I would not be so quick to jump into a hardware RAID. Make sure your hardware is supported first. I have a similar system and my hardware RAID is not supported at this time. I am currently using a software RAID. As for most stable GNU/Linux i would have to say Debian http://www.debian.org/ even though i am a hardcore Gentoo http://www.gentoo.org/ fan! You may be interested in some tutorials i have on my site http://infectious.cc/ good luck with the hardware RAID! -- -Ryan