having some trouble deciding

ASUS M4A87TD EVO AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

or

ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard

What do you plan on doing with this computer? Generally I would say get the M4A87TD. The SB850 is a nice southbridge. Total system performance should be the same with either board, unless you were going to do Crossfire (the M4A87TD does x16/x4 while the M4A79XTD does x8/x8). Lower-end video cards probably won't show a difference, but high-end cards will underperform with the x16/x4 configuration.

If you are looking to do crossfire (with some decent cards) I'd go with the M4A89TD .

no plans for a crossfire... just a single radeon 5830. that being the case would the 87 be a better buy? Does usb 3.0 matter?

USB 3.0 will matter in the future. The 87 also has SATAIII 6Gb/s. That will also be useful in the near future.

thanks man... i really appreciate the help =)

No problem. I like to stay current on all PC harware. The days of building a new computer every 6-12 months ended a few years ago, but I like to keep on top of things.