Can I upgrade this old PC?

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Daedulas

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I bought a refurbished HP compaq d530 CMT desktop computer to play around with and work on. It has a 40gig hard drive, 1g memory (I think two 512mb sticks) and an Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz processor. Needless to say these are pretty low specs. I think the CPU is just a single core (not for sure), so I was thinking of replacing it with this:

Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

Do you know if I will be able to drop this in on the stock motherboard or will I have to buy an aftermarket motherboard? Is there one you would recommend? I think my stock pin configuration on the CPU is 478.


Also, it has a Intel 82865G Video Graphics Card. I was thinking of replacing that with this:

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100253HDMI Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Low Profile Ready Video Card

Sound good?

Last but not least, If i purchase all of the above, I am going to buy two 2gig DDR3 RAM sticks. Would there be a problem at all with this?

Your help is much appreciated,

Thanks,
Daedulas
 
For reference: Hewlett Packard Compaq d530 CMT (PB600A) PC Desktop - Product details and features - DealTime

Do you know if I will be able to drop this in on the stock motherboard or will I have to buy an aftermarket motherboard? Is there one you would recommend? I think my stock pin configuration on the CPU is 478.
You definitely won't be able to use that new CPU - for starters it's a different company, meaning it will be a different socket. 'AMD' and 'Intel' CPUs aren't interchangeable.
If you want to use that CPU, you'll need to buy a new motherboard with the right socket.

This would be your only option by the way; there are no CPUs made nowadays that have the same socket as the Pentium 4s, so you won't be able to just upgrade the CPU.

Also, it has a Intel 82865G Video Graphics Card. I was thinking of replacing that with this:
Again, you probably won't be able to get a new card - your current motherboard has an AGP slot for video cards - the one you selected needs a PCI-E slot; as all cards from the past 4+ years do. So again, if you want to get a new video card, you'll need to upgrade the motherboard.

Last but not least, If i purchase all of the above, I am going to buy two 2gig DDR3 RAM sticks.
I think you can guess what I'm going to say here :p Any new RAM won't fit in your current motherboard. DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 are all different 'slots', with different pin configurations. Meaning that to use DDR3, you'll need a motherboard with DDR3 slots.

We can help you pick and choose new parts if you want; but let me warn you that upgrading a machine as old as this generally means upgrading pretty much every part, since a new motherboard might not be compatible with older parts; for example the power supply in the old machine might not be powerful enough, as is often the case, or not have some new, now-required power plugs.

Hope this helps you ;)
 
You'll also have to replace the power supply because the motherboard for that new cpu will require a 24 pin power connector and more power than it's capable of producing.

The rest of the hardware in your case (which might not work) are drives which should be replaced every 2-3 years (Max.) just to insure reliable data storage.

And finally, you'll need a new copy of Windows 7 so your new hardware will function properly in the upcoming years as Windows XP is nearing it's End of Support date.

How much money can you budget for this new PC?
 
Wow! Thanks for all your help! So it definitely sounds like I need a lot of new parts. I have no set budget, but it would be nice if I could spend less than $500. So...I need a new power supply (500 watt?), a motherboard, and then my RAM, CPU and then my video/graphics card. What about cooling? Do you think I need a new fan? Could I just use the stock one? Do I need a new sound card or do most boards have them built in?

I can live with 40gigs of hard drive space.

Here are the parts I was thinking about getting:

CPU:
AMD Phenom II X4 955

Motherboard:
This

or

cheaper option

Graphics card:
How's this?

Well gosh I might as well just get a new case that comes with a power supply. It's only a bit more than the power supply itself.

Thoughts?

Thanks so much
 
well, you're pretty much looking at a whole rebuild. you could re-use your hdd since you can live w/ 40gb and you could also re-use your optical drive.

to help you pick some new parts though, we need to know what you plan on using your pc for.
 
hey Trotter, i think you either forgot to list something else in your build or you had a slight miscalculation in your total somewhere, because those parts you listed would total around $590.

@ Daedulas, no that mobo would not work. that mobo is for intel's socket 1156 cpus, a compatible mobo for Trotter's build would require an amd socket am3 mobo.

heres another build you could look at though, totals $525 w/ free shipping and a possible $60 back in rebates.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.392561
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

if that price is too high for you, you could downgrade the cpu, downgrade the gfx card, and/or get less ram.
 
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