2 weeks ago our house got zapped hard, tvs, appliances, and my main computer all which were plugged in got zapped.

My main pc supported 4 dvi monitors and was home built in a big well cooled case, I do not game but need to rebuild a system by todays standards vs what I build previously (which at the time 4 yrs ago was pretty sweet).

Below is a list of what I had in the machine, looking for recommendations as to what to match mix together to have something that will do the core same thing but hopefully even faster parts wise, as we all know the advancements in parts over 6 months vs 4 yrs, hoping to build a real powerhouse here... (maybe even dabble in a few games like sid meier civilization etc) but mostly what I do is video and sound editing, photoshop, web-editing, flashwork, etc.

What I had was an antec 900 case with
abit ip35 pro motherboard (not sure what to get here, maybe gigabyte just something good and support a new processor of choice).
intel quad core 2 Q6600 2.4ghz processor (like to stay intel based maybe i5 or i7 but not sure what main difference is vs what i had?)
4 gb ram corsair ddr2 - pc2 6200 (guessing by now newer motherboard processor id want to match with newer faster ram maybe more too).
2 msi geforce 8600gt video cards pci express x16 (the numbers confuse me x16, 2, 3 etc whats best and would smoke my 2 previous cards without breaking the bank yet still support my 4 dvi monitors)
thermaltake 700 watt power supply (liked this unit, sad to see it gone, would consider thermaltake again unless theres a better choice).
7200rpm 750gb seagate barracuda hd (dont laugh at the time this was a big drive, id replace with wd 7200 black caviar i think prob a 1 tb for the main drive, and stick in a 2tb secondary storage drive.)
samsung 20x dvd burner

I pieced the parts together just matching things up thru neweggs site and my dad helped me build it, had to double and triple check things as i wasnt sure what would work best with what, but turned out decent and worked great for me, it was a solid great computer till zapped.

Now time to start over, not pulling any of the original parts except the case, most everything tested as bad, so its a ground up rebuild, but being a few yrs ago vs today i know so much has changed, need recommendations on what to build based on my needs plus maybe wanting to get into a bit of gaming with it.

Budget i'd like to stay under or around $1500, but also dont need screaming top of the line gaming machine, just something solid reliable with support for my 4 dvi monitors.

I prefer to stay nvidea vs ati (just personal past issues ati never had an issue nvidea, sure others have had just the opposite, just a preference) the biggest thing is for them to have dual dvi output to feed my 4 montiors and for them to be solid performers for my video and photoshop stuff plus some future gaming possibilities.

Operating system was xp pro, will most likely consider going to windows 7 professional, 64 bit not sure if i need but wanted to ask on that, if so the parts would need to be compatible for that too...

Thanks for anyone who might take the time to help me parts list a system together, i tend to shop alot at newegg too so any parts or links to what to consider from there appreciated too.

for the graphics you could check these out they are a little pricey but very good my brother bought 3 of them about a month back (yes he has 6 monitors hooked up) and the quality and performance is amazing he has oc'd them but even before that they where very good