Help me spend $400!!!

So I have a budget of $400. I want to get back into gaming, so updating my system is a must.

My options are to get a PS4, or upgrade my old "gaming" PC.

Current PC Specs:

Phenom X3 720 BE

4gig DDR3 1300 RAM

Radeon 5750

Earthwatts 500W PSU

Antec Sonata III case

I've really wanted to build a new PC for some time now, but haven't had the funds or desire to do so. Now I possess both of those and want to get started.

After some research, I'm leaning towards picking up X4 760K, a 750 TI, and a FM2+ Mobo. This comes up to around $350, so I have a little extra to spend elsewhere.

Can I get more performance for my dollar by going a different route? I would like a decent upgrade path as well if all possible.

Thanks for any help ahead of time.

There isn't much u can do to upgrade your PC, your CPU is old which means your motherboard is ancient too so you have to change them both, add more RAM too, obviously change the GPU and probably the battered and bruised PSU too.

In short, u need a new PC altogether and 400 isn't enough.

What everybody's saying... My theory's always been -- when you need a new processor, you need a new pc. With that said, if you prefer a pc, you can buy a new motherboard and processor and keep the rest of your parts, seeing that those will at least run games decently. You can always upgrade everything else later when you have more money.

Or you can just get a ps4 and not worry about the hassle.

if you only have 400 get a ps4... like said, you would need nearly everything replaced to get something decent.

When i upgrade my pc, i go all out and get the best I can within reason (i dont buy 1000 dollar cpu, or a 1000 gpu, but something in the upper end). Save up more coin and build a powerful pc if your really wanting that or get a ps4 in the mean time.

AMD 8320 is 99 dollars at microcenter

Pick up a motherboard for 50 dollars at microcenter

Get a gtx 760 for around 200-250 or a r9 270x at 200-210 dollars. Then Wait a for a ram sale to pop for to 50 dollars some time in the future

OR

Go for an r7 265. Get that over the 750ti. It uses more power but it more powerful than a 750ti. Use the extra money for a ram upgrade.

This is good assuming the sale is still going on (last time I checked the 8320 was out of stock but the FX 6300/8350 where still there) and assuming he even lives near a microcenter (deal is in-store only and theres only like 20-25 locations in the entire USA)

A decent upgrade for that GPU will be 660 Superclocked or 760, that's a 200-250$ upgrade.

Your case is not good enough due to no cable management;

4Gb of RAM might be enough for some older games with Windows XP running on it, but today as a standart it's 8Gb needed.

PSU brand is crap so I wouldn't keep it, CPU is old.

I could build you a great gaming PC for 550$, but that's the min to actually feel boost in performance, I'd say save your money and come back when you have a budget of a 600$ or buy a PS4.

Here's another great build http://pcpartpicker.com/p/34CGC but again it's a 500$ budget PC, not a 400$ one.

If it was me I'd sell that PC for a reasonable price and get some more money on the side trying to get at least 700$ and you could a good gaming PC. That's what I would do, not buy a PS4, it's already out dated (that's what people say).

I say get the PS4. It's an awesome system

But if you had to spend $400 on your PC I'd say to spent the bulk of it on a new video card and whatever other modifications you'd have to make to support a new card

Earthwatts is a series of PSUs by Antec, who make good power supplies.

http://store.antec.com/Category/power_supply-earthwatts.aspx

$400 - http://pcpartpicker.com/p/356h3

Ok, but that's still an old PSU that aged so the capacity went down.

Besides you can get Corsair CX500 for 30$ which is dirt cheap

Keep case , power supply, hard drive and Ram

Buy an FX 8320 and an AM3+ mobo for about 200-220 and an nvidia gtx 660 for about $180-200 ( damn those AMD prices are overblown ) and you have yourself a good gaming pc again

If you can spend an extra $50 go for a core i5 4430 and a compatible mobo ( not that 8320 is anything to scoff about but core efficiency makes the i5 faster in most cases while consuming less power with the downside of not been overclockable )

This is real solid IMO.

I suggest him saving up more money and building a new PC, not wasting money on that ancient slug. On a sidenote the PS4 is not really out-dated, we've yet to see the best it can do.

Spec wise its dated for sure (and this is coming from a current ps4 owner). Its using a CPU that's used on lowend laptops ( a phenom x4 from 2008 is significantly faster than the ps4 CPU) and the GPU is midrange by 2012 standards.

No amount of optimization will make it groundbreaking at all (The xbox 360 was using a $500 GPU equivalent when it came out, My sub $200 7870XT at 1.2ghz is as fast as the xboxone and ps4's GPU COMBINED).

We're still going to see future games look even better. Sure it won't be on PC levels, but I see it improving over time with more optimization and when developers get more used to the new tech.

Game will look better but my point was its dated spec wise so this is going to be the lowest jump visually we have ever seen from generation to generation.

Its literally going to be sub 720 jumped to sub 1080p, advanced settings turned off/30Cap as usually, and base setting turned up two levels (mostly low to mostly high).

These kits are easy to develop on (consoles are using PC architecture/dev kits for the first time) so I doubt where going to see that huge gap we saw last year (ex: COD 2 to COD MW2). Its not going to take the developers 3-4 years to learn how to freaking program the CPU (PS3s Cell processor was a pain in the ass along with all the other custom parts).

Yeah you're not wrong there. I must admit the graphical jump so far hasn't been anything special, I guess PC and last gen has already spoilt me.

I forget MS policy but if you change to many things out, you got to buy a new OS It might be better to get a new PC with a weak GPU and nice CPU and add a new GPU to it.

A good deal, don't forget you have to pay for a new OS with that.

You shouldn't have to. All you do is re-install windows and then call there support and tell them you upgraded (they will give you a new product key).

I did this same exact thing about a year ago (upgraded my motherboard, CPU, and ram). I did there activation via telephone and they re-activated my copy of windows with a fresh key

YMMV, in other words, I wouldn't count on it. This article says if you have a full retail version (non OEM) you can get a key. If not you may have to buy the key. http://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/feature/How-Windows-7-hardware-upgrades-affect-licensing

still even with OEM version there is a high chance it will work. I changed motherboard and CPU yet my OEM key worked perfectly fine

I had OEM and it worked fine (OEM copies are tied to the motherboard so I needed another key). I had windows 7 OEM and they gave me a new key with no questions asked.

Getting a new key is so much of a joke that the re-occurring joke is that Microsoft gives away keys like hotcakes