JuliasKils

Seeing as my first post got eaten.. heres a second try! Basically I'm looking to take my computer to a shop to get it upgraded.. but I don't trust them to buy the parts for me as I'm sure they would overcharge me. So I figured I would buy them myself! I have been looking at new egg but thats where I got lost. I'm currently running on an AMD Athlon XP processor at 1.6ghz with only 256mb of ram.

I'm looking to upgrade to a dual 2x1.6 AMD if possible but I don't know which motherboard to get! Are there any that support XP Processors? If not could someone recommend me a motherboard that supports dual processors and which processors I should buy to go with the motherboard? Of course the cheaper the better, as long as it is more powerful than my single processor.

I really wanted to install it myself but I cannot even tell where my processor is and I really did not want to risk endangering my motherboard just to play around. I had quite a few upgrades to go after as well.. so while I'm posting think I could get a..

Dual motherboard
additional processor
sound blaster live card
512mb stick of ram

For under $600 or am I fooling myself? Would it be smarter to just get a powerful single AMD processor and install the thing myself and not bother going to the upgrade shop? I've installed ram myself, hard drives myself, cd drives, etc.. just not a motherboard or processor (not to hip on the upgrades..). A recommendation of a site that has a guide for dummies on upgrading a motherboard.. preferably with pictures would be extremely helpful.

I know, I know.. tons of questions and I apologize just at my wits end and trying to get any support possible. If nothing else please tell me what is a good dual amd motherboard and processor to go with it under $400 for both or all three if possible.

Thank you!