So on this years income tax I'm planning on giving my PC an upgrade with a budget of under $450 and I'm American. My current specs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116399

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157236

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226092

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182131

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908

I have a 250GB Western Digital HD that was bought for me when my previous drive died. I highly suspect it is low end.

I would primarily like to upgrade my CPU which would also mean upgrading my MoBo. Idealy I would like to get a quad core, something clocked over 3.0 that could run games like Skyrim, Battlefield 4, DayZ, Fallout 4, which I know that we know nothing about but having a CPU that could take whatever it may throw would be good. Essentially I would like to get one that would last me a few years before I need to consider upgrading again.

The Mobo does not have to be extravagant but would of course need to run the CPU and have at least 1 PCI-E 3.0 slot (for future upgrades or if you guys can help me figure out how to get one on my budget now)

RAM would be secondary, I would like to get to 8GB. Either 2 4GB sticks or an extra 2 2GB sticks to pair with my current would work.

I would like to get the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236345 to upgrade my current drive as it does seem to be slow at times.

Now if possible I would absolutely love to get something to upgrade my current GPU. As long has better processing and at least 2GB of VRAM I would be happy.

EDIT

Forgot to mention that chip manufacturer is not a big deal for me. AMD, Intel, Nvidia; their all good as I am not a really devoted fan of any of them. So long as their product can run the games I want to play I'll be happy with them.

Budget?

Edit:

Sorry, thought you meant $450 was what you were replacing.

Give me a few minutes.

How old is your current power supply?

What i suggest:

1) Mobo: ASRock B75M-DGS LGA 1155 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157362&Tpk=ASROCK%20B75M-DGS 55 USD (It has one 1 x PCI Express 3.0 slot, as 1x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s connector)

(only downside is, that Mobo's with 4 memory slots costs more)

2) Keep your 4 GB for now !!!!! (You shouldn't have problem playing with 4 GB of ram anyway...)

3) Processor: s1155 Core i5-3340 Processor 3.10 GHz: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116943 195 USD

4) HDD:WD Black WD5003AZEX 500GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236345 72 USD

5) GPU: 2 GB PCIE ATI Radeon HD7790 GIGABYTE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125454 140 USD (And yes, it has a PCI Express 3.0 x16 bus interface)

END PRICE: 462 USD

The good news: The HD7790 is far better as the HD6850 and it can operate with an 450 Watt PSU. !!!!! http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4509#ov

The CPU is incompatible with that MB. Well, it was before you edited it.

Assuming the same PSU, I'd keep the GPU for now until it's needed and put that money towards something else, such as a better MB.

Here's what I'd recommend:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131989
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116896

That's correct with the CPU, i corrected it....but suggesting a 200 USD Mobo. !!!!!!!

He want's actually buy a HDD too, and - "Now if possible I would absolutely love to get something to upgrade my current GPU."

What's with those ???????

I like to think in terms of longevity as opposed to "good enough". His video card will hold up for a while longer, so he could go with a motherboard that will hold up better as well.

Hmm, i thought exact the same about the GPU as i saw it the first time, as it is a good GPU nevertheless. !!!!!

The CPU is the second best (?!?) you can get, as for the mobo i thing a 100 USD Mobo from Asus would do the job just fine for the OP.

Then you're looking at something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131995

The chipset is a step down from the Z87. It also lacks some of the features for future expansion, such as less USB ports. Of course, a hub could be used but those take up space and I've personally had issues getting them to work reliably.

That's exactly what i meant....

So the OP could get:

that Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131995 [check V] 100 USD

that nice processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116896 [check V] 200 USD

that HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236345 [check V] 72 USD

and last but not least another 2 x 2 GB Memory modules: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226092 [check V] 47 USD

SO ALL TOGETHER THEN: 419 USD

and he could upgrade the GPU in a future time....

-------------

WHAT DO YOU THING ?????

I would still take the Maximus, myself. It's more flexible and he won't need to worry as much about getting a better motherboard down the road. Of course, it is all up to the original poster. We're just debating the options here. We don't know what his future plans may be.

Fair enough.....

Thanks for all the help .

My future plans are pretty much to sit back and play some video games . I may do a little OC on CPU and GPU, I dont really plan on running XFire or SLI as I would rather just buy 1 really good GPU over running into the occasional game that flat out refuses to run two decent cards.

I have been doing some looking since my last post and here's what I came up with:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157304

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157304

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226092 (maybe)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236345

$420

Now like I said earlier I'm not opposed to jumping ship to AMD/Nvidia but I havnt dealt with AMD CPU in quite some time and have never used Nvidia GPU. I know generally AMD CPU are cheaper but not as powerful as the Intel competition.

Thoughts?