There are a lot of posts and reviews about the P35 boards, but the majority of them seem to be focused entirely on the high end versions of each board.
So I wanted to see if people had much information on the mid range offerings of each and how the compare to the ones that all the reviews cover.

The requirements are fairly simple, it needs to be less then about $150, it has to have firewire, and it needs to be decent at OCing.
I'm going to be using DDR2 and the chance of this sytem being upgraded to DDR3 is very very slim. SLI/Crossfire is not a consideration either. Probably go with some of the cheaper 4-4-4-12 DDR2-800 sticks and run them 1:1 and not really OC them much if at all. Though I will probably OC to at least FSB 400.

I'm going to most likely be using a e6550. I'm not going to be pushing high OCing, probably mid range OCing where there won't be too much of a concern with long term stability or adjustments. (this is actually for my brother so I won't be there to make modifications if it needs adjustements over time with a high OC)
I've heard some of the heatpipes on the MBs can be a pain with many of the heatsinks so any general suggestions along those lines would be good as well. The heatsink is probably going to be limited at about $30 (another reason I'm not aiming at a high OC)

The Abit IP35 seems to be a good choice, but I'm not sure how many of its advantages are still around going from the Pro to the normal version (such as uGuru and other things).
The Gigabyte board also looks good, but not sure how it scales down from the Deluxe that everyone reviews. While it OCs well, it seems that the process of OCing is a little more complicated (but just as full features) as the other boards. It also seems to use the most power.
The Asus board also seems to be a good choice too.
The MSI seems the least likely. Nothing wrong with the board but it seems to always fall near the bottom of the comparisions at the high end boards.

Does anyone have a bit more experience with how these mid-range boards compare to their Pro/Deluxe/Platinium counterparts?

I thought that the abit & Gigabytes used the least power (certainly less than the Asus)?
Anyway, if you need firewire but can't stretch to the IP35 Pro I guess that you're looking at the DS3P, IP35, P5K & MSI Platinum?
Personally I too would be choosing between the IP35 & DS3P.
mwave have the IP35 for $113 after rebate which is a bargain