If you want absolute stability then I would choose Asus every time. I had the A7V133 then the A7V333 (current) and it is perfect with the added bonus of RAID, USB 2.0 and IEEE1394 all as options if you should need them.
If you want to believe those people saying that the Nforce2 is the most stable chipset out there then fine but take a trip to the Nforce Forums and you will see a whole different story. Memory compatibility problems, zero tolerance of Win98 with no drivers... the list goes on. OK all chipsets have their share of problems but not many people on the forums actually post positive comments.
The KT chipset has a long lineage with AMD chips: KT133. KT133A, KT266, KT266A, KT333, KT400 and as a result is very stable. They have even just brought out dual channel memory as Tom has just reviewed. OK KTxx chipsets are a few frames per second slower in games in single channel mode but for an office machine who cares.
As far as upgrading goes, the most you will get out of the current socket config (462) is the XP 3000+ - the newer models coming out (Athlon 64 etc) are going to be a completely different socket, by september in fact.
For less noise and heat you should swap the WD hard discs for Seagate Barracudas which run much cooler, produce far less noise and use less CPU processing time as Tom measured in a recent article.
For your heatsink and fan combo you are only limited by price. For a very low noise the best solution is a big heatsink (Thermalright / Swiftech) and an 80mm fan on low rpms (evercool / sunnon). The stock coolers do the job and shouldn't be too noisy, but the OEM CPUs are cheaper and then you can guarantee a quiet solution. To allow for slight future upgrade (3000+ is biggest with any socket 462 board you choose) I would suggest the Zalman flower or the Thermalright SLK900U combined with a 92mm fan. Both are pure copper to suck up the heat and both leave you with a wide choice of fan as well. When I build machines for people who want a good stable office PC I look no further than the Taisol CGK760092 - very large heatsink with copper insert and a fan with low noise but decent CFM rating.
Graphics card choice - any Geforce4 MX or Radeon 8500 or similar because they tend to have no fan on board which reduces noise.
PSU I would say should be the main choice - if you buy a good one now it will last you for a very long time for many future upgrades. I suggest the Enermax 450w model - spend the bucks now and you will get a silent PSU that will last for years. These come with 2 fans in them and have a variable speed dial for noisless operation.
Hope all that helps.
4.77MHz to 4.0GHz in 10 years. Imagine the space year 2020
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