building a gaming computer

[KillaAce101]

Hello I want to make a gaming computer. Right now i have a dell dimension E521 with a nividia graphics card and 5 gigs of ram. The processor is like 5 years old now is a AMD 64 athlon X2 3.2 Mhz. what im looking for is a quad core processor with 4 slots for memory and 2-3 fan plug ins and im using this case"COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 Black Steel / Plastic Computer Case" and my money limit is 0-350$(all i need is the cpu and mother board)

 

[Indigo]

First of all, you'll have to buy another case most likely, since that system uses the now defunct BTX form factor if I recall correctly. That I'll leave up to you since case appearance is up to users. This is what I would recommend, as the platform is just bullet proof for gaming. As long as your video card is PCI Express, you should be fine. Also, I had to include the RAM because you likely won't be able to move the memory that was in the AMD system over to this one.

Motherboard:
Newegg.com - ASRock H61M-VS LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor:
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2300 Sandy Bridge 2.8GHz (3.1GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52300

New Memory:
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT


If you'd rather do AMD, this is what I recommend:

Motherboard:
Newegg.com - MSI 880GM-E41 AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Processor:
Newegg.com - AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFGMBOX

Memory (same as above):
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT

Total Cost for Intel: $279.97
Total Cost for AMD: $204.97

Even though the AMD is cheaper, I'd go the Intel route, it'll be much faster than the AMD in this case, and will last you longer as well.