ok i suspect this will open a variety of opinions but im upgrading my computer
the opinions divided on what motherboard to go for.

from my old system im probably keeping the following

8800gt 512mb o/c BFG version
Corsair 620w psu

ill need a motherboard , proccessor , ram and cpu cooler + gonna get a velcoraptor

now i know i want a 3.0ghz wolfdale so no arguement there.

also i know i want a DD2 mobo so ram will probably be OCZ reaper or similar

now the fun bit , what shall i go for performance per pound , ive thought about
an N-Force 780i but its a waste of triple SLI (but you do get 2x16pci so if i get another 8800gt?)
or an X48 board from DFI which im a fan of and switch to crossfire later on?
so difficult to choose the right mobo lol

That board is the new P45. It just came out on the market and it has dual PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots. It's a great overclocker and no need to update any bios with this board...it's ready to play.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131299 $149.99
ASUS P5Q Pro LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227267 $104.99 ($79.99 after $25.00 Mail-In Rebate)
OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115037 $189.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233003 $36.99
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835233019 $6.99
XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 0&Tpk=mx-2 $6.99
ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm <--- XIGMATEK s1283 heatsink is rated #2 on there.

so u reckon the p45 chipset boards are better than the new lanparty X48? hmm intresting given the price difference , i shall look into that

X48 has more overclocking possibilities than P45. If you want Crossfire or SLi go with X48, X38 or 780i. P45 will save you some change in case you don't need Crossfire or SLI.

im a big fan of Lan party too , my current mobo is lanparty ut expert NF4 which has been awesome. so ill probably go for there new baby 'DFI DFI-LPUTX48-T2R Intel X48'

ps i will ditch the 8800gt when the new cards arrive , thats just a stop gap until prices settle on the new ATI which i think will be the better card pound for pound this time round.