D975xbx2 - MB - hardware compatibilty help

[Coriolanus]

Just having a nightmare upgrading a PC to the dual core from socket 478. Have just gone through a nightmare with an ASUS P5B boad due to the Jmicron controller bios-- Have RMA'd the ASUS board an am replacing with the above mentioned intell board.

Here is the potential hardward setup.
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 Conroe 2.33GHz
3 - sata drives.
1 - IDE drive
ASUS EN8500GT Graphics card.
SB Audigy Sound card
1 Sony Sata DVD/CD Rom drive.
Ps/2 Mouse and keyboard.
Printer on LPT 1.

I really want to know if the bios or anything about this board will cause problems? and ugly hardware messages. WILL NOT BE USING RAID.

Can't decided on whether to make the IDE or SATA the System drive -- am leaning to IDE. But I am concerned about whether the IDE and SATA drives will install without the problems I had with the JMICRON Sata Bios.

YOu make ask why 4 hard drives -- I LIKE 4 HARD DRIVES. I prefer smaller drives and not paritioning them as opposed to large drive and partitions. Any advice or help is appreciated.

Could anyone tell me what the potential problems I might expect to encounter?