old timer back in the game

[o0akoni0o]

Lets just say its been a while since I have been on the forums ....

My faithful everyday Macbook finally called it quits and I am trying to revive/upgrade my rather old gaming rig. Simply looking to spend my money in the best way possible with what I have now.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming and everyday workstation

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$700-800

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
San Jose, CA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

CPU
MOBO
RAM
Video card
HD

For reference here is my current setup. Leaving it up to the experts here on what to keep and how to best spend my budget.

Intel C2D E6600
Thermalright 90???
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
evga geforce 8800GT 512MB
Patriot DDR2 4GB
Seasonic ss-650HT 80+
older Antec Solo
DVD Burner
SATA drives
Creative x-fi card


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Leaving it up to the experts here on what to keep and trash


6) Will you be overclocking?
Not hesitant to do so if there is a good value out there

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920x1080 24" IPS LCD

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
SSD
I'm obviously behind the new lingo and tech, so ideally anything that makes this as future proof as possible

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 8.1 Pro 64

 

[Dangman]

OUt of the parts you listed, the only part you really can reuse is the sound card and the SATA drives. If the DVD burner also uses SATA, then that can be reused as well. While that PSU was of good quality at one point, it's probably over 6 to 7 years old now. I would replace it to err on the side of caution.


$175 - Intel Core i5-4430 CPU
$100 - MSI Z87M-G43 Intel Z87 mATX Motherboard
$60 - Crucial Ballistix BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$205 - MSI R9 270X GAMING 2G Radeon R9 270X 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$100 - Samsung 840 Evo 120GB SSD
$21 - LG GH24NS95B DVD Burner
$86 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU
$27 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF
$60 - Corsair Carbide Series 200R ATX Case
---
Total: $813 plus tax and shipping.

It's going to be overbudget by $100 once you factor in tax but I think it's a worthwhile purchase. But if you have to save money, drop the Cooler Master HSF (I put it in there since I know San Jose can be hot sometimes) and downgrade the video card to the HD 7870 Ghz Edition for $175 shipped plus tax:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202025

The difference between the two cards is that the Sapphire HD 7870 is 10% slower, has a shorter warranty at 2 years (MSI is three years), and significantly crappier customer support by Sapphire. Up to you if the $30 in savings is worth it.

I would highly recommend keeping that SSD in at all costs since your drives are probably old as well and may bottleneck the system.