Okay to start I know just a little about hardware.
I have a pre-made Hp kit I bought new in August of 2012.
When I open system settings>about I get
H8-1214
Googling this number I find
http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03154290 (which is an identical pc by the looks of it) but says 10 gigs memory and my system settings shows 8. I'm not sure how to exactly verify that all my hardware matches this, but processor matches for sure.About a year ago I wanted to update my graphics card. I went to bestbuy and bought what they recommended (based on my pc model number) only to find I didn't have enough power to run it. So I ordered a new power supply and went with a Corsair tx650M. After installing the new power supply and graphics card I turned on pc and it ran fine a few minutes then made a horrible grinding noise. I didn't know if it was the graphics card or power supply so I swapped them both back to original one at a time and found that the graphics card was the issue. I took it back and planned on buying a different graphics card when money wasn't so tight. After a month or so I found a XFX R7 260X for about $60 bucks used. Plugged it in and all was good. About 3 months later, not sure why, screen started blacking out. Monitor was still on, just wasnt getting signal, replaced cord, same issue, maybe the graphics card is faulty that's why guy was getting rid of it. I'm not sure why it blacks out and cant make it do it. It just does it when it feels like it. It seems like when I've got alot going on it happens more often, but i've had it happen when just browsing the net. I would say it happens about once a week.
My aunts husband is an IT guy at international paper and he took it for a couple of days and brought it back said he ran some tests and couldn't find any problems or recreate my problem.
My questions are:
1. Is there a way to track down this issue?
2. Is this PC worth investing into a new graphics card? (I know its almost 5 years old)
3. If not could I salvage certain parts to help with new pc costs? (OS, disk drive, HD, power supply, what else?)
Never built a PC before just looking for advice.