An upgrade for a very old computer

[Idioteque]

My brother's looking to upgrade his computer. The computer in question is very old, and hasn't been upgraded besides the added ram (256mb sdram) he put into it a while ago, and a NVidia GeForce2 MX/MX400 video card that I gave him a long time ago.

At first, he was going to buy a new computer, but now he's looking at upgrading, and considering if it's worth it to upgrade rather than buy completely new. He doesn't have an exact budget, but he's not looking to play extravagant games like crysis, obviously. He's just tired of the lag, the slow speed overall of his computer, and he's finally decided to act.

I googled online to find his motherboard, and found this.

HP Brio BA410 Product Information

This looks exactly like his computer. So use that for a guide on his specs. Note that his ram is now 64mb plus the 256mb stick he put in, and he has the video card mentioned above.

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[Redmo0n]

Do you live in America?

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

If so i would recommend buying a whole new computer but making it yourself since you can make a mid ranged one for under $500 (Especially if you have a keyboard,mouse,monitor and OS already. Preferably Windows XP or Vista)

 

[Raze664]

Buy a new computer, it would cost more to get the ancient parts to upgrade that. :happy:

 

[Andyf]

Agreed: you'd certainly need a new motherboard before any worthwhile upgrades can be made.

The RAM you have wouldn't be worth reusing, nor the CPU, nor the graphics cards (I used to have one of those! It was great!). Nor the PSU for that matter (PSUs on pre-build systems are rubbish and any upgrade will increase the requirements. You wouldn't be able to transfer the OS, I would have thought.

The only possibly reusable things are:
-case (maybe)
-mouse & keyboard
-monitor
-floppy
-CD drive (although you could get a DVD/RW for $30 ish.

So yeah, basically its worth building from scratch I'm afraid.

 

[Idioteque]

Thanks for the feedback. Most of this I've known and/or said to him, but with more people's opinion on the matter, he should see the most affordable solution.

Do you live in America?

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

If so i would recommend buying a whole new computer but making it yourself since you can make a mid ranged one for under $500 (Especially if you have a keyboard,mouse,monitor and OS already. Preferably Windows XP or Vista)

Yes, we live in America. I've told him about Newegg before.

 

[Twizted_3kgt]

Yeah there's no point in upgrading that relic. You need new stuff. You could get a significantly better build for around $350.

Case in point, something I just put together...not bad at all, actually better than what i'm gaming on now and for another $70 he could go SLi and keep up with todays games pretty well.

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersio...shListNumber=7957308&WishListTitle='El+Cheapo