My Current System - By the time you view this, it's probably out of date! Check out what I believe is the most affordable solution at the present time.

Main Windows Machine, running XP Pro SP2
Motherboard ASUS A7A266	Had this motherboard a long time now, but I sourced a board that would be upgradeable for a long time, and it's proved it is! Originally I had a 1200 AMD chip in here, now I'm running at 2029 MhZ
Processor AMD Athlon XP2400+	I've always stuck with AMD chips, several reasons, Overall an impressive speed increase over the Intel CPU's, and a much more competitive price.
Memory 512MB DDR266	When I got this board, it was when DDR was just appearing, yeah there's faster DDR now, but hey, this does Me very nicely :)
Sound Hercules Game Theater	Something I've kept even when I've changed most everything else, this gear sounds ace, is very compatible, has MP3 hardware decoding, coaxial and optical ins/outs, 4 USB ports built in, and does 7.1 sound :)
Graphics ATI 9200 128MB	I recently added this to the system after installing a system with one of these, nice fast card, very good value for the money.
Modem Belkin F5D7630	Modem/Wireless Router, Brill modem, very stable, good firewall, works seamlessly :)
Video Capture Pixelview Play TV Pro	Another piece of My system that has been in use for a long time, TV tuner, Radio, and Video inputs. Originally it worked ace, then I discovered that faster machines didn't like it at all, was it the hardware or the drivers? Well now I'm using open source drivers on it, and it works better than ever!
CDRW LiteOn 52x32x52	LiteOn drives, what can I say, other than I love em, work well and keep working :) U try backing up your system as often as I do! lol
DVD LiteOn 16x	Another component that has stood the test of time, expensive when I bought it, really cheap now, and a bloomin' good drive :)
DVD Pioneer 109	Used as a removable DVDRW via USB, which means backups of machines are a lot easier.
Network Belkin/Cisco	Wireless :) the only way to go, it's so good to be able to just sit down anywhere around the house with your laptop, and be online :) My main machine and the server use the Belkin router via RJ45, laptop (which I use more than anything) is connected wirelessly using the Cisco PCMCIA card :) Second older laptop (Dell Latitude 266) also has a Cisco PCMCIA card, but this one has two external antenna connectors :)
Monitor 19" TFT	'Colortac' Monitor, nice picture, takes up less space, but the inbuilt speakers are very poor. Shame, an otherwise excellent monitor.

Server, running Debian Linux (Sarge)
Motherboard ECS K7S5A	Sound, Graphics, Network etc are included 'onboard', I'd probably add the capture card into this machine if I could work out a way of streaming captured video live the way I do on the windows box
Proccessor	AMD Athlon 1400
Memory DDR	It's either 512 or 768, guess I'll have to check later eh!
DVD Pioneer 108	Pioneer 108 DVDRW
Laptop running Windows XP Pro SP2 and Debian Linux
Manufacturer	Viglen Dossier NS+
Processor	Yeah, I know... I hate this... Intel 2300, originally came with a different chip in it, laptop kept crashing, turned out the CPU voltage needed for the chip was stated as higher than available (see technical section)
Memory	768 MB DDR
Network	Cisco Wireless, 340 and 350 depending on what I'm doing, the 340 has two external antenna connectors, this gets used when in vehicle, Rest of the time it's the 350
GPS	USB GPS device I bought off Ebay, Means I know where I am, speed I'm travelling at etc, also use it to log location/spread of wireless networks.

Someone remind Me to update this when I got more time, Changed modem to a Belkin Router, and added stupid intel laptop using Orinoco wireless and GPS :) Oh, and the Pioneer 107D writer blew up on Me! Might have more memory now too, will check when in front of machine, lol

Someone forgot to remind me, SO much has changed, Running all dual core stuff now, right down to the laptop, Wireless setup changed radically, including wireless media clients etc, and memory, well.... 1-4GB in all machines including the server, Hardrives - Smallest 160GB, largest 1TB, ATI graphics cards - HD series, I could go on, but really I should get another page done!"