Need a new PC for 1500ish??

[James]

I would suggest this case. Lian-Li Lancool PC-K7B. I've got two of them now, and I love them for several features. Including the dual 120mm intake fans on the front, which balance nicely with the 120mm exhaust + a decent PSU with 120-140mm fan.

For a monitor, I'd recommend the Dell U2311H. They can be had for around $240 or less. 23" 1080p (16:9 1920x1080) IPS panel. Great quality panels. We have about 2 dozen at work.

Quick build:

 CPU: i3-540 3.06GHz dual core w/ HT
 RAM: 4GB DDR3-1333 G.Skill
 VID: 1GB HD5770 Sapphire
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-H55M-S2H
 SSD: OCZ Vertex 30GB (boot/OS drive)
 HDD: 2x WD Green 2TB hdd's
 ODD: 22x Lite-ON DVD-RW
CASE: Lancool PC-K7B
 PSU: Enermax 720w Modular 80+ PSU
  OS: Win7 Pro x64 OEM
 MON: Dell U2311H

Total with shipping: ~$1410

Reasoning behind CPU and GPU. Honestly, at $125 and $150 respectively, these will easily be updated in your time frame, and should be "good enough" if you decide not to do so for a few years.

*P.S. I don't know how firm your budget is, but if you really want to push that $1500 envelope, definitely get another 4GB of RAM (2x2GB kit). 8GB is definitely worth it in my opinion, but then again i do video encoding, virtual machines, etc. on my system.