I've always used AMD and Nvidia. Back in the day you mated AMD and Nvidia. Simple as that. Apparently the hardware flipped since last time I build a machine, so this time when researching, I noticed that AMD boards favored ATI hardware. Believe me, I was a bit upset at first when I found out I couldn't continue buying EVGA products!
As for hardware, Thal may recall that the original HDD's selected for this project WERE 10,000 RPM Seagates (Barracuda's?). After some posts on other forums and a whole lot of reviews from different resellers, it looks like the new Seagates are having MAJOR issues with DOA and short life drives. I chose the new drive based solely on what ACTUAL users of the drives have said after they've had them running for awhile. This model drive has the best ratings in my price range.
Caviar's are crap? Tell that to the 200gig that's been spinning away in my desktop since 2004. Not a bad sector yet
/thread!