I'll throw my hat in this ring....
The info given about the US1800 is spot on. Don't let price fool you. And, another thing, the expensive pre's are great, if you've got that kind of scratch, but you'r on a smaller budget.
I use the US1800 along with Reaper. EQ's and Reverbs are going to eat you up long before crappy pre's will. Then there is compression...
I literally started at the bottom a few years ago with one of the bundle packs: a US122 and Cubase LE. The only reason I had to move on was because I gave the 122 to a friend of mine who wanted to get into recording...
My choice to switch to Reaper was simple after only 10 hrs of use. You'll find later on that most of the DAW's are not as user friendly as an analogue board. Once you find a use for groups, sub mixes and such, OH YOU WILL, I GUARANTEE, you'll be glad that it is only one click away with Reaper. Not only that, but Reaper actually has some cool VST's right out of the box. None that I use, except the BAD ASS 3,000,000 band EQ, (rarely do I even get close to a full 31 bands) but cool none the less.
Another thing to consider when picking out your DAW and interface is this: Will I ever need more?? Of course is always the answer. You can't get anymore with Reaper. It is the End All of DAW's, IMHO!!! As far as interfaces go, you will likely grow tired of reading specs long before you see anything more than a marginal difference between MAudio, Presonus, Tascam, Steinberg, and so on. Only when you get into the 5-50,000 dollar range will you notice any difference.
Don't sweat it man. Give up on buying the best gear at first. Just get your feet wet. Before you know it, with a good ear, you'll be pumping stuff out on that lame set up that most of this forum would salivate over... And, if you ever have a question about cranking stuff out, PM me. I can answer most of your questions.
