MoBo suggestions for a research lab

[hyphenator]

I am building a computer to put in a research lab where it will be used to control a variety of pieces of scientific hardware (motion stages, spectrometers, DAQ devices, etc.) Any suggestions as to a motherboard that will offer me lots of connectivity options and expansion slots? I don't need a fancy graphics interface but it will be controlling several devices at once so a fast CPU (3 GHz or more) is nice. I would like something with at least:
6-8 USB (2.0)
1-2 firewire
at least 3 PCI slots (more would be great)
at least 1 serial port (we still have a lot of RS232 devices)
2 Gb LAN connections (one for network and one for device control)

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[o1die]

You want the reliability of a server. I would look at Tyan boards. They're not cheap, and I haven't bought one in a long time. You can go with a dual core Intel cpu. The 805 is a bargain at $120, and will drop to $93 on July 24th. Amd dual cores will also drop at about that time. If you don't find anything with tyan, look at asus. Be aware that some Intel dual cores run a little warm, and throttle ocassionally (slow down automatically when running too warm under load). Use a search engine or go to pricewatch to compare boards. If you can wait 4 weeks, conroe is coming. It's the new Intel cpu that uses less energy and runs a little faster than amd's. They will cost about $300, if the supply is adequate. Woodcrest is the new Intel server chip (similar to conroe), which was released last week. I don't know anything about it. Another possibility is a dual cpu board with opteron 940 cpus and ecc memory. Don't be fooled by the lower hertz rating of opterons or any amd. They run just as fast as most current Intel cpus.