New Forum poster needs help in picking out a new Mobo

 Hey folks, my name is James. I'm relatively new to building computers (ive only built 2) but I follow parts and reviews very regulary and have done so for a couple years now. I'm building a new computer in the next couple months and I would really like some advice on a strong mobo. What I currently have picked out is below.

Q6600 OEM - I do intend to overclock

MSI Ati Radeon 4850 - I would possibly like to get 2 in the future, or maybe just buy a 4870 if the price keeps dropping on newegg.

OCZ Revision 2 DDR2 800 x 4

Antec P180 case

550 Watt PSU - (will upgrade in the future if I crossfire)

I would like to find a mobo that could OC my quad relatively easy and be crossfire compatible. As far as crossfire goes I would like to find one capable for 2 x 16 instead of the mobo splitting the 16 into 2 x 8. Any thoughts or comments I would greatly appreciate.

What is your budget for the motherboard?

Not part of your question but I'm just curious. What PSU are you getting; brand/model?

 Take a look at the gigabyte Ds4 X48 series. They are good and solid and overclock well.  I have a couple of concerns about your build. To really overclock your system you are going to have to relax your memory timings a whole lot. You might want to get at least DDR2 1066 to give you a bit more leg room.  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128336 

Total system Draw for your system with 2 4850's in crossfire would be 365 Watt. With a 500 Watt power supply you really dont want to be maintaining more than 500 X .8 = 400 and this number only counts if your power supply is runing 80% effecient. So a cheap power supply wouldnt be able to output even 400 Watts Consistently.  I would reccomend getting a 550 to 600 Watt for your system. Corsair and power pc and cooling are good. BFG LS 550 is also good 80%+ effecient power supply in addition to the Corsair or Pc Power & Cooling models.

Hope that Helps

 Take a look at the DFI LP LT X48-T2R LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard .Has all the features you are looking for

and is a solid overclocker.Good reviews at Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136046

http://www.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PRODUCT_ID=5915&CATEGORY_TYPE=LP%20UT&SITE=NA

 My budget is around 150. I would like to keep it at or around that. I will go as high as 200 though. As for my PSU, i'm taking a Rosewill out of my current computer. I have a link to the item below.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182043 

I'm not quite sure if this will be a big problem or not, its worked great for me so far.

DFI is the brand of baord I would reccomend. Its great at overclocking.

You might be able to find a deal on those premium boards the others recommend to get closer/under your $200 limit. Maybe when the Nehalem boards come out, it will be easier to find one within your budget. Or you could go with another chipset.

As for the PSU, I personally would buy a new one. I like a brand I can trust to deliver stable and clean power to my components, especially if they are overclocked. I would hate for the PSU to die and take other components down with it.