Total noob needs help with cheap upgrade

[Monoxide]

I'm clueless when it comes to computer stuff and knowing what is good and what isn't, what to buy and what to avoid, etc. Hopefully someone can help me here.

Basically what happened was that I had an HP Pavilion desktop that I bought in 2010. Between then and now I had some hiccups along the way and a friend of mine helped me out, exchanging out parts of mine that went bad for old ones he still had from before upgrading his own machine. If I remember right, I switched out the graphics card, the processor, and the power supply. Well, he switched them out, I didn't lol. Anyway I'm no longer in contact with this person (he moved) and I've come across another computer problem. It was working one day and then the next day when I turned it on there was nothing. I thought the power supply had gone again and bought a new one for $25 at Best Buy. I was able to get it all hooked up and running but when I fired it up it was the same thing. I also know that it's not the monitor because I tried with a different one of them too.

A different friend of mine suggested that it was probably my motherboard and processor. I'm not sure, really. I was happy with my machine before, these are the games I mostly played on it, on medium graphics:

WoW
Diablo 3
Heroes of the Storm
League of Legends
Hearthstone
Call of Duty MW 2/Black Ops 2
Path of Exile
Boarderlands

I also own Skyrim, but even on the lowest settings my computer would crash when I tried to play it. If I could make it so I'm able to play Skyrim too, even better.


http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...s&dlc=en&lc=en


http://www.insigniaproducts.com/prod...S-PCW4050.html

http://www.cnet.com/products/wd-blue...-series/specs/

That's what my computer was using before it died, except I had a different power supply which I no longer have. I can return this one to Best Buy and get a refund if there's a better one out there for less, or just one that's as good but cheaper. So that's an option too.


This is the graphics cards I was using:

http://www.esaitech.com/pny-vcggts25...FUlk7AodpjMASQ

However, that broke about a year ago and I had to end up using:

http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeFor.../dp/B008WAMV2K


So here is where I stand, I'm pretty sure I need a new motherboard and processor. I think the power supply, hard drive, and graphics card are in fine working order. I'm also fine with my monitor/keyboard/mouse, and if I have to continue using it I suppose my old HP Pavilion case will suffice.

I have a budget of $300, from that I need a new motherboard/processor and if possible a stronger graphics card and new case. Case is lower priority of course. I notice today on some sites like newegg there are sales going on. Can I get what I need for the amount available to me to spend? Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.

[Stormspark]

Your system is completely obsolete. There is no way to upgrade it to get decent performance in games. You will have to replace everything. Motherboard+CPU+RAM. I would recommend a decent power supply also. If you paid $25 for one from Best Buy I can guarantee it will not power a decent video card. The 610 is a VERY low end entry level card that has about 1/4 of the power of the integrated GPU in my laptop (which can only run WOW on good settings). The 610 can probably run Hearthstone, but none of the others.

I recommend you look at the extreme budget build someone posted earlier.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...et-Build-G3258

You will not need everything on the list. Your case, hard drives, and Windows install can probably be re-used. But you will definitely need motherboard+CPU+RAM+GPU+power supply. If your budget doesn't allow for the 750ti, you can drop down to a 750. But that is the lowest GPU you can get that can still effectively game. The G3258 will perform *almost* as well as the i7-4790k in games that do not need more than 2 cores. All of the Blizzard games fall into this category. In games that can use 4+ cores effectively it won't perform as well but it should still be more than adequate, especially since it's only $70 for the CPU.

[Monoxide]

Thanks for the reply. It's a little disheartening to read though. I'm not sure if I even have my old windows install discs. As for the other stuff you said, I'll be able to reuse the case and hard drive, right? So what all exactly would I need to buy? Is there any chance at all I can manage this for under $300? That's really all I have to spend right now.

[Stormspark]

Thanks for the reply. It's a little disheartening to read though. I'm not sure if I even have my old windows install discs. As for the other stuff you said, I'll be able to reuse the case and hard drive, right? So what all exactly would I need to buy? Is there any chance at all I can manage this for under $300? That's really all I have to spend right now.

You will need, at minimum, motherboard+CPU+RAM+video card+power supply. Look at the list I linked, that's about as cheap as stuff comes. It's the cheapest budget build that can still run games effectively. You can reuse your hard drives, and *probably* reuse your case (you will have to make sure whatever motherboard you get fits your case though). If you only get the CPU+motherboard+RAM+video card+power supply, and get a 750 instead of a 750ti, you can probably keep it under $300.