I did a ton of trying to read up on PC parts, chatted with friends about it, used some parts compatibility tools and learned what the fuck a chipset and how an ATX motherboard is different than a mATX motherboard, so now we have a general still work in progress outline for a PC overhaul. we even have a basic little spreadsheet
I think if we're getting a new motherboard it's gonna be essential that it's up to snuff. I specifically looked for an LGA1700 one because it'll give me better compatibility with newer gen Intel Processors (which I still need to look into later), and I avoided the Z series chipset and the B series too for price reasons, I'm not sure what overclocking is so realistically we don't need a top of the line Enthusiast motherboard that would allow that. Our GPU is gonna get transferred, I don't even wanna think about GPU prices in brazil. The Case! I looked at some best cases guides and looked at several models too, the black one was cheaper than the white case by a considerable amount (~150 BRL or something stupid like that), and it says it fits all mATX motherboards, which that Asus Prime H610M-E D4 says it is. I looked at the dimensions of the GPU and cross referenced that with the case and it seems like it'll fit fine, looked at specs in the MSI website and then the case page even says "max VGA size" so I'm 90% sure that's gonna be fine. Obviously (well, not to me a few days ago) the DDR3 RAM we have stuck on this current 2012 Gigabyte motherboard isn't gonna fly with the ASUS one so we're gonna have to look into new hopefully cheaper DDR4 RAM, and our current PSU seems to be up to the task of powering all of this for now. It has failed once before and should probably be replaced but we're not made of money and it's working fine for now so it'll be used. Current plans are to buy the case this month and maybe pay for the motherboard next month in installments, we'll see how financials are looking then, but this all feels super attainable within a few months, maybe. I'll try and work extra hard on art, commissions and hopefully put some of next month's patreon money towards the PC overhaul, and when everything's ready to go (mostly the case, motherboard, ram), I think I should be able to transfer the innards of my aging PC to the new case? SSD shouldn't be hard to install at all, I'm not going to bring forward this optical drive we have nor an even older aging HDD, but that should be a pretty okay set up if all goes well and no freak incompatibility accident happens. I'm super excited, my day was mostly hyperfocusing on this (and then Ashley did some art later on stream) and I'm vibrating slightly at the idea that I can have a brand new* PC in a case I don't hate that should hopefully be able to be cleaned better, plus it even comes with 2 coolers so that's nice.
*mostly new, GPU is gonna have to take it a few more years
the spreadsheet has colors and better labels now. also I'm super super excited that I'm gonna get a package delivered soon aaa, and little does my cat know she's gonna get a big cardboard box probably to fuck around in.