Heres just a quick run through from a custom build, all at cost price though, most custom PC builders wont put a markup on parts or a very little markup, but will cost you the time to assemble which is about an hour and maybe another hour to install windows if needed.
Motherboard: ASUS P5QL-SE
CPU: Intel Q9550
RAM: Kingston DDR2 1066mhz 4gb (2 X 2gb)
Hard drive: Western Digital 1Tb Sata
Rom Drive: DVD Writer - Pioneer 216
Case: Collermaster 330-334 (could only price with the crappy OEM PSU today, but it would be 15-20 bux cheaper without one)
PSU: Coolermaster Extreme 650W
Graphics Card: 512mb 9600GT ASUS OR 1gb 9800GT Gigabyte (add $78)
Operating System: Windows Vista 64bit Home Premium OR Windows Vista 64bit Ultimate (add $128)
Monitors: BenQ 21.5" 2ms WS Full High Defnition E2200HD OR BenQ 24" 5ms WS G2400WD(add $77) OR BenQ 24" 24" 2ms High Definition WS E2400HD (add $101)
As a basic system it would be $1592 at cost price.
PSU = Power Supply unit, the OEM ones are pretty crappy and I wouldnt recomment using one)
WS = Widescreen.
Hope that gives you some insight.
This is a good system spec for what you need smith#29 i would go with this. with those graphics cards, you wouldn't need the 9800gt but it is better value than the 9600
In my opinion, dont waste money on vista ultimate just get home premium, i havent met a single person who actually uses the extra features between those 2 versions.
Also with the monitors, personally i have seen alot of problems with benq. I used to work at a computer shop, building and repairing pcs. in one of our packages it included a benq 19" lcd.
after a year of having that in the package it was dropped after having over 20 returns on faulty units. not all from one time though, spread out. actually the last 5 came in over 2 days which was what made the decision.
Im not exactly sure what the problem was with them, but they did need to be returned. most of them just came back with dodgy or no signals, off colours (like everything green etc.), and some just wouldn't turn on full stop.
I'm sure there are alot that are actually great, but this is just what i have seen from the company.