This look like a good gaming rig?

Looks like a solid build, I would wait for IB to come out though

That motherboard raises an eyebrow.

one pci-e 3.0 x16 slot
one pci-e 2.0 x16 slot @ x4

the 3.0 slot has way more bandwidth than you'll need for a single card, probably during the entire life of the platform. people are swapping to 3.0 boards for multiple 3.0 slots because they need the bandwidth for a 3 or 4 way sli/xfire.

Pci-e 2.0 is still enough bandwidth for a 2 card sli/xfire at x8/x8. However, the 2.0 slot on that board is worthless @ x4. The fastest card you could stick in a 4 lane pci-e 2.0 slot without significant performance loss is about a 6770.

About the only way those 2 slots would be useful together is if you are buying a new Nvidia card *and* you have an older nvidia card you want to use as a dedicated Physx card.

In short, that motherboard's design seems like a complete waste.

What motherboard would you suggest under $145 on www.pccasegear.com that can use IVY BRIDGe then?

looks alright personally i have never known anyone using a dedicated physics board pretty much all my mates, myself included use amd these days we have all had to many nvidias fail (plus we have to keep amd alive cos there cpu's are sh!thouse for competion for intel. i have gone the sli and cfx path in the past and wont do it again anytime soon so the motherboard choice depends on that fact as quilciri mentioned try umart and msy aswell they are everywhere too and i usually find them cheaper than pccg and service is good at the stores i go too. your so close to ib you might aswell wait for the reviews but you cant go wrong with a 2500k either. i usually find gskill ram cheaper ( i have never had a drama with them, i use them in every build i do for myself or friends and asus gpus are usually expensive unless your planning on ocing it heavily then its worth it. it will run bf3 nice!

My poor-research mistake. Looks like that 2.0 slot @ x4 is a result of the chipset, not the motherboard designer's fault.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/xeon-e3-c206-workst...

Your current motherboard is fine.

Still, afaik they could forego installing the x4 slot altogether. Seems like the vestigial tailbone of motherboard features.

Thanks for all your guys replies, i might just wait for IB and then stick one in if its not more expensive than sandy bridge is now, and go with the same setup!

the i5-3570 is being sold in holland for 230 euros or $300 us dollars. i would probably just get the sandy bridge. it might be a while before prices drop
http://www.overclock.net/t/1242391/mt-intel-core-i5-357...

IB comes out in 5-6 days! wait for it!