hey,
any advice or insight you guys could offer would be greatly appreciated...

I'm looking to finally abandon my 566ghz/320ram/80gb antique

This is what I was going to buy:
http://www.tastech.co.nz/product_info.php?products_id=100009
(changing two components: upgrade to 3gb DDR2 (though I may well only need 2?), and a 1TB green drive
(I've already got Win 7 32bit, which I intend to use to partition the drive, so I need to pick one with no risk of a hassle like this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313348 )

...but they canceled my order on me (twice) without a word, and not replying to emails. (I had previously bought an mp3 player from them without issue).

so I've been trying to find somewhere else...preferably cheap, preferably local (Christchurch), preferably without bewilderingly dreadful customer service, but have found it a complete nightmare trying to decide on all the parts for all the PC builder/upgrade webpages I've seen (hell, to even figure out if upgrades for sale even include chipset/power supply/etc.--the prices are comparable to a running unit from TasTech, but it would appear that it's just the guts.). I've been putting this off for ages because it's just so mind-numbing trying to settle on the _right_ package.

I really can't afford the convenience of just going into a store and paying far too much to walk out with a less than tailor-made package.
~ my budget is $1,000 if I finally replace my CRT monitor, but I wouldn't want to spend that much for a package without an LCD screen.
~ I currently have an external hard drive that's filling up fast, and I plan on buying another, but I would consider suggestions of getting two internals instead of a new external.
~ it won't be used for any games, old or new. Hell, the main reason I'm upgrading is because almost everything but the motherboard has broken down so far (it's about 10 years old), I had a 'Windows protection error' recently, so more hardware problems probably won't be far away if these quakes keep improperly shutting this thing down, and I can no longer even upgrade Firefox, Flashplayer, etc. -- I don't want a 'great' computer, just a modern one: I want music to sound good and pictures to look good, I want space, speed, front USB ports... the good life.
~ its main uses will be downloading, word processing, audio/visual, and large waveform editing (300mb or so), and it will probably run nigh 24/7 (which is one reason I don't want a 'mini PC' or a laptop--I want to be confident that it will stay nice and cool and reliable).
~ will probably be used for 56k internet initially.
~ OH, and one of the most important things is that it be silent. (the one I have now is so bad that I use towels as baffles to at least kill the highest frequencies)