Yep at a certain point ya gotta just give up on the bandaids. Can't patch them together forever...

Just built my parents a new machine since theirs was acting up - we had to get a new case & new DVD player last summer, so all i had to do is get new mother board, ram, cpu & hard drive- so all new now.
oh I did buy a XP CD for them since they only had an old copy win98 before.

If ya know a local person or place that builds them you can save about half the money...as long as they give a guaranty/warranty and use quality parts and not knock offs..
I'm the warranty /IT person for mom & dad