[NTLUG:Discuss] (somewhat OT) AMD mobo/chipset recommendations?

[Darin W. Smith]

I have a dying drive on my box at home, and the prospect of replacing it 
has led me to consider upgrading other parts of the system...

So, I'm looking for recommendations and warnings for/against motherboards.

It has been a couple of years since I went seriously mainboard shopping, so 
I'd like to hear what folks think is good and bad these days.

I'm an AMD guy, so that narrows the scope some...

What I'm looking for:
Support for a single Athlon XP 2600+  (I would also consider something that 
would support dual MP processors, in case I ever want to add the 2nd one-- 
but right now, I have little need for 2 procs)

USB 2.0
IEEE1394 not essential, but nice to have
at least one NIC (LAN)
supports DDR RAM, say at least a Gig
H/W RAID supported by Linux is a plus
I don't care about sound and video--I'll be recycling my SB Live and 
GeForce4

It looks as if there are quite a few candidates out there that would fit 
the bill.

I see the BioStar M7VIT, Epox 8RDA+, and A-Open AK79D-1394 and the Asus 
A7N8X Deluxe

I guess my biggest worry is the Nforce2 chipset on some of these boards.  
Anybody here using it?  Experiences?

If there are no big problems, the A-Open and Asus boards would probably be 
my leading candidates.  The AOpen has the 1394 and the Asus has the RAID, 
so if the RAID is Linux-friendly, I'd probably prefer that to the 1394, as 
I have no 1394 devices laying around yet.  Plus, the Asus has Serial ATA, 
so maybe it is a little more future-proof? (Right...)

Opinions?

-- 
D!
Darin W. Smith
AIM: JediGrover
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite 
you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." --Mark 
Twain "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar"