Small computer upgrade

[Rocky90]

Hello, I have an old computer I got at the beginning of high school. Its a Pentium 4. I have a little money to upgrade, I think I want to get a motherboard and processor. But my first main question, the computer I have right now is alienware, so the windows I have came pre installed. Do I need to reformat my hard drive before adding new hardware? Or could I simply just install the new stuff along with their drivers and be good to go.

 

[QUACK]

What are you going to be using your PC for? What specs does your current PC have?
And yes, you will have to re-install windows after you upgrade your motherboard and processor.

 

[Rocky90]

Gaming, its a p4 3.2. 2 gigs of some ddr pc3200 ram. 7950gt (256mb). I wanted to get a cpu, motherboard, and maybe aftermarket cooler for like $300 or under.

 

[Pinscher]

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

you will see a very nice improvement with these

oh I just noticed you will need DDR2 ram too.

pick up these too

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

that might go slightly over your budget but it will make a massive improvement to that system

this works out to 299.97 without tax and shipping lol

 

[1337_JohnN]

May be a 4830, if you can fit in $100 for a GPU, and instead of a DS3L, get a UD3P, more stable, and less problems. If you can't afford a E8400, get an e5200. Maybe some G skill PI blacks 800 MHz too.

 

[saltynay]

By getting a E5200 you can magically get $100 for the graphics card 4830 which will be a great improvement when gaming.