Question Upgrade suggestions for Ultra-low budget grandpa games in 1080P

[TobyCatVa]

VERY low budget system upgrade with the goal of ultra settings 1080p for the foreseeable future as I am in a nursing home and after my care expenses I have about a dollar a day to spend on myself. This leaves me with a budget of $300 currently, but I'm willing to wait to increase that budget if I am on the cusp of a much better system for a little more cash.

Graphics card better than my current GTX 970?
CPU, Ram, and MB as my FX-4130, 16gb DDR3 @1866, Asus M5A97 LE 2.0 is often running at 100%
My Power supply is EVGA 700W 80+ Bronze ATX Power Supply 10 years old but doing fine.
My Samsung 850Pro 512GB SSD is insufficient but still performing well.

The single fan case, wi-fi adapter, Bluetooth adapter, Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Headphones, and Blue YetiProMic will need appropriate slots to make the move or become redundant and thus unnecessary.

Thank you for any help oh great and wise members of Tom'sHardware

This is the system I have https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bCj2h3

 

[Lutfij]

1| Your PSU will need to be swapped out.
2| What sort of app's/games will you be taxing the system with?

IMHO you're looking at a new PC built from the ground up, while the storage can be carried over. Todays motherboard's tend to also come with WiFi and BT so your adapter is needlessly occupying an USB port. Your case is pretty dated, with USB 2.0 and HD audio ports.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($130.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $259.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-08-15 19:55 EDT-0400

^ AM4 platform.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($182.16 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M D3HP AX Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL38 Memory ($85.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $398.14
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-08-15 20:00 EDT-0400

^ AM5 platform
This isn't set in stone but I'd save up some more and then build from the ground up with a proper PSU, M.2 storage and a concurrent chassis.

 

[TobyCatVa]

I was afraid of that.
Modded Mass Effect Legendary is the latest game that had my CPU pegged at 99-100%
Still played all the way through with decent framerates, but sustained CPU use even with temps staying under control is less than optimal.