X-bit Labs takes a good look at the Asus P5E3 (~US$220), an Intel-based motherboard that features Intel LGA775 processor (including Penryn) support, Intel X38 chipset, 2 x fully-fledged PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots, 3 x PCI Express x1 slots, 4 x DDR2 memory, Gb LAN, and copper heatpipe cooling.
"All in all, Asus P5E proved a very good product. Being closely related to top Asus product aka Maximus Formula turned out an advantage for P5E. The mainboard inherited a lot of good features from its elder sister. Namely, the smart PCB design and high-quality integrated sound solution. As a result, Asus P5E can be characterized as a relatively inexpensive, high-performance, reliable platform. It also performs well during overclocking. It hits high FSB frequencies without much effort and runs stably with overclocker memory, which allows easy processors overclocking to the maximum of their potential without any problems. ... Yes, the board is very nice, but in most cases it would be much more reasonable to go for an Intel P35 based solution priced identically." [X-bit Labs]
The Pros are: future Penryn processors compatibility, high performance and overclocking, PCI Express 2.0 x16 bus support, and Crossfire x16 + x16 support. One noticeable drawback is the absence of an eSATA interface.
So if you don't need Crossfire, and care less about Intel Extreme Memory support, just get a nice Intel P35 mobo that is priced similarly, or even lower.
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