Thanks for all the replies guys. Unfortunately I am now more confused than ever. It seems a lot of this is personal preference or opinion.
I realize that I don't neccesarily need to go high end on this stuff, but of there will be any performance advantage by doing so, I really dont mind spending the money.
I am leaning towards something like this:
Case
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Mid Tower 450Watt ATX12V
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...uct_Code=100588
Motherboard
DFI Lan Party NForce4 SLI-DR Audio/GB-LAN/IEEE/PCI-E/SATA/DDR/ATX 64 939
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...uct_Code=110222
(I was planning to go with the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe nForce4 SLI Audio/GB-LAN/IEEE/USB/PCI-E/SATA/DDR/ATX 64 939 but the guy at Monarch said that they have been having a lot of trouble with these, and the DFI would be a better choice - any thoughts on this comment?)
Processor
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual-Core 512K Per Core 90nm (939) (Retail Box-w-Fan)
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...uct_Code=120244
(This seems to be everyone's idea of the way to go, assuming I go with AMD)
Memory
Corsair 2GB kit (2 x 1GB) TWINX2048-3200PRO DDR-400 (PC-3200)
(Got this from the Corsair Reccomendation for this Mobo, but am open to any suggestions of course)
Hard Drive
Western Digital 74 GB SATA 10K Raptor (WD740GD)
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=150239
Video Card
BFG GeForce 6600 GT OC 128MB GDDR3/PCI-E/TV-Out/Dual-DVI (Retail Box)
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=190474
(Seems to be a good choice - gets me the dual DVI outs without spending like $500 on one of the really high end cards)
DVD
NEC ND-3540A 16X Dual Layer DVD±RW (Black) (OEM)
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...uct_Code=160236
How is this looking now?
Monitors: I was considering getting the Dell 24" (or 2) but I have heard there is some kind of high pitched squeal issue with these, so I am now leaning towards getting 2 of the Samsung or Viewsonic 20.1"s - they both look good and have good reviews - any thoughts?
Thanks again for all the input