I have a AMD x86_64 architecture with SATA Hard-Disk and 8x AGP motherboard and I've ran Suse 9.3, Mandrake 10.2 & 2006, and currently running Fedora 4 all with x86_64 distros with no problems.
If you want to test for Compatibility download live CDs\DVDs and boot from them.
If your friends a newbie and you are too, I would start with Suse
Regards,