Guess I should have posted what I'm using heheh
I'm recording on a Dell Inspiron 8200 (P4 1.6m | 512MB | 60GB | 7200rpm HD | DVD reader/CD burner)
I use the little imic external usb soundcard which was modded by soundprofessionals.com, has two AT853 with subcardioid elements.
Software is Audacity (open source) doing 32-bit floating point projects, then I export to 16-bit @ 44.1 before tracking out for CD/flac
I'm quite pleased so far. For $420 on the mics/soundcard deal its worth the price and I havent needed any preamplification device either, it just works