The 939 AMD version is out (though not in the same case, but a simmilar one), called the sn95g5, and personally I'd go for that instead. I just bought one and am happy so far (except for occasionally losing the network driver on reboot, but that should be fixed in the latest BIOS I haven't installed yet). Not to get into the "AMD roxxorz" type of post, but at this point they do seem to be signifigantly better for most things. Either way you go, I'll try to answer your questions as best I can, based on my experiences with the sn95g5 and about 2 minutes scanning sb81p reviews.
1) There are two constraints, the first is space. On the sn95g5, the AGP slot is the one closest to the side of the case, so there is no room for a 2-slot cooler. This means no 6800 Ultras, and you need to double check any 6800GT to make sure they didn't go overboard on the cooler. This might not be as big of an issue on the sb81p, since the picture I found kinda looks like the graphics card is on the correct side of the PCI slot, but it still means that it eats up your only PCI expansion slot if you go for a 2 slot graphics card.
The second constraint is power consumption, but that isn't all that restrictive. I've heard reports of 6800 GTs running fine on an Athlon system, and I've personally got an x800 XT running fine on mine, but I don't think it'll have enough power for a 6800 Ultra (which wouldn't really fit in the sn95g5 anyways, so no big loss). The sb81p has a 350W power supply instead of a 240W one, so it should be able to handle even an Ultra despite the heavier Intel power draw.
2) Pretty much any CD drive will work, and all hard drives should work (though it looks like the sb81p only works well with SATA hard drives). The one caveat on the CD drive is the open button. Both cases have "stealthed" drive bays, and have a button at the top that uses a level to push on the actual CD drive button below. On the sn95g5 I have, the lever arm for the button is pretty pathetic, so it only pushes a very small distance. This required much fiddling with drive positioning with the computer powered on before it would reliably trigger. Also, if your drive has its button moved far from the normal spot, it might be impossible to get the thing working in the first place. It doesn't look like the sb81p is better than the sn95n5 in this regard, I really wish they had Lian-Li style covers, with the outside button below giving almost direct pressure on the CD button.. The sb81p definately has an advantage in hard drives, however, since it can fit 2+1 instead of the sn95g5's 1+1 (the +1s are for the floppy drive, since you can stick a hard drive there as well if you don't want a floppy). This may not matter if you only want one drive or can live with the second drive taking up the floppy drive bay.
3) Shuttles tend to be good quality, but I can't really add much here since I haven't used the sb81p personally.
4) While its probably _possible_ to change the motherboard, I don't think its really practical. Its pretty heavily custimized to fit in a small case, so finding annother one that would fit in the same space and have the ports come out the correct areas would be extremely difficult. I don't think there is a reliable form factor for these cases other than "whatever our case guys tell our motherboard guys". It is also likely to completely disable all the front ports, since I haven't seen annother motherboard with the same funky connector they use to connect the sn95g5's motherboard to its front panel connectors (its all one long skinny connector).
As far as customizing things, you can add basicly anything that will fit in your 1 PCI slot. Sound card, TV tuner, whatever. The only restriction is that you only get one thing, but you might be able to work around this with an external sound card or something. Personally, I'm using the digital sound out on the sn95g5 and it seems to be working just fine. If I decide to get a sound card later I'm still debating on whether to get an extrernal one and a TV tuner, or just an internal one (internal is slightly better, but not by all that much and my CPU is fast enough that I don't miss the framerates in games that the on-board sound takes up right now, so I have time to decide).
5) The only other issue that seems to crop up is how hard it is to install things, but shuttle is pretty good about that. Except for the CD button problems mentioned above, the installation was fairly straightforward if you know what you're doing and/or can follow directions (but use the slots instead of the holes in the CD install, odds are the holes are going to be just slightly off from the correct spot on the lever, so you'll need to fiddle a lot with the slots to get the exact positioning). Don't assume you know what to do if you're built things before, things need to put in place in a very specific order because of the tight spacing requirements, but if you do it right its not that hard.
Also, the network driver issue I mentioned briefly above: About 50% of the time when booting my computer, it came up as "found new hardware" on the network card, and then wouldn't accept them when I pointed it to the right place. A quick reboot and it always went away, so it wasn't much more than a minor annoyance. On advice from someone in annother forum, I dropped the HT multiplier from 5x to 4x, and that seemed to fix it. I also just noticed that there is a new BIOS rev out that mentions the network controller, so that might also fix it.
6)a) Fine, the sb81p pretty much requires SATA unless you want to stick it in the floppy drive holder, but otherwise anything will work.
b) Should be fine, though I don't know where the button is.
c) anything except a 2-slot ultra will work, and that might even be shoehorned in on the sb81p if you can live without any accessaries.
d) Looks like there is one integrated into the sb81g case, so no need there. For the sn95g5 I bought a combined floppy and 6 in 1 drive to save space, though I haven't used it more than once so far so I can't comment on its reliability.
e) If you're wanting an HDTV tuner, be aware that it'll take up the only PCI slot in the case, so no 2-slot video card and either onboard sound or external USB sound.
f) only two RAM slots, but it takes normal DDR. I personally have 512x2 in mine.
g) I'd go AMD, but I don't insist on it.
i) pre-installed motherboard, nothing else will really fit.
j) make sure it'll fit in one of the available connectors. You only have 2 rear panel USB, and I'm not sure what kind of connection most remotes have.
Actually, that brings up one last point, make sure you count how many USB devices you're planning on using. Since there are only two in the back and two in the front, you can run out of space if you go with USB keyboard/mice as well as sound card and remote control, not to mention that cables hanging from the front of the case don't look as nice as ones hidden in the back, unless its for quick connections. I'd highly recommend either PS2 keyboard/mice or mice that have USB to PS2 adaptors on them, so you can plug two permanent USB devices in the back. The same goes for Firewire devices, but they tend to be temporary and less common, so I wouldn't expect more than 1 permanent connection and the occasional camera or something that can use the front port.
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