Right before year end I went ahead and ordered my new computer parts. Thanks to everyone that offered advice
I spent about 2 to 3 hours putting it together and probably the same amount of time in additional research. The extra 5 or 6 hours saved me over $500. Dell doesn't even make a computer that can compete with this systems performance.
The system out performs my projections by a long shot. It compresses HD video in 1/3 the time it took on my older Intel system.
I ended up with
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
Asus A8N-SLI Premium Mobo
Sapphire Radeon X550
Antec NeoHE 550 Power Supply
Antec P180 Case
Basically it rocks!