[sclug] New Mobo and processor - help requested

[Neil Haughton]

That was a typing disaster, so here's an edited version:

My PC (Athlon, 0.75G mem, NVidia MX440 graphics) is objecting to the latest
Linux distros (Debian Wheezy, Mint 15, Fedora 19, and others). Either they
won't install properly or the screens are unusable, I can't easily find
reasonably priced higher capacity memory sticks to increase RAM, and so on
so it appears my PC is due for an overhaul.

I'm not looking for a smokin' games machine, but something that I can put a
couple of GB of RAM in, comfortably runs a 64 bit Linux distro, supports 3d
graphics accelleration, and (ideally) allows me to retain my PATA drives
plus add SATA drives when needed. I need browsing, GIMP, Digikam,
LibreOffice and that sort of thing to run at respectable (unfrustrating)
speeds. In other words I want something that will clip along nicely and yet
not eat my wallet. Oh yes, a reduction in power consumption would be very
nice so my wife can leave it on all day without reducing me to tears ( :-(
), but a Pi is going too far.

So one option is to replace the mobo and processor with something 'modern'
that still supports PATA drives (preferably) as well as Sata II and accepts
a multi core processor, and will run the latest Linux distros.
Unfortunately I haven't done this for some 10 years now so I am all at sea,
floundering  in a maze of unfamiliar processors, sockets, SIMMs, boards,
etc etc.

Alternatively a new or 2nd user machine altogether may be an answer, but
that woiuld mean discarding my nearly new PATA drives, case, PSU etc which
are all in good nick, so not my first choice.

I'm not asking anyone to choose for me, but can someone kick me off in the
right direction by suggesting suitable possibilities?

TIA