here's what I think I'm going to go with
Asus P5Q-E Green Motherboard CPU Bundle - Intel P45, Socket 775, CrossFireX, Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Processor OEM at TigerDirect.com


I may not use it to its full potential, but the one i'm running now i built 7-8 years ago, So this should last more than the next few...

I don't want a laptop because i have a dell 20.1 ultrasharp LCD. I would need a SATA HDD , DVD, and a new vid card....
I do have disks for everything else

 

That is a good CPU & TigerDirect is a very good source. I think a quad core is the right decision. Your PSU is probably the most important thing, make sure yours is a quality one & don't forget to get a HSF as it is not included in that combo offer.

Have fun with your build.

 

Tiger Direct often has good deals on motherboard/processor bundles. As for power supplies, I heard good things about "Sparkle Power" brand (at the badcaps.net forums where they know a thing or two about the innards of powersupplies and motherboards).

If your needs are modest, it could make more financial sense to buy a complete machine. Prices are incredibly low now, even for name brands. I don't know if that means that the Dells etc have been cutting corners in quality, but their older stuff was built to last.

My newest box was built up primarily for high-definition playback, so I went for a PCI-Express video card that included hardware support for HD-DVD and Blu-ray video, and once prices came down, a Blu-ray/HD-DVD/DVD+-RW combo drive. Sound card was an SB Audigy 2 ZS that I already owned, and case was recycled from a retired server. CPU is an Athlon 64 x2 3800 on a Mach Speed motherboard, which I haven't attempted to overclock; it's plenty fast enough for HD playback from discs or x264 downloads. I need to upgrade the video card to one that supports HDMI audio as well, but that'll wait until I have a receiver or display that handles multichannel HDMI audio.

NCIX is another good place to shop; even if you don't buy, there's discussions and feedback on items, so you can find out whether a particular processor or motherboard is good for overclocking. Shipping costs are more reasonable than Tigerdirect for shipping to Canada.

 

Another thought on your quad core. Some of the older software will only operate on 1 core. My avast & zonealarm works on all 4 cores as does the newer software. It still will be faster the everything operating on a single core.