ASUS P5Q-E LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Very happy. Running E2180 plus G.Skill 1066 Ram. Runs the RAM stable at 4-4-4-15 @DDR1066. I got a 1 GHz overclock on the CPU as well - could probably do more w/ a better heatsink, but this more than meets my needs. More overclocking options than I know what to do with. Still running strong & stable after overnight Prime95 torture test. Automatic speed scaling based on thermals and load of 2x chasis fans and the CPU fan make this near silent in most of my operating regimes.

Cons: heatpipe and heatsinks on northbridge & surrounding area are bit tight - had to bend a couple fins to get the FreezerPro seated, but not a big deal.

Overall Review: This replaced a cheapo Abit P35P board that caused nothing but headaches (at least Newegg's RMA was w/o hassle). My two previous systems have been ASUS - I'll be sticking with them from now on. Using this setup as an MCE board. Loaded w/ 2x M780 Avermedia tuners, Fanless 9600GT, FreezerPro cooler, E2180, 2GB G.Skill 1066, wireless NIC, and X-Fi sound. Not sure what the previous poster meant about first PCI slot not being usable, I'm using both PCI slots just fine. If your VGA heatsink extends to the right hand sidethere would be a problem, but that's not a board layout problem. I have all but 2 slots populated - one of the PCI-E x16s is open and free, the second PCI-E x1 is obstructed by the 9600GT heatsink.

Pros: Feature-rich P45 board with 8 sata ports.

Cons: Board had intermittent blue screen issues. Checked everything and after replacing the board with a ASUS Rampage Formula, I had no issues.

Overall Review: Disappointed because this was the first bad ASUS board I've ever received out of several different builds. Wanted it to work badly but no luck. RMA'ing the board now. I wish Newegg did refunds instead of exchanges for the same board. But I'll just buy this part locally next time instead.