ok, tried the ram and it didn't work, so it appears that only the qvl ram can be guaranteed on this board.
So...I took the plunge adn bought an i7 950, Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 and 6 gig of Corsair XMS3 and an Asus GeForce GTX 460 Direct CU TOP 768MB which should arrive tomorrow.
When I upgraded this current motherboard the other day Win 7 Ultimate booted, scanned for new drivers and hey presto! Was wondering if this new board is likely to be as hassle free upon booting?