which mATX board to get?

I am really struggeling with which motherboard to get.

I will be using a seperate video card(8800GTS)
and a seperate soundcard (X-Fi Fatality)
it also needs room for a TV tuner card

socket 775 for a Q9550
support 8gb ram

be able to o/c the CPU to around 3.4ghz with as little heat as possible

and of course, mATX

preferable sockets are
1x pci-e 16x (must have)
1x pci (must have)
2x pci-e x1-2


my main question is, for my needs is G45 worth it? and if so which board is best? Asus, Gigabyte or Intel.

Thanks in advance

Asus for sure. The Gigabyte board is crippled with a x4 PCIe slot, and Intel doesn't let ya overclock. P5Q-EM would be right up your alley.

There's also this fine specimen from DFI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136055

cheers rat

the problem with that DFI is the slot positions, the 8800GTS is a dual slot card so wouldnt allow me to use either the PCI or the pci-ex1 slot and when I get a tuner card ill want both.

looks like Asus it is

Firey_chasm said:

cheers rat

the problem with that DFI is the slot positions, the 8800GTS is a dual slot card so wouldnt allow me to use either the PCI or the pci-ex1 slot and when I get a tuner card ill want both.

looks like Asus it is

Click to expand...

You can use a x1 card in a x16 slot, no big deal..

oo, k, thanks, didnt know that

so, whic will be better, the DFI or ASUS? any idea?

I'm also looking at mATX motherboards for my new antec case. I find the P45 DFI LanParty Jr. very interesting... I wonder how high a fsb it can achieve when overclocking an e8XXX series dual core? I don't know much about the G45... anybody out there having decent results overclocking them? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131336

I did a quick Google search and found a post by Coolaler at OCXtremeForums who managed 600fsb with the DFI LP JR P45 T2RS this board is looking good to me!