Upgrading/Questioning parts on my PC

Okay, to start things off, the desktop/PC in question is an HP a6203w Pavilion desktop I purchased from bestbuy a few years ago. The upgraded parts I have done to it, is 4 gigs of PC@ 5300 (667) DDR2 RAM, an ATI Radeon XFX 5670 512MB Video card, with a Corsair 430CX PSU unit.

The only thing left is the motherboard/processor, which are still the stock ones that came on this PC.It has an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+ 2.3ghz proc upgradable to the 5600+ 2.8ghz processor, but I was wondering what I could do for the motherboard and such.

It is a normal/average sized case, and I have both the motherboard and case dimensions, and it is a micro-ATX motherboard with on-board network and sound.

I would like to get a better processor and a motherboard that supports future proofing and such.

Thanks.

 

If it is of any importance, my budget is around 180 to 220, more if needed, but that is baseline.

 

Will the PC take a standard motherboard? I'd check over the front panel connectors to see if they'll fit a normal board, and unscrew the board from the case and look behind it, to see if it has the same screw setup that normal motherboards take.

 

I don't know what you mean by normal. According to what I looked up on the MoBo Specs, it is a micro-ATX. Wouldn't any other micro-ATX fit? Along the same size dimensions and such?

 

MicroATX boards are all the same size, but sometimes prebuilt PC manufacturers use different screw methods, with/without standoffs, that can cause issues with non-standard boards. There's also the difficulty with the front panel connectors being wired differently.

 

Ah,

What all would I have to do? I was looking at this,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128394

That, combined with PSU/Video card, and the processor I plan to get, will more than satisfy my gaming needs.

 

Buy a proper case and transplant everything into it instead of reusing the pavillion.

 

that would be the easiest way...or just r3dn3ck it with excessive use of dremmel. i know my pavillion i took apart some years ago had a strange standoff setup, (standoffs were bent metal pieces wielded to the case) bit of dremmeling and problem solved. so see if it's possible to rig or breakdown and buy the new case, they can be cheap if you're on a tight budget. or extravgent if u don't care about money and every where inbetween.