Computer Upgrade Help

[Bower]

I'm going to try and keep this as organized and professional as possible, I'm 15.

Strait to the point, I have a year and a couple of months old PC. I will try and state the details below as best as possible. My mom uses Autocad 2005LT but just recieved the 2008LT upgrade. I'm going to install it on this computer and from what the system requirments say I should be fine.

System Requirements
The system requirements for 32-bit AutoCAD:
Intel® Pentium® 4 processor, 2.2 GHz Recommended
Microsoft® Windows Vista™, Windows® XP Home and Professional (SP2), Windows® 2000 (SP4)
512 MB RAM
750 MB free disk space for installation
1024x768 VGA with True Color
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6.0 (SP1 or higher)

Also, I am learning Autodesk's Revit Architecture 2008 on a free student version. This software is quite a bit more demanding and advanced with 3D. I have already created some floorplans with it and it's fine but once I enable shadows it really slows down. I'm not sure what would be best to upgrade to help with this. Revit architecture from what I have witnessed is very leniant with the requirements. You can keep it very basic or really hype it up with 3D. I would like to do some more stuff with shadows and work on details. I will be getting a job on Autocad for my mom soon so I should bring some money in to help for this computer. Here are the Requirments for Revit
Architecture 2008. I believe the "Recommended" information is what it would take for the very avanced 3D stuff which I wouldn't be learning so soon. I've been doing fine with it on what I have now.

System Requirements:
Intel® Pentium® 4, 1.4 GHz, or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor
Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Enterprise, Business, Premium, or Ultimate; Windows® XP Professional, Home Edition, or Tablet PC Edition (SP1 or later); or Windows® 2000 (SP4)
1 GB RAM
3 GB free disk space
1280x1024 monitor and display adapter capable of 24-bit color
Internet connection for license registration
MS-Mouse compliant pointing device
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6.0 or later
System Recommendations:
Intel Core® 2 Duo 2.40 GHz, or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
Windows XP Professional (SP2 or later)
4 GB RAM
5 GB free disk space
Dedicated video card with hardware support for OpenGL® spec 1.3 or later
Two-button mouse with scroll wheel

How these are my current computers hardware, taken from "Everst Home Edition" If you need any more information I will try and get it.

Windows XP Pro SP2
Motherboard-Unknown. Chipset- ATI Radeon Xpress 200, AMD Hammer
AMD Athlon 64, 2000 MHz (10 x 200) 3200+
System Memory 960 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 (RS480) Video Adapter

I don't think there is anything else that you will need. One of the things I'm not sure if it's infront of me or if I have to open up my computer is how many RAM "slots?" I have. Also if there is a certain kind of PCI I thought I read that there is PCI-Express and PCIe 2.0. My guess is it would be safe to add another gig of Ram and get a videocard. I'm thinking about spending around 200 but if I should I will save up for more. I'm really not too sure what I'm doing here. I realize that if I have to update the computer I will need an anti-static wristband and I'm pretty familiar with RAM and PCI once the computer is opened up, I'm not a complete noobie, just partial.

Thank you for any help.

 

[worshipme]

You need to make sure that you actually have a PCI-ExpressX16 slot. It looks like this:
http://www.viaarena.com/images/articles/pcie%20002.jpg
The black one. To run that, the thing you need most is a video card. But what is your budget?
Locate the RAM sticks on your motherboard, how many sticks are there? And as you can see what the slots look like, how many are free? (They are all next to each other, not on different places on the mobo)