Upgrading my PC vs building a new one

[Ccharge]

Hi, I need some help trying to figure out if its worth it to upgrade my PC or if I should just save cash and spend it on a new one.

Current setup:
i7-2600k @ 3.7 CPU
Gigabyte Z68A-D3h-B3 Motherboard
8Gb DDR3 Ram 1333 Mhz
AMD Radeon HD 6950 2 Gb
500 Watt PSU

My graphics card I feel is currently the only thing that really needs replacement at the moment. However when looking at the possibility of doing that I realized my Mobo can only support PCIe 2.0. If I wanted to change my Mobo as well I would also have to change my CPU because of the old socket type. I'm also not sure if 500 Watts would be enough going forward.

Either way this results in my having to chose between just a new graphics card or an entire new PC and I'm not sure if just upgrading the graphics card would work.

Any help solving this would be highly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[DustinV]

Whats your budget? And do you know the exact brand/model of your power supply? A gpu upgrade would help a lot, and you could also get an aftermarket cooler and overclock your cpu

but if you can afford it it would be a huge upgrade to sell your entire pc as is and start out fresh with the newest architecture, because so many things are just out of date

 

[Ccharge]

Well right now I could probably spend somewhere in the $400 range for a Graphics card, but if its more worthwhile just to save for a new build that's probably what I would end up doing and saving till I had ~$1200. I built this with a friend in 2011 when I was still in high school off a part list he recommended so its quite old, which is why I'm really unsure about the upgrade. PSU is a Antec Earthwatts EA-500.

 

[DustinV]

Ok you have a good quality power supply with plenty of watts! so you can upgrade your current system to a gtx 970 or even a 980

You can add a gtx 970 and an aftermarket cooler like the cryorig H7 to overclock your cpu (if you dont already have one)
But since your pc is already pushing 5 years old, I think it would be better to start over with a new build
Especially since the new pascal graphics cards will probably be out by the time you get enough money and you will be able to build a really nice pc for $1200

 

[Ccharge]

Yeah I figured a new build would be the case. I'll make building a new machine my mission for this summer If you don't mind me asking, is there any computer cases you would recommend for a mid range build? I have my eyes on some other parts but I don't know much about cases and cooling capacity. Not looking for anything too fancy with a bunch of lights or anything.

 

[DustinV]

One from Fractal Design or NZXT, look for one with a lot of cable management space behind the motherboard, lots of room, a lot of places to put fans, you one that comes with a lot of fans, you want at least 3 fans, so remember to calculate how much more it will cost to add some fans