Which route to take

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Hello all. I am new to the forums. I joined after researching on Google about eMachines. I have a question. I already looked through the eMac threads in this forums. I am kind of stuck on which route to take. I had my eMachines T5026 for about 3 years. It's never given me any trouble and it isn't now. I just decided maybe it's time to upgrade it or upgrade everything.

1) Would it be wise to upgrade the psu to 500watt, new graphics card, 4GB of Ram and new heatsink fan?

or...

2) Get a new mATX mobo, new cpu, new graphics card and put it in the case?

And like I said, it hasn't given me any trouble. I just want to know if it'll be worth my money upgrading my current machine to max standards. Thanks all. :)
 
It would be wise to get rid of the emachine idea alltogether. Emachines are very cheaply made computers and notorious for failure. A three year old computer , particularly that brand isn't worth upgrading. replace it.
 
While an eMachines probably isn't the most robust of the proprietary systems, you could upgrade it fairly easily.

That said, I would honestly just start from scratch and maybe carry over the optical drives.

A newer video card is probably going to gobble up whatever space you've got in that tiny case of yours (as will a modern CPU heatsink) and it's likely not going to be cooled properly depending on the model.

Furthermore you don't need 4GB of RAM. Aim for 2GB for the time being.

What is your budget and what are you looking to get out of the new system?
 
Thank you for the prompt response. I will just piece together a new computer and carry over minimal items. I really have no budget. I just want a computer to handle my gaming, music production, graphic design and some video editing.

After consideration, it probably wouldn't be ise to upgrade what I have now in case it craps out on me (that'd be a waste of money). Thanks. :)
 
The failure rate on eMachines is so high for that model number, that so far you have been lucky. It is really much easier to buy a new case and build your own. Or look at one of the partial builds at such places as PC Solutions... or "Combo deals" at the many online vendors which sell slightly shelf-aged motherboard and CPU combinations.
Your hard drive will not work with any hardware changes unless you are lucky in reinstalling or repairing Windows for the new board. Some on this forum have been able to do it. Many others have not. The official position at Microsoft is that the eMachines operating system dies with the motherboard.
You likely will not be lucky enough to find a new board that will use the old memory and cpu. The only other components are not worth saving: Power Supply is old and weak; DVD or CD-RW drives are worn out after a year of heavy use. The modem is seldom used nowadays.
You can have the fun and satisfaction in building a new machine with new technology. Your eMachine now exceeds four or five years in actual technology.
Keep the emachine to give to your grandmother or great aunt or the six year old nephew, or a high school student and write it off your taxes.
 
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