I want to upgrade my Compaq Presario model 5712 so that it runs faster and runs games better. Games that I have installed would not run at all (maybe video card or driver problems?). It has a Quantun Bigfoot TS10.0A Hard Drive (10005 MB capacity), an Intel (R) 810 Chipset Graphics Driver PV1.1, ESS Solo-1 PCI Audio Driver, 466Mhz Celeron processor, and 63MB RAM. I don't know much about computers, but is there anything I can do to accomplish this update?

first up how much money do you have to spend? if you have about $500 Australian you could get a great little system which is what i did. if you don't have the money try and sell your crap heap and check out these places for some great deals. www.gamedude.com.au www.secret.com.au www.tigerdirect.com heres what you should get a decent mobo something like a abit IS7 or IC7 which is an excellent board for a cheap price some ram. i suggest to start with 512mb or 256mb will do. you can pick up 256mb ram for $50AU now. a decent sized HardDrive. seagate sell a 40gb for $80AU a decent video card you can pick up a geforce4 or geforceFX for around $140AU you'll need a case. anything will do if your on a budget. a floppy a disk drive (dvd, cdrom, cd burner etc) and thats basically that. if you have a good monitor keep it and upgrade later as they will set you back a bit. if your not good with building pcs its not that hard and you'll be better for it because you'll know whats going in your pc. if you still don't want to go the custom road, try and pick up a decent upgrade box which is just a case with everything in it. www.gamedude.com.au have a few great deals for upgrade boxes and www.tigerdirect.com have a wicked deal for 999 American if you can afford it. but your best bet is to shop around. then again if you can't afford any of that then it will be hard to upgrade just one thing on your system because if you do it still won't be that good. because its an old system it won't have agp 4 or 8 most likely and most video cards now support that. hope that helped.

I would like to throw away this heap, but can't really afford that. Also, for 999 American (that is $999 US, right?), I could buy another decent PC. But, I will check out the site above and see what I can find.

What is the exchange rate -- USD to AuD?

at the moment the us to AU excange is pretty good for us aussies. 1 aussie dollar is worth 70 us cents. also how much do you have and do you think you could sell the one you have for a decent price?

That's not bad on the exchange rates. I could probably only sell mine for $100 right now. It is about 4 years old, now. I have really just started thinking about the upgrade.....not positive I will do it, though. Would it just be possible to get a new processor, add more RAM, and get a new video card?

yes but if you do it would probally cost you just as much and it would be hard to find parts that are that old and compatable. the think with compaqs and other shop built pcs like that is that they don't like you playing around inside. so chances are you won't be able to find a new board for it or ram etc. plus if you just want to upgrade you cpu etc you have to make sure your mobo can handle it. your best bet is to put an add up for it, sell it, and use whatever else you have to get a new pc. christmas is coming woulnd't it be great to have a new pc? do some research check out the sites and find something you like and save for it. then try and find places where you can get it cheaper and see how much it works out if you buy the parts individually. good luck.