Hello, I just want to say thank you to all who takes time to help me out here. I have a home network that looks like the following Clark Connect firewall DHCP derver > WHS > Ubuntu Desktop > Gaming PC > HTPC. I am thinking of consolidating my PC's into one except for the HTPC. I am thinking of taking my gaming rig which has Core2 processor, 4G ram, ABIT x38(on board RAID) and 3x500 GB HDD and XP installed. I am wanting to add XEN Server and add Vyatta virtual firewall, Open Filer Virtual Server and Ubuntu as VM. I want to keep xp as the host OS becuase i do alot of gaming and i heard gaming is not good on a VM guest and that is my only reason for not using Linux as host OS. My questions are will this PC be overloaded? IS Vyatta safe as a VM firewall ditching clark connect as standalone unit? Will virtual Openfiler sap my Fake Mobo raid limitaions? Is this a good excuse to buy the new core I7 and 12GB ram and a Raid card

I believe this is overkill. If there is only one machine, then why use Vyatta or clark connect? And if you are going to run XP, aren't there any firewall that run on XP? I think there is, google for one and install it instead.
That is, unless you are looking for some fun, in which case installing a VM with Vyatta must be a lot of fun indeed.

Well, I already have a network with all this stuff already running and i have a huge collection of files. The reason for consolidation is power costs. My elcetirc bill sucks i usually have most of this powered on continually. The reason for not using xp and software firewall is because i have been compromised in the past and also there is always that time in every Microsoft users life in which it become unusable (spyware,virus,break ins, and of course breaking the registry
it happens to the best of us.) And using linux as a "VM" greatly reduces most of these risks. And there is no substitute for a standalone linux firewall. Software firewalls just don't cut it anymore alot of malware targets software applications. And yes i know hardware firewalls dont stop outgoing issues but i am more worried about incoming than outgoing I have snort to watching the in/out. I am tired of dealing with WHS crap something is always wrong and the data protection sucks, performance sucks, no matter who i talk to the remote access never works even before the clark connect firewall. I know i am breaking the golden rule of firewalls here by having the firewall and server on the same machine but i will buy a external unit and use openfiler to vlan safely to external backaup just in case i can power this off when not backing up. But my question remains is this network consolidation possible, practical, useful or even necessary. Again my specs are in the above posts please help linux gurus.

What do you mean by outgoing issue? The firewall can very well stop outgoing traffic if that is what you mean.
Anyway, All virii are not stopped by the firewall, no matter how many firewalls you have. If you can surf the web, then there is incoming traffic, then virii can reach your computer. You should have an anti virus to check your computer from time to time.
Anyway, your VM won't stop attacks from abusing flaws in Windows XP network stack, because the traffic must pass through Windows's network stack before it reaches the VM and go through it again to get out of the VM. If you have a good soft firewall, it will be exactly the same as a VM because the VM is a software! The only difference is that the VM will run a pleatora of useless stuff in addition to the firewall.
If you fear spywares, virii and registry breaks, you should not run Windows at all. I believe virus scanning and reinstalling from time to time is part of the Windows experience...