Come on, take a fucking wooden plank, put it on the armrests and you've got a flat surface for your mouse (and keyboard if you want to use it for that as well).
Why do you have to make this so difficult?

#9
What #10 said. The cooler worked fine so if it's overheating now (check that first), the only thing that could be at fault is the thermal paste. Even really good thermal paste will be <7$ and one syringe is usually enough for 3 to 5 uses (depending on the size). No need to get a new cooler.

#1651
The VG248QE is ancient, G-Sync and FreeSync didn't exist back then, so unsurprisingly it doesn't support either.
You want 120/144Hz I guess? IPS does exist with those refresh rates, it's just much more expensive. Viewing angles aren't that important for a monitor indeed (TVs are a different story), but the main advantage of IPS is actually better colour reproduction. You're right about LB.
Adaptive Sync is part of the display port specification. Basically Adaptive Sync is what VESA calls it, FreeSync is what AMD calls it. On HDMI it would be called FreeSync every time, on DP call it whatever you want. I just call it FreeSync since that encompasses both HDMI and DP, but most monitor will only support it on DP and therefore have it listed in the features as Adaptive Sync. Ah yes, the joys of marketing.
At first FreeSync used to have a lower frequency range (e.g. 48-72Hz or 96-144Hz) but that's a thing of the past now. E.g. the AOC G2460PG and G2460PF (identical except for G-Sync and FreeSync) both do 30 to 144Hz. With G-Sync you also get ULMB, which is Lightboost except with nVidia's blessing, and the privilege to pay 100$ for a G-Sync chip. Since FreeSync does the same now and nVidia actually used Adaptive Sync on some laptops (100$ premium for G-Sync and they wouldn't have been able to compete in the market) they are really just milking it right now.

With your budget if you want G-/FreeSync you should probably go for an AMD card and FreeSync. The 100$ premium for G-Sync would make it very difficult. Also Intel will support Adaptive Sync and at some point nVidia has to follow suit and finally admit they could've supported it all along.

Regarding the VG248QE: As I mentioned it's really old. The BenQ XL2411Z got better colours, is newer and also offers more options for strobing (via the "BenQ Motion Blur Reduction Utility", marketing at it again).

The AOC G2460PF got Adaptive Sync and is a bit cheaper but I'm not sure if it supports Lightboost now with the newest drivers. The G2460PG (G-Sync) does and is almost identical, but it's far more expensive and probably not within your budget.

Generally though if you only want strobing I'd stick with the BenQ. Sure, Adaptive Sync would be a nice bonus but the for the colours and strobing options I think the BenQ is still the better choice.

There are RAM kits with 2x4GB. The DDR3 kits on logicalincrements are for builds with motherboards that only support DDR3, come on, I already wrote that.

Let's just figure out the monitor, then I'll make a rough partlist and in the week before you buy I'll adjust it for current prices/deals.

So IPS is a no, 120/144Hz is a yes and 1920x1080 and 24" are fine? Then it really just comes down to Adaptive Sync vs Strobing.

#1649
Let's adress the laptop first: The parts are definitely not worn out, but they are indeed physically incompatible. Laptop RAM is a bit smaller, so it won't fit, mobile CPUs and GPUs are soldered to the motherboard or at least use a completely different socket. So you can't really reuse anything. Except for the HDD but that's usually not worth it, since the capacity you can get in 2.5" form factor (which laptops use for obvious reasons) just pales in comparision to a 3.5" HDD. If it's an SSD I'd still just get a new one because laptop manufacturers usually just use the cheapest they can get and removing it would also mean you'd have to buy a new HDD/SSD or the laptop would be unusable.

Some "easy" stuff regarding the monitor:
If already know what IPS, Lightboost/Strobing, G-Sync/FreeSync decide which of these (or a combination of them, in that case rank them) you want. If not read up on them and then decide. Also figure out the minimum resolution you want.

If you'd like to keep it below 800$ then that's probably your budget.

The first half is ok, there's some things I'd change, the 380 is cheaper and faster than the 960, you should get 2x4GB, not 1x8GB RAM for dual channel and then there's the question regarding Lightboost and so on. But nothing too wrong.
The second half however is a complete mess.
First of all a 250GB HDD + a 120GB SSD makes no sense at all. Even logicalincrements says so, a 250GB HDD is a low budget option. For the price of a 250GB HDD (~30$) and a 120GB SSD (>40$) you can easily get a 250GB SSD (>60$), which is way faster than an HDD, or if you're going for capacity you can get a 1TB HDD for <50$. You also have to decide on models at some point.
But the biggest problem is the mobo. I mean come on, you could've at least read the name "MSI 970 GAMING DDR3 2133 ATX AMD Motherboard". Do you honestly expect DDR4 RAM to fit when it says DDR3 in the fucking name?
Even worse you're trying fit an Intel CPU, which uses an Intel socket, LGA1151 specifically, into an AMD motherboard (socket AM3+ in this case), which has never worked.

Logicalincrements works fine but not if you just randomly select parts from 5 different builds. That's why it's a fucking colour coded table. Same column, same colour = interchangeable. Get one of each column in rows of the same colour. Done. That's your build.

Since the monitor is included in your budget and takes up a fairly sizeable portion of it, you'll have to answer the question regarding it (IPS, Lightboost, G-Sync/FreeSync, resolution, size) first.

Because TF2 and i3 with the same clockrate will actually be almost as fast (~95%) as an i5. The i3-6320 got a higher clockrate than the i5-6500, so it should actually be a bit faster, while being cheaper, or you could get an i3-6100 which is almost as fast, but only a bit over half the price of the i5.
You can also get away with a far cheaper GPU in TF2, so I think 800$ might be doable.

Btw I think you're getting +fragged because you asked nicely. Don't worry, I trashtalk everyone's build first and point out what they did wrong no matter what, that doesn't mean I'm trying to insult you (if it sounds like that again) or won't help you.

Why are you doing this? I put these things there so I can use the search function. Quoting a different post means I have to search manually again.

"maybe something around the same caliber as the processor quality" isn't a budget. "processor quality" isn't even a thing.

Also "cheap enough to run x" is literally the opposite of how it works. PCs don't get faster the cheaper they get.

If you're going for as cheap as possible you should check which parts are actually broken. Then we'll see how much it costs to replace those. Then maybe a better GPU for WoW.

https://i.redditmedia.com/-A1-eFsp17pYJL63gL8Auy4JtQhvlcJAx-cDuJqMcoQ.jpg?w=576&s=b2634be88da410d2b8ba77864dba2241

Sorry, I had to.

#1641
Basically what #1642 said.
In TF2 you'll be CPU limited pretty much all of the time so the 380 is plenty.
TF2 actually mostly cares about clockrate, so assuming the RAM wasn't ridiculously fast even assuming the best turbo clock for the 6400 (3.3) the 4790 (4.0) should still be quite a bit faster maybe 10-15%, assuming it's non-K, 4790K is even faster at 4.4.
Also that benchmark was on Linux, not sure how that compares to Windows in TF2 right now.

#1638
Looks fine.

I can look for a budget SSD, but the 850 Evo would be within budget I think. And the whole point of getting an SSD is for it to be fast.

Userbenchmark is nice to get a general idea but you have to look at random and mixed I/O, sequential all SATA SSDs will be more or less the same speed.

For the GPU: 2 vs 4GB won't make a difference most of the time, but if it's cheaper as well there's no reason not to get it. No you won't need a different PSU. The recommended PSU wattage is usually way higher than what you actually need because some shitty garbage tier brands sell e.g. a 200W PSU as a 350W PSU. Obviously it won't work when you actually need 300W. The whole 2x6 pin vs 1x8 pin is due to weird PCIe specifications. 8 pins are rated for 150W, 6 pins for 75W, when it should be 100W.

#1639
Well you don't need a new PSU, but an upgrade would obviously be nice.

950 and 1050 are in completely different performance categories (and the 1050 hasn't even been released yet), same for the 960 and 1060. The 1060 is almost twice as fast. I highly doubt you'll be able to find a used 1050 / 1060 before / slightly after release.

I have no idea what a used 960 costs in the US.

A new 380 should work fine though. Can be found for <150$ (see a few posts above), faster than a 960, get a CX450M for example and you're done.

#1636
No reviews, no idea.

#1634
SSD is the single biggest speed up in normal Desktop usage you can get. I mean if you don't want to boot in 10 seconds or have programs start instantly, then sure, you don't need it.

I have no idea what settings you're trying to run so I don't know whether or not you'll need a discrete GPU to get 150 fps.
You can get it as is, without the SSD if you choose to do so and see how it works. Then buy an appropriate GPU by comparing the fps you get to the fps you want.

#1632
It's 20£ over budget with a 75£ SSD. I'm not seeing how you could fit a 100£ GPU in.

#1627
EDIT: Basically i cba to do it properly right now, but here's a general idea.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£105.46 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: ASRock B150M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£62.49 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£38.99 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£74.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.99 @ Novatech)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£45.31 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£48.00)
Monitor: LG 24M47VQ 24.0" 60Hz Monitor (£104.92 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £522.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-04 12:54 BST+0100
For the PSU: http://skinflint.co.uk/corsair-cx-series-modular-cx450m-450w-atx-2-4-cp-9020101-eu-cp-9020101-uk-a1404819.html

Basically Overwatch will run like complete dog shit because integrated graphics, TF2 will be fine because TF2, CS:GO should be just about doable.
The only other way to do it would be to drop the SSD and cheap out on everything and that's really not a good idea in the long run.
So instead I'd just accept the limitations of the iGPU and get a good discrete GPU for 100-150 later if you want to play other games.

#1628
You forgot RAM and the XL2411Z is >200 both in USD and in GBP.

#1630
The mobo was some terrible low end bullshit.
If a PSU can't make 80+ Bronze then it's either terrible low cost design with only the cheapest components (obviously not good) or they saved the money by reusing a decade old design (obviously not good either). If they are using decent components and a recent-ish design but still fail to meet at least 80+ Bronze then their are just terrible at designing PSUs and I'd buy nothing from that manufacturer ever (keep in mind brand != manufacturer, e.g. EVGA don't build a single PSU themselves).

I saw you posted a part list including some stuff from microcenter (#1625).
Here's what you'll do: You'll go there and get a CPU + mobo combo.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/451887/Core_i5-6500_32GHz_LGA_1151_Boxed_Processor
http://www.microcenter.com/product/454324/GA-H170M-D3H_LGA_1151_mATX_Intel_Motherboard
The CPU 20$ cheaper than anywhere else, combined with the 30$ bundle rebate you're saving 50$.
Then you get this GPU http://www.microcenter.com/product/451824/Radeon_R9_380_2GB_GDDR5_PCIe_Video_Card
if it's in stock. Because that's how microcenter make money. You don't leave with just a CPU because it's 20$ cheaper than anywhere else. You leave with a CPU and a mobo and about a 13425$ worth of other parts.

And then you can build this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($180.00)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($58.99)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($32.27 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 120GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card ($147.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($42.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $622.09
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-04 06:10 EDT-0400

The GPU is also available from Newegg for almost the same price so that's not a problem.
The 850 Evo 120GB isn't available anymore in 2.5", but as M.2 it is. An M.2 slot is another one of the nice things that are standard on any decent mobo, but will be missing on some low end H110.
You could also get the 250GB version for 20$ more.
You can also get a different case, I don't care, too lazy to search.

#1625
The PSU is still shit.

That mobo is smaller and more expensive, but not any better.

What's your budget?

#1621

#1622
I think I'm missing some context.
Would buying a parts bundle make sense for what?

The bundle saves 23$, big deal. The mobo and PSU are terrible, no one should ever buy them.

#1623
Budget?

#1619
Which aftermarket versions exactly?
Fuck "future proofing". Go by which games you're playing now, maybe by future games that you know you'll play.
Since aftermarket versions of them are so close in terms of performance it's important which ones exactly.

Another thing if you want G-Sync/FreeSync that's an obvious advantage for the 480, FreeSync monitors are about 100$ cheaper and there's a whole lot more of them.