I think Muskrat is right. Distilled water simply doesn't conduct electricity. But I think that tapwater does. Which is why you shouldn't drop your non-waterproof radio in the bathtub.
Anyway, getting back to the subject. If I may recommend something is that you wait for PCI-express motherboards, with DDR2 RAM slots. PCI-Express is going to replace AGP, which is where your graphics card goes. It would be a shame if you wanted to upgrade your computer next year, only to find out that your motherboard is outdated, and that you need a new one.
Also, another suggestion: Get a 64bit processor by AMD(but don't forget the matching 64bit motherboard), not only are they super fast, they're relatively cheap too. And once Microsoft releases a 64 bit version of Windows, you'll be able to use it to it's full extent.
I believe the Athalon64 3000+ is currently the best processor in terms of perfomance/price.
Tovi 
