Preferred hardware?
 

Yes, I searched.. ;)

I am wondering if there is any resource that is an all-inclusive list of hardware that seems to be the most compatible with Linux. I can find random pieces of information here and there such as Nvidia being the best for video, but is there a guide somewhere that has all hardware, even down to wheel-mice, multi-function keyboards, monitors... etc. ?

Also, I don't want to open pandora's box, but is there anywhere that has performance ratings of Linux on different processors (i.e. Intel vs. AMD)? I have long been a fan of AMD because of value (good price, great performance), but with all of these nifty new features of processors, I am curious how they stack up running Linux kernels.

Just trying to build my next system the best way, the first time ;)

About video, I don't agree with you :( That's sure Nvidia is very good if you use an Xserver... but if you don't want X and prefer DirectFB for example, Matrox seems to be the best (But it's true that they are expensive).
About audio, that's the same thing... if you already know if you will use OSS ro ALSA (I suppose ALSA)... Have a look in doc to see what are the best supported cards... In fact I think that, you have to consider one of these sides: which software you want to run/which hardware is the best for that case or which hardware you wanna run/which soft support that the best or maybe a mix of the previous

Go to the linux distribution and check what hardware they tested that works. Though there are several products that are not on the list that works with out any trouble.

Go to HCL in this forum. There is a whole list of different devices that works with linux. I'm having a hard time finding devices that do not work.

Either INTEL or AMD. Its up to you to decide.

What processor is great for running linux kernels is to general of a question. This is because there are too many variables to count for.

I know that you can go to the distro site to see if something works, and there are various places to see if something works, but that is just to see if a specific component works. What I am looking for is kind of the reverse. Instead of saying hey, does this item work, I want to see a list of items that do work without having to pick something specifically to see if it works. Preferably a list that indicates which products have the best performance and/or easiest setup.