It's still an MSI mobo. But a much more likely choice.
You know - these things are easy to look up.
You go through the stats... the things to check are:
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...specifications
Video & Net - you have to be able to see something and get online. So this is pretty important. Mobo has i965 chipset, supported out of the box. Try out the intel gfx before you get a plugin. Could save you money. (May need the 915resolution package for the full range.)
I note that the name suggests quad core, but the specs say only dual core... you weren't planning on a quad anyway right?
HDD - never use onboard RAID - GNU/Linux software raid is usually faster anyway. Some sata controllers are unsupported or rotten to use. But if the bios has a legacy ide mode you'll usually be fine.
Audio - is usually nice to have.
If you don't like intel GPUs, try ATI cards with HW DRI from the free driver. This will mean an older card - but you do not need directx-10 support as you don't have Vista... in fact, this makes the older cards cheaper!
There's not much wrong with either the gfx cards you picked (did you read the links?)
Check that the BIOS has OS indipendent update utility.
