Mobo recommendation for CS5 and Lightroom 4 editing

[jamesd3rd]

I tried using the search feature but it resulted in a blank page so I apologize if this post is beating a dead horse.

**** This is an edit to my previous post ****

I'm looking for a motherboard recommendation that will give smooth, lag free performance when using Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 4. My current Core2 Duo motherboard isn't cutting it. I'm constantly facing 'not responding' at the top of the screen as I'm using the adjustment brush to desaturate 12meg raw files in LR.

For the last few days I've been skimming reviews (looking at the conclusion and recommendation sections mostly) to determine what would be a good board to get. In combing the internet I see there are all manner of Intel based chipset; P67, Z68, Z77 etc. I plan on going with the i7 3.4GHz 2600k CPU. I won't be doing any gaming or video editing. It will be strictly a Photoshop and Lightroom box. But I want to be able to handle fairly good sized Lightroom catalogs containing RAW files. I have one now that has 366 images averaging 12MB. When I bring up an image in the Develop Module it takes a bit of time to load. I'm looking for faster response and faster rendering.

The issue that I want to avoid is that 'boot loop' situation. I've built quite a few systems and have never encountered any problems and I'd hate to start now. Is that common to just Z68 boards or does that affect P67 boards as well?

So what I'm hoping to get from this post is to get some suggestions on a few solid boards. All I know of the Intel chipsets is that the P67 is older and there was some sort of bug.

These are currently a couple candidates based on HW reviews and newegg customer feedback.

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3

I can't say money is no object but I'd like something that is going to perform well without breaking my wallet. So I want as much bang for my hard earned buck as I can get.


Thanks for your help.