Can anyone give me info on my dads embarrassingly old sony desktop MB?

So Back in 04 my dad bought a sony PCV-RS420 Desktop. He rants how he paid 2 grand at the time and that the computer techs at his shop (Which my dad is not, Just a end user) were all bowing to him on his powerful computer purchase. Here is the funny part. When I was young, one of the first lessons he gave me on computers and its hardware is how quickly it can become outdated. He'd always bitch about how quickly hardware becomes suckware. SOO!! It boggles the mind that he wants to do everything possible to somehow upgrade this computer that probably told time with a sundial. As I told him, I truly feel his pain on this issue but everyone else is faced with the same shit! My dad actually thinks I have talent with computers and as much as I LOATHE people who try to impress others of their intellect on all things computers when they DO NOT (the real ones dont advertise their talents, their work & products do) I didnt want to just throw answers at him without some research done first. A quick side note, Its you guys and this amazing site who have seriously almost taught me all that i know so far. and it aint much!! LOL .....SO first question

He asked
can the motherboard be replaced?

When I cracked open the case, the first thing that I noticed was just how small the board was comparing of course to the boards I'm used to and I do remember reading in ("Upgrading and Repairing PC's 20th edition") of quite a few form factors no longer made and was wondering if this could be one of em, and what form factor it is?
Second question.
What are the resons its memory speed limit is 2GB? I wanted to say jokingly that he should check the oil in it.. Funny? eh? eh? ...not funny

Guys, on the MB the only product name I could find (Without being able to take it out) was PCV-RS420. Sony never made a MB Right? My question is, Can anyone point me to a MB that will fit inside this size case and can at least be expandable greater then 2GB of RAM. Crazy, But in this advertisement it said "expandable" up to 2GB of RAM... We've come a seriously long way in a short distance.
I know you all are wanting to say, Its a waste of time jack. Just get a new one! And I say I KNOW!! But I have to find and eliminate all options and since I have daddy issues and want a gold star by my name from him, I need to see whats possible and whats not. Thank you all for reading my rant of a man wanting a pat on the head from his father. Im going to go build my second rocket and this time dad wont say it sucks and we can fly to acceptance land!!! YIPPEEE!!! ... All jokes....

PS:the file included here is the PDF of the computers Specs...

Here y'go.
Motherboard Manuals Data & More • View topic - Asus P4SD-VX motherboard - aka Sony VAIO PCVRS420
It's an Asus P4SD-VX board made for Sony, from what I can gather.
Going by this picture:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-PTGD-VX...item3ccaa198af
it would appear - don't quote me on this - that any normal modern mATX board would fit in its place.

Not money well spent when whatever barebones system he gets will run circles around the old one.

Thank you everyone here who has replied to my questions. Especially to you Britton30. I appreciate the detailed info. So I showed these comments to my dad and hes now doing what I hoped he would.... Gathering intel on what he wants and he is letting me put a custom rig together for him... I seriously LOVE building rigs!! Thanks to you guys for all the professional sounding replies and understandable answers my dad has finally agreed its time to move on...

Hi there
The old HDD's are likely to be HIDEOUSLY slow too -- most people don't seem to realize it but slow disks can KILL any system --even those with blazingly fast i7 CPU's inside.

IMO you'd be better off tossing the whole thing and build a new one from scratch -- However depending on what you actually want the computer to do you could buy a decent Desktop (without a monitor) for around 350 GBP / 380 EUR / 410 USD which would absolutely KILL the old machine. Get one also that has at least a USB3 port - the speed difference is DEFINITELY worth it.

IMO I'd also add an SSD to the desktop and put the OS on the SSD. Since so few desktops are sold any more you could pick up some really good deals on these. It probably (no certainly) would be a LOT cheaper than building a custom machine. Plus it would work FIRST time, save hunting for drivers and save a lot of work.

However you obviously enjoy building stuff so my old words of wisdom will probably be ignored.
Do ensure you have at least a USB3 port on the rig (speed is far faster than USB 2) and get an SSD for the OS.

(You could go "half way" -- buy a desktop -- then spend the extra money SAVED on a blazingly good large monitor and decent GPU card -- actually even doing this would still be cheaper than building a rig from scratch).

Incidentally copy any data from the old machine to some type of external device -- even CD's if that machine can't write to modern fast USB sticks / external drives.

Cheers
jimbo

For a point of comparison, I have a PCV-RS410 (the only noteworthy differences to yours are the lack of an AGP slot and no internal USB2.0!) running Windows XP Pro that serves as my secondary desktop. I have it "modernized" with its 3 PCI slots holding a GeForce 6200 video card, a USB2.0 card, and a gigabit ethernet NIC card; it also had its default 512MB of DDR RAM increased to 1GB total.

While it certainly can't handle Crysis, it can handle stuff like Adobe Illustrator, Youtube, and Skype with no problems.

Even though a proper upgrade for your computer will basically entail building a whole new computer, it's still very possible to bring the computer to a point where it can still function adequately alongside more modern computers.

King Arthur said:

For a point of comparison, I have a PCV-RS410 (the only noteworthy differences to yours are the lack of an AGP slot and no internal USB2.0!) running Windows XP Pro that serves as my secondary desktop. I have it "modernized" with its 3 PCI slots holding a GeForce 6200 video card, a USB2.0 card, and a gigabit ethernet NIC card; it also had its default 512MB of DDR RAM increased to 1GB total.

While it certainly can't handle Crysis, it can handle stuff like Adobe Illustrator, Youtube, and Skype with no problems.

Even though a proper upgrade for your computer will basically entail building a whole new computer, it's still very possible to bring the computer to a point where it can still function adequately alongside more modern computers.

I'd have to disagree here - the old IDE disks would make running modern software quite hideously slow -- People just don't realize how BAD performance can become on ANY machine when it's got disks that run as slow as molasses.

I think you'd really be better off ditching the whole computer -- A new Mobo would entail upgrading EVERYTHING as you certainly wouldn't want to even THINK of keeping the old disks. The old monitor is probably also a joke compared with the nice new LCD screens with proper HDMI input.

I'm not one for throwing stuff away willy nilly - in fact you could probably keep the old computer as a nice File server - but if you are getting a Mobo a nice modern case with the USB ports AT THE FRONT or in accessible places is a far better idea. Same for RGB (Standard monitor VGA type cable) and HDMI slots too.

Your old PSU in any case is unlikely to fit the spec for modern mobos so you'll have to upgrade that plus purchase some decent Disks and proper memory (DDR3).

By the time you've done all this lot and got a decent processor you are likely to spend around 1000 - 1400 USD (and that's if you can really source cheap parts and get some tax / other discounts). Plus you'll have to spend another possibly 100 USD on a Windows license too.

My idea of getting a ready assembled modern PC without a monitor seems a much better idea - just upgrade say the Monitor / Video and get an SSD. It will be just as good probably than your home build rig and certainly far cheaper.

I've built loads of machines in my time and enjoyed it too but honestly unless you are an extreme gamer or have a very specific requirement it's just not worth the candle any more building from scratch.

Cheers
jimbo