Is it better to build a new PC from scratch or upgrade my current?

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agentbondy43

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Jul 22, 2015
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Current PC -
Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-3240 Processor (3.40 GHz, 3MB cache)

Operating system: Windows 8

Storage: 2TB HDD, 7200rpm

RAM: 8GB DDR3 (16GB maximum installable RAM)

Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 6670

Graphics card memory: 2GB DDR3

Motherboard: Customised ECS H61H2-MV

Wireless: Ralink 802.11 b/g/n 150 Mbps USB dongle

Ethernet: Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000)

USB: 2.0 x 6

Video interface: HDMI x 1; DVI-I Dual Link x 1; VGA x 1

Audio interface: 3.5mm jack x 3 (rear); 3.5mm jack x 1 (front); 3.5 mm jack x 1 (headphones)

If I upgrade the GPU to say a GTX 970 or 780ti , CPU to an i5 4690k and PSU will I be good to game?
 
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RazerZ

RazerZ

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Aug 18, 2013
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What PSU are you using? You would see a large difference in gaming just by upgrading the graphics card, which may require a new power supply. If you needed more power you could upgrade the CPU to an Ivy Bridge i5/i7 which perform similarly to the latest chips.
 
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Swordkd

Swordkd

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Oct 3, 2012
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Upgrading to an i5/i7 would be your best bet. The only issue I see is if you buy new, the price for a similarly clocked i5/i7 is a bit high. Basically, you could buy a new motherboard and Haswell Refresh(or later possibly) Cpu for almost the same price.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r9rxFT
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r9rxFT/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($300.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $300.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-26 19:25 EDT-0400

Using 3.4ghz as the baseline(speed of your current i3). Or, you could do this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.00 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $285.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-26 19:26 EDT-0400

Or, spend a bit more and upgrade to Skylake, which would mean buying new Ram as well. You could also check out ebay, which would cut the cost quite a bit, but that comes with a risk as well.

The other question is you will probably have to upgrade your PSU to upgrade the graphics card. I good 600w Psu will be fine for anything current generation on the graphics side though. What type of budget are you looking at?
 
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A

agentbondy43

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Jul 22, 2015
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£350 budget, cards don't have to be new, second hand on ebays good and all.

Is this CPU any good? Intel core i5 3570k Ivybridge processor LGA1155 3.4Ghz

Someones selling one for £60 on ebay.
 
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RazerZ

RazerZ

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Alyus

Alyus

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Feb 10, 2012
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I'm upgrading everything except for my Corsair AX860. I had to upgrade RAM too because the Asus Maximus Hero VIII doesn't use DDR3 but DDR4. I also upgraded my 500R to 760T because the 500R is old, 3.5 years old; some paint is cracking and the grommet is breaking apart simply from drying out I assume.
 
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