TD has been much better lately with their rebates. You do have to jump through a few hoops (register online, send via registered mail, etc.) if you want to take advantage of their rebate "guarantee". There are at least two, if not more rebates with this combo, so be prepared to lick some envelopes and stamps. I've purchased a couple of memory chips and HD's and rec'd the rebate within 8 weeks or so. That being said, my personal take on rebates is this: Don't buy ANYTHING just for the rebates. Everything I buy with a rebate, I am fully prepared to pay full price for in the off-chance that it gets turned down, or due to my own stupidity forget to mail it off.
As far as your gaming combo goes, this should work as a pretty good base to build on. Personally, I've migrated away from the "VIA" chipsets and would rather use NVidia's n-force chipset. My A64 has a SIS chipset and I've been happy with it as well. This is just my honest opinion, as VIA left me rather dissatisfied with a couple of their chipsets both pre-Athlon and during the early Athlon days. As far as I know, there are no current issues with VIA boards, and ASUS is one of the best at building boards, so support shouldn't be an issue should you happen to have a problem.
Now, before anyone starts with the "double-standards" issue as far as giving TD a second chance but not VIA, let me just say this: I am perfectly willing to risk not getting my rebate as long as I get what I need. However, I am not willing to lay out cash for something that may not work to my satisfaction. If VIA (or anyone else) want to send me a test board to compare it with others I have (and other VIA boards from the past), I'd be more than happy to give them a second chance as well. 😉