upgrade advice

Hi, my parents have had the same computer for, oh, about 5 years now. It's never ran that great, since they're kinda over the hill and aren't good with computers. But here recently my sister brought a game, and lo and behold, it doesn't work on our system. What really sucks is that it should work on all types of Windows _except_ Windows ME, which is what we have. (Don't complain at me for choosing ME, I would've stuck with Win98 but it wasn't my decision).

But I think this computer could use an upgrade. Not a major one, just something to run Windows XP smoothly and not have alot of headaches and problems. We've tried getting this system fixed before, and it was a big headache (a brother's friend put Win98 on here, sounds never worked, Blitz wouldn't even run). Having all these hardware problems with the system in the past, I'd hate to go buy WindowsXP and end up with it not working, and having no decent computer to use here.

So I think we need to upgrade some hardware on our system to make things work. Would WindowsXP work with our hardware, even if it's apparently been made only for WindowsME? Would a new motherboard solve the problem? If so, what type of motherboard or features should I look for? I've never really been out shopping for PC parts so I'm interested in knowing where to start.

Here's some PC specs that I know:
Builder: Gateway, year 2000
1.1Ghz AMD Athlon processor
256MB RAM
57GB hard drive
NVIDIA Vantage graphics card (they don't make drivers for this, apparently)
Internet connection via Modem

Any help on where to get started would be very much appreciated. Thanks for the help.

Well, I would say get more ram before anything else. 256 just doesn't
cut it for much these days. My system is using 219mb right now, and
I have nothing running, not even in the taskbar. You'll see the
biggest boost with that purchase no doubt. And then for your sister's
game, get any newer graphics card. I think the ATI 9600s are still
a good bang-for-the-buck, though you could do better.

The rest of your specs aren't too great, but they'll do. Those two
things I mentioned will probably make the biggest difference
per dollar spent.

[edit]But if you have a crappy motherboard, all of this becomes moot.

It's a Gateway machine, ergo he has a crappy motherboard.

RAM is most probably SDRAM comprising 2x128MiB sticks as well.

Storm: You may have to decide whether it is worth spending the money on a RAM upgrade (which you probably cannot use in any modern motherboard) or whether it would be better to save your money for a big upgrade (CPU, motherboard, RAM, gfx card).

You can pick up a really cheap Sempron 2600+, Abit KU8 (not as good as an nForce 4 motherboard, but substantially cheaper and more than adequate for a Sempron) and 512MiB of Corsair Value Select DDR (or Crucial RAM, whichever).

You could keep your HD. Transfer everything off it that you need (copy ALL of C:\Documents and Settings) and do a fresh install of XP (remember to disconnect your internet before you install, and install SP2 for XP before you do connect to the internet).