Gaming PC Rebuild, Need Assistance

[RainDog4]

My PC performance has been on a steady decline for some time, now it won't boot at all. I've tried several fixes, but given the age of the system I think its just hardware failure. The power supply is fairly new, so I don't think that's the cause. I've wanted to replaced my cheap CPU for some time (which probably means I'll new a new motherboard, right?). I think I'd like to start there, and move on to the HDD if that doesn't fix the problem. I was able to test the RAM (I got it to boot in safe mode once), but there weren't any issues. Can someone help me choose compatible components? Someone else helped me put this together initially, I don't know a whole lot about it. I have a Newegg account. I want a mid to high-end CPU. I'd be willing to sacrifice capacity for transfer rate on the HDD; I've got a sizable external for storage. I'm hoping this won't cost me more than $300, but I can go over if necessary. Any help is greatly appreciated.

-ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - 8 Years
-AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Dual-Core 2.4 GHz Socket AM2 65W ADO4600DOBOX Processor - 8 Years
-Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive - 8 Years
-CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5DHX - 8 Years
-EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - 4 Years
-XFX Core Edition PRO850W (P1-850S-NLB9) 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - 1 Year

 

[HonkyKong97]

Oh wow. Yeah, that is in dire need of an upgrade. If that rig has lasted you this long, then you don't need more than $300.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($105.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $305.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-07 19:00 EST-0500

It certainly isn't the most powerful CPU, but its leagues better than your old Athlon.

 

[RainDog4]

Oh wow. Yeah, that is in dire need of an upgrade. If that rig has lasted you this long, then you don't need more than $300.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($105.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $305.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-07 19:00 EST-0500

It certainly isn't the most powerful CPU, but its leagues better than your old Athlon.

Awesome, thank you! I was actually thinking I would need $300 to upgrade the just the CPU, MB, and HDD. If I can do the whole thing for $300 I guess my rig really is in need of an upgrade. It was $800 when I bought it, not including the monitor; kinda sad that I can upgrade almost the whole thing for that little. I could go more if you think a GPU upgrade is due, like $350-$450. I guess I just thought 4 years wasn't that old. Do you think the GPU recommended will throttle my system at all?

I'd like it to be able to keep up with games being put out for a little while at least. For stuff that's come out in the last year or two I've had to knock the graphics down to minimum to get decent/fair performance. I couldn't play Fallout 4 at all. I mostly just play LOL, but whenever Bethesda makes anything new I get it.

Let me know what you think. Thank you!

 

[HonkyKong97]

Yeah. $400 would be much better.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320E 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor ($126.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($32.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $381.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-08 17:30 EST-0500

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Actually if you put a little extra money in for a cpu cooler, that 6300 can overclock decently and can be decently potent for games. Sure not as good as an i5, but i3 performance anyway.

I've got my 6300 at 4.3ghz and it runs all my games fine.

 

[RainDog4]

Yeah. $400 would be much better.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320E 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor ($126.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($32.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $381.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-08 17:30 EST-0500

Ordering the parts tonight; thank you!

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Just grab an aftermarket cooler. Something like a cooler master hyper 212 evo would be good so that you can try to get some extra performance from your new cpu by overclocking. Although the 8 core will be worlds faster than your old one. But these new ones take pretty well to overclocking with decent cooling.

 

[RainDog4]

Just grab an aftermarket cooler. Something like a cooler master hyper 212 evo would be good so that you can try to get some extra performance from your new cpu by overclocking. Although the 8 core will be worlds faster than your old one. But these new ones take pretty well to overclocking with decent cooling.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a try once I get the system set up and working. I assume there's probably an overclocking guide of some sort on this site? I've never done it before.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Yes under the cpu section I think there is one. Should be a lot on YouTube etc as well.

Also as opposed to the asrock board you have there, I'd suggest looking at the gigabyte 970a-ud3p. I think it runs about 69.99 on newegg so not much more than what you are looking at, but it has 8+2 power phasing on it, I don't think the asrock does. But usually the better power phasing is better for the 8 core cpus. The other boards may support them, but for overclocking etc they seem to be good in my opinion.