Other than the motherboard having the support for SATA and the drives themselves there is no 'hardware' requirements. You mght be able to find an expansion board that goes in a PCI slot to give a non SATA board the capability, but if you are going with a new build why jury rig it when you can get the support native in the motherboard?
Many peoiple (myself included) really like the vendor
www.newegg.com If you shop 'By Category" (it is up on the top left under the Computer hardware tab) there is usually a selection drop down list inside the category you pick so you can specify what you want/need.
If you get a retail motherboard you are pretty much guaranteed to get all the cables you need (OEM motherboards just check to see what comes with them but they usually do too)
Video cards are a bit more of an question. I would make sure you get a DX-9 capable card and pretty much be willing to spend 150 USD and up. Personally I'd argue against the 500 dollar cards as overkill, but that is just me. ATI has a reputation for a little slower speed but better quality picture while Nvidia has the opposite. A lot of it is either only 'testable' results and personal prefernce. Some of this also depends on 1) what is a lot of gaming and 2) what are the games? If the games are older and you have little interest in the newer stuff more of a compromise can be made on the video.