DO NOT GET THE 9600!!! It has almost HALF the stream processors as the 8800 series!!! Don't let any one fool you into thinking next gen is better, now the 9800, that is a step in the right direction. But at almost $600.00 forget it.
I would lean towards the Core 2 Duo and an Intel based MOBO or nVidia based MOBO, and if you go with the latter, you can always upgrade to a second graphics card and run SLI (if the right board is bought).
The AMD CPU's are good if you want a "basic" gaming rig, but they eat almost double the power that their Intel counterparts do.
And if you look you should be able to get a 600 Watt or 650 Watt power supply, the 500 is at the low end for todays rigs.
The memory is good for now.
And the Sound card, well, you could stick with an onboard to start with, since most come with built in 5.1 or better now, yes not as good as SB quality, but you can always upgrade that later.
I compiled a list at NewEgg as well, once they update the public shared lists it will be listed as "Inexpensive Gaming Rig" (I will post the link as soon as it is up).
now it is almost $850, but it is all hardware that will still be usable for a couple of years, or at least upgradable, so don't dismiss it too quickly.
And by all means, substitue where you see fit, this is only something I threw together really quick, but at least you will get the idea.
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