[Blackbirdws6]

To be honest with you, you may just want to just go purchase a comp. from Dell or something and build it online. I picked up a really solid system just the way I wanted and the price was pretty good. If you still want to build it yourself, matching of the components is very important since they all have to work together.

My comp:
Quad Core Processor
3 Gigs RAM
250GB HD
512MB Video - DVI, SVideo, VGA
Plenty of USB 2.0 ports
7.1 sound card

With a 22inch monitor ~$575 shipped

As for your old HD's, you could just pick up some decent external enclosures and run a USB cable to the new comp. I have my old 120GB HD in one of these and only kick it on when I need it. Works fine.

Not selling you on Dell but the deal looked too good to pass up and I needed a new comp.