Nvidia GPU + ??? Chipset for Best Compatibility/Stability

[Sigea]

Background:
- Long-time windows user and tired of it; I refuse to run Vista or Win7.
- I *do* want to run some newish windows games found on the Wine Application Database.
- I don't really care much about overclocking; mostly want the machine to be stable & reasonably well-supported/compatible.

I'm under the impression, from what I've read recently, that I'll likely run into fewer problems or limitations with Nvidia than with ATI under Linux, so I'm choosing to go with an Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 and ruling out the ATI Radeon HD 5830.

Narrowed the cpu choices (and consequent chipset choices down to the following:
-AMD Phenom II X4 965
----chipset: AMD 790/890FX
----chipset: Nvidia nForce 980a
-Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz
----chipset: Intel P55

With stability/compatibility/general hardware support under Linux as my focus, I guess I'm leaning toward Nvidia gpu + Intel cpu & chipset as opposed to Nvidia gpu + AMD cpu + (Nvidia/AMD) chipset.

Any input is much appreciated.

[Kano]

When you only want 1 gpu, then it does not matter what you choose, if you want 2 for sli you need a sli enabled board for intel (its basically only a bios marker) or a board with nvidia chipset for amd. Usually nvidia chips for amd are a tiny bit slower than the amd ones. I would prefer intel however, but more likely an i5-760 instead of i5-750.

[kbios]

Personally I prefer AMD CPUs over Intel ones, as::
1) They have deeper powersaving modes (at least the last time I checked)
2) They don't have misleading HyperThreading stuff (I hate virtual-stuff-that-tries-to-be-real)
3) The Phenom II you mentioned is a Black Edition, so you could get 400-600 mhz for free (I wouldn't even call it overclocking, as it is so easy and requires no voltage adjustment)
4) The Core i5 you mentioned is 800 mhz slower, you're going to feel that

As Kano pointed out, if you're using a single video card the chipset choice is not very important. However, note that the 980a has a design which is already a few years old, so I'd go with the 890FX (which has also one more pcie x16 slot).

If I were you, I would go with an Asus Crosshair IV Extreme or (with a lower budget) a M4A89TD PRO.