Looking to upgrade mobo/cpu

[hyrum]

I bought this HP system and have installed a Soundblaster card, a Radeon HD4650, and more RAM (3GB total in the system) but I am looking at upgrading the processor as it's nearing three years old now.

I am not well versed in hardware but it appears I can't do much upgrading at all to the CPU on this motherboard. Maybe a very little at most. So I am wondering if perhaps someone might be able to suggest something for me that fits in the case and gives me a decent dual core or even a cheaper quad core that isn't garbage and a motherboard for it.

I buy most of my stuff from http://www.canadacomputers.com as I live in Canada (newegg.ca is an option as well), and I don't have a budget number in mind but not looking to break the bank. Between 200-500?

My computer specifications: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr...&jumpid=reg_R1002_CAEN

Motherboard: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr...name=c00748726&dlc=en#

 

[Blain]

Why worry about a MB replacement if cash is tight?
Just slap in an E5300-E5400 or maybe even an E6300 (Wolfdale), since your MB supports a 1066 FSB.

 

[hyrum]

Well, I don't know, which is why I ask here. I don't play high end games, mostly MMOs and the rest of my computer time is spent coding. The processor currently in it is an E6300 1.86GHz.

 

[zCypher]

Hello hyrum,

How much are you willing to spend if you do change the motherboard? Will you consider either AMD or Intel alike? I urge you to comparison shop and don't just use canadacomputers.com (although they're often very good). Check out www.shopbot.ca, pricebat.ca, pricecanada.com to name a few useful sites. NCIX has a pricematch thing -> if you can find a better price elsewhere they can usually match it, you just type in the new price and the URL to back it up. Also they have $6.99 shipping too.

I'm pretty new to the AMD stuff at the moment but here is what I was able to find with a quick search:

Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P for $92.89 - http://www.cuttingedgecomputers.ca/shopexd.asp?id=4124, or
Asus M4A78T-E $128.99 - http://www.canadacomputers.com...pid=021508&cid=MBD.486

Processor:
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz/7MB for $110.52 - http://www.directcanada.com/pr...FGIBOX&manufacture=AMD

RAM:
2GB Corsair DDR3-1333 for $40.22 - http://www.directcanada.com/pr...D3&manufacture=CORSAIR

I pricematched it at NCIX with 2x2GB and it comes to a total of:

Before pricematch: $364
After pricematch: $283 which comes to 318.35 with taxes and shipping (4gb ram with the gigabyte mobo and phenomII)

If you're sticking with Intel, I found the following:

Motherboard (these ones all support DDR3):
ASRock P43TWINS1600 - $78.07
Asus P5P43TD Pro - $109.08
Gigabyte P45T-UD3LR - $117.77

Processor:
Intel E8400 3GHz/6M/1333 $184.79

Pricematched at NCIX is 401.73 before and 343.30 after, 381.60 tax/shipping included (priced with the asrock though)