Ok, well, I've decided that its probably high time I got a PC upgrade, things are starting to get a little slow, and since I know **** all about computers I thought I would rope you lot in to help out

Basically I need a new CPU/Mobo/Ram (rest I'm stealing from old PC)

Ideally Don't wanna spend more than £300, looked into the Q6600 for Overclocking to 3.0ghz as I hear its quite easy, but all suggestions are welcome suggestions (apart from the ones that tell me to go **** myself )

My guess is everyone is gonna recommend the same stuff as linked in the other threads. What graphics card you got from your old pc ?

7800GT (PCIe) , Can't really afford to upgrade that at the moment though!

atm im using :-

AMD ATHLON 64 6000+ X2 DUAL CORE 3.0GHz 2MB AM2 = about £90-110 (aint even bother oc'ing it yet,need to get new Hs&Fan)
Asus M2N-SLi AMD AM2 nForce ULTRA 570 Heatpipe silence = about £70-80
Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-18) Heat Spreader = about £60-70

works mighty fine with my 8800gt ,

Only going to get a Intel Core 2 I think, as they are epic I hear

Might as well go with the quad core tbh, thye are quite cheap too.

Yeah that's pretty much the only thing I'm set on, but i dont have a clue about mobo/ram (will be overclocking to 3ghz)

Any thoughts?

Mobo suggestion.

It all depends on which quad core you get, if you get a new 45nm one with a 1333mhz FSB you might need a diff mobo.

e.g. This little lot might work out well.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/CPUs+%2F+Processors/Intel/Core+2+Duo/Intel+Core+2+Quad+Core+Q9300+2.5GHz+Socket+LGA775+-+OEM+?productId=30899

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Asus+P5N-D+NF750i+Socket+775+Motherboard+?productId=30252

2 x
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Memory/DDR2/DDR2+800+%28PC6400%29/Patriot+2GB+PC2-6400+C4+Extreme+Performance+%282x1GB%29+?operation=shoppingCartAdd&productId=26802&context=

Total cost is just under 350 inc vat and delivery

The CPU is of course the most expensive bit in there, using a cheaper one will get you under the £300 mark easily.

Whats the difference between the 45nm + 65nm ones? Worth the extra cost? Also know if they still OC to 3ghz like the golden Go stepping Q6600?

Also since that set up is SO cheap, might get 4gb ram + vista

I imagine that Q9300 will easily hit 3ghz too, the 45nm ones have more cache but read some CPU reviews, there's loads.

Did a bit of reading, this review was very interesting. swayed me towards an E8500 as they seem best at gaming? (I dont do ANY encoding of mp3/movies)

Now I'm even more confused.

Oh and also it seems that the Q9300 is not a good choice for an overclocking noob (like me) as you have to faff with loads of settings, not easy like on the Q6600.

Just get a Q6600 it's more than enough for what you'll need.

Hmm looks that way, E8500 is the best at the moment, but will probably be worse in the future, plus the Q6600 is waaay cheaper

There's always gonna be better stuff, you want it now though so the Q6600 is gonna be fine. Use the rest to upgrade to a better graphics card.

Grant speaks the truth , I have two PC's one an AMD x2 4200 @ 2.9 Ghz with a couple of Gigs of DDR400 & an AMD HD3850 the other a C2D @ 3.2 Ghz with 4 Gig of fast DDR 800 & an 8800GT clocked to the heavens & mate the only game I notice a difference on is Crysis & even then its soooooo small its hardly noticeable to the naked eye.
The point I am trying to make is that the difference in power between processors & video cards is considerable yet the real world difference is hardly noticeable.
I would recommend going for a Q6600 & buy this card which will give you all the gaming power your going to need for some time .

P.S. you spend another £10 or so on the card you can get the 512Mb version ( the real difference is greater but the fact you get free postage on orders over £99.99 means your true costs are going to be lower ). I would also probably hold off Vista at the mo & spend you cash on the components . Lastly if your going 32bit Vista buying more than 3Gb of Ram is a waste of money so go 64bit / 4 Gig or 32bit / 2 Gig .

Ok, after much faffing, I have decided what I'm going to buy! Thanks for all the help, and sorry spit gotta get an 8800

Q6600 £142
Asus P5N-D £81
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI £170
2x GeIL 2x1gb 6400 C4 800mhz £60
Vista 64 bit £62

Good times?

Yep nice kit list ! What happened to the £300 budget

Well if you look, what i wanted is within the £300 limit, just the gfx + vista on top