does a motherboard upgrade make sense ?

[imported_gillian]

I have an HP Pavilion 771n (tweaked) and devoted to audio recording. I would like to upgrade/improve it's capability; can it be easily done and cost efficient, (with directly replaceable components) and would it be effective; or should I buy a purpose built computer (which seems to have similar specs.)

I'm not a fluent tech person, this is what I have now.

Motherboard: ASUS P4S-LA
Processor Family: Pentium 4 Williamette, Northwood
FSB: 400
Chipset: SiS650
Processor socket type: MPGA478
RAM: 2 GB DDR
PC2100 / PC 1600

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Gillian, see my answer to your more general question about upgrading. I'll look up something I wrote earlier about more specific upgrades when I get a little time, and edit in a link, or at least a URL (OK, I'm back).

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=27&threadid=1649316

 

[tcsenter]

Your HP motherboard is standard mATX (Micro-ATX) form factor, any mATX motherboard should fit in your case. Does upgrading make sense? It might for me, but I can't answer if it does for you.

If you want to upgrade the motherboard and use your existing components, the ECS 661FX-M has plenty of features for the money and uses the SIS 661FX/964L chipset, hugely improved over the 650/961. Supports P4 up to 3.4E and 3.4EE, and all Celeron D models. AGP 8x, USB2.0, ATA/133, SATA + RAID, DDR400. For $45.00 shipped...what's not to like (besides the low-end Realtek audio and integrated video)?

If you want to get away from SIS, the ASRock P4VM8 has all the same features and CPU support, but uses the VIA PM800/VT8237 chipset. EWiz.com has the P4VM8 for $44.00 shipped.

Or if you prefer an Intel chipset, the PC CHIPS M981G V5.0 uses the Intel 865GV/ICH5, has the same features and CPU support as the others, but adds support for Dual Channel DDR. $51.50 shipped @ Chiefvalue.com