiGUY]

It'd probably be cheaper to just build pretty much a new computer. You can keep your Graphics card, Hard drive, monitor, etc. If I'm correct, that 1GHz processor is an AMD socket A (462)? I don't know anywhere today where you can find an upgrade for that with the same number of pins. Modern AMD CPUs now have 939 pin processors and socket AM2 (which is 939 or 940, something like that; I haven't really gotten into AM2 yet). You'll have to get a new:

Motherboard
Processor
RAM
Maybe a new heatsink/fan for your Processor as well.

If you're not into redoing your own with the motherboard, processor, and RAM, then there's pretty much no way I can think of to upgrade the processor, considering the Motherboard socket type is way out of date. Regarding price though, it should be much cheaper for you to do it yourself because you don't have to get a new monitor, speakers (I'd assume), hard drive, tower, graphics card, etc.

If you want suggestions on which parts to get, tell me your budget and I'll try to come up with something. Someone else might even beat me to it.