He won't be able to use his old PS, or case.

Any new comp with be an ATX style mobo. And his PS won't even me remotely compatible. Hell, he may even need an ew keyboard depending on the connector.

But yea, you're best bet is just replace that comp. It'* not worth putting any money into.

macho, try newegg.com for parts. The guys that learn computers rarely buy Brand Names. They build their own. Better components for same price. Win 98 sucks.
Amd 2400 CPU for $92, Epox 8Rda+ motherboard for $90, 512mb pc3500 about $80, Chieftec alum case w/ 450w Power Supply ($90), Get the idea?

i think Ill end up getting a new system. My family is just sick and tired of getting errors everywhere. Thanks for all the good advice!

You got 2 major choices:
1.) Stability + cooler temps = Intel
2.) Cheaper (cost) + heat = AMD

Ill probably go with an Intel, thats what all of our other computers run...

If you guys have any suggestions for components (what works great, what doesnt, etc.) feel free to add them in. Im probably going to go with a basic sound/video card, Im not a heavy computer gamer (got a PS2 for that ).

Not an ECS board. :?

AMD does run hot, but all you need is a quality cooler.

You never realize how many people are "Computer Geeks" until you start talking about it. I am definately a computer geek.

Newegg.com is definagtely a good place to go. I would also check out pricewatch.com, since it searches a bunch of different sites, it can usually give you a good price, but sometimes it is a PITA to figure out how you actually buy the part from the people so I usually just go to newegg.com.

A quality board is always the best idea. I usually buy some cheap part for my computers when I build them, but it is never the motherboard. I am right now running a ASUS motherboard. Good quality, and good support, and I have never had a failure, my last 3 boards were ASUS and I liked them all. My computer is kinda old right now, cause I built it right when P4'* came out, so it isn't the fastest thing out there, but it ain't slow either, dual 1.4 PIII'* overclocked to 1627 a piece ain't too bad. I do mostly video editing so that kinda sets me up for decent gaming. I have 768mb of 1066mhz RD-RAM. 128mb ATI Radeon 8500 All-in-wonder. 120gb Western digital 7200rpm 8mb cache hard drive, and a 40gb 5400rpm 2 mb cache backup drive. I have some cheap 5.1 channel sound card (as I said, I always buy something cheap) but it sounds pretty good, and it works well enough for me, nobody else can tell it ain't a soundblaster so why should i tell 'em. I have 3 cd writers and a dvd drive. I have a Teac 8X4X32X CD-RW, a Sony 32X12X40X CD-RW, a offbrand 52X24X52X CD-RW, and a 16X40X Pioneer DVD-ROM drive. I also have a Zip 100, and a floppy drive (obviously). My case has a 450 watt power supply, anything less doesn't support everything I have, I think I need thicker wires though, I have melted 5 different wires now, and caught 1 wire on fire before (luckily I was playing a game when it caught on fire, and I could see the wire through the window so i could put it out withough burning down the house), thicker wires would be nice. Does anybody know where I can get them? I have a network card also, because I have to use the connection on the family computer (which is a POS) and I don't want to have to deal that slow POS so I just networked. Since I upgrade every once in a while, my computer isn't really outdated. I just have to do enough upgrading that I can run all the software I need, and have a faster PC than my PC geek friends. I also have a window and neons and all the other goodies, but after a little more than a year of having a window it kinda gets old, besides the fact that I have to unplug my fans and neons at night so I can sleep because they are really bright. I have some of those kickass round wires too, but they look a lot better in pictures than they really are, when I got mine in the mail, I was PISSED. They are crappy. All they are is regular wire rolled into a circle with a cover over it, and the wires come out of the ends, and I just don't like them, but they look better than the regular wires.

I usually go with Intel (what am I saying usually, all my computers are Intel) because I like stability and coldness. Your computer will perform better if it is colder. I have 28 fans, and guess what, my computer is cold. My graphics card is cold, my CPU'* even though overclocked run a cool 97 degrees when not being used and 135 while under full load.

My suggestion for you is to get a new computer. That computer is old, don't mess with it. Depending on the board you may be able to upgrade to like a 1 ghz but that is still slow. You definately need a bigger HD, although you have plenty of ram for the normal user. Your OS needs to be upgraded too. 98 is old. 2000 Pro or XP is the only way to go. Although I hate to say this, you may be able to get a better deal buying a computer from Dell, then building it yourself. I have gone to Dell.com and looked at a system before, and then gone to newegg.com and made that same system and it cost more to do it myself and I wouldn't get software or a warranty and support. My suggestion would be to go to dell.com and see what kind of deals they have, because they might have a better deal than you think.

wow, thank you to all for the advice. What do you guys think is the lowest processor speed that I could go with, and have the computer still be usable in 3-4 years? I jsut might check out Dell, and I will probably compare alot before we get anything.

For normal use, I would say nothing less than 1.5 Ghz, if you want it for many years. But that still will be outdated very soon.