What I have (good parts vs crap):

-MSI 7870
-Corsair 500W v2.3 80+ bronze
-WD passport 1 TB external
-Nice large monitor
-Decent smaller monitor

Elite HP 150T desktop case (optical, sd, usbs, smart media, mp5, 1394 inputs) only use mini SD/USB inputs though
500gb seagate HD (from '09 or '10)
3x 2gb junk RAM
Iona GL8E mobo http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02014355&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en
generic microsoft/hp mouse & keyboard
Logitech 5.1 , 5 speaker setup with 1 or more speakers not working (footsteps in cs don't exist for me)
What I want: take the bolded parts, replace the crap parts = new computer. replace all crap parts or only the necessary replacements (RAM +mobo). I was thinking of using my10% cash back coupon +40$ back on visa checkout + whatever deals/price matching Tiger Direct is capable of.

Priorities: Budget/Reliability > Performance > looks/ kwh efficiency / quietness - Don't need to replace everything, e.g., speakers can be replaced by headset. Start from RAM+mobo, add next best deals to get combo discounts, etc

I think that's all for now, I'll post what I come up with when I can get to it.

This post was edited by ForTheMathematics on Dec 17 2014 06:03pm

uhh I just opened afterburner and my CPU cores are running at 90-99 c. shutting down.

That was messed up.

Also, my CPU is a i5 750 @ 2.66ghz. I think that's fine to keep.

Wow, my CPU limits me to this mobo:

Intel DP55WG - 179.99

Time to reconsider things.

Your CPU isn't a limiting factor, simply get a normal tower from Zalman, Cooler Master etc. - an ATX one with at least 2x 12cm fans.
i5-750 works on most of LGA 1156 boards, the only problem is the fact, that lga 1156 aren't produced anymore since few years or so. So you won't get a brand new one any cheap (and they techincally won't be so new even if never used).
Be more specific about the budget.
Your i5 is capable of 3.8-4GHz~ with decent cooler, it's the same level of performance when OC'ed as i5-2500k at stock.

Right, I was just assuming partpicker knew all. Or rather, partpicker would be able to find more than those two mobos if they existed

And yeah I did leave out a specific budget. I put budget/reliability as first priority without a specific $ amt because I believe in quality parts that can outlive their 'cost'. So, if you see a great deal on a quality part, I'm willing to extend my budget. For now, just the mobo and RAM are necessary, as cheap as possible without sacrificing quality. And if I were to go extreme budget/performance ratio, I'd probably see the best return on my dollar by getting some new thermal paste, maybe a cooler, compressed air and do some early spring cleaning + 1x more of whatever crap 2gb ram I have for 4x 2gb (15-20$ prob).

I'm just hunting for deals right now though, does this clarify my thought more?

This post was edited by ForTheMathematics on Dec 18 2014 12:18pm

As clear as it is, it's impossible to help you any more without you being more specific. Quality has different prices, you just have to set the maximum amount you want to spend on that machine.
If the Seagate 500GB has a good smart/health status I'd keep it.
The "junk" ram is probably 1333MHz DDR3 which is fair enough too.
If I were you, I'd get:
- a decent, used motherboard (ofc tested) from well known bidding/selling portal - P55 is the best chipset possible for this cpu
- a decent new or used tower cooler with 12cm fan - 212 Evo, Raijintek Themis or other close to their price and then, overclock as high as you can
- a new pc case (ATX) with bottom PSU mounting and at least 2x 12cm fans.
Keep:
-MSI 7870
-Corsair 500W v2.3 80+ bronze
-WD passport 1 TB external
-Nice large monitor
-Decent smaller monitor
- junk ram - please upload a picture from cpu-z, tab SPD (for each of the stick) or memory

Sell all the rest.
About footsteps - hearing them on speakers will be quite difficult without keeping the volume really high - for multiplayer - headset only imo.

This post was edited by caezium on Dec 18 2014 12:49pm

This is what I needed to know. the rest sounds good to me, saw a nice cooler 27 after mail in rebate...PC case should be easy enough. Also, the harddrive doesn't stack up too well - 5.9 on the windows experience. And I do a lot of reading/writing so its sort of important, I could go with an SSD to compliment it, those are pretty cheap nowadays and I already have 2tb on my passport for storage

Yes ssd would help a lot
All the HDDs have 5.9 maybe 6.0 tops cause they are simply slower.
As for the ssd you need sataIII to get it's full potential and that makes finding the proper p55 board quite difficult