How can I upgrade my eMachines EL1850 motherboard with today's modern technology?

RoTexUnderground

I want to make this computer fast enough to create and edit mainly making music. The computer glitches when i have multiple things on 1 program. 

RoTexUnderground

Here's what I'm working with

ttttt

Your computer lags behind the technologies by at least two generations (memory wise). I don't see any SATA ports and the USB ports are 2.0 only. I believe what you can do is to upgrade the memory capacity a little only. Don't think about modern technology with this 20 year old+ machine. Your computer will still play music, even if it can edit music it will be slow.
I would suggest buying a refurbished PC using DDR3 or DDR4 memory for $100-$300. Do yourself a favor, considering the time you save every year using a newer PC, it is definitely worth it.

billsey

So, your EL1850 supports up to a maximum of 4GB of DDR3 memory at 1066MHz. It uses two sockets and so supports 2GB sticks maximum in each socket. Music editing typically like a lot of memory, but at least not as much as video. You have two SATA ports on the MB, one for the ODD and the other for the HDD. Your biggest bang for the buck, by far, will be to replace the HDD with a SSD. Depending on which model you have yours either came with a 160GB or 320GB HDD. Putting a 500GB or 1TB SSD in will be reasonably cheap. You will also need a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter in order to mount the drive, since your drive bays are all setup for 3.5" disks.

So, assuming you'd like to get this one up and more usable, replace the HDD first, then bring the memory up to 4GB. Which OS are you running? It came with Windows 7 either 32bit or 64bit and you really want to be at Windows 10 64bit if you have 4GB or Windows 10 32bit if you have only 1GB to 3GB.

Come back with more questions if you decide to go forward...