Seeking mainboard recommendations (now: Gigabyte H55-USB3)

[Rich Braun]

Footnote to this discussion thread...

Last night I stopped by Microcenter and talked to a helpful salesman by the
name of Augusto.  He immediately pointed out an alternative motherboard with
similar specs/price, and pointed out that their exchange policy allows for
similar-product exchanges if the customer's unhappy with a motherboard.  When
I complained about the fact that rebates are applied to most of the
motherboard/RAM products they sell, he told me this was no problem.

So:  back the old motherboard went, this morning in an effort to beat the
"black Friday" rush when I won't want to set foot near a retail store.

Taking Augusto's recommendation, I installed a Gigabyte H55-USB3 version 2.0
in place of the MSI P55-GD65.  I popped in the four RAM chips and presto, my
problem is solved out of the box.  I've proven 100% certain that there was no
issue with my O/S installation, the CPU or the RAM chips given that all of
those things are now operating without modification.

My only remaining issue is that the Corsair-branded memory modules (part
number CMX8GX3M2A1333C9) come up as 1066MHz rather than the advertised
1333MHz.  That was true on the MSI motherboard as well, so I think I need to
exchange these two RAM chips as well.

My mystery about the MSI board isn't resolved in the purist technical way I
was hoping for (an explanation as to why the BIOS would reserve half the RAM
and prevent the O/S from using it) but at least the problem is now behind me. 
And I've done the service of warning BLU members about a product that may fail
to deliver on its specifications.  One thing I did before returning the board
was to examine the CPU socket carefully; some of the online reports about this
MSI product stated that the Foxconn connector sometimes has bent pins.  I
believe that must've only been true of earlier versions of the P55-GD65; mine
had a different brand of CPU socket (Lotes) and all the pins were properly
aligned.

The H55-USB3 lacks a second gigE NIC, but makes up for it by including
built-in USB3 support.

-rich