"Future Proof" Sandy Bridge setup?

[Betelgeuse]

I'm new to this, so please be gentle

I've read a lot about recommended hardware and, understandably, there's not any totally stable, totally compatible Sandy Bridge hardware that's on any of the Wikis yet. I've read Gordo74's really nice guide to building a SB machine with the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3-B3 board.

My question is: do people have any buying advice as to what is likely to work best in the future? I don't have a problem buying hardware that's still a little bleeding edge now, but I'd like something that's going to work pretty reliably within the next few months (and hopefully with Lion).

I know that a lot of people liked the Gigabyte P55 series for the previous family of processors; I guess they tended to be stable and work really nicely. So, my question is, what's your best bet as to what the "Sandy Bridge version" of those MBs will be? Is the P67A series going to win? Thoughts?

 

[RTK]

Future proof PC hardware, that is something I would like to see.

Okay, having said that I did read that you are really only trying to get some confirmation of what hardware will likely be the best fit for OS X and Sandy Bridge in the next few months. I don't think anyone is really sure. I'm pretty sure there will be hacks to make it perform on all of them. However, with the release of the new iMacs and the iFixit teardown of said iMac, maybe the Z68 chipset will prove to be a good choice.

viewtopic.php?f=79&t=18967&start=0&hilit=z68.

 

[Betelgeuse]

Heh; yes. The "Future Proof" was meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek. I think you nailed exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks for the thread about the Z68. People seem to think that the Z68 is just the P67 with some added goodies, so perhaps the P67 will work as well as the Z68? Regardless, I think I have enough willpower to hold off for the half week until the Z68 comes out, so I can evaluate it (considering cost) then.

Do others have thoughts on this?

And do people have favorites for manufacturers? Anyone want to start an Asus vs. Gigabyte debate? Does it matter at all?

 

[cakemonster]

If you can find a P55m-UD4 and don't mind a P55 setup it is about as maclike as you can get with 889a audio etc...

None of the new SB boards seem to have the same chips that apple has in their machines unfortunately...

I am in the same boat and probably waiting for a Z68 matx board and 2600k as that is the meat and potatoes of the imac 2011 (minus the k)...