I have run my shiny new rig for two weeks now. We are talking shiny here - Lian-Li PC 60... Anyway:
Of course I am kinda biased here but I finally went for an [b:2af72942e7]ASUS A7V266-E[/b:2af72942e7] which to me represents a mix of performance, stability and funny stuff. This also reflects the problem: It is all about personal taste (sorting out cards with known problems first of course).
Pros: I like the Promise raid (prefer it to HighPoint), the VIA 266A chipset and the Award BIOS. The installation went flawlessly, the machine runs smoothly and the only BSOD so far occured when I experimented with different firewalls at the same time...
Cons: It is a little expensive, I donīt care for the inbuilt sound chip (CMI738/C3DX), but it works without problems. I canīt go below 1.70 Vcore but I can live with that.
If you are heading for a mobo with bells and whistles and good performance this one might be it.
.unicorn (also recommending *ttp://www.reviewbooth.com)
ASUS A7V266-E
Elsa Erazor X2
512 RAM
Palomino 1600+ (ie 1400)
Zalman CNPS5005-CU
3 x hdd and 2 x cd
winXP pro most of the time