I pulled the trigger on a new desktop setup which is out for delivery according to the internets. Because of my recent research I went ahead and went the quad core route, and after reading Scott Hanselman's blog post about going x64 being a complete non issue I'll be giving Vista x64 a try. I also got a 1080p monitor and a Blu-Ray drive; probably slightly overkill but why not. It's difficult to explain to non-programmers, but an appropriate setup with the right desk space, music, multiple monitors, and a repsonsive machine can make developing software a joy. It can be a joy without a Raptor drive and a 24" display but these things help.
I got a decent enough video card to check out some of the recent games, Bioshock being at the top of the list.