Motherboard Advice, I don't want to post in Hardware

I'd like to upgrade my motherboard.
I'm not interested in upgrading to DDR3 memory right now because of its expense.
I would post for advice in Hardware but I don't want to wade through troughs of blowhard fanboy opinions. I'm posting here because I want simple, clear and non-opinionated advice.
Presently I'm using an Intel DP35DP motherboard with an E8400 and 4GB (2*2GB) of Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400 C5 @ 1.8V memory and Vista Ultimate 32bit. I also have (spare) 2GB (2*1GB) of Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 C5 @ 2.2V memory. (not the goofy LED tracer model) Flashing lights on hardware do not impress me.
I'm looking at getting the Asus P5E X38 motherboard.
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx? [...] 3=572&l4=0
What I'm interested to know if this motherboard is stable, how difficult it is to flash the BIOS and if the BIOS is user friendly for overclocking. I'm not interested in using software in Windows to overclock. Also I will use the ICH9R southbridge to set up RAID 0 on two WD 250GB AAKS hard drives.
For video I have an ATI HD3870.

I was thinking about getting the Intel DX38BT motherboard and shelving it until DDR3 memory prices become less expensive. The cost of the Asus P5E X38 and the Intel DX38BT motherboards are the same. Unlike CPU prices, motherboard prices do not seem to become less expensive as they age. Usually once they are replaced with updated models the older boards get more expensive from the distributors I purchase from.

I usually choose the Intel brand motherboard to build on because I'm most comfortable with their boards and BIOS settings. So I'm debating whether or not I should stray away from the platform I'm comfortable with and testing the waters with a platform I'm not familiar with.

I was looking at the Asus P5K motherboard but it only has the ICH9 southbridge. I want the ICH9R southbridge.

Anyway I'm not convinced I should change my motherboard and just stick with what I have and get a Q9000 series quad core when they become available. I would probably get the Q9450.
My reason for not getting an overclocking motherboard is I would want to get a QX9000 series processor because their multiplier is unlocked but I can't justify spending $1100 for a cpu.

Any advice given will be helpful.

Bah! Second Jefin HW thread in two days....

** Heads off to make EM pulse weppon **

It was a slant on 'F'in.. Have you not heard that used before?

** Takes bananna and shoves it in Jef's eye **

It might also been a dig at you

** Takes sip of poncy drink **

Not bad.. not bad at all.

It's made a rather special daiquiri. Any more sweets Mugz? [/More munchies]

That's because you got an eyeball full of Wingding jism.

I told you to duck.

Another target......

...*approaches*...

I don't mind the thread has been hijacked off topic. I expected it would happen. I still would like to read opinions about Asus motherboards and other motherboard brand options.

I'd go Asus, Gigabyte, or MSI no problems. None have given me issues.

Really??? I've used that board several times due to it's outstanding feature set compared to it's price. It is relatively an inexpensive board here in the U.S. at around $90. What's it run down at your end?

I've always been a fan of Abit but that was back in the Athlon XP days. They're not quite what they used to be in my opinion. You couldn't have paid me to buy an Asus board when dealing with the AMD side of the pond but they do have some nice Intel based boards. Most companies have had their share of duds from Asus' (IIRC) dodgy OEM boards to the great capacitor fiasco that struck them all awhile back (had an MSI board stricken by that).

Personally for an Intel setup I tend to stay with Gigabyte because they seem to offer lower-cost boards (like the P35-DS3L) that have a much broader range of features for the money.

Yes, I think it shows just how desperate the poor fellow really is these days.

Later, I will be doing a masterclass in peltier technology.

He needs the money.

gives nod to MSI boards...

asus is stable most of the time but their bioses are ****!

I used to use ASUS until they stayed with VIA chipsets over Nvidia way back when.... I see now that ASUS uses Nvidia, but I haven't ran any of their Nvidia based boards....

I switched to MSI for the Nvidia chipsets when they came out... I've ran several series of MSI boards since K5 I believe.... I've built & sold 30 or so machines with MSI boards in them as well.... Of those I've lost about 3 or 4 boards that had to be RMAed.... All were replaced in about 2 weeks down time....

My real bug with MSI came up with the last build K9N SLI Plat & the 65nm Brisbane core.... It's a BIOS issue with all the socket AM2 Brisbane X2 & Quad cores.... BIOS doesn't detect those cores.... First 2 boards I bought at least booted but saw the CPU as mobile.... Took about a month for a AMI Beta BIOS to come out & fix it.... That was last Oct.

1st of Jan. I bought another K9N SLI Plat. figuring that the BIOS issue was worked out by then.... Wrong!!!! This board wouldn't initialize the the socket, nothing on the monitor at all.... Swapped all components to a K9N & they all worked on a known working system... RMAed the board only to find the replacement board did the same thing when it arrived...

The long & short of it was I had to "Hot Flash" the BIOS chip to get that board running.... I believe that most people won't feel too comfortable "Hot Flashing" a board or are savvy enough to play with BIOS updates.... Just the time spent playing with these issues got me a tad ticked off at MSI...

Now along comes the Phemon.... Looks like another mess with the BIOS again... It's not just MSI having problems with it either...

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/1 [...] herboards/

Right now I don't know which board I'd go with using a Socket AM2.... I'd want to know the exact BIOS on the board to know that it would work with the Brisbane core.... I don't know anyone that will sell a board by the BIOS rev. though.... [shrug]

I whish HW makers would just stuff the bios on a small SD card or other common format. Getting a new BIOS would then just be as easy as flashing a card with the image of the BIOS you wanted. Shops could sell a bundle of board and SD card with the latest BIOS already to go.

It would also make having a play with Linux BIOS projects a joy.

If you follow that link what they have done is fit a running Linux kernel with a window manager and basic tools inside the 2Mb BIOS rom chip. Very much along the lines of some of these media player without booting solutions some vendors now do. The other part of the project is actually replacing the standard BIOS with a pure Linux implimentation which allows for total user controll of the hardware. Legacy BIOS needs to die and the sooner the better.

Let the floppy die as well!!!!!

Hear, hear!

They should delete closed-source software too.

Imagine if the motherboard BIOS further has the software drivers embedded, so that when the OS is installed all the drivers are already there and running.

Won't be possible with Windows, though...

But won't, knowing them, until the tech is at least 5+ years old.

Kill off the floppy drive, the PS/2 ports, the serial and parallel ports (you can buy a card if you need to connect to switches or whatever)!

...*runs like hell[/cross thread Floyd reference]*...