not quite sure what MB to get (mATX) for gaming PC

[gsrcrxsi]

well ive been thinking about putting together a small rig to use for gaming. i was never really big into gaming but ive gotten more into it recently. so basically i know i want a small case. i want something easy to transport if i take my rig to a friends place to LAN. and its a royal PITA to take my rig now (RF full tower + watercooled) as it is.

so ive got my heart set on the gunmetal mini p180. only thing is that it limits me to a mATX board which isnt really an issue in and of itself. i want a board with good overclocking for 775 CPUs, but not exactly sure what route im going to take for the CPU either.

which leaves me a few potential options:

dual 4.0+GHz or quad 3.2+?
SLI, X-fire, or single card solution?

really not sure what i should do here, suggestions for a gaming PC? and what motherboard would you suggest for each? although i havent really found much in the way of mATX boards that are SLI capable.

my rig now is watercooled but i think im going to stay air cooled for this one, mainly dues to space. i dont want any external rads or anything.

and i know this is the MB section but i really dont know what card i should go with, generally i stick to Nvidia because they have much better support in linux (a big part of what i do with my rig now) but this gaminig rig will run windows, so i dont know if i should go with ATI or even which ATI cards are comparable to nvidias cards, price/performance, is ATI a better buy? i was either going to go with like a GTX 260/216 or a 4850 or 4870, but again looking for suggestions.

sorry i know its alot, but im a bit of a perfectionist and i like to plan every little detail before i jump in head first

thanks

edit forgot to mention the games i play and my monitor:

Crysis
Bioshock
CS:S
L4D
HL2
Portal

monitor is 1600x1200 and possibility to upgrade later, i just want this thing to basically handle anything yet remain in a small package

 

[gsrcrxsi]

up

 

[Evilsizer]

how about the only MATX CF board?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136055

 

[gsrcrxsi]

yea i saw that, a BIT expensive, but not too bad. but thats where im confised, im really comfortable with nVidia, and ive helped others with ATI cards but ive never actually had one myself. and then i still dont know if its worth it to go x-fire or SLI or just stick with a single card.

what about CPU choice? stick with a dual or go quad?

 

[BigDan3131]

I'm going to stick my neck out and say E8200-E8600 dual core for gaming, as far as a video card goes that depends your budget as all of the current gaming cards are great. I personally will be buying a 4850X2.

If you do a little bit more searching on Newegg you will find more of those Matx boards if you get one of the X2 cards instead of two separate cards.