How should I upgrade my PC? (SOLVED)

[AVENTUS]

I got an AMD 6300, Nvidia GTX 970, 16GB RAM, 600W PSU and a pretty old Gigabyte Mobo.  My whole build cost me about $700, An SSD will help load times, but that's about it.  Like I said, consult PCPartPicker.  You really only need about 8GB of ram.  Different applications use different hardware heavily.  Some games rely on GPU and CPU, while some games rely on just GPU more.  Seriously though.  If you blindly go ahead and buy something that you think will work great for the money and find out it doesn't run with your hardware, you will be out of luck.  Please let me know if you have any further questions.  To protect your computer I would suggest also getting an extended power block with protection to protect your computer hardware from shorting.  Finally if you upgrade your CPU there are other factors to think about.  You may need a better cooler... Then you will have to make sure it fits.  Fan orientation is also a key.

[Cyborg-Rox]

17 hours ago, taiiat said:

when starting up your computer, the BIOS will generally have a screen which displays the current BIOS version.
then check that against the latest version on MSI's website, and if it's not up to date, then update it if the Processor you'd be moving to isn't supported on that version of the BIOS(the Compatibility page has a list of all supported Processors and what minimum BIOS version supported on). don't bother if you don't need to though, the usual recommendation is to not touch the BIOS version if everything is working fine already.

updating the BIOS for basically all manufacturers is as simple as downloading it, and then following the instructions. often multiple choices are given, pick whatever choice works for you.

 

Basic Input/Output System - in layman's terms it's the Operating System for the Motherboard.

 

if you can get games from Gamestop for $10, cool i guess - but i'm surprised it's that low, Gamestop has a reputation for buying very good condition games from people for like $6 and then reselling for $30-40.

i'm going to sound like a jerk but it should've been pretty obvious, the alternate Model Number you gave only tied to the P45 version, so idunno how someone found a different Motherboard.

Alright, that should be enough info to go on. Whether I'll actually upgrade my PC or get a PS4 I still need to think about though, but at least now I have a clear image of what I need to do for a PC upgrade.

Thanks to everyone for commenting and helping me to the best of your abilities.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Cyborg-Rox