Ok I've got some newb questions maybe u can help me with. I have a simple Dell Pentium 4 Windows XP Home Edition pc. I don't game expect for xbox and ps3 and things like that so this is all new to me.
GPU's i get the basics that it is stronger then a cpu but I confused by all the add ons and want to know what the basic setup for someone like me would be. For someone like me how do I get started mining? Do I have to by all these different components or do I just need to rig a video card to my pc to get started and is a GPU another name for a video card?
Sorry if this is really basic and newbish but I just don't get what my first to should be and what I can expect will happen once it's taken. And and all help is very much appreciated.

I just spent a week attempting to get an old computer mining on Win XP. I eventually gave up. Drivers can be installed for a AMD 7xxx series card, however there is no OpenCL support on XP anymore. I went through numerous drivers and combinations of different SDKs, but I could not get it CGminer or GUIminer to recognize my card (HD7950).
I ended up running BAMT on a USB stick.
i have a couple of rigs on xp i cant rember how i did it thow i will have a look and let you know