[winslow]

I definitely feel like throwing it out, but at the moment things are tight so I'll have to suffer for another few months.

[Revolting cat!]

I'm sorry to hear you cannot junk it for a while (after that give up on proprietary brand name junk that, as you can plainly see, is not upgradeable - build your own. There was an excellent thread on this topic last night. Let me know if you cannot find it) In the meantime, see if you can persuade others to junk their Packard Bells so that you can cannibalize them for parts. I am only half joking - people do throw away old computers literally on the street, and if you can somehow locate one (usenet? craigslist.com?) perhaps you can find usable components.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Then you should probably wait a little longer until you can do it, you can save money by keeping your old monitor, keyboard and mouse, but definitely dump the system and rebuild from the case up. $400 can get you a mighty good system, that's case, power supply, motherboard+CPU+RAM+onboard sound, DVD, floppy, and decent video. Check Newegg often for the latest, best prices.