New Build from Old system

[Xata27]

I have an old Dimension E521 and recently its motherboard has been acting up. I was wondering if it would be possible to buy a new motherboard, and case and still use the DVD drive, Hard drive, Power Supply, Memory, and Processor from the old computer. The processor is a AMD Athlon 64, and I'm unsure of what kind of motherboard to buy, is it AM2 or AM2+? And how do you remove the old Thermal Grease from the processor?

 

[gkay09]

^ How much are you willing to spend ? IMO not a good idea to change the Mobo alone as those are pretty old,... Say for about $110, you get good Dual-Core CPUs with decent mobos,...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103903
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157186
Just make sure that the RAM you have is a DDR2 RAM,...

 

[gkay09]

Or a CPU + AM3 Mobo and 2GB DDR3 for the same price
X2 245 + Biostar 880G
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.581114
Crucial Rendition 2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148367

 

[Xata27]

Yes the Ram i have is DDR2, but why isn't it a good idea to use the old processor? The computer is only going to be used for some gaming but only really old games.

 

[gkay09]

^
1. To find a board that is compatible with old CPUs might be difficult
2. As you can see buying a new CPU and mobo is not much costly, also the performance would be a lot better,...