Upgrade or a brand new build?

Look, I know I might sound a bit clueless regarding all this, and some of my questions might seem pretty silly to you guys, but here we are... 😁
Basically, my PC is almost 7 years old now. It’s just not cutting it anymore—not for gaming, and honestly, not even for basic everyday stuff. When I try to play modern games, I have to crank everything down to the absolute minimum settings just to get an average of 20 fps. Some "heavy hitters" like Grand Theft Auto IV won't even launch for me. And don't even get me started on how painfully slow everything loads.

Here are the specs:
Volkswagen Jetta - Asus chassis
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7300 2.66 GHz
Motherboard - ASUSTeK Computer INC. Model - P5KPL-AM
BIOS - American Megatrends INC. 0409
DDR2
2GB RAM
Cooling - XpertVision 4 fans, though one of them is broken
GPU - Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT 512
Resolution - 1680 x 1050

I think that covers everything. What I really want to know is: does it make more sense to try and upgrade this old rig (basically a total overhaul), given that my budget is capped at $1500 $667, or should I just bite the bullet and buy a completely new computer?
Thanks for the help! 🙂

Personally, I’d put my money toward a new motherboard, a processor, and some RAM... If you sell off those old components, you could probably scrape together enough extra cash to pick up a decent new graphics card. By the way—what kind of power supply are you running right now?

Do you have a SATA interface on that hard drive? (you should be able to check via Speccy)
What power supply unit are you running? (you'll need to pop the side panel off the case to read the label)

Kimberly Gomez34 said:Do you have a SATA interface on that hard drive? (you should be able to check via Speccy)
What power supply unit are you running? (you'll need to pop the side panel off the case to read the label)

Hitachi HTS545032B9A300 ATA Device (SATA), 298GB
MS 400W ATX P4
I'm pretty sure those specs are right.😁

You could probably hang onto the case and that HDD, but everything else would need to be brand new

Since your drive is SATA, you can definitely repurpose it for some newer builds... As for the power supply, I’d really recommend swapping it out if you're planning on dropping in a beefier graphics card...

Building a totally new rig is definitely your smartest move here—unless you decide to hang onto that HDD or maybe a decent case if you've got one. Everything else? Honestly, it’s ready to be sold to someone who just wants to play older, lighter games, watch movies, or browse the web without needing anything heavy-duty.

Basically, there's zero point in throwing money at an old s775 platform. Since the rest of your parts are pretty weak, it wouldn't even make sense to just swap out the CPU or GPU—your power supply and that tiny amount of RAM are just going to hold you back regardless.

Alright. Thanks.