I also went with the IC7 Max3, build my machine this weekend, parts just arrived.
The Lanparty seems to be moving up on review sites. I didn't really know about it when I decided on the Abit. I dunno, the Lanparty seems to be a novelity item right now. I based my decisions on what was currently in most reviews, and that was the Abit. I also like the idea of the Ostes cooling fan.
Ram? Depends on how you want to OC. There again, I stayed with Corsair. But now you hear about OCZ and a few other brands that cost less.
On the speed, depends on how far you want to OC. If you get a P4 3.4C like I did, you probably only need PC3200. Why? Because the multiplier on a 3.4 is 17, so you won't OC it that much before you hit the limit. I bought the PC3200LLPro from Newegg for $365 and it has the Leds, plus the timings are tight being 2326 which will also speed things up. Ok, so I install everything, and then I expect to up the FSB by about 20, which is (220 FSB * 17) = 3740. PC3200 from Corsair can easily handle that. There is no need for PC4000, unless you're going to get a 2.4 or 2.8 and go for a huge overclock. I don't really agree with that thinking. I'd just assume go for the most processor possible, the 3.4c, and give it a little OC up to 3.6 or 3.8 if I can, because I did get the huge Thermalright sp-94 heatsink.
Here's a great article about OCing an Abit IC7 Max3
http://www.jscustomcomputers.com/overclocking.htm