[olug] Mobo/Video recommendations

[Obi-Wan]

OK, so my 7-yr-old dual P3 motherboard has finally breathed its last
-- at least for production environments.  I'm now in the market for a
new mobo/CPU/RAM/video/power combination.  Not bleeding edge, but maybe
one or two notches below it.  Do any of you have any combos that you
have had unusually good or bad (especially bad) luck with under Linux?
Finding a combo that meets my specs is easy, but determining Linux
compatibility is always difficult (or at least time consuming).

This will run Ubuntu Gutsy (7.10).  I want a single socket, dual core
AMD mobo with at least 2 IDE ports (4 drives), onboard audio, 8GB RAM,
and as many PCI(-X) slots as possible. Onboard fireware (1394) would
be nice.  I don't play games or watch movies on my computer, but while
I can live without it, I have grown fond of Compiz here at work.

I know that nVidia vid cards have had a good reputation for Linux
support over the years.  With AMD buying ATI, has Linux support for
their cards improved any, or should I still avoid ATI?

Is there a particular north/south bridge chipset that I should get
or avoid on the mobo?

How big a power supply do I really need to power a fast Athlon 64x2,
a decent vid card, and a half dozen hard drives?  Is 400W enough?

I also want to make sure that the mobo BIOS supports returning to the
previous power state (on) after recovering from a power failure.  My
current (dying) mobo can't do that, which is annoying when we get a
power outage while I'm on vacation, since I run all my email through
this machine.

Anyway, thanks in advance for your opinions.

-- 
Ben "Obi-Wan" Hollingsworth                             obiwan at jedi.com
   The stuff of earth competes for the allegiance I owe only to the
     Giver of all good things, so if I stand, let me stand on the
       promise that You will pull me through.  -- Rich Mullins