Best Asus Intel Boards <$170?

[Comdrpopnfresh]

Hey. So my motherboard has died a bunch of times, and my budget is <$170 (or very close). I'm only interested in Asus motherboards- no other brands.

I don't have a processor yet, but will most likely go with a 45nm chip (dual-core). I'll be doing air cooling. I do some gaming, and really like to overclock. It should run cool all around- nb, sb, processor. I'm interested in the 'stack cool', epu, multi-phase power, and heat-pipe mechanisms Asus offers, but any is not a necessity.

I'll only be buying a board for use with DDR2- I can't afford DDR3 right now. I have every other component of the system- and will be using XP. I'll probably buy 2 gigs of ram, 800mhz at least, but most likely 1066 for the overclocking ease.

In general, I'd like something I can overclock the hell out of, run a single graphics card, stay cool, and will last me. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[akhilles]

P5K-E or P5K-E WIFI.

 

[jdkick]

ASUS P5K Pro - $110 @ Newegg. The layout has changed from earlier boards in the P5K series so that the SATA ports are not obstructed by longer video cards.

Are there are any particular features you require tho, like eSATA or FireWire?

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

Not really. The heatpipe seems like a pretty good feature- as my current motherboard has that. I don't need sli, or crossfire, no need for raid, have an x-fi soundcard, and a wirless card already. I suppose it'd be nice to have two wireless sources, and perhaps teem them...

 

[nitromullet]

Probably the P5Q-E when it gets in stock.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...8652&prodlist=celebros

Brand new P45 chipset board with no track record yet, hence the 'probably'. P45 is looking like a worthy successor to P35 though, and should run a little cooler because it is on the 65nm process instead of 90nm.

edit: the main difference between the P5Q-E and the P5Q Deluxe is that the E has 8-stage voltage reg while the Dlx has 16.