I currently am running Leopard on a 939 AMD X2 (with one core disabled to fix random reboots) with an nvidia board and nvidia graphics card. I'm seriously considering sending this processor/memory/videocard/etc to Linux (I don't know what distro I'm going to this time) and picking up another motherboard, processor, and DDR2 RAM. Ideally, a barebones kit would be my purchase, but that being said, I have no qualms about finding the parts myself.

My question is, what would you people recommend for a motherboard. Specifically, are Intels still the gotos (that question probably dates me)? I would check the wiki, but I've been noticing it's not necessarily the most up to date system.

EDIT: Also, would there be anything special I'd have to do if I wanted to use this hard drive still after I switch to Intel? I've been lead to believe that I won't but I want to make sure.

P.S. This purchase may very well be a month or two off.

The Gigabyte P35-DSXX boards are where I would start. They are almost completely compatibile and there are guides on here on how to go about it.

If you want a cheapo motherboard check the one in my sig... only problem is S3 sleep and no mic in (but you could use USB mic)... S1 sleep works.

Also I would stay away from intel motherboards...

Gigabyte P35-DSXX are now being replaced by Gigabyte EP35-DSXX. Do those work as well as the P35s?

Yes, the guide on this site works for those as well. That's what I use now. The EP35 just has energy saving technology, but it's the same board. Definitely amazing, and great for OS X.

I found mind on NewEgg for $79.99.