Intel p45, p35 or x48 ??

I am planning to build a new PC but can't decide on which motherboard to buy and the recent p45 motherboard roundup has not helped!

I plan to get an intel Core 2 Duo 8500 (don't see the point in quad cores at the moment) with an AMD 4850 video card and want the option of crossfire in the future.

I'm thinking of going for the Asus P5Q Pro for about £100 (overclockers). I have chosen the p45 chipset over p35 because of PCIe 2.0 and because I have not seen any significantly cheaper p35s. Also, the overclocking tools look interesting on the p45s as I am no expert.

I would go for an x48 motherboard but the cheapest I have seen are 50% more expensive than the p45. Money is not a massive issue but I don't like wasting it. The only benefit that I can see is the fullly independent 16x PCI slots rather than reverting to 8x with p45 in dual configuration. Tweaktown have done a recent comparison between p45 and x48 and the later came out better but some of the comments state that Gigabyte's own website contradicts the independent 16x slots.

I am now very confused and any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

First off, CF x16 won't benefit most users cuz they don't crossfire. Do you?

I've said it time & time again in other threads that I no longer do dual cards cuz I'd be locked into either CF/SLI. I have X38, but only HD 4850 which is enough for my 19". When the next-gen gpu comes out, I can pick one up and throw it in my pc.

X48s are rebinned X38 that require less voltage for higher FSB speeds plus they come with more advanced bioses. If you don't want crossfire but want to OC go with P45, if you're going to OC and you want true crossfire then go with X48.

It's strange that those x38 boards are rated at 1333mhz fsb natively, while first generation x38 boards (ones I brought earlier because x48 wasn't around yet) are rated at 1600mhz fsb natively.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131219
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128068

It's just a guess, but the 1333mhz fsb x38s should run 1600mhz just fine. Although it's certainly not as ideal as boards that support it natively.

No X38 chipset supports 1600MHz FSB "Natively" according to Intel. It's the motherboard manufacturer's that are enabling support for it outside of Intel's specs.

FYI, my X38 is at 1780Mhz FSB and has room for more. I'm too lazy to overclock these days.

The difference as mentioned is FSB 1600mhz. The X48 will support 1600mhz out of the box. X38 will need a bios update (microcode for new cpu). We're talking about official cpu support. If you want to play it safe, go with X48. Us overclockers are risk-takers.