Here we go again...

[Artemis]

Well 2 speeding SATA ports, you've just got to get it now!
Actually I'm more impressed by the rather industrial looking caps on the board, it looks like it can handle alot of power very easily.

[Detale]

Honestly I'm racking my brain over this trying to do research and I have a headache. You guys know how I am by now I'm sure. I think I'm just going to have to pick blindly and bite the bullet this time. The thing is The Gigabyte board has SATA and USB 3 available for about $100 cheaper, not to mention better newegg ratings. The Asus board has 10 SATA connectors and an Esata port also I am just so sick of the neon blue colors of GB boards (shallow I know) Reviews I have read say the asus board OC's better, but is this worth the extra $100? BAsically I have been playing on newegg to see what is the best deal I can get for $700 and it's killing me due to the fact I've been at it for about 20hrs now.

[Artemis]

I'm not surprised that Asus board can overclock better, it looks like it could handle the electrical grid for a small town. Seriously though the higher overclocking ability is only really valid if you are going to add a highly overclockable graphics card for a high-end gaming system. For what you plan to do with it the extra money will probably be wasted. Can't really do much about the colour though, you could try complaining to Gigabyte. I'd love to see the reply to that email anyway.........

[Detale]

Now there's been a new edition to my mania. 1156 or yup you guessed it 1366. I keep reading that the newer octocore i9's will most likely be available only on the 1366 platform. So it's yet another consideration I have to take in. Opinions

[Artemis]

There is extra engineering for the 1156 pin Lynfield chips, well for all of them actually i3/i5/i7 based 1156 CPU's. They have the northbridge controller built into the CPU. This is the main reason why X55 chipset boards are cheaper than X58, they are simpler to manufacture.
That being said with the new i9 Octo's there is alot more being jammed into the CPU wafer so I can understand Intel at least for now not wanting to try and shoehorn a Northbridge controller into the mix ?
It also makes sense from a purely marketing point of view, that Intel would only want the Octo cores on their premium X58 platform rather than the 'mid-range' X55 ?

[Detale]

LOL, so which do you say is a better bet bud?

[Artemis]

Detale, I know you, your going to dance around between economy and features, saying you should stick to your budget, then go out and buy the biggest bells and whistles shiny toy you can get, you can't resist. The simple fact is the X55 based (Socket 1156) solutions are more budget, have less features and just don't fit with your high tech snobbery, so it's Socket 1366 all the way

[Snee]

Wut.

Are there no eVGA-boards to choose from?

I've been glancing at eVGA classifieds for months.

Their X58s have digital PWMs, you know. Might be the same for the P55(/X55(?)). It's only them and DFi who have that, afaik, and the DFis kind of suck.

[Detale]

LOL @ "High tech snobbery" Thanks Art

@Snee sue there are the one I have my eve on atm is EVGA X58 SLI LE it's on sale in MC for $200. I may actually take a 4min drive and have my very first trip to microcenter ever. Also they have th CPU's cheaper than anyone by about $50 but it's walk in only. The only problem with that board is it's very "low feature" so I think I'm still shopping around. Honestlt I think I may cheap out a bit on this one and go 1156 I can stil get an i7 but for the money I may go i5 or even i3. Arghhhh I dunno I'm heaadin to MC now and I guess I'll see what jumps out at me Back in a bit.