Looking for some input

[Kazuchika]

Okay so here's the deal. I haven't upgraded my pc in probably close to 5(!) years and finally I've had enough. The problem is right now a pretty limited budget due to the holidays so my spending limit is around $200-250.

What really needs upgraded is my CPU. I'm still using an ancient dual core E2180 2.0ghz (ew) and thus I'm assuming I'd also have to go with a new board as well. My video card isn't terrible and I have a lot of reusable parts (hard drives, power supply etc) so I guess my question really is this:

What would be the best options to play on at least high settings at 1650x1080? I'm not looking for bleeding edge. I'm looking for something that won't make my computer want to burst into flames at the idea of doing 25 man raiding.

I've heard great things about the community here as far as knowledge goes so I appreciate any help you guys might be able to throw my way!

[Danno]

You could get an Intel i3 3220 CPU and a H77 motherboard. You'd need to update your RAM as well to DDR3. 8GBs is rather cheap now

CPU - Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz Dual Core Processor ($120)
Motherboard - ASRock H77M LGA 1155 Intel H77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard ($70)
RAM - G.SKILL Value Series 8GB SDRAM DDR3 1333 RAM ($34)

So if you add up the prices of the items I linked, it'd cost about $224 before shipping and taxes and should be a big boost in performance.

[yurano]

My video card isn't terrible

What video card do you have?

[Kazuchika]

It's a Radeon HD5670. By "isn't terrible" I mean it was a hell of a step up from what I had previously by a noticeable margin.

[Kazuchika]

Well it looks like what was linked above is going to be the best solution given the lack of replies.

[demonskies]

what danno listed is probably gonna be biggest upgrade for you playing WoW. However in the future it would benefit to upgrade the 5670 to something at least in the 77xx and above to improve further. With 250 to spend your not gonna get to much better.