I'm wondering about hardware upgrades

[Dragonxtamer596]

Thanks for all your help guys, One more question do I have to install a new OS if I get a new motherboard? Or can I install my windows vista on it again? Or is the OS installed somewhere else?

[Brock lessner]

If you change the mobo you need to install windows again.

[DaTankAC]

Windows does not tolerate that much of a hardware change all at once. Better get your OS disc handy to reinstall. Or get a good Linux distro.

[Dragonxtamer596]

Windows does not tolerate that much of a hardware change all at once. Better get your OS disc handy to reinstall. Or get a good Linux distro.

Can I install my windows vista OS on it after the change or does the motherboard come with the software disc.

[DaTankAC]

Change hardware out. Then reinstall the OS. Your motherboard box should come with your new ethernet and chipset drivers for after the reinstall.

[Zaeo]

Well, When building a computer, there are 4 things you need to ask yourself:

How much do you use a computer?

What do you use your computer for mostly?

What do you plan to use your computer for in the future?

What is your budget?

After these things are asked, I could easily recommend a series of parts.

Are you building it yourself? Or taking it to best buy/local electronics and cpu hobby shop?

For a Midrange pc capable of running pcsx2 at Full speed 98% of the time, and If you can afford intel, Is the I5 Haswell 4670k. It is ~ $80-150 more than the AMD varient after your motherboard is chosen, but as mentioned, is faster with emulation due to per core performance being slightly better.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819116899

Intel I7 is really only for those that need multi-threading, such as video rendering and graphics design. For gaming and emulation, it is a waste of money. LGA 2011 is also for a limited audience, and not worth $500-1000 for JUST the cpu, not to mention $300 for the mobo.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819113352

Latest and greatest from AMD, most expensive chip they have out atm. The only reason I link this one as being recommended is because regardless, you are going to spend LESS for the AMD system than the Intel linked above.

After that, A motherboard is going to be needed.

For this, it comes down to features that YOU want.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813157262

I recommend ASROCK as they load the crap out of their boards with features, Some you may never use, but it is there if you do want to use them. This motherboard may be too big for your case, however. I do not know what kind of case you have.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813131979

The intel Varient. there are cheaper boards, but I recommend this one because of its reliability. + ASUS has a great Support team in comparison to MSI/ASROCK.

Ram is pick your favorite looking 1600 cl9-cl8 ram set that isn't elite group. I recommend 8 gigs, but anything works.

Power supply, is dependant on your video card. 500 watts will handle a single gpu pc JUUUST fine, assuming its a quality psu. http://www.jonnyguru.com/ with a performance of at least 9.0 Is my cutoff personally, but anything above 8 is good. My PSU is no longer being sold though Still works like a charm though!

your clear on case, and peripherals unless your case is too small to fit an ATX board in it. That again is personal preference. Pick what looks good to you.

And to top it off, the video card....

I recommend at least a NVIDIA GTX 660ti or AMD R9 270X.

All in all, the cost of this pc will be ~ $900. If you can't afford that right away, consider holding off on the video card and salvaging your old one for the time being*assuming its PCI-E*. Sadly, your pc is using DDR2, so you need to get the ram as well :/

Hope it helps some!