Hewlett Packard Pavilion Upgrade?

Hi,
My son would like to upgrade his Hewlett Packard Pavilion 04, to something a bit better and faster. He plys occasional games but uses his computer mainly for music and general use.
The specs of his current computer are:-

1.70ghz Intel Pentium 4
512 megabytes RAM
120Gb hard drive, (to stay)
HP motherboard. (HP P/N, bus clock 400 megahertz)
BIOS Pheonix Technologies LTD V1313305.

I have no idea about HP products, for instance , can you change the motherboard, or will only HP fit?

Any advice will be gratefully recieved!
TIA.
Harry.

 

that looks like a pretty decent box for what he's doing.. what does he want to upgrade?

 

You should be able to change the Motherboard to something else. I used to have a Pavillion that I upgraded with a new ASUS motherboard. You just have to get the same form factor. Most HP's come with a mini-ATX Motherboard, you will just have to get the same size and make sure it will fit into the same casing.

If not, a new computer case is not very expensinve and you can use the parts from your current HP to fill it up i.e. hard drive, CD drive, RAM, etc.

Also, check HP's website to see if thata system is upgradeable, you may not have to change the mobo at all.

 

HP, at least in the machine I just sold, used an ASUS A7N8X-x board. Not too bad for an OEM.

 

Thanks for the advice. Next time I go to see him I will have a look at the board and find out more.

@ Kodo,
I think its OK too , but I have an Amd 2600, and he just hates being upstaged by his old man! j/k, But I do thinkwith all that HD space and the amount of music files he has and uses,an increase in memory would be an advantage.