Upgrade Computer - suggest please??

[Ice_Black]

It has been a long time since I built my own computer, it is time for upgrade.

My budget is tight about £300

I would like to upgrade new a motherboard, CPU, and RAM. I think everything else is fine.

What do you suggest?

Current spec of my PC:

AMD Phenom II X4 945 3GHz
4.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2
ATI Radeon HD 5670
120GB Samsung SSD (for OS)
1TB Samsung Hard Drive
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC. M3A78-T
CORSAIR HX 520W MODULAR PSU
OS: Windows 8.1


Video Encoding, Web Development, VirtualBox, etc.

I don't play games

 

[Ice_Black]

if your budget wasn't that tight, about 50 quid extra on top of 300 buys you E3 1231v3, 16GB + MB.

for video encoding, I think it's worth it.

if you could live with 8GB for the start, you could make it 300.

can you show me the links?

I thought E3 is usually for Server.. how is it different from i7?

 

[Ice_Black]

I increase my budget to £400

What Asus Motherboard, 8 or 16GB and i7 CPU should I get?