I would suggest creating test installations of both phpBB (the new version is much better than the last) and Simple Machines Forum, experiment with them and decide for yourself which you like best. I personally chose SMF for the forum I am presently building, but it was a really tough call... one or the other will just have to "feel right" to you overall, but either one would "do the job".
I found phpBB a little easier to customize (I used the built in subsilver2 theme rather than the default, which I find to be pretty awkward) using CSS and making small changes to the table structure, but after spending time with SMF I figured out how to make it match my site's scheme and just liked the overall "feel" of it a bit better... though there would be no way for me to put the reasoning into words... you really just have to try them out for yourself.
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