[zgmorris]

I'm very new to this whole computer building thing. The most i've done is added a few things into my PCI ports and a couple sticks of ram.
I have an old computer running off 512 MB RAM, a 1.8 GHZ pentium 4, Radeon 9200 series, and xp home edition.
Right now i'm using my computer with some music recording programs and a midi controller and my computer is too slow for it to work at all. I tried adding ddr2 ram but they don't fit in the slots.
So do i just need to get a new mother board that will fit my processor and ddr2 ram or a new motherboard and a new processor? How will i know if a processor will fit into a motherboard or not?

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How will i know if a processor will fit into a motherboard or not?

There are what are called Socket types. For example all of THESE processors fit into socket ''AM2'' and all of THESE motherboards will support all of those processors.

I would recommend updating your processor to a dual core processor. And 1 GB of Ram would probably help a lot. And if DDR2 Ram didn't fit into your old motherboard then you will need to purchase a motherboard that says it supports DDR2 Ram.

[Cold Titanium]

How will i know if a processor will fit into a motherboard or not?

There are what are called Socket types. For example all of THESE processors fit into socket ''AM2'' and all of THESE motherboards will support all of those processors.

I would recommend updating your processor to a dual core processor. And 1 GB of Ram would probably help a lot. And if DDR2 Ram didn't fit into your old motherboard then you will need to purchase a motherboard that says it supports DDR2 Ram.

[SRX660]

You cannot buy a new motherboard that will use the old 1.8 processor and new memory. You would be much better off buying a MB/cpu combo kit that will fit in your case. Here are some examples.

a nice cheap combo that can be upgraded even more.

http://www.tigerdire...e...&CatId=1599

a high end combo.

http://www.tigerdire...BM-680ILT-Q6600

Both of these will require you to buy DDR2 memory and a graphics card. Personally, i would rather have a C2D processor than the Pentium D as the Core 2 Duo is much faster.

The other alternative is to buy a newer factory computer and sell the old computer to recoup some of the cost of a new computer.

SRX660

[Cold Titanium]

Isn't NewEgg a better place to shop than TigerDirect? They seem to be cheaper and faster on their shipping too.

EDIT: mispelled word

Edited by Krusha, 03 January 2008 - 02:54 PM.

[SRX660]

Unfortunately, NewEgg no longer has the best deals. Their selection of motherboard/cpu combos leaves a lot to be desired.

http://www.newegg.co.....ard/CPU Combo

That is the reason i picked Tiger Direct. They seem to have a better selection that is more in-line with custom builders. I guess NewEgg has to compete and they would rather have a limited selection than lower their prices on the higher end hardware.

SRX660

[Cold Titanium]

Hmm.. Ok thanks!
I just did a little browsing on NewEgg and noticed they are kinda limited on their selections.