EggXpert

Hey, everyone.  I'm looking to upgrade from my eVGA 680i SLI to one of the newer Intel chipsets in the Socket 775 family.  Any suggestions?

Currently, I have this in my system:

1x SATA Sony Blu-Ray ROM

1x SATA DVD Burner

1x IDE DVD Burner

1x SATA 500GB Hard Drive

2x 2GB Muskin DDR2 1000 RAM

3x SATA 320GB Hard Drives

EVGA 680i SLI Motherboard

Kingwin Mach 1 1000 watt Power Supply Unit

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (Kentsfield) overclocked to 3.0GHz

Creative XtremeGamer Sound Card (PCI)

Hauppauge WinTV-1600 TV Tuner (PCI)

Asus ATi Radeon HD 4870 x2 Graphics Card

Cooler Master HAF 932 Case

I'm looking for something that has PCI-e 2.0 so I can take more advantage of my beefy ATi 4870 x2, as well as decent overclocking and solid-state capacitors (if possible).

I use this system for gaming, programming and movie watching (both in high-def on the Blu-Ray drive and standard-def through regular DVD, Amazon Unbox and other services) on my Samsung 24" TOC monitor at 1920x1200 resolutions.  As I have a sound card, on board sound is not a big deal for me.

I can not stress enough, though, that I really want to stay away from an nVidia chipset if at all possible (unless one of you has such a glowing review of one that I can't resist).  I have had some problems with my current nVidia solution being a bit buggy, and I would like to experience the Intel side of things for a while

Any suggestions?

Here are a list of the more popular mobos out there fitting your requirements Ranging from the low cost to your $300 budget. Now the Gigabyte UD3P is one of the best looking boards to hit the market in quite a while and has had a full out test and review that found it to be 1 heck of an OCer.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/10885-gigabyte-ga-ep45-ud3p-p45-motherboard-review.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200280%201070509908%201070625638%201494334966%201075707618&CompareItemList=N82E16813128358%2CN82E16813131296%2CN82E16813131219%2CN82E16813128336%2CN82E16813131319%2CN82E16813131218%2CN82E16813131284&page=2&bop=And mobos

Wow, Hog.  That's gotta be one of the most in depth responses that I have ever received.  That's why I love you Xpert vets :)

I was actually looking at that Gigabyte board before for a couple of reasons.  Maybe this is a sign ;)

Is there one of the ones that you listed that you would really reccomend?

Thanks again!

Yeah, I ended up picking up that Gigabyte one off the 'egg last night, should be here tomorrow.  Thanks again!

What do you think about my setup, overall?  Any weak points?  Any suggestions?

I'm using the UD3P in a E8500 set-up and can't stress how durable and impressive this board is. Great choice, and great board for the money! Kudos to Hohher, I hadn't seen that review, and wow, food for thought on OC settings. Seeing how the Q6600 is a fan fav, no doubt you should be able to reach some heavenly heights with that bad boy.

I'm using a EAHD4870 1GB, so weak points? LOL, I think I'm the one with them, when yah got a 4870X2!  

If anything, I'd keep an eye on the RAm, but just on the speed & the OC, Mushkin still is some kick memory anyways.

Penewah!

Nice!  I picked the board up, and it should arrive tomorrow!

@Penewab, lol on the weak point.

Seriously, though, do you guys see anything?

I would not call it a weak point but it is a grey area and that is your RAM, I am no expert but I have found that to avoid problems in advance does make your life easier and less frustrating. The QVL for the UD3P mobo does not even list the 1,000 RAM as a choice and the best ones I found are the OCZ and the Corsair. Now the OCZ is very OCable while the Corsair is very stable but low on the OCing, so I recomend the OCZ. PS I have used both and no complaints yet on either.

http://www.gigabyte.us/FileList/MemorySupport/motherboard_memory_ga-ep45-ud3p.pdf

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298 RAM-$66 w$30mir