[casecutter]

Sorry for the long delay. Here is what I would suggest:

CPU - Q6600 - $255 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115017

MOBO - ASUS P5E-VM HDMI - $130 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131237

Quite possibly the best MATX motherboard ever and it has the extra onboard video you need for HTPC use. Also could take 45nm processors for an upgrade path.

Memory - 2X2GB PC2-6400 - PQI Turbo - $68.99 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820141337

Gives you upgrade path to 8GB and it is plenty fast too.

Video card - ASUS 3450 256MB - $50 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121230

Again, plenty fast for your needs and more outputs for future HDTV use. You can easily run 3+ monitors with this card and the onboard video. Yes you can run both at the same time.

Power supply - Silverstone ST50EF - $70 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817256037

Extrememly strong for 500W and it is 80%+ efficient and is one of the most efficient units out there. I used one for an overclocked Q6600 system running SLI, although that was pushing it hard. Will pay for itself with energy savings in a few years time.

That is $575 without shipping/taxes so far. That case you picked is a pretty good budget case and I would go with that one myself. That would still bring you to $575+$80=$654 without shipping/taxes. That brings you to $700 or just over after shipping is added in and you would have a real powerhouse that not only would blow your mind now, it would also be extemely powerful enough a few years from now and you could even overclock it to when you actually need more power to squeeze a few more years out of it. This system would play Blue-ray movies @ 1080P without breaking a sweat while doing other work too. This is the way to spend $700 and get every pennies worth.