May want to look at a RAID setup as well if you're looking for reliability. Software RAID is slow. Another thing that you may want to consider is that Microsoft maybe bailing on Vista. Do a search on Windows 7. Could be some interesting reading.

I have seen many benchmarks that the quad cores aren't that much better than core 2 duos as far as price vs. performance.

I'm currently building my own system centered around Intel's E8700 Core 2 Duo. Great overclockability and nice price.