What parts should i buy?

[PCgamerX]

i am typing this on a friend's computer. my computer at home is slowly dying. nothing is working on it, the internet is down, and i can basically look at the desktop. i think it will be completely dead in less than a week. so that being said, i would like to put a few new parts in it. i was thinking i could save the PSU, the case, and my DVD drive, since it is a very good one. now, what should i buy for a Mobo, HD, CPU, and Ram? i would like to go Intel, and Dual Core if possible. i would need about a 120 gb HD as well. and is there any way i could keep this under $400?

[minsonngo]

What is your current system specifications (brand and model of your major components)?

Some of your old components like your PSU may not be able to handle the new components you are looking to upgrade to.

[PCgamerX]

its an ACER computer. its stock ACER components, if that answers your question. the whole computer is about 2-3 years old. if i can not use the PSu, what is a good (cheap) one to buy? i definately want to save the case, there is really nothing wrong with it.

[minsonngo]

What model is the ACER?

[PCgamerX]

on the case it says ACER Power S Series. do you think it is possible to rebuild it for $400 or less?

[Cricket]

If you want to go Dual Core you're looking at getting a new motherboard, CPU, RAM, video card (unless you go with on-board video), power supply (unless the one you have now isn't proprietary and already has a 24 pin motherboard connector along with the 4 pin 12v motherboard power connector) and case (you really don't want to re-use the ACER because it may not meet the thermal requirements of a Dual Core processor and it might use proprietary mounting and the front panel connections might use a 1 piece connector) and a 120GB hard drive. Can this be done for only $400? I kind of doubt it unless you get real cheap low quality parts (which you really shouldn't do).

If you go with older technology (single core processor) you might be able to squeeze by with a Celeron based system but that might not be what you're looking for.

From your user name I'm guessing you're a gamer and would like a computer that will play games smoothly. If that's what you're looking to put together, a $400 budget is just too small.

Cricket

[glc]

Don't even try to upgrade that proprietary computer. It will be one compatibility headache after another.

Cricket is right, your budget is too low for building a gaming computer.

[jimmyrules712]

If you don't plan on playing games (and don't need a good video card)it can be almost done, I just threw together this computer on newegg. Some of you need to critique the components, as I'm not a budget Intel expert, but it should work.

Case - $25: A Cheap ATX Case that Should do the job. Make sure you throw away the Power supply it comes with, its trash and will more likely damage your PC than power it.

Power Supply - $37 FSP 400W

Motherboard: $55 : Intel board with onboard video

CPU: $96 - PD 805 Dual Core

RAM: $46 - 512MB DDR400

Hard Drive: $55 - Samsung Spinpoint 160GB with 16mb cache

Windows XP Home : $90

Total after shipping: $435 approx - you can't really get any cheaper then that, without losing A LOT of performance and/or reliability

Not sure If I selected the best RAM and Motherboard and I did not include a video card, because you didn't mention it. If you want to be able to play high quality games then you need an extra $75 minimum for a decent video card. If you don't plan on gaming, the onboard video will work fine.

The Case is a cheap lower end component, but that won't affect computer performance. The motherboard and CPU are budget, but should still work great and be faster than older technology. The RAM and Hard Drive should be pretty standard, didn't really go cheap there, and the Power Supply should be fine for that PC, I'm using the same one and I'm running more components.