Not the way you think, no. You'd have to replace your motherboard & CPU, which is a bit annoying. However, it's not as expensive as you might think, either, considering you could sell your old CPU and motherboard on Ebay. Think of it as a sort of rebate for buying the upgrade. You'd be able to keep everything else, though, including the case, PSU, RAM, hard disk, DVD/CD drive, etc.
Also, I'm not quite as saavy as that. Here's a funny story about my last upgrade...
I had an HP Pavilion a734n with the following specs:
Athlon XP 2400+
proprietary mATX socket A motherboard w/ integrated video/LAN/audio
1GB RAM (1x512MB PC2100 & 1x512MB PC3200)
64 MB nVidia GeForce4 MX 420 graphics card w/RCA-out
80 GB PATA hard disk
60 GB PATA hard disk
3.5" proprietary floppy
DVD burner
CD-RW
56K modem
PCI firewire
proprietary mATX case
200W no-name PSU
Windows XP Home (proprietary--only works with motherboard)
So I sold off the case, motherboard, CPU, 512MB RAM, 80GB hdd, 3.5" floppy, firewire, and WinXP. I used the earnings to buy an Epox EP-8KDA3J, 80GB Seagate 7200.7 and Sempron 64 2800+. I put this together with an old ATX case and floppy drive I had left over from a long time ago, and also the 512MB PC3200, DVD burner, CD burner, 56K modem, 200W PSU and an old copy of WinXP I wasn't using. Between the money I spent and the money I got back, I had a net loss of about $35. Not bad, huh? I proceeded to put all these parts together.
In my preliminary setup, which did not include all connections, everything worked fine. I overclocked my CPU to 2.4 GHz without trouble. I was very happy. Then I went back and finalized all my connections. I flipped on the switch, and--nothing! The PSU gave me a red light, and no matter what I unplugged, it would not give in. I figured I had fried the PSU. D'oh! I had some ideas about jumpers and other connections, but I was too upset and impatient. I needed a PSU, and I needed it now!
Where does one find a PSU in short notice? CompUSA. You'll notice, however, that CompUSA's prices are between 150-200% what they should be. But I needed my PC, now. So I buckled down.
The cheapest PSU at CompUSA which was more powerful than my own cost $50 + tax, but it was a no-name generic. Should I pay $55 for what I can buy online for $20? So, I looked at the next step up, an Antec 350W for $70 + tax. Normally, that unit would cost about $50 online. Something comparable from FSP would have cost $37. But I had access to neither. I must either buy a no-name for $55 or an Antec for $75. I chose the Antec.
And so I brought it home, plugged it in, and--no boot! After panicking some more, I figured out that I had plugged in the front USB ports into the wrong spot on the Epox board, causing the system to freeze. Plugging them in correctly fixed this problem. It turned out I never needed a PSU at all!
I was able to get $10 for the 200W unit, thankfully. Even so, what should have been a $35 upgrade ended up costing $100, all because of my impatient, idiotic mistake.
but if you go with the cheap system the Sempron 2800+ will be good even at stock speed, so you wouldn't need to try overclocking right away.
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