Choosing a Motherboard?

Hey guys.

I'm planning on building a PC soon and would like some recommendations on parts.

So far what I've got planned,

CPU: Intel I7 930.
CPU Heatsink: Noctua NH-D14.
Ram: G.Skill Ripjaws (6gb DDR3).
Hard drive: Samsung 1TB.
GPU: Asus hd 5870.
PSU: Corsair 850hx.
Case: HAF-X.

But I'm stuck on decisions for the motherboard.
I can get an Asus Rampage III extreme, or an Asus P6X58D Premium (saving myself $150 or so).

I would like to overclock the system to 4ghz and will be using the system for gaming. I would like the system to be future proof some-what also as I may be installing a second HD 5870 into it in the near future.

What's my best option?
Thanks.

to OCForums!

Either one will be good for 4GHz and 2-way XFire. The Rampage III has 3-way SLI/Xfire, SATAIII, and USB3.0 over the P6X58D Premium. IMO, the only useful feature out of those is USB3.0, but if you ever need USB3.0 you could always buy an add-in card.

Hi Sheep. Honestly...before looking at the mobo I always go through major things I need. Mostly how good is the standard cooling, does it come with add-in fan for if required, NIC ports..1...hmmm....2...nice. Layout (80% of decision is based on this alone). What features are there, what variations of the mobo are there? What am I using it for and why? OC-centric mobo's with a low-2-mid OC usually last ages and stability wise are amazing (u know u've spent well if the mobo does not have any issues initially).

Looking at ur spec's and the time ur buying it. I'd ask the following:

Ramapage Mobo. 1xNIC vs Asus 2x NIC = how important is ur networking to ur life? For me its really important so I got a killer nic with the ram3. Out of box BIOS update required = nope (can update once its all working;-). Backplane ports = need few USB's but must have 2x 3UBS's - I dont want an add-in freeking card...thats for later.

Honestly, I'd read five reviews from the same sites on the same mobo's and decided that even with one nic (asus shame on u) the ram3 offered what I wanted and it made me go all misty eyed (its got red and black...was wearing red dress and black knee high leather boots (with son's dribble stains on left foot...think he has a leather fetish;-).

Read up is my advice and write a small list of things u need most of value most. U'll find the mobo urself without anyones help. One piece of advice, once u choose the mobo ready up on the issues people have. For example, mobo sound and me never go well together so I usually get a souncard or in my next build a creative headset with the sondcard built-in (yay).

Welcome to thy forums (some of us are really nice...some...even nicer;-)