Building a new system - Abit AB9 QuadGT motherboard any good?

[DoGGx23]

I'm about to build a new system soon. I have all the parts picked out and I am planning on making the purchase through newegg tonight. Please let me know if this board is good or not? These are the parts I am planning on purchasing. I did notice that the board I am getting has a PCIe 16x slot and PCIe 1x slot. What is the PCIe 1x slot used for? Is it for a SLI video card setup?

ABIT AB9 QuadGT LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6600
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP
Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-05

I have an Artice Freezer 7 pro heatsink fan and I'm still looking for a decent power supply. The Abit AB9 board I am purchasing requires a 24 pin power along with an 8 pin power. What do you guys recommend for the power supply? How much wattage should I get?

[Brahma]

I just put a system together with a Quad GT board and I'm impressed with it. Stable from the get go and overclocks high and easy.

The PCIe 1X slot can be used for several things now. SATA controller card, Gigabit ethernet, firewire, and I think Matrox makes a graphics card for it.
I'm guessing eventually sound and tuner cards will make use of the slot.
For now, I think a PCIe 1X slot is unnecessary as the speed increase isn't utilized much right now.

[Russell]

Buying a P965 chipset board is buying year-old technology which has already been replaced by its successor. I cannot fathom why you would want to do this.

[Brahma]

Assuming you're talking about the ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35. There are several reasons to get the Quad GT instead. The P35 boards aren't exactly a major leap in technology and performance. The new ICH9R south bridge is just a minor update to the ICH8R. They're great OCers but so is the Quad GT.

Mature Bios, the P35 still has it's growing pains to go through. Although I'll admit it's one of the most mature releases I've ever seen.

$55 dollars cheaper (@Newegg) The Pro version is the only Abit board that has as many features as the Quad and it $185 compared to $130 for the Quad after MIR.

Several reviews I've seen say the P35 is a useless upgrade with only expensive DDR3 support to recommend it. I don't necessarily agree with that because they show a slight performance increase, but the difference really won't be noticeable in real world performance. The IP35 Pro doesn't support DDR3 so that's a wash. Given the fact that DDR2 is so cheap and DDR3 run over $400 for 2 gigs right now I think it's still a viable decision to go with the proven chipsets.