looking to upgrade...

[brandontaz2k2]

ok i have a really old computer.. looking to upgrade because i want to be able to record games/edit things..
here are my specs:
ASUS P4P 800 Deluxe motherboard
intel 845 chipset
intel pentium 4 3.0ghz
ati radeon x800 all in wonder
2gigs of ram
creative soundblaster audigy 2 sound card
not sure what the psu was, i think 500 or 600

my price range is 200-400 USD

 

[-RockMan-]

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X3 425 Rana 2.7GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
76.99 with free shipping

Newegg.com - MSI 785GTM-E45 AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
49.99
with free shipping plus ati hd radeon 4200

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5S-2GBNT - Desktop Memory
43.99: will help when recording game footage from tv tuner device

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

54.99 with free shipping

Newegg.com - XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W 500W ATX SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Power Supply - Power Supplies
51.00 total s/h factored in.


All this totaled would be 276.96

You still have room for a monitor and windows 7 or a case if you like.
I'll leave those 3 options up to you if you want to get either one and somebody here can further assist you.

Merry christmas.

 

[brandontaz2k2]

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X3 425 Rana 2.7GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
76.99 with free shipping

Newegg.com - MSI 785GTM-E45 AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
49.99
with free shipping plus ati hd radeon 4200

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5S-2GBNT - Desktop Memory
43.99: will help when recording game footage from tv tuner device

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

54.99 with free shipping

Newegg.com - XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W 500W ATX SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Power Supply - Power Supplies
51.00 total s/h factored in.


All this totaled would be 276.96

You still have room for a monitor and windows 7 or a case if you like.
I'll leave those 3 options up to you if you want to get either one and somebody here can further assist you.

Merry christmas.

thank you for your help, and merry christmas to you too
my other questions are :
1. i already have a harddrive :
Barracuda 7200.10 Ultra ATA/100 250-GB Hard Drive
will that work in this motherboard?
2. i already have a power supply
will it work in this computer if i upgrade all of the things you specified
3. if i wanted to upgrade my graphics card later could i be able to do that?
4. and will all these things work in the computer??
thanks again

 

[Trotter]

Here is a totally different tack on the situation.

Antec Two Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
&
Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W Continuous Power ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
$80

Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X4 620 Propus 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
$99 w/free shipping

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards
$80 w/$10 MIR card

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9S-2GBNT - Desktop Memory
$45

Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Writer - Bulk - LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners
$32

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100295HDMI Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards
$65

Total = $401 plus shipping

This setup would use your current hard drive. Unless your PSU is a good brand and a decent wattage I would not recommend reusing it. I included a SATA DVD burner as the motherboard only has a single PATA connection. The motherboard does not have onboard graphics, so I put in a 4670 (a decent lower end card). The single stick of 2GB DDR3 is a good starting point and can be added to in the future. I went with the Athlon II X4 620 for the simple reason that it is not much more than the X3 and is a quad (future-proofing).

This build does not include an OS. You would have to provide that yourself.

 

[-RockMan-]

1.takeout the hdd off of my list if you don't need it.
2.what kind of PSU do you have and how many watts ? I recommend between 400-500 watts for your build to power everything on and to be on the safe side.
If you have a 400 watt PSU and hasn't given you any problems that will do for now.
3.Of course you can, that mobo will take pci-express 16 1.0 or 2.0 graphics cards check the mobo specs on newegg.com to be sure.
4.As sure as I am running this new phenom x3 on my system everthing should go smoothly, I checked that boards ratings so you shouldn't get a DOA, but there is that chance that something might not function right away.

Half of the people here that have gotten advice and built their own pc's have some good success stories other times not.
Really you just have to be willing to take a chance and besides that you should have a one year warranties from the manufacturers just in case you need something repaired. don't forget that tip!