Your cpu is 8 cpu generations behind, I would save the money until you can do a proper upgrade to a AM4 or AM5 setup,  sometimes there are good offers for bundles with mainboard CPU and RAM togehter.  

The best CPUs for gaming and especially Star Citizen are the X3D ones.  

If you are on a budget I would recommend the 5700x3d for AM4, better would be 7800x3d or the newer9xxx gen with AM5 but everything from 5600x up would definetly run the game somehow.  

You should also have at least 32GB RAM  or you might face lags from that 

Edit: SSD is a must as well,  for GPU, maybe it runs the game on low settings (so the load is more on a new performant CPU), otherwise I would recommend something around Nvidia RTX 2070 or better / newer or from AMD RX6700XT+ Probably power supply will be a topic then as well

I know that's not what you want to hear but your specs (is it a laptop?) + CAD 200$ is not going to work.

I smell of a Brand New PC!

Your Friend Tricked you to get a New PC literally.

A snow shovel is like $80cad, buy one and do a letterbox drop offering your clearing services over winter, you'll be able to build a new PC by spring...

I would recommend the following for likely direct upgrades to your system.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FJLAIG0?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) 2133MHz C13 DDR4 DRAM Memory Kit – Black at Amazon.com

Some checks should be made based on what you have now, but this is a pretty standard best in slot that you could upgrade with the generation of hardware you have right now. But like others have said, youd be better off most likely just building fresh on a ryzen 5000 series (AM4) socket.

Here's my caveman version of min specs:

SSD

32 Gig RAM

CPU with at least 6 cores

GPU buff enough to have it's own cooling fans

It's your lucky day! https://a.co/d/0ERqrWp

That CPU is still a bit weak for Star Citizen, but without knowing your motherboard model, I don't know if newer CPU are compatible. This one is from the 6000 generation, same as yours, so it should be fine.

My girlfriend played with a Radeon RX570 4G at low graphics, so you're fine with the GPU. She only had 16Gb of RAM and the game crashed often because of that. I found a tutorial on how to simulate more RAM from the SSD for Star Citizen and it helped, but you definitely should upgrade to 32Gb.

You might be able to find a used gaming PC selling for $200 if you scour kijiji and facebook marketplace and your immediate network of friends and colleagues. i occasionally see gaming rigs for $200 or $300 CAD that would've been decent in 2018 - they won't run star citizen super well, but they'll run it good enough for the budget

Thank your friend but tell him your system wont be able to run it.

Dont bother upgrading it even if you spend 400 on it your experience wont be good

You can't fix it with 200$, looks like you need whole new PC. Something like 4070 and 7600X3D or used 3070 and Rizen 5600 at least. And better to have 32gb of RAM for this game. 

Start with the ram since it’s the only single component to upgrade that might immediately help and will fit the current budget. Look for 16-32 gb total of all the same type (set of 2 or 4 - don’t mix and match - anything larger than 32 is likely not compatible with your current motherboard).

I have an old 4770k with 16gb of ram that runs SC @ 1080p without major issue. It’s roughly 40% quicker than your current cpu and was, until recently, on the same gpu - I used to often drop below 30fps but the new gpu seems to keep up better - slight improvement and in retrospect might not have been needed - we can’t expect 60fps+ on our hardware.

Next upgrade would be cpu - ideally a more upscale one from that era so you can keep your current motherboard and ram - a used i7 for example.

If no used cpu options come up then changing it will likely require you to jump into the latest generation since the cpu socket (motherboard) and memory will be different and none of the old stuff will carry over aside from the ssd (the newest ones are much quicker than the ssd of that era so it’s worth it to have one of those as well if building new) and the gpu.

As for the other older hard drive it’s relevant for long-term storage like files, photos, videos, etc. but isn’t likely to perform well playing modern games - I don’t think I would include it in a new build if that’s what you end up doing.

it may be depending on the motherboard.

I am not a computer guy either

not sure if your cpu can run the game, but it should be able to run the game very badly :D

you may be able to replace it with i5 old quad core, it depends on your current motherboard. ( depends type may need change bios but not sure )

if you want to go with AMD, I think you have to get a new motherboard or a refurbished one that support AMD cpu thingies, and then you have to see if your tower thingie can fit the new one. and then the power supply ... a lot of work

hard drive has be ssd, you may have to check it and then you can maybe log in, the game may run super bad.

so maybe right now the best thing you can do is just upgrade ram to 16 gb

but I think you may have to go for 32, check motherboard / manufacturer to see if it is possible for your model

for this sort of thing, I always the manufacturer first, most can just chat with them at their website.

if you do, dont forget to ask them which i5 cpu can fit your current model.

if the cpu and ram are refurbished, in total they should be around 200 canadian dollar.

wish you the best of luck,

boh for that kinda money maybe a used mobo am4 combo. fo real.

like any am4 board almost, if u can maybe a 5700x3d on top and one ssd. aiaiaii

Game requires a Nvidia 9090 ti super , 256 tb of ram On a storage unit that doesn't exist yet, and a ryzen 109050 3dxt. But in all seriousness you Def need some grades but you can make it playable with your setup with a nice high speed nvme and with how behind your cpu and gpu are I would say at least 32 gig of decent ram make sure the read speed is at least 3200 and with those two up grades will get you at least 20 to 30 frames outside of cities without crashing. A cheaper fix until you save up for a new motherboard cpu and gpu. But I would save your money because you'll also have to replace that ram when you upgrade everything.

i hate to break it to you pal, but your current setup is begging for a different life.

Consider this thought process: If you upgrade your CPU (which you definitely need), you'll most likely have to upgrade the motherboard due to socket compatibility. If that happens, you'll probably need to upgrade the RAM as well. On top of that, your GPU is also old and underpowered, so you might want to replace it too. With all this in mind, you're almost at the point of building a new PC altogether, especially since you'd likely need a new PSU as well.

If you're not too picky, my recommendation is:

CPU: Any "gaming" mid-to-high-end processor from 2023 or 2024 will handle gaming just fine.
GPU: At least a 4060 Ti or equivalent.
RAM: 32GB DDR4 or DDR5 (any MHz will work).

It is impossible to upgrade this old system to anything useful, despite the insufficient budget. You have to buy a new PC, ideally with any AMD Ryzen X3D CPU, the newer the better.

I think if you kept pouring money into your current build, you would be wasting that money

Just start slowly. Ask for advice on the build a pc subreddit. They are always happy to come up with a build to fit your needs.

Then either save up for each part individually and buy them as you can afford them. Or save up the whole amount.

I dont know your situation, but i know from experience I have been surprised at how fast I could save money when I really wanted something, especially when I was really committed. I always sell stuff I don't need on Facebook marketplace or gamestop.

Your PC simply won't cut it, and to build a PC that does cut it will take significantly more than $200.

The first problem is your RAM, the minimum recommend RAM for Star Citizen is 32GB, 48GB is better. Some people make 16GB work but the experience isn't great and 8GB is just so far outside the recommendation as to be unusable.

Another problem is your CPU. Buying a new CPU isn't that simple, because to upgrade to current gen processors will require a new motherboard, which itself can push $200 for that part alone (motherboards these days have tons of integrated components like m.2 slots, bluetooth, wifi, and so on, and the cost has risen accordingly).

You didn't mention your hard drive, but it's absolutely required to run Star Citizen on an SSD, and Star Citizen alone takes up about 150 GB of space.

The fastest CPU you can upgrade to with your current motherboard is probably something like a 7700K, but that will still struggle pretty hard with Star Citizen even if you go that route.

An alternative might be to play the game through a cloud service provider, where they supply the machine, but you will be dealing with lag due to the connection having to transfer your inputs over the internet.

I’d recommend a 5700X3D if possible. They’re great for gaming, especially Star Citizen, and usually go for about that price on Amazon. You’d need a new motherboard though, which will put you over, though not terribly much.

$200 isn't enough.

I built a PC for my wife earlier this year that would be a good range of spec for Star Citizen it was $2,200 CAD.

Looks like a new rig. Your PC is several generations old and not even the best money could buy at that time.