I think the trick is to know what kind of hardware you have on our machine. If you are sure check that items, uncheck the others. Not so sure then check what you think you have, check what else sounds like you might have, uncheck the others.
For example, if you're sure you have a Radeon card, check it, uncheck others (of course, check stuffs like framebuffer support, etc.).
If not sure at all, you have at least three options:
-ask someone (a friend for example, your sysadmin, etc.) for clues
-read the manuals that came along with your hardware
-check everything
Yet the latter will result in a fat juicy kernel.
There are other aspects that have been discused in various threads here at LQ like using ALSA instead of OSS, compiling as built-in drivers for HD support (SCSI, IDE, whatever you have) vs. compiling as modules (that will lead to the need of an initial ramdisk image), etc.
A search within the forums might help you out.
And look at these:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=73436
http://www.digitalhermit.com/linux/K...ild-HOWTO.html
Good luck!