Need advice on $400 budget to upgrade this PC

[NTAC]

That's an interesting thought.

So O'clock the current CPU and perhaps drop some dough on this card?

http://redirect.anandtech.com/r?url...duct.aspx?Item=N82E16814125406&user=u00000687

 

[NTAC]

you need to go quad.

and you wont be playing on HIGH for 400 bones

but a used C2Q and a 6870 will do well for you

so will 8gb of ram


but SB core i5/8gb ddr3/6870/h61mobo might be able to fit the budget


1x SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814102948
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$169.99

1xG.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL
Item #: N82E16820231426
$41.99

1xASRock H61M-VS LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157241
$49.99

1xIntel Core i5-2300 Sandy Bridge 2.8GHz (3.1GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 ...
Item #: N82E16819115076
$179.99

Subtotal: $441.96

if you can swing a bit more fo ra 2500K its a better deal

recoup some expenses by reselling your old shit


but really its like 1-150 for a decent C2Q and DDR2 is expensive, you will pay 40 or so for 4gb of it, and you need a GPU anyways.

small price increase for the h61 and newer CPU but huge overall upgrade.

if he could sneak in a z68 board that advertises 22nkm support he has an even bigger upgrade path

This should work I think.... what z68 board would you recommend? Lets say the budget increases to $500ish... maybe even $550ish, which I might be able to talk him into if the build has future potential.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

cheapest z68 you can find

 

[mfenn]

This should work I think.... what z68 board would you recommend? Lets say the budget increases to $500ish... maybe even $550ish, which I might be able to talk him into if the build has future potential.

At $500 or $550, I would definitely get a new CPU.

$500:
- Swap mobo to GA-Z68AP-D3 for $90 AR to get USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s
- Grab a GTX 560 Ti for $180 AR

$550
- Same mobo as above but get the GTX 560 Ti 448 instead.