IT7-Max2 vs. Granite Bay -- The prices arent too different

[fumbduck]

I was looking into upgrading my system, and I was set on going granite bay. However, the FAQ man, Andy Hui enlightened me that its not worth it.
So I decided to go i845PE for a cheaper solution.
Looking at all the reviews, and my plans to overclock, i decided upon the IT7-Max2 V.2, however, after searching for prices, this board comes out to be around ~170$ USD.
Thats almost as much as granite bay board!

Is there another i845PE solution that will overclock just as well and provide me with what I want, but for cheaper?
I was going to go Asus p4Pe, but all I ever hear about it is problems. except from LouPoir

 

[fumbduck]

eh

 

[MikeMike]

i have the original it7 max and it is sweet so i might be biased but stick with the abit unless you need legacy ports

 

[Gondo]

The Gigabyte 8PE667 Ultra is not bad. It has the 845PE chipset. I have had fairly good success
with it. But the P4 3.06 with a 23 multiplier is pretty tricky to overclock, so I have only hit
a 144FSB so far, but it is very stable.