Since I'll be a new build to replace an antique, I'm just looking to build a machine that offers as much performance as I can reasonably afford as well as the best foreseeable upgrade capacity. Sounds like the AM2 fits the bill for us "dolphins."
(Dolphins like to ride the bow wave of ships much the way surfers ride surf. I like to think of myself as trying to find that sweet spot created by the larger markets-gamers, the military, business- that isn't the bleeding edge of technology, but where a guy can build a great machine for 1/3 to 1/2 of what he'd have to pay for Dell to put it together for him, taking advantage of the 'cresting' technology. And I apologize for the mixed metaphors in advance.)
I believe your mistaken about about
building a machine that offers as much performance as I can reasonably afford as well as the best foreseeable upgrade capacity.
With these boards to choose from...
Intel P965/G965/Q965/Q963 Chipset
Abit:
AB9 Pro - P965 - ATX - Available in June
AB9 - P965 - ATX - Available in June
Albatron
PXP965 - P965 - ATX - Available in June
PXQ965 - Q965 - ATX - Available in June
PXG965 - G965 - ATX - Available in June
Asus:
P5B - P965 - ATX - Available
P5B Deluxe - P965 - ATX - Available
P5B-V DH Deluxe - G965 - ATX - Not available
P5B BM - G965 - micro-BTX - Not available
P5B VM - G965 - micro-ATX - Not available
P5BQ-V - Q965 - ATX - Not available
Biostar
TForce P965 - P965 - ATX - Available in June
IG965 Micro - G965 - micro-ATX - Not available
ECS
P965-A - P965 - ATX - Available in June
P965T-A - P965 - ATX - Available in June
PX1 - P965 - ATX - Available in June
EPoX
EP-5P965 GLI - P965 - ATX - Available in June
EP-5P965+ GLI - P965 - ATX - Available in June
EP-5P965-J - P965 - ATX - Available in June
Foxconn
Q965????? - Q965 - micro ATX - Not available
G9657MA-8EKRS2 - G965 - micro-ATX - Not available
P9657AA-8EKRS2H - P965 - ATX - Available in June
P9657AA-8KS2H - P965 - ATX - Available in June
GigaByte
GA-8I965G(-Pro-RH) - G965 - ??? - Not available
GA-8IBGNBX-RH -G965 - pico BTX - Not available
GA-965G-DS4 - G965 - ATX - Not available
GA-965G-DS3 -G965 - ATX - Not available
GA-965GM-S3 -G965 - micro-ATX - Not available
GA-965GM-S2 -G965 - micro-ATX - Not available
GA-965QM-S2 -Q965 - micro-ATX - Not available
GA-965P-DS3 - P965 - ATX - Available in June
GA-965P-DS4 -P965 - ATX - Available
GA-965P-DQ6 - P965 - ATX - Available
Intel
DP965LT - P965 - ATX - Not available
DG965OT - G965 - µATX - Not available
DG965?? - G965 - ATX - Not available
DG965RY - G965 - ??? - Not available
DG965MQ - G965 - µBTX - Not available
DG965SS - G965 - micro-ATX - Not available
DG965PZ - G965 - ATX - Not available
DQ965GF - Q965 - µATX - Not available
DQ965CO - Q965 - µBTX - Not available
DQ963FX - Q963 - ATX - Not available
DQ963?? - Q963 - µATX - Not available
MSI
P965 Neo - P965 - ATX - Available in June
P965 Platinum - P965 - ATX - Available
G965MB-DH - G965 - BTX - Not available
Q965M - Q965 - micro ATX - Not available
Q965M-DO - Q965 - micro ATX - Not available
Other Intel Chipsets
Abit
IL9 - 946PL - ATX - Not available
AsRock
775XFire-eSATA2+ - 945PL - ATX - Available, but it don't know it it's the right revision
775i65G Revision 2.0 - 865G - micro-ATX - Available, but it don't know it it's the right revision
775i65PE Revision ? - 865PE - ATX - Available, but it don't know it it's the right revision
775i945GZ - 945GZ - ATX - Not available
ConRoe865PE - 865PE - ATX - Not available
ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 Revision 2.0 - 945P - ATX - Not available
AsRock motherboards that do support Conroe have 'Conroe' printed on their PCB
Asus
P5LD2-VM SE - 945G - mATX - Not available
P5BPL - 946PL - ATX - Not available
P5B-MX - 946GZ - mATX - Not available
Biostar
946PL - 946PL - ATX - Not available
DFI
946PL/G - 946PL - ATX - Not available
ECS
946GZT-M - 946GZ - mATX - Not available
946PLT-A - 946PL - ATX - Not available
Foxconn
946PL7MA-8KRS2H - 946PL - mATX - Not available
EPoX
EP-5GZ946-M - 946GZ - mATX - Not available
EP-5GZ946-MJ - 946GZ - mATX - Not available
EP-5P945 GLI - 945P - mATX - Not available
Foxconn
946GZMA-RS2 - 946GZ - mirco-ATX - Not available
GigaByte
GA-946PL-S3 - 946PL - ATX - Not available
GA-946GZ-S3 - 946GZ - ATX - Not available
GA-946ZM-S2 - 946GZ - micro-ATX - Not available
GA-8I945PLGE-RH - 945PL - micro-ATX - Not available
GA-8I945GZME-RE - 945GZ - micro-ATX - Not available
ATi Chipsets
AsRock
775Twins-HDTV R2.0 - ATi Xpress 200 - micro-ATX - Available
DFI
Infinity CFX1150/G - ATi RD600+SB600 - ATX - Not available
LP UT RD600-T2R/G - ATi RD600+SB650 - ATX - Not available
ECS
RS600T-M - RS600+SB600 - ATX - Not available
EPoX
EP-5RC410-MJ3 - Xpress 200 -mATX - Not available
EP-5RC410-M3 - Xpress 200 - mATX - Not available
nVidia Chipsets
nForce 5 intel edition info
Asus
ASUS P5N32-SLi SE - nForce 590 SLi - ATX - Not available
DFI
LP UT NF590 SLI-T2R/G - nForce 590 SLi - ATX - Not available
ECS
ECS C19-A SLI V3 - nForce 570 SLi - ATX - Not available
MSI
P4N SLI V2.0 - nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition - ATX - Not available
add a good motherboard price of $150 to a E6300 costing $200 and you have just $350 for a cool running powerhouse of a CPU which will run about the same as an X2-4400 stock, but if you overclock it just mildly, you can with ease surpass the perfromance of AMD's FX-62.
That is what I call futureproofing... Buying something today for cheap that will beat the competions best CPU... not to mention that in just a few months Intel will bump up clock speeds further, meaning later in a year or so you could swap CPU's and possibly have better performance than AND's K8L when released...
plus with Intel you do not have to use expensive DDR2 RAM to get good performance... so that makes Intel even more of a bargain...