Originally posted here by crone
As far as processor goes, I was looking at getting an Athlon in the mid to upper range of 2Ghz.
What kind of Athlon? Athlon XP/Barton? Athlon 64? Athlon FX? Kinda have to know that before I can recommend a motherboard.

For now memory would be kept with 1x512MB, enabling me to put another 512MB card in when I can afford it. Am I right in saying DDR is the way to go?
Pretty much. Before you know what TYPE of memory to buy (PC2700 vs 3200 vs 3500 etc), you need to decide on the processor.

I don't need to consider case/mobo/proc when thinking of drives and HDD's do I?
Only insofar as the case and motherboard should support the type and number of drives you want. If you want 6 SATA drives, you probably are going to have a hard time finding a motherbaord to support all 6 natively, and likely will have to track down a specific type of case that can house 6 hard drives + floppy and CD/DVDs.

Can anyone recommend what motherboard to get, by offering links to a few I can look at; because when I look at them I don't really understand what i'm looking *for* or looking 'at'.
Since you haven't really mentioned the intended use of the system, and haven't decided on a processor, I will make general suggestions:
ASUS, ABIT, and DFI make the best boards in my experience. DFI makes some pretty hot gaming type boards if you are looking to game with your PC (check the LanParty series), and ASUS and ABIT both have some uber-feature-rich boards.
In terms of motherboard chipsets, go with the NForce 2 based boards for the Athlon XPs/Bartons. For an A64/AFX, look to NF3 or K8T based motherboards.

Also, any other thoughts or comments on what to consider when building my box.
Power requirements, depending on what you want to do with your system. Go no less than 350W on your power supply, preferably higher, although there is a tradeoff there. You want clean, regulated power at the expense of wattage. I've seen 500W power supplies cause system instability because they were $50 cheapo 500W PSUs, while even a 300W in the same system from a reliable vendor was perfectly stable. I would go with Antec or Thermaltake for the power supply if you can afford the expense. Avoid cheap-o big box type store brands.

And finally when reading other threads on here, i've seen people mention a silver thermal compound, what is this, and what's it use?
Probably Arctic Silver. Thermal compound goes on the processor's die and contacts with the CPU's heatsink. What it does it provide very efficient thermal transfer. Most retail processors come with manufacturer-accepted HSF (Heat Sink & Fan) combos that include a thermal pad which does essentially the same thing as thermal paste, but is on the heat sink and requires no extra work.