I was given my first computer 7 years ago without having put any research into it. Now it's old and knackered and struggling to do basic things so it's time for an upgrade but I have absolutely no idea what i'm doing.

I want to get something capable of streaming on twitch at a reasonable quality (720p I guess?) without spending too much (between $500 and $1000). I read a couple of articles but I still feel pretty clueless. Don't fancy building one myself though I assume there will be places I can pay to put together the components I buy(?).

I've looked at a few basic gaming builds but I don't know how much they'd need to be upgraded to support streaming. Anyone able to help with this?

Also i'm currently running 32 bit windows, I assume i'll need to buy a fresh copy of 64 bit for my new pc?

TIA

If your really looking for cheap one. i suggest searching for 2nd hands in craigslist.
At least that way all the software you need is already on the PC. Look for something that was used by the owner around two month or less. If you only plan to use it for streaming, anything 4GB RAM and 3.6GHz would do.

Are you in the US or elsewhere?

And by streaming meaning you want to stream rather than watch streams I assume?

Also, other than like facebook and 2p2 and what not anything else other than streaming. What games are you going to want to play and what kind of fidelity do you want when you play them? How many monitors are we hooking up and what is their resolution?

Thanks for the responses.

Core i5 or Core i7 (6xxx or 7xxx model number, 4xxx or newer if you're going used), or AMD Ryzen 6 or 8 core model
8GB RAM minimum, 16GB preferred
256GB+ SSD for OS strongly preferred (SSD is a huge quality of life improvement,128GB will require more managing of space than I care to deal with)
2TB+ secondary drive for captured videos, Steam library, etc.
AMD 480, NVIDIA 970 or 1060 card for gaming.
Win10 x64

Literally anything that isn't 4 years old will run gwent just fine.

If you lived in the US I'd sell you my current PC, which would be perfect imo, as I'm thinking of buying a new one lol.

Also pcpartspicker.com if you wanna look at a custom build.

yeah craigslist or ebay for a used pc is probably your best bet

If you want to learn how to build your own PC, its a great hobby and I encourage it. If you just want to game and stream, buy a prebuilt box with a warranty and support. You have a reasonable budget and should be able to get what you're looking for. Asus makes suitable boxes in various form factors, Dell and Lenovo make some as well, or you can find a local white box builder to build to spec for a reasonable markup over parts cost. Used boxes can make sense if you're on a super tight budget or skilled in doing your own hardware and OS troubleshooting as needed, but can also be a big headache if your box is down and you have to pay for tech support.

This is worth thinking. Do you wanna be able to send the pc back/walk to shop and get them to replace it when something goes wrong, even pay a little bit more For extra support or want to get 2nd Hand or someone building it For you when you have to fix it yourself or pay For it.

Massive overkill

What do you have now? Why is it not up to task, and could that be fixed for little money?

The OP said they had a 7 year old PC. Best case scenario that's first gen Core i7. That's long in the tooth and they most likely weren't gifted a PC that high end. 32 bit Windows means they have at most 4GB RAM (minus any video RAM for total available), more likely 2GB.
Here are a couple starting points if you want to spec out and build a system.
Both of these are Core i5, 16GB, 250GB SSD, 2TB HDD and include a new Win10 license.
If you go this route, you should take a bit more time to select case, motherboard and cooler for features. If you want to trim a bit, you can drop to 2x4GB RAM and/or drop the 2TB secondary drive. GPU prices are a bit rough now due to mining demand. I consider these to be good general purpose specs for a 1080p gaming. It would be preferable to get a 6GB 1060, but would require boosting the budget. You could also go to a faster Core i5 SKU for $30-50 more.
1060 3GB build for $1055
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Dnr6zM
1050TI build for $933
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ZtbXQV