Gunny I really think your best solution is going to be,
The: Asus Striker with the ADI 1988B w/anolog audio riser-card supporting 7.1, 6-SataII w/ Raid 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and 10, 2-IDE channels and a floppy, Support for the upcoming 1333 Penryn processors, SLi 2@16x + 8x for a physics card or second monitor, four slots of SLi-Ready 533-1200Mhz DDR2 in Dual channel with overclocking options if implemented that are the current King.
Or The: MSI P6N Diamond with the same features except; Creative X-Fi 7.1, 6-SataII w/ Raid 0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10(+ 2 SataII Hardware Raid 0, 1) 2-IDE channels and a floppy, 4 PCI-e 16x slots.
EDIT
The board in it's early preview seems to be on par or slightly better than the Striker. Overclocking is a mystery at this point and the price is also unknowen, but is said to be cheaper than the Striker atleast after mass availability.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/22/...therboard_comparison_part_2/page5.html
There are several other features on these boards not mentioned here. I dont want to sell either one short. I have mearly mentioned the things gathered from your input that make the most impact on a gaming rig.
On a personal note: What I'm looking forward-to throwing in my friends face.
1) Can you imagine 2-10,000RPM Raptors on a Tru on-board "Hardware Raid" running in raid0, and 3 to 6 more drives running in raid5? I wonder if there is a bios setting to allocate memory? It would be nice if it ran off a seperate single stick of sd-ram or ddr, but thats dreaming.
2) I can't think of a legitimate in-your-face claim that they may not already have or have a speculizmed knock-down to. But to have so much native on one board is certianly worth some bragging room and a grin from ear to ear as I feel beads of sweat form on my forhead from pure glutainy.
3) Well if I couldn't think of two I certainly can't think of three, But I can always bring back up on-board hardware raid and leave them in a wanton hush.
As the ultimate gaming rig is a matter of preferance what makes you happy is whats going to be the best. If performance numbers are close and features you will actually ever use are present, then many if's, and's & butt's can arise as to which is the best in a quick debatable discussion arising faster then a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. The P965's and P975's have come to an end as the performance champion. No matter what someone that just spent thier money on an Intel based chipset mobo may say. The only advantage to going with the Intel chipset was the Nvidia 600 series isn't worth the money. That too has come to an end. As the 650i boards are now in the $100 to $160 range and the 680i going from $199 to $335 and falling every week.
Seems comical that everyone HATED! Intel just a six months ago. Bashing Bill Gates was a recreational past time for some. I know! I've seen it. Now you can't seem to find more than a handful ready to give it up. I don't know if I've ever really seen a poser but the word certainly comes to mind.
I hope this helps you make a decision.
P.S. reading early customer reviews come from those people that spend the highest price with no regard to forwarning and the intellegnce level to jump in head first without poking the water with a stick for rocks. This may make you stop and think of thier abilty to build a system. Obviously the Nvidia chipset had some issues But with more people today then ever before attempting to build thier own systems and running straight to a forum and posting a question rather than doing a little reading and research makes you wonder how many of those grips were legitimate. The P975 and P965 were even a bigger pieces of junk than the 680i and 650i according to early customer reviews if you do a little research on it. So don't let people that love thier equipment fool you in making your product decision that you have to live with. That includes me too. I have just presented information to you. I know what I'm going to do. I have about 15 good friends faces that I want to rub that onboard hardware raid system into. Being MSI it is going to overclock very very well. If not then I dont need it and that means the reviews will drop in its favor and the price will drop right along with it. I do expect some bugs in the bios at introduction, What in todays PC market would expect me to think otherwise. But I'll stand behind MSI as a long time user and know they will fix thier problems giving me a quality product. I could only hope for some problem in the bios that made the early numbers shoot down dropping the initial price of the board. But I won't hope for that the more sales the more support along with Vdimm and vcore how-to mods from the community.