In a few days I'll be ordering parts to build a new system (replacing a 4-year-old Barton system). I'll be doing some moderate gaming - WoW, CoD2, Medieval II Total War, etc. I don't expect this rig to run Oblivion or upcoming games with maximum eye candy, but I do want it to be as powerful as possible for $900 - $1000. I don't have a firm budget ceiling but I'm looking for maximum value for money.

A few questions before I list the parts:
1. Will current LGA775 motherboards be compatible with Penryn? As best I understand they will be, and I was hoping to upgrade the processor sometime next year.
2. I know it's hypothetical, but assuming the answer to #1 is yes, please comment on whether you think the PSU I've selected will likely be sufficient to power next-year's graphics cards (I will never be using SLI or Crossfire) and a Penryn processor.

Monitor:
ViewEra V202D-B 20.1" LCD, $180 after rebate

Case:
Cooler Master Centurion 5, $50

Power Supply:
OCZ StealthXStream 600W, $85 after rebate

Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (hopefully I get rev 3.3?), $120

Processor:
Core 2 Duo E4300 (I plan to up the FSB to 400 and hopefully OC to around 3ghz), $117

CPU HSF:
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro with Arctic Silver 5, $40

RAM:
2GB of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800, $70 after rebate

Graphics card:
BFG 7950GT 256MB, $140 after rebate and twenty dollar combo discount with the Crucial RAM

HDD:
Seagate Barracuda 320MB 7200RPM SATA, $75 (also plan to use a 60GB IDE HDD from my old computer)

CD/DVD combo drive:
Sony NEC Optiarc DVD burner, $31

** Total cost: $910 ** (all parts from Newegg)

I will either use the onboard sound on my mobo or an old Soundblaster card that I have already. Speakers, keyboard, and mouse from my old rig. Any feedback or comments would be much appreciated.

Thanks for the response. Is it absolutely necessary to have a board with the P35 chipset for Penryn support? I was under the impression that the P965 could also support quad core processors, including Penryn, and since the board you linked doesn't support DDR3, I'm not sure I see the advantage it has over the 965P-DS3, as you can reach 1333mhz FSB and higher using BIOS...

Anyone else?