Gigabyte MA770-US3 and other recommandations

Hello!

I'm planning to up-grade my old sk. 754 computer to something newer... 

I also decided to stick to AMD. Most probably I will buy a triple core Athlon II as my budget is too tight for a DDR3 build (I'd like to start with 4GB of DDR2 ram) and an entry level Radeon 5xxx GPU. I'm not a gamer so I don't need something very powerful.

I decided to go with an AMD 770/SB 710 mobo, mainly Gigabyte MA770-US3.
I also had in mind ASUS's M4A77 or M4A77D but the reviews I read were not that good (CPU voltage stability problems, thumb drive problems under Win 7, etc...). Also there were some layout issues. Nothing to scare me away but enough to make mo consider something else.... And also, it doesn't have a floppy connector (useful for WinXP installations)

What can you tell me about this board? I'm mostly interested in temperatures of the NB and SB and it's stability.
I'm also not into over clocking.... maybe core unlocking.... but I mostly want a hassle free computer... I no longer have the time to fiddle around and solve different quirks.

I also pondered on using AMD's integrated graphics, but they don't support dual digital output... I need a DVI for my monitor and a HDMI for my TV.

Can you recommend something else for a mobo?

Also... how does this board perform with WinXP? I'm still thinking whether to jump to Win 7 or not... I have an old ATI Theater 550 Pro which I love and it is no longer supported in Win7... I still haven't found a suitable replacement for it... I just don't like Conexant based product  .

The computer would also have to act like a HTPC, beside every day computing (sufing, word processing, working with applications like Altium Designer, Mathcad, etc...).

Any Ideeas how this board behaves under Linux also?

Thanks in advance or your time!