Anyone looking at building a new desktop system should not look any further than Intel Core 2 processors, and when time comes to pick a platform you should have Intel's own P35 chipset in mind as it officially offers 1333MHz FSB support and will be compatible with upcoming 45nm processors. TechSpot has compared nine motherboards from just four different manufacturers: Abit, ASUS, ECS and Gigabyte. These boards range from $90, all the way up to $230.

The P5K Deluxe costs around $220 while the P35-DQ6 is closer to $230. Both are impressive looking motherboards that come with a fantastic package. Of the two we are leaning towards the P5K Deluxe, as the board design is more compatible with high-end heatsinks, the performance was marginally better, and its overclocking abilities are superior. While it would be difficult to go wrong with either of these two motherboards, we have found the ASUS option to be a slightly better value.

Next up in the high-end value segment we have the Abit IP35 Pro, ASUS P5K-E and Gigabyte P35-DS4 which cost $155, $185 and $180 respectively. All three motherboards are extremely good value at these prices and they still feature the ICH9R southbridge chip for full SATA support with RAID. This means they also retain Crossfire support via two PCI Express x16 slots (that work at x8). They all feature a single Gigabit LAN controller while the P5K-E retains the wireless-AP feature. They also feature excellent on-board audio solutions while the P5K-E and P35-DS4 keep their Firewire support, which is nice.

The next stop is $120, which brings us to the lower end of the scale where the ASUS P5K-SE and Abit IP35-E can be found. These boards come fitted with the ICH9 southbridge, meaning they drop two SATA ports and RAID support. The ability to utilize Crossfire also goes out the window on these more affordable versions. Firewire is also gone, but you do get a total of twelve USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit LAN and a quality 8-channel audio controller.