Great review, Kemp, thanks for doing it as I was thinking of grabbing one.:worship: Now for my thoughts...
DAMN DAMN DAMN! I think the 680i chipset is good but not the king, would really like to see the 975X (or updated chipset) that can support nVidia's 8800 series gpu's in SLI... and done by ABIT. ABIT boards look great, and with the exception of the EZ PLUG for added graphics power, I like their layouts; not to mention my AW9D was rock-solid, even using an E6600 @ 3.7GHz... my 680i mobo can't touch it, only solid at 3.4GHz or lower.
Like the EZ CMOS as well, no more dip-switch installations!

(newer mobos don't have problems like the old mobos after a bad OC, but it's the thought that counts!)
I personally don't see all the fuss over the passive cooling for the NB/SB. My case uses 4 120mm fans on the side of the case, so I get a lot of extra cooling... not to mention the little fan that came with my mobo for the NB, so I don't have a heating problem. I think it works fine, even without the little fan made for the NB; on the other hand, an enthusiast board should give the user the option to remove the passive to add active (fan) cooling solutions. The only thing I wonder about is the need for pipes from SB--NB--PWM... do the pipes really do anything for the cooling?
TJS