Upgrading Old PC - $500 or less

[olvrsxsmth]

I'm helping my friend upgrade his PC. He only needs a new motherboard, new cpu, gpu and maybe new ram.

Currently, i picked the i5-3350p for cpu, sapphire 7850 for gpu and asrock h77m for the motherboard. the total price is less than $500, with around $65-$70 left for anything else he might need.

Games: Metro Last Light (at least high), League of Legends.

how's the build? anything to improve on?

EDIT: apparently, his current budget is $400. what should be removed/downgraded?

 

[Someone Somewhere]

What's his RAM currently?

I'd suggest an FX-6350, some cheap 970 board, and a 660. Make sure you have a decent PSU.

 

[jonno208]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($89.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $385.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-31 08:07 EDT-0400)

That is without the ram. If he can use the old sticks he has that would be for the best and he can just upgrade once he has some money to spend.

If there is no chance on going with out the ram here is another option

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($89.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($158.57 @ Newegg)
Total: $398.53
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-31 08:13 EDT-0400)

He should then buy a second 4gb stick when he gets some money.

 

[coozie7]

What are you upgrading FROM? Include info on the PSU .

 

[ps3hacker12]

What are you upgrading FROM? Include info on the PSU .

^this, a full spec list would be useful if you plan on upgrading.

If hes upgrading the mobo + CPU + GPU, thats pretty much a new build, you might aswell change the case (if its OEM) and the PSU (if its not good) too.

 

[olvrsxsmth]

thanks for all the replies guys!
he's currently upgrading from this really really old pc with amd 4000 series gpu, and this old intel cpu (not sure what it is).
psu is a 500w one bought 1-2 years ago.
no need for a new case, the current one is still in great condition.
as for ram, might need to buy new ones.

@jonno208: i like build #2

 

[coozie7]

If the system is that old, you'll probably need new DDR3 memory, but there's no harm in checking, some of the 'old' intel 'boards used DDR3 memory so you might be able to reuse that.
Jonno208s' second build is the most complete and should be a huge improvement over the existing system-it'll also run off a 500Watt PSU.
Just the obvious point on OS: You may be able to use your existing license but if the system is on Vista or XP you'd be better off getting a new 64 bit OS.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

What PSU? Some can't deliver rated wattage.

 

[jonno208]

I dont know what make your friends pc was or if it was custom build. If it is made by dell, hp, ect you will probably need a new psu since they are mostly cheap. When i built my first pc i bought a cheap psu and it went in under a year and I was lucky it didnt take anything else with it. I would recomend that your friend saves up till he has $500. If he wants to play metro he cant be getting much lower than the 7850 as it is a demanding game. You can get some good 500w psu's for arround $40-$50. With the current budget this will drop you down to a cheap 7770 or a cheap 650ti and tbh if you want to play metro you cant really go any lower. So if he gets the $500 or even $450 he should be good to go as long as he doesnt have an OEM version of windows(He must have a 64bit version to use more than 4gb of ram)