new mobo help

Before you suggest a mobo read my story.

I have

E6750
Scythe Infinity HSF
EVGA 8800GT 512MB SC
2x1GB Crucial Ballastix DDR2-800
WD Cavair 250GB 7200RPM SATA
Sony CD/DVD
CorsairHX 520W
Vista Home Premium

I had GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R, I liked it a lot. Had CPU @ 3.5 no problem. Had no real issues until a bad BIOS flash sends it to RMA and it is currently still in RMA. I plan to sell on ebay when it gets back.

Now I NEED to have a working computer at home as that is how I generate my income and has no time to wait so I had to order a new mobo. Not to say I don't use my PC to game/bench.

I needed a mobo and I heard good things about the ABIT IP35 PRO so I ordered it. I had to stretch my budget for it. Sorry to say I had a bad experience with the mobo. Acted all screwy out of the box. 8800GT didn't seem to like it all as it lost video a lot, it was a good card to as it was fine in my old 939 system. I suspect it had something to do with the 1.0a PCI-E spec. Currently a whole thread about that on Abit forums.
http://forum.uabit.com/showthread.php?t=131643

It didn't seem to OC better if it all then the previous DS3R, I just had it at 3.5 and the vcore needed to be set higher too.

I decided I needed to do a mod with the Infinity as I hate push pins on a heavy heatsink like that. I do this mod.

http://www.thetechrepository.com/showthread.php?t=16

I forget the insulators and turn it on and therefore it shorted and won't ever go to BIOS, has tons of different post codes. I would RMA if I could but I enlarged HSF holes because I didn't have small enough knobs for the size screw needed. I know my mistake I should of went to Home Depot. Since the holes are enlarged I am not sure I can RMA but I still might try.

So I NEED a mobo as I said before so I am looking to order a new one.
On a smaller note my Scythe Infinity is pretty scratched and lapping does not seem to help. I would like to order a new HSF without pushpins that mounts via a backplate like the Tuniq which is currently has on newegg for $44.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154001

I am not rich and putting the Tuniq into the equation takes money for the mobo out.

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I am looking for at least 3.5 with my E6750
-P35
-No SLI
-Performance
-Overclock
-Stability
-Good BIOS
-No 1.0a PCI-E

I saw this thread about DFI Blood Iron 600+fsb on E6850
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=166590
I do realize largely based on the CPU and I like DFI BIOS a lot

So what do you guys suggest? I was looking at MSI ne02 but I don't like the PCI-E 1.0a. Do I just buy another DS3R?

Here's what I have

DFI Blood Iron - Seems good performance for cheap to me and I like DFI BIOS
DS3R - Had it before and had no issues.
ASUS P35 Mobos - Don't really know much about them.

well then you have to rule out all the P35 boards then, cause all of them are pcie 1.0/1.0a. now if you had the IP35-pro did you set the slot to just 1.0 instead of the 1.0a? cause you might have the same problem,just saying might. i say its a tough call on this one, as i havent had any issues with my pro. mine is one of the first batch abit put out to the US retail market. if you had good luck with the gigabyte before the bad bios flash then get another. if you do a bios flash stick with it in dos more or use the CTRL-F2 method with the bios on a cd. nothing wrong with the asus boards, just dont look at the lower end ones since they have a 3-phase pwm for the cpu. the higher end ones really cost you though,compared to others out there.