Computer replacement!

[Lissa]

Thanks for the input all!

I will be looking at a full system, since my current PC will stick around so that when me and the wife. However some of the nicer peripherals will go to the new PC, and more economy models will get picked up for the old one. I think stepping down from a 22" widescreen to a 19 or so would probably help the old PC's issues as well.

I hadn't thought much about option 2, that *was* my intent when I had my current PC built, but I let it go for far too long due to real life events (being broke in college, moving repeatedly with stretches of no internet, getting married). Since my life is pretty stable now and should be that way for quite some time, I think option 2 would probably be the smart way to go again, so much thanks for reminding me of that >.>

The parts and model #s thrown out are very helpful, hopefully enough to give me a good point to start researching.
If I opt for building my own (or having friends help), any suggestions for software/OS versions, etc? I currently don't own any up-to-date copies of much, and would really like to NOT use windows xp64 on a new machine, since I have had so many problems with MS's forgotten hybrid over the years.

If you can hold off for a few more months, Windows 7 will likely be released late summer/early fall (sometime between mid August and mid October). You will also see some new processors come out in that time as well as new video cards and such which should allow present hardware to drop a little price.