hey guys ...im kinda in a rut here and need some advice ... i need a new system by tuesday, i want to order it tonight but it always seems the motherboard is hardest component to pick so a little help would be greatly apprechiated.

my system is going to be a budget system and here are the components i have picked less the mothor board

Gigabyte Radeon HD 4850 625MHZ 512MB 1.88GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail

LG G-H20NS15 Black DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 INT SATA OEM DVD Writer

Antec Sonata III Black ATX 16IN Mid Tower Quiet Case 3X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5IN 500W 120MM Fan - comes with 500 watt antec psu

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive OEM

Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB 2X1GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 Dual Channel Memory Kit

only going with 2 gigs for now as i will be running XP

now i have thought about the Gigabyte EP45-DS3L but have herd mixed things about it ...ppl having problems with ram voltages and slower sata/usb and the Gigabyte EP35 DS3L also sounds like a mixed bag...so im kinda lost on the whole motherboard thing...any suggestions on which one i should get? asus? gigabyte? DFI?...who knos?...lol....... looking for something that isint going to break the bank..but also be reliable and a good overclocker ...or even a avg overclocker ..i kno i cant expect too much in the pricerange i just want to kno whats my best bet ......if you have any advice that would be awesome , TIA

i have the Asus p5Q deluxe motherboard using the P45 chipset. Works great. Had zero issues and the onboard SSD linux OS is pretty cool.

Asus p5Q
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131295
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813138123
the Biostar has the potential to crossfire at 8x/8x
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=761
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/for [...] eview.html

thx very much guys , any other thoughts?

If you're playing games, 2gb isn't enough even for XP. A lot of people get the wrong idea concerning ram usage. Vista's 1gb vs XP's 500mb is really just hald a gig of difference. The real ram hogs are games. Crysis hogs 2+gb after a while of gameplay, so does Supreme Commander at higher unit counts. More typical games, like Gears of War and Stalker, can hog about 1.5gb or more. Newer games will consume more. It won't be enough no matter what.

Mainstream people kept whinning about Vista ram usage because all they do is browsing the web. And at 1gb, it's a 100% increase over XP for them. If you run games, it's not as significant.

P5Q Deluxe or P45-DS3L or if on a budget P35-DS3L. I'm not sure what you have heard about the Gigabyte boards but as long as you don't install the DES software you won't run in to much problems and providing you know what you are doing (if OCing).

I find that BIOSTAR/MSI/etc have issues with quality control. Had a couple of BIOSTAR and MSI boards die on me. I'll never personally buy a BIOSTAR/MSI unless absolutely necessary.

P5Q Deluxe cost $200, the same price as a X38/48 board. There is no point.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131297

Biostar/MSI quality is fine. Current overclocking recordholder is Biostar.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813138118
In order to qualify, it held up stable at extreme clock rate for an extended period of time, maintained working order long after other "good quality" boards failed under the intense stress. Quality can't be too bad. After all, would you doubt the physical conditions of an Olympics gold medal winner?

As for p35, it's better to avoid it at this point. P35, while still perform decently, is obsolete. It's going out of production and being officially replaced by p45. Support is going to be poor from that point on. Since p45 start at under $100, there is no advantage in price for p35.