ive been running a MSI 845 ULTRA with a intel p4 1.8 gig...IT SEEMS TO BE A VERY FAST COMBO..i would highly recommend it...and yes...if im replacing the mother board...i would recommend a format too,,,you might as well start with a clean drive to go with the rest...this mother board will run both kinds of memory...regular or ddr....so witch ever memory you have now you can use it ....just burn the files you want to save onto A cd and replace them when you get fired up again...OR...DO LIKE JOE SAYS...BUY ANOTHER HARD DRIVE/MASTER/SLAVE/SWOP FILES/OH MAN...ANYWAY..hope it helped ya a little...BUTCHER