FreeBSD for webserver?

[VeeJay]

Hi there

I am going to make 2 Webserver at my work going to handle 50 mil hits per
month... They are using Linux already. But being a FreeBSD fan, I have
proposed FreeBSD to my Boss convincing him that FreeBSD is more Fast and
Secure solution for his needs... And now I want to show the results...
*Hardware:*
Dell PowerEdge 2950 III having 2 x CPU 3,0 GHz Intel Xeon L5450 Quad-Core
2x6MB cache WITH 16 GB RAM.

*Tools:*
1. FreeBSD 7 Production Release
2. Apache 2.2.9
3. MySQL 5.1.26
4. PHP 5.2.6

My question is, "*To get the speed, performance and security*":

Should I use Ports or Packages to install all these tools One by One?

*OR*
Should I use TAR files and compile them manually. For example giving command
line arguments and commands like

./configure --prefix=/www --enable-module=so
make
make install
cd ../php-xxx
./configure --with-mysql --with-apxs=/www/bin/apxs
make
make install

etc....

I have googled but still haven't reached to solution...personally I would
prefer comiling them with command line arguments
but then I seek some help from you guys i.e.

How should I write this ./configure......stuff in FreeBSD and what would be
the best options combination, I must choose to get the speed, performane and
security in Apache, MySQL and PHP?

Any suggestion is very welcomed!

-- 
Thanks!

BR / vj