Please, give me some advice

[Oddworld]

Ok, here is the deal.

I've saved up about $500 dollars to upgrade this computer. This computer was a gift from my parents and this is basically the model. It runs 32 bit windows vista.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103133

I didn't really do much to it during the 1 year I had it, all I really did was replaced the graphics card with a 9800gt 512mb and replaced the previous power supply with a 650w one.

So now that is out of the way I am looking for advice on what I could do to upgrade this pc with the $500.

So here is what I was thinking
• Replacing the motherboard with one that is capable of sli and is also good for overclocking the Q6600 which I currently have
• Purchasing another 9800gt to run in sli
• Purchasing 4 gigs of RAM to replace the old ram modules
• Purchasing a new case and cooler which will allow me to overclock the Q6600 to at least 3ghz

So, please, tell me what you think. Is it worth it? Is there somthing else that can be done?

I know that cyber monday is tommorow so please tell me the parts and such which would be good for the job.

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[rolli59]

On your budget you will do fine. All your 4 points are valid upgrades but a single HD4870/90 or GTX260 would be a good graphics upgrade even if you skip all the other steps.

 

[jsc]

Motherboard for OC'ing a Q6600: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L - $90 - $100. I have one of these running a Q6600 at 3.6 GHz. But it does not support SLI.

The stock cooler is good to about 3GHz. For anything higher than about 3.0 GHz, you will need better cooling. Here are two under $50 heatsinks that are pretty popular:
Sunbeam
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835207004
Xigmatec Dark Knight (Ihave a couple of these.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

They both require a somewhat different approach to applying thermal compound.
Suggestions for applying thermal compound:
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=170&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=5

And they are pretty large, so they might not fit inside your case.

And here's a good budget cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134
It's good to about 3.2 - 3.3 GHz.

Now, here's the big question. Have you considered upgrading to a P55 system?

 

[Oddworld]

Well yes, as a matter of fact I have thought about just leaving this computer as is and straight up building another one with an intel core i5 750 but would it really be worth it?