true, very true, blitzen. I used to be an Asus man but since buying my O/C XFX 8800GT alpha dogs i have fallen in love with their performance. since installing the now available 169.32 drivers the cards are alot more stable. XFX cards and mobos essentially use the stock Nvidia drivers except the hardware is made better.
i have taken a look at the XFX 790 ultra mobo and i am confidant that i can get a Quad core extreme proc up and running to over 4ghz per core by using water cooling. something jakec is not considering at the moment.
My future spec is
XFX 790 Ultra mobo (if that doesn't work, an intel skulltrail mobo)
Cosmos S coolermaster case
Coolermaster 1000w PSU
Q9650 Quad extreme proc
DDC Pro w/ XSPC top, XSPC R120-T Rad, EK Supreme
2 x XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB DDR3 preoverclocked (670mhz)
4X DDR3 PC3-10666C6 1333MHz ReaperX Memory
3x Samsung spinpoint 750gig Raid O
2x Samsung 226CW monitors - 1 x Sony X3000 1080p HD TV
X-Fi Plat soundcard
LG BlueRay burner
Logitech 540 speakers, DiNovo Edge Keyboard and Habu mouse
Only later will i consider buying a 9800GX2. i want to watch vista develop a bit and for Nvidia to sort out its driver support.