new pc for new and up comming games

[FMod]

and you dont NEED the 3rd party heatsink unless you plan on overclocking so thats another potential $30 saved, that you could all put into a new mobo/CPU, which would be my recommendation, because youd have to upgrade it again in a year or so. buying an up to date AM3+ mobo could last you years. :)

That's a FM1 mobo actually, newer socket. AM3+ is just as dead, since Bulldozer didn't turn out any good, and what is there costs way too much.

FM1 Athlons are close to on par with X4 Phenoms, and they overclock very well. You do want to overclock one, it's 2.6->3.3...4.0 GHz boost that takes you past mid-range Intels. Not to mention the stock cooler is noisy anyway.

 

The only real step up is LGA1155/i5-2320 platform, but it's a very big step in terms of price, from $60 to $100 for the mobo, and from $90 to $190 for the CPU.

 

In terms of bang for the buck, Athlon X4 631 is at the very top of all CPU: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_value_available.html , as long as you ignore $1 CPUs. That's not overclocked, and it overclocks well, versus i3-2130 that only touches it stock and doesn't overclock at all.

 

 

A 250GB HDD today is likely very old, so it's slow, losing its reliability, and, well, small. At this point the only component from his old PC that can be reasonably salvaged is the case, and it's probably cheap junk you can buy for $20 (while I picked a good case). That PC, if not disassembled, may still have residual resale value, although I wouldn't count on much.

Edited March 1, 2012 by FMod