Personally, I would never run a sump on an undrilled tank. I know there are ways to make sure it won't overflow, but none are fail safe. With a drilled tank, you have a closed system. Unless you over fill your sump, you will never have the chance of an overflow. Just my personal opinion, and I'm sure there are dozens of things you can do to make it safer, but I'm not willing to take a risk on a large tank.
An overflow box wouldn't have much to do with water distribution. If you are talking about water coming in from the tank, it is only going to enter the filter from the box location. If you are talking about water coming back from the filter, typically it doesn't run through the overflow box, but from a pump in the sump back to the tank. You can plumb this in a variety of ways to distribute water.
I know there are opposing opinions out there, and I'll let them speak to the positive sides of an overflow box.
With a large tank that is drilled, a sump is the best bang for your buck filtration wise.