I want to upgrade a PC I built in 2008 for todays gaming.

[markst]

Hello everyone!

I'm looking to upgrade a PC I built in 2008, so far the current specs I have for the PC are as follows:

The case I have is incredibly *** and not even worth mentioning.

Motherboard - Asus P5GC MX/1333 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131243

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66 GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115029

RAM - I have 2 Gigs of 1GB Mushkin EB2 6400 555/ DDR2 800 (400 Mhz) SDRAM

Graphics Card - Nvidia GEFORCE 8600 GT http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8600.html

I also have one 80 gig HD with 1TB HD

I'm looking at spending at least $500 in upgrading this PC and I'm doing it mostly because I want to play Skyrim on fairly good settings as well most games being released around this year.

Thanks!

 

[phensen]

Hi Markst,

The real sticking point is the outdated 775 socket. Upgrading to a quad core processor, and it would probably be a used one, just doesn't make financial sense as they're going for as much as an i5-2400...

Any upgrade to your GPU, however, would be held back by your processor...

Unfortunately, I'd suggest a system overhaul keeping your HDD and Optical drive if they're SATA, and upgrading the Case, PSU, Mobo, Ram, and CPU.

Take a look at Tom's $600 build for ideas.

I personally think they skimped on the PSU, and would recommend at least 500 watts.

Keep in mind the Tom's build doesn't include a copy of Windows, which I would guess you may need as well?

 

[markst]

Hey thanks for the suggestion phensen!

Yeh I kind of saw that coming with the motherboard, so I'm looking at getting this?

http://www.netplus.com.au/product/MBGIGAH61M-D2B/Gigabyte_GA-H61M-D2_B3_MB_Intel_H61_LGA1155_DDR3_Cougar_uATX_GLAN_Video_B3_Stepping

But to be honest I'm not really enough of a geek to know how applicable it will be for it's price - but it does support the core i5 processors. I'm looking specifically to buy from this website and here is a list of all their other motherboards that support the Intel core processors - http://www.netplus.com.au/product-list/MB133/Intel_Socket_LGA1155_Motherboards

If someone could advise me on the best one to get for it's value, I will be super gratefull .

As for the CPU I will go with Tom $600 Gaming PC so I'm looking at this http://www.netplus.com.au/product.asp?code=CPINPDI5-2400

Still not too sure on what Graphics Card to get? But again I would like to buy all PC components from this website and they don't seem to have the one that Tom suggests, so I'm hoping you guys could help me pick out one from this list:http://www.netplus.com.au/product-list/VD128/ATIAMD_Radeon_Video_Cards

Same for the memory as well: http://www.netplus.com.au/product-list/MY84/DDR3_Memory

Not too sure what power supply I have but I'm hoping that won't need upgrading?

I'm trying to keep a tight budget, don't really want to go over $600.

Thanks again guys!