Need help upgrading

[Gallstafff01]

I have an HP P6703w with some upgrades.

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Windows 7 x64

AMD Athlon II 640 x4 @ 3.0ghz

12gb 1333 ram

XFX Radeon hd 6870 2gb

500w psu

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I need some help finding a good processor to upgrade to. I've been unable to play some games as of late with decent settings because of my processor ( i assume ) and have been wanting to upgrade but i could use some help finding a good one to upgrade to.

My budget will probably be ~$250

Ive looked on multiple forums and each say that my cpu is bottlenecking my graphics card and id like to get a cpu that wont bottleneck my graphics card

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Some games i have issues with-

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead (Like a slideshow sometimes)
Planetside 2 (~20fps during firefights or walking low or high)
Skyrim (heavily moded - I refuse to play Vanilla)
Splinter Cell: Conviction (love this game, cant really play it on decent settings
Guild Wars 2 (would love to play this on high settings)
Borderlands 2 (fps is ~50 unless im in an open area)
The Sims 3 All expansions (Very choppy sometimes and freezes a lot)

Right now i cant think of any other games

 

[UnlimitedBanana]

Probably the best CPU for it's price on the AMD side right now is the Phenom II 965, I have one myself and it manages to pull off very decent FPS even with my HD6750. Alternatively, you could buy a Phenom II 1100T, but the extra 2 cores aren't really going to be noticable in games over the PII 965.
The PII 965 also costs ~$100, I think the 1100T goes for around $140-$160, haven't really been keeping an eye on the hexacores prices.
~UnlimitedBanana

 

[vinaykumar5320]

Check if your mobo is compatible for AM3+ CPUs (after BIOS Update) and Get a FX 6300 (around 130$), as an inexpensive solution.
Or you can go for the Intel route by getting an i5 Ivy Bridge and a new Mobo. (around 300$).

 

[Gallstafff01]

I forgot to mention that the max wattage my motherboard can handle cpu wise is 95w

 

[Gallstafff01]

Check if your mobo is compatible for AM3+ CPUs (after BIOS Update) and Get a FX 6300 (around 130$), as an inexpensive solution.
Or you can go for the Intel route by getting an i5 Ivy Bridge and a new Mobo. (around 300$).

If you could suggest a good motherboard that isnt expensive as hell that would be cool

 

[vinaykumar5320]

This one, if you can do with a Micro- ATX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157303

Otherwise, Standard ATX Boards are generally 20$ more.

 

[vinaykumar5320]

Get an Intel i5 3450/3470. See, if you can get a Bundled Mobo deal with it.

 

[Gallstafff01]

I found this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5246454&Sku=M69-7005

Will this work in my current case and with my ram?

RAM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148439 - RAM

Case & other base specs

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c02628205&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=120&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=5035348&prodTypeId=12454

Heres my power supply if needed

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027&Tpk=corsair%20500w

 

[Gallstafff01]

bump

 

[vinaykumar5320]

Very nice Combo.
Yes, Everything should work perfectly with your case, PSU and RAM.