Have never used ABIT, but system I currently have is using a P4C800 Deluxe from Asus, and I'm really pleased with the AI overclocking features being I don't know a lot about overclocking myself, I know of it, just not how to do it properly. The new board I mentioned above not only has the same type of overclocking features as the board I'm using now but also has a feature where it ramps up the preformance even more when using a demanding program NOS feature (Nitrus Oxide for cars) is what they named it after because it's supposed to be the burst of speed when you need it most type of thing rather than all the time.
Abit may be cheaper but asus definately has my loyalty for being a really good preformer and making things really easy on me (noob in the OC world) to break into...
Can go in and tweak things manually as I figure them out but still have an OC'd system in the meantime until I do.
I was looking at some of the OCZ ram but it's a tad out of my pricerange, over 300 a gig, and I'm wanting to get 2 gig for about 400.