Major PC upgrade.. .advice please??

[scriptm0nkey]

Hey people,
I built my PC about 4 years ago now. This is what I got at the moment
ASUS P5ND2-SLi NF4 SLI, S775, PCI-
ATI x1950 Graphics card
Intel Pentium D 805 Socket775 , S
2GB (2X1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR
Vista Ultimate
4x 250 Gb Maxtor 6V250F0 DiamondMax 10
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - P4 u

Ok so my builds getting pretty out of date now, ideally I wanna upgrade my CPU, memory and graphics.

But anyway I got some questions for ya..

I'm looking for a quad core CPU, but which is the best value?
will I need to change my Motherboard seen as quad cores wern't around when it was built??
If I do change my Mobo which would you recommend and do I need to do a clean install of vista??
What graphics would you recommend or see as good value at the moment??
I would love some room for over clocking the CPU...

I'm looking to spend bout £300 - £400 on an upgrade. I want to scavange as much from my current build as possible really.


Cheers for any advice you can give.

Scriptm0nkey

 

[Shadow703793]

P45-DS3x/P45-UD3x or P35-DS3x or P5Q (all are good boards for OCing)
Q6600
4GB DDR2 800
4830(or 4670)
Corsair 400CX or other good quality PSU

Re-use OS, HDD,DVD RW, HSF and case(may be).

 

[bager85]

You will need a new mother board
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=P5ND2-SLI&product=1
So any Intel based chipset will do, the p45 being preferred.

You can reuse the ram if you are on a budget and there is no point in getting 4 GB if your operating system is 32bit since your system will not recognize all of it.

As for the cpu if you want quad core the q6600 or q8200 are both solid, I prefer the q8200 as it is easier to find and is 45nm but if you want maximum over clock the q6600 is a better choice. Depending On your use for the system I would consider getting a E5200 and spending more money on the other components (motherboard, psu, etc) than upgrading to a q9000 series as prices are still falling and new models are being produced. The 5200 over clocks extremely well and few applications are 4 core optimized anyways.

As for video cards the 4800 series or 4670 are solid just make sure in that case your board has crossfire as you will likely want to add a second card at some point

 

[scriptm0nkey]

Thanks guys,
Gonna go for the Asus p5q-e Motherboard,
Gonna go for the e5200 processor, your right in that very few apps I use will be optomized for Quad core... so i'm gonna wait.
i'l go for the 4670 graphics.. Cheap and i could easily get anotherone some day.
Plus I wanna get this case just for shits and giggles: http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Logisys-Pre-assembled-Acrylic-UV-Blue-PC-Gaming-Case/1865023/product.html?cid=133635

Thanks for ya advice