Spec me a new mobo/cpu/gfx please

[smr]

Hi all,

I am thinking of upgrading my computer and would like to keep my tower if possible. I last bought my computer in 2003 xmas time which is currently...

Blackwidow Case (coolermaster)
Abit IC7 Max 3 Mobo
2.8 P4 m0 chip
6600 GFX Card

I still really like my coolermaster case so would liek to keep this if possible...

I've got an IDE and SATA hard drive which aren't too old and can be used still... so I am after just a new Motherboard/CPU/Memory and Graphics Card.

I'd like 4gb of decent RAM, a nice mobo, Abit still the top dogs? and a GFX card to play games like Crysis etc. and all the latest dx10 games out on lushs gfx/fps...

Money wise I don't wanna be spending 500 quid on a graphics card or something daft but something fairly decent and not lower budget range, this applies to the cpu and mobo as well, and the memory ... which I see is fairly cheap nowadays even for the better stuff!... would the Q6600 fit the bill cpu wise? Seems a popular processor on this site...

I would do this myself, being a PC engineer but I ask for your kind help cos knowing how to fix computers and keeping up to date with the latest hard ware are two seperate entities as I'm sure you can imagine, last time I was realllly up to spec with everything was circa 2003

Thx!

 

[smr]

Thanks, interesting choices there. I suppose the Q6600 is a given considering it's hype around these parts, and from what I've gathered, rightly so.

I was speaking to someone on IRC the other day though who said the E8400 processor would be better for gaming as dual core processors are better for fulfilling the demanding nature of games atm and the quad cores aren't taking advantage of hardly anything gaming wise yet.

He also mentioned that the 4870 graphics card would be a good buy so that's comforting to know.

However he did say also that the Asus P5Q board would be a good choice. Power supply wise I have a horrid dual fan TRUST psu atm that makes far too much noise so would be looking for a much quieter replacement.