Beware, wall of text approaching.
Before I begin, I might as well clarify my general goal for the system, as well as some features I'd like, and priorities. That sort of stuff.
General Information
-I do not plan to overclock, not really into that. So when considering CPUs and the like, do keep that in mind. Most people I've asked so far always say "such and such is great! overclocks like a beast!". That doesn't help me, I'm not interested.
-I'd like a quiet system. The less noise it makes, the better. I don't expect silence, but minimal is preferable where possible. Prefer good air flow, quiet systems that run well and are simple (I can't stand cases that give off 10 billion different light colors...simple is better, less lights are always a plus)
I'd prefer to be able to hook up both my tv and monitor at once, so I'm not sure how much of a consideration that is with video cards and other things with set-up. Switching the cables is a pain, and if possible I'd prefer to be able to have a set-up where I can have anime going on my tv while still being able to use my monitor for general purposes. I haven't ever tried doing a dual monitor set-up, and haven't looked into it a whole lot yet, but it is something that if possible I'd definitely like to have the capability of doing. Just in case if some rigs/set-ups aren't so hot with that sort of thing.
Budget ~$1500, but that's all relative. I'm fine with spending more, as long as it's worthwhile. Prefer spending less (who doesn't?), but all things considered I'd rather not skimp out.
Motherboard/CPU: Undecided.
Video Card(s): Undecided
Hard Drives: Will be having 2 500 to 750 GB Hard Drives from Seagate or WD most likely. Don't really need help here, I just have to take a look into what I want. However it is good to note for Power Supply considerations I figured.
Alright, let's see here. $1500 is a pretty reasonable budget if you're not looking for high end. In fact, if you're looking for something in the middle now is the perfect time imo. If you are signed up for newegg's newsletters you should take a look at some of the recent ones. They are literally throwing core 2 duos and quads at you in their promotions. The related motherboards as well. I'd highly suggest looking into getting those if you're looking for a system that'll keep you running for the next few years at a very reasonable price. As for video cards, it really depends on how much gaming you do. If you don't do much high end gaming, you might be best off getting a card like the GeForce 8600 which will allow you to decode h264 completely off the card itself. If you need a card capable of doing a bit more high end gaming, I'd suggest something along the lines of a GeForce 9800 or a 260. I'm not completely sure on the dual monitor set-up myself. Especially if you're going to be playing anime on the TV while doing something else on the monitor. Someone else will have to go into that more for you.
I am an Intel / nVidia fan myself as well.
Pzc made a really good point about hard drives and data security. I'm building a new PC myself as well. My part list is
here. It's kinda on the expensive side so there's probably not much you'll want to take from there, but I am setting up a Raptor for my OS/App drive and 4x 750 GB WDs in RAID 5 for data storage and backup. I would highly suggest getting some sort of data backup (either a raid or an external drive). The death of a hard drive with no back up is the single most frustrating thing I've ever encountered with computers. (even more frustrating then explaining PC problems to idiots)
Edit: Comment on case. I noticed that case has 3 fans in it. If you're not overclocking anything and if the case is well designed I don't think you'll need that many fans. My current setup is a XPS case with 2 fans. I'm running a 2.4 Ghz Core2 Duo with the stock cooling, a GeForce 8800 GT, and 3 hard drives. I rarely see temperatures over 30C on my CPU and 60C on my graphics card. As long as you're not overclocking and your case has good airflow, 2 fans should be plenty and keep your computer quite quiet. If it wasn't for the fact that my case has LED lights on it I wouldn't even know it's on when standing right next to it.
