Which Motherboard is best?

Hi folks, first time poster here.

I've come to the crossroads of digital darkroom processing and must decide what PC motherboard/cpu are going to best serve me in the future. This new system will be used exclusively for Photo Editing (no gaming). I'm planning on upgrading to Windows Vista 64/PS4 and I'll need a faster, more powerful PC system that allows me expandable RAM (minimum 8 gigs but expandable up to 32 gigs). I'll also be using a dual monitor system so I'll need a motherboard that supports two video cards. What would you recommend I get?

Thanks in advance!.
Ed

Well first off, almost every video card you buy today has 2 monitor plugs on it, so you'll probably only need one video card.

For memory, a quick search of newegg says that there are currently only 3 normal (non server) motherboards that support 32gb of ram, however, there are plenty of choices that allow 16gb.

I don't know much about photo editing, but from the looks of it your trying to build a system that will be able to be used for as long as possible. In that case I would recommend a quad core. Currently, only some programs support optimizations for quad core processors, but as time goes on more and more programs will begin to support them. What you get is probably going to be determined by your budget.

The cheapest intel quad currently available is the Q6600 (190$). After that I found say the only ones worth getting would be the Q9300 (245$) and then the i7 920 (300$).

Although there is only a 50$ price difference between the Q9300 and the 920, the 920 will be much more expensive because the motherboards start over 200$ (or at least the ones that support 24gb of ram) and then you have to buy DDR3 ram, which is also expensive.

I don't know if you would need a special (workstation) graphics card for photo editing, but I do know that they are (very) expensive.

I'll go look up some stuff on photo editing and come back with better advise.

Thanks KonaKona, this really helps. You are correct in your assumptions, I do want something that'll serve my needs for the next couple of years without having to upgrade again and again. I didn't think the Intel quadcores you mentioned (6600, 9300) supported 16 RAM. I spoke to someone at my local PC shop and he told me 8 RAM is the most they can support. Now I'm really confused.