CPU/motherboard recommendations

[Robert Huff]

	I am actively building the parts list for a new system, and
would welcome advice on motherboards.
	Quick research has pointed me to two paths with regard to CPUs:
Intel Q9550(s)/Q9650, and AMD Phenom II 925/945.  (Unfortunately, the
925 doesn't seem to be available to the general public yet.)
	The ideal motherboard would be small on bells and whistles
(onboard NIC, video, and RAID are optional (even undesirable) though
a decent sound chip would be good) and big on reliability,
expandability (this machine might end up with 8gbytes memory and
many storage devices), and good layout.
	My current machines (over five years old) use ASUS and MSI,
both of which have been mostly OK.
	So ... let's start wirh the horror stories.  What has a high
failure rate out of the box, or is not compatible with generic
components?


				Robert Huff