I'm pretty sure everyone, including me, is going to suggest the Intel D975XBX2 aka "bad axe 2." I'm using it and I'm loving every minute of it. Also, I'm going by "need a solid intel board" that you mean you want an intel branded board, unless you just mean an intel supported board. Even if not, I still highly recommend the bad axe 2.
I have this set of G.Skill 2GB DDR2-800. Probably overkill for my little OC but you never know. And no I dont use raid, but I'm pretty sure you can since theres 2 SATA controllers(one intel, one marvell) for a total of 8 ports and they both come with a diskette with sata/raid drivers.