[Solved] Best system upgrade for $250-$275

Hello,Tom's Hardware community! I have a bit of a problem regarding a future upgrade for my computer. My birthday is coming up in about a month, and my parents promised me that they would pay for an upgrade to my current system. Now, my budget is relatively tight for what I'm trying to buy. Initially, no budget was set regarding components, but I decided to stay fairly conservative on price, in the 300$-325$ range. I presented what about 2 months of research had led to on the components I wanted, only to be shot down, and told that I needed to cut the price to about 250.00$ to 275.00$ range. Currently, I'm running an HP Pavillion Phoenix SE a6755y desktop (Google that for system specs), but upgraded with a Corsair Builders' series 600w power supply and a XFX Radeon HD 6870. I plan to keep the hard drive, disk drive, network card, power supply, and graphics card, and use the new setup as a mid range gaming PC. So, what I need your help with, is finding the best performance for that price range

Necessary components:
Motherboard-Must have at-least 1 PCI-e x1 slot, and 1 PCI-e x16 slot for network card and ATI HD 6870, DDR 3 1333 support
Case- Something, anything that has better airflow than a stock HP case, would prefer straight black, or if applicable, blue LED
Memory- 8 GB DDR3 1333
Processor: Doesn't matter as long as it's decent for gaming, at-least 3.0GHz

What I'm looking at now:
Motherboard:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135250
Case-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119227
Memory-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231417
Processor- Phenom II x2 3.4ghz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103912 or
Athlon II x4 3.1GHz-http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103885
If any money is left over-Extra case fan- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835103060

*I may or may not be able to get a decent discount on the processor, because the father of a friend of mine works at AMD.

You help will be greatly appreciated!!!!!

If you can get a good deal on an AMD processor then phenom II x4s are the best gaming cpus they make. You should easily be able to fit one into your budget.

For Intel bases computer you will be looking at an i3 most likely. generally the i3 is slightly faster in games than an AMD processor.

both intel and amd have motherboards starting at around $60. The cpu should be about $130 and the ram is about $50. would fit into your budge.

the i3 is better at less threaded applications while a phenom iix4 is better for multi threaded applications. Gaming generally favours the i3 if you don't OC the phenom, the i3 however cannot overclock.

yes the case will have good air flow.

I suggesting getting a quad core cpu as it should provide better future proofing, even if its less ghz.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103995

Why are you concerned about network card slot? Most motherboards have built in Network adapter so you do not need to use your old network card in the new mobo ( unless it is some fancy network card that claims to have magic powers to pawn your enemies in games).

Looks to me like you didn't really read my wall of text... Just those two items already put me out of my budget range, and i still need a case and memory.

You are a kid who certainly know the right questions to ask. I myself will go for the 960T. For 25% additional cost, you have double the # of guaranteed cores. So unlocked or not unlocked, you got yourself a better deal with the 960T.

Best answer selected by Volklskier25.