Upgrading an Oldie

[Goodonebales]

Hey guys,
My mom has an old Dell Dimension 4300S, and it runs like a snail. I wanted to upgrade a few parts just to get some more speed out of this puppy. What would you guys recommend? Right now, it has a 1.6 GHz P4, and I believe it's Socket 845....something I hadn't even heard of until I found a site with the specs.
Also, kind of a noobish question, but let's say I got her a whole new mobo and processor, but tried to keep the same HD. Would I be able to just reconfigure everything, but then have it boot and run exactly like it had before? I know my mom, and she's not going to want anything to look at all different. Thanks, guys!
-Scott

 

[The Zune Guy]

Yeah, you could upgrade the motherboard and processor alright, but you will need to also buy some new DDR2 or 3 (depending on your choice of board) RAM and possibly a graphics card as being a Dell, it will probably only have intergrated or an AGP, neither of which will work.

The hard drive can be brought across as most motherboards still have an IDE port but you'll have a lot of trouble with drivers from the old system I'd say. Perhaps take screenshots of the layout of the desktop etc. and backup the documents, then write a list of every installed program and reinstall XP followed by the programs from CDs or the internet where needed ...maybe there's an easier way

From what you say a Core 2 Duo e2180 or e4500 should do