Newbie - First Build - Advice needed!

Hi everyone. Seems like a great place to get advice, I am a bit of a newbie in need of a helping hand. I am looking to build a new computer in the next 3-8 months to replace my current PC that I have very much outgrown. My current PC is an intel P4 2.0Ghz with 512MB ram.

I have done some reading around but I am not very confident in choosing the parts that I need. I am hoping that I can get some advice from here so that I can start piecing together the parts that I'll require. I will try to be very detailed in terms of what I'll be using the computer for.

Here is what i'll be looking for in the new PC:

Windows Media Center. The PC will be a media center, that said, it will be used to record TV as well as stream TV and video to external devices (such as media center extenders) comfortably, whilst the computer is still in use. My current computer struggles and I tend to lose video quality because of that. Note: I won't need a TV tuner card as I already have one and i'll gladly reuse it.

Multi-Tasking. I usually have a lot of things open at one time and can be doing anything from viewing video to editing and converting video as well as image editing, gaming and other demanding tasks. My current PC very quickly becomes slow and sluggish.

Gaming. I occasionally delve into gaming and will require a video card that can handle the latest games that are coming out. My current card which is an older ATI model seems to be falling behind, so it's not worth keeping.

I will be keeping my current monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse (and tv tuner card). I'll also keep a 200GB HDD but am looking to get another hard drive with 200GB+ space on it.

Intel or AMD? I'm really not sure. I'm thinking intel at the moment if power consumption will be any less. Price range? I'm willing to spend what I need to in order to get the setup I need, I've saved up a fair bit, if it gets too expensive i'll see what I can cut back on.

I really appreciate any advice I can get. I'd love to learn about the kinds of hardware that will suit these needs so that I can put together a good build. If you've read this far, thanks, and I look forward to reading your reply

If there's anything i've missed, please let me know.

[glc]

Either way - Intel or AMD - get a dual core processor. Asus is my motherboard of choice, with Intel, get an Intel chipset, with AMD, get a Nvidia chipset. 2 gigs of ram is not too much. I know you already have a TV card, but is it Media Center compatible? You may want to get a new All-in-Wonder video card that is MCE-compatible.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102642
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102685