Nerd Alert! Computer Upgrade Advice needed!

[Moogled]

I'll be pumping enough finance into this system to last me for the next several years.

My current system is decent for everything but I'm falling behind due to the gaming advances as well as ripping DVDs. If anything, an 8600GTS video card would be the least I would shoot for.

As for the dual/quad cores, I'm still trying to determine if it's necessary since the only time I really have multiple apps open is when I'm chatting on MSN and surfing the web. The most CPU consuming would be ripping/burning DVDs and playing games but I don't see anything beyond that.