Don’t get SoundBlaster, their audio to digital converters are a joke, they use nasty chips and you pay through the nose for the name. They are real K-tell soundcards! I have two sound cards, my primary on is an RME-Audio Digi96/8 PAD (400 USD) and it sits next to a SoundBlaster live 5.1. I A/B them regularly and the difference is night and day!
You also don’t need a state of the art computer. Macs are nice but very expensive (I use both Macs and PCs). I have a PC at home and you can probably get better for about 600 bucks (dell deals or something, shop around) I’m using 512 Mb Ram, 1.8 Celeron, 120 GB HDD (get the fastest spinning, best access time you can, even if you have to rip out the one that comes with the PC and stick in a new one ! If your budget will stretch to it a second monitor and video card is also nice and will allow you to "float" windows with a program like SONAR XL 2.2 (400 USD)...yum !

In terms of hooking stuff up I’m using S/PDIF out of my Pres/pods into the Korg (thins bypasses the pres and ADCs on the Korg which although are entirely respectable are not as good as the ones on the Pod/Focusrite) and then USB for transferring .wav files from the Korg into SONAR & Wave lab. This system works well, I spent a weekend working on drivers and latency (going S/PDIF direct into the soundcard which was a pain but got it all worked out in the end, I have my latency down to single digit milliseconds...oh yeha !)

Unless you are recording acoustic drums, don’t bother with a desk, especially not a Behringer as the mic Pres and the wiring are dreadful noisy / sound bad. If you must get a desk go for a Mackey or similar. If you are only recording your self and overdubbing, spend the money on a single or duel channel mic pre. I have had both the ART TPS (200 USD) and the Behringer Ultra voice pro (120 USD) before getting my Focusrite (~1000 USD). Both will improve your sound and give you a good bang for your buck.

Monitors, don't skimp here, Currently their is a huge debate raging whether it is better to mix through really good stereo speakers (which will color the frequency response of the mix making it very difficult to get an even mix that will sound good an all different types of speaker) or flat response speakers. Theory dictates that the uncolored speakers (flat response) are easier to work with however the counter argument states that as moat people will listen to your music on colored stereo speakers it is better to mix on them. This argument is largely academic if you are not using an acoustically "nice" room as this will color the sound whilst you are mixing also!

Don’t try to mix using headphones, you will get it sounding great, play it over speakers and be very disappointed! I’m using Alesis M1 Active Mk 2 (400 USD). They are not bad considering the acoustically compromised room I use... I also have a spectral analyzer program (free where) so I know where my weak / hot frequencies are!