Motherboards for IB - noob resources requested

[seruch]

Hello,
Relative noob here to building - have built about 5 systems, most recent built on an Athlon 64X2 Brisbane CPU and MSI K9A2.
I have the itch - system is 4 years old.
Am looking to build on the Intel platform - likely get a Sandy Bridge i5/~2400-2500, but want to future proof the MB to be able to move up to Ivy in a couple years.
Currently not a gamer, but some (non-HD) video editing, heavy Office, and CorelDraw illustration user. But I see this system being more involved in serving video / media in the future.
Any case, am looking for MB recommendations. My budget for the MB in this build will be somewhere in the 150-225 range.
Another requested recommendation - What is the current word on the street regarding Ivy's launch? I've heard Q2, but if its early Q2, I may want to hold until IB comes out, and hopefully, the SB prices will feel downward pressure.
Thoughts appreciated!
BTW - I'm being asked to provide a "Sub-category", and my only choices go from Abit to Epox. Selected Chipsets and BIOS, as I beleive that to be the closest to the topic, given the choices....
S

 

[nna2]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128502

z68 platform is for ivy bridge, but supports other cpus

i cant find anything but last i heard it was q2

 

[abekl]

A much better MB because its power handling section is 16 phase is the following:
GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128507

 

[seruch]

Only concern I have with the Z68XP-UD4 is that it doesn't support PCI express, which might be a problem down the road?
Regardless of whether the brand is of your liking or not, would a spec similar to the Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 be a better spec, as it is Z68 based, and support USB3, SATA at 3 and 6Gb (will likely go with a SSD boot/app drive), and PCIE3?
More searching seems to show IB being released around April 8. Two months...

 

[abekl]

I'm not sure I understand you issue with the UD4. It has 2 PCI Express x1 slots. Or were you talking about something else?

 

[hawaiiham]

I just put together a gaming rig with the i7 2600k. My mobo is the GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
by Gigabyte. It has 3 x PCI Express 16 slots and is SLI Ready. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128502

It's a pretty decent board for a reasonable price. The ONLY thing I don't like about it is the way the SATA connectors face (little tight to get the cables in but totally do-able) and I had to tweak my RAM voltage in order to use all 4 of my 4gb Kingston HyperX RAM sticks. All in all, it's a great board for the price.

 

[seruch]

Sorry abekl. I thought I had used PCI express 3.0 in the first line, but I must not have. I'm thinking that I might be sorry down the road if the mobo doesn't have PCIE3.

 

[abekl]

Oh, I see. The UD4 certainly does have PCI-E 3.0 built in. Look at the link here:
http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3977#ov

 

[seruch]

abekl,
The Newegg site didn't mention it. Neither does the Gigabyte site mention PCIE3 for the version 1.0 board, but they do on the 1.3. Perhaps the egg is selling the 1.0, or they haven't updated the specs to the 1.3 - not sure, but that does emphasise to make sure which version hardware one is purchasing....

Thoughts anyone else?
Thanks,
S