hey, all! my PC is really old - like 13 years old at this point - and it basically just can’t run modern AAA or even AA games

so it’s looking like I’m going to need to upgrade my CPU, my motherboard, and my RAM all at once. but I don’t know much at all about hardware

I don’t have a lot of money to do this upgrade but I’m still hoping that I can find some decent hardware. so could y’all please recommend hardware for me that fits these criteria?:

• I need a new CPU, motherboard, and RAM
• the motherboard has to be micro ATX to fit in my case
• right now I have $350 USD saved for the upgrade but if it ends up being more expensive than that I can always save for longer. I think the max I could pay would be $600 USD
• I actually have a really good GPU and power supply (though my power supply is pretty old at this point, so I’m just hoping it doesn’t give out 🤞) so I don’t need to upgrade these
• also I’d really like to be able to run these games smoothly:
  • Marvel Rivals
  • STALKER 2
  • Oblivion Remastered
  • modded Minecraft (so single-threaded performance matters too)

for reference my current CPU is an Intel Core i7-3770K

@kasdeya

are you ok with buying used hardware on eBay?

@pharmafemboy definitely! I don’t mind that at all

@kasdeya

here's a list of components, the cpu can be gotten cheaper on ebay, but I recommend buying the cpu cooler and ram new

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/cF9pYd

ebay link for cpu: https://ebay.us/m/end3rS

@pharmafemboy woahh thank you! I am so happy that this even fits into my (admittedly very tight) budget. I really really appreciate this 💙

@kasdeya

of course!

tbh, the main expense for a pc is going to be the gpu, but I'm not sure if you have one already or if you need a new one of those, so I omitted it for now (if you don't have a gpu, you'd need to get a 5600g cpu instead, since it has an integrated graphics card)

if I included a budget discrete gpu like an Intel b580, that'd add another 300 usd to the price tho

@kasdeya for about $450, you could upgrade to a ryzen 9600X, which is current-gen and will run circles around the 3770K
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wMstgn

@kasdeya had this one locked and loaded bc i've been thinking about upgrading my own pc lol

@eclairwolf @kasdeya Just a friendly reminder to OP to budget for the motherboard as well, which depending on the features you want can range from $100 to $300 new

@pharmafemboy thankfully I already have a very good GPU (it was a gift from someone a year ago) so that’s not a problem at all. I’m pretty excited! I can’t wait to be playing modern games smoothly for the first time in like 5+ years

@eclairwolf oohh! omg this is really tempting tbh. I’ve been going back-and-forth between this and Grace’s 5600X recommendation. I have no idea which one I want to pick right now but I really appreciate this recommendation! it’s really good to think about

@GoteerTxuria @eclairwolf thank you! I’ve definitely been trying to keep this in mind. I’m pretty overwhelmed by the possibilities (and by everything you have to consider when choosing hardware) but I think I’m getting closer to making a decision