Help with making a good decision

[abhik]

Hi, i am looking to make my first build. It will have 2 8800 GTS 320mbs in SLI, 2 GB of 533 MHz RAM (will upgrade soon, but not now) and a Q6600. The only problem is that i have no idea which motherboard to choose. I was originally going for the MSI p7n Zalman Bundle, however that is no longer available in SCAN. Basically, it should have SLI support, support for 533MHz RAM, SATA II, 1 Free PCI slot when two dual slot cards are installed and support for a quad core 775. What would you reccommend?
I plan to OC a little (ie im not a hardcore overclocker willing to spend money on a liquid cooling system). My budget is below that of the p7n Zalman edition board (as that came with a cooler). What would be best? Thanks in advance.

 

[rgsaunders]

Overclocking and recent SLI motherboards are mutually exclusive due to data corruption problems with the nVidia chipsets when overclocking. Until they work this bug out I would give serious consideration to not overclocking or using an Intel based motherboard and not using SLI. The benefits of SLI are dubious when you consider the newest video cards available.
Your proposed selection of video cards for SLI is not a cost effective solution in terms of performance.

 

[1971Rhino]

I have an EVGA 790i Ultra I've got my E8400 OC'ed to 3.6GHz along with 2 9600GT's in SLI with no data corruption issues.

I'd recommend the 9600GT over the 8800GTS they have more memory (512) each.

THW reviews a system with the EVGA 790i Ultra...and it's OCed with SLI as well

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ibuypower-game-computer,1952-3.html

 

[abhik]

the reason i chose to have 2 8800GTS 320s is because on the charts, they have proved more powerful than an 8800 ULtra and i am getting each for £88, so £176 over an ultra which is about £450.

also, the 790i is way out of my price range, but thanks a lot for trying.