Amen to that Gigabyte board. That thing is the most horrible piece of machinery I've seen. Have one at the shop that I haven't gotten to POST in a week. It's gotta be the DDR issue though, thanks for the heads up.
If you read back in some reviews on Anandtech, he has some info on how Intel is a shade ahead in 3D rendering and such, but for under $250, there's no real leader.