PC upgrade advice

callitsleep89

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Seattle
I have a PC (used for both work and gaming) which I am hoping to start upgrading, albeit gradually. I was looking into getting a case to start with (as everything is quite cramped and the cooling is inadequate at the moment), but then would also like some advise on what I should look to upgrade first. While price isn't a huge issue, I would prefer to keep it under $500 or so in total.

Any advise would be helpful, and if any more information is required, please ask. Thanks.

Motherboard Chipset: AMD 785G
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 925 2.8 GHz
Memory: 8GB DDR3
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 ti
PSU: Rosewill CAPSTONE-650 650W Continuous @ 50°C, Intel Haswell Ready, 80 PLUS GOLD, ATX12V v2.31 & EPS12V v2.92,
 
For work it is simply word processors and web research, nothing taxing. For games, at the moment I am playing Final Fantasy XIV, but would like to be able to play some newer games as they come out.
 
500 total?

Lucky for you, the Phenom 2 is still a decent CPU that you can get away with for a while. Should you upgrade it later? Yes, but for now there are more important things.

First and foremost, the GPU. Gaming is ALL GPU, well, 90% GPU. For $250 I would buy an eVGA GTX760. To give you perspective, it's even faster than a GTX580 comparing that to your 550ti.

After that, your case since you want a new case, and an SSD. If you actually use your PC for work, having an SSD can really increase productivity simply because it makes all general applications faster. Loading OS, loading software, loading your browser, you get the picture. I would get a 120GB Corsair Neutron GTX or a 128GB Samsung 840pro. Then use whatever HDD you have now as a data/storage drive for large games/Valve/Origin folder.
 
That's pretty much personal preference and how much you really want to spend on it. A good place I usually tell people to start looking is the Corsair 200r. Simple, cheap, looks good, and gets the job done with cable management holes and good airflow.
 
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