Best Linux Distro for webserver

I am pretty much a n00b when it comes to Linux, I have tried out Knoppix a little and used Fedora a little. I am wanting to switch my current winows webserver over to an apache/linux type configuration. I just need some advice as to which distibution is:

a) Not too hard to get to grips with

b) Stable/Effecient enough to run a decent webserver.

The machine it will be run on is an old Duron 800 with 512MB RAM. What I was wondering is if it is possible to boot linux with X when required for setting up/administration, then boot without X when it's not needed to save ram and increase webserver performance? Or is it easy enough to configure a basic webserver from the command line all together?

TIA

Any Linux will give you good results, but if you want speed, go for Yoper or Gentoo. Gentoo is a little tougher to install, but once you have it runing it's incredible. Yoper is easy all the way through.

My friend and I like Slackware, but he likes Fedora more for his web server.

I thought about Fedora because it seems easy to install and learn. My ownly concern was recourse usage. How easy is it to boot without a GUI when it's not required to save recourses?

You should be able to set it up so that it will boot to the console without starting X, then start X whenever you want. That way you are only using the GUI when you want/need to.
Mandrake 10 is also easy to use. It includes a version of Apache that has more features, but I don't remember what it is called.

Mandrake 10.1 is excellent, URPMI makes updating software easy and it has helpful wizards for configuring services.

Thanks, I'm installing Fedora right now. Going to download Mandrake and check it out too tommorow. Thanks for the advice.