i'm essentially building my first computer, and i've run into a decision i don't know how to make!!

i think i want an asus board, because i've heard good things about it. well, here's really what i am looking for:

Asus motherboard that most compatible with:

radeon video cards
athlon processors
soundblaster audio cards
western digital hard drives
general cd/dvd/floppy drives
up to 1 gig of ddr ram
would prefer if under 100 dollars, US (motherboard)

also would like to know if anyone could tell me which case would be best for the motherboard you suggest? (would prefer if this was under 100 as well-if you have any recomendatins)

Before you choose a motherboard you should choose which CPU you want, An AMD Athlon 64 or XP, The XP solution which is a cheaper CPU choice you should get a Asus A7N8X or A7N8X-X , or the MSI K8T NEO-FSR for an Athlon 64

Look at www.tigerdirect.com  for their motherboards. Stay away from the really cheap mobos as the are not made as well as the better known brands. Some good brands are DFI, Soyo, Shuttle, FIC, and XFX. Also, check out their motherboard and cpu combos cause you can save some serious money. If you really like asus then go with them but i am just giving you an alternative. Also, check out www.newegg.com .

FIC? Not for desktop boards IMO. XFX... Havn't been round long enough to gain my respect. Soyo.... hmm. Abit, Asus, DFI, MFI and Gigabyte produce some of the best boards.

As for the case an Antec bundled with a top quality Antec PSU is a good option. Whatever you do don't skimp on the PSU!