7600GT is a decent card, and will hold up until DirectX10. Upgrading the "ECS" and "Corsair Value" is essential, and should be main priority if he wants good performance. As I said earlier, get a lower priced case, and E6300 instead, and use the extra money to get a better motherboard and RAM.
It's like $40 less for an E6300, and there are pretty decent cases under $100. That's enough money to get a better motherboard.
There's an Asus P5N-SLI for $120, which is pretty good.
And for memory, there's Corsair XMS for $136. DDR2-800 too!
this place is very bias against ecs, ask oppenions over at the pcper forums for less bias oppenions.
ecs these days clocks fine and quility wize are the same thing you get from other makers under their own names(ecs still makes some of the top companys boards for them)
ecs's rep comes from the bad cap days and people not looking at what they are buying for what they want to do with them that board should be fine.
i know core2 is the big thing now, but as i told my buddy when he was looking to build, dont ignore am2 from amd, k8l is due out mid next year(or earlyer) 65nm is due out by the end of this year, its cheaper for good parts for am2 then core2, and you have a few years(3-5 years easy) of upgrades on the way (cpu upgrades that is, am2 boards will work with am3 chips) so if you deside you want quadcore or whatever comes out after that you will beable to get a new cpu and just toss it into the board and bam faster system.
with intel every time they make changes to the core you endup buying a new mobo, 775 has 3 versions, 1-prescot 2-dualcore nutburst 3-conroe/core2
this is something you should consider if your building for the future, most people i know would rather beabl to just swap a cpu to gain perf then have to essiancly buy a whole new system.
also the x2 3600+ and a biostar tforce550 board(sweet clocker) will run you close to the same price as your core2 chip you have listed, aprox 130-150 for cpu, 80bucks or less for the board. and overclock to 2.8+gz easly, any video card you put in the system will be the bottleneck as that point, specly a 7600gt(even a x1950xtx is gonna be a bottleneck tho since it wont beable to keep up with the cpu)
i will list an example set for you of something that in games and everyday real user apps will give you the same perf and same or better parts quility just cheaper.
cpu: the 3600's still hard to find currently so i will list teh 3800+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103733
159bucks, easly overclocks to 2.6+gz(AM2 normaly hit 2.7-2.8 or better even on air)
Board: tforce 550, this boards bios are easly dfi expert class for overclocking fetures.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138026
79bucks after bios flashed to current you got a screaming beast of an overclocking board
HDD: seagate=5 year warr
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148063
129bucks 400gb, seagate drives all have 5 year warr service on them, if your gonna mention 8mb cache vs 16mb dont bother, it makes little to no diffrance in real perf its more of a selling point then anything.
dvd burner:samsung you listed or quivlant
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827151133
30bucks, good units for the price, the benq is better imho but they sell so fast on the egg that every time i list them they go out of stock by the time people look.
PSU: E-Power 500watt psu with 20+20amps on the 12v rail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817101011
47bucks, these units are TOP quility made by the same OEM that makes ocz and high end raidmax psu's as well as Vantec psu's to list a few of the best know names they make.
your total was like 892
my list
80 board
160 cpu
48 psu
130 hdd
30 dvd
133 video(cheap 7600gt
116 ram (your listed kit)
557 total
my advice is to up the video card, dont wait for dx10 as its bound to vista and vista is likely to be pushed back again, also for 66bucks more you can get the newer x1900gt based on the x1950 core, this board will give you a couple years of gaming joy vs the 7600gt thats already feeling the pain on mid-high res's in currrent games.
for video option that will last longer,well into/tru dx10 [/url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161029]x1950gt[/url] 199 or u can get the older x1900gt for 178bucks
the cards listed as x1900gt but as it says its the new version, its based on the x1950xtx core with 4 pipes/12 shaders dissabled (why its cheaper)
its still very up in the air when ms will acctualy get vista out, they are striping fetures to try and get it out sooner, they are also having problems with dx9/10 support under vista hence the date pushback(Smart move acctualy)
I was in this upgrade possition recently, i looked at core2, or waiting for dx10 cards then i talked to some people im related to/friends with who know whats up, they all said "get the best video card you can now for the best price you can and 2gb ram everthing else is 2ndary, dx10 cards will show when ms gets around to putting vista out"
and after thinking about it, well it made alot of sence, beisides the fact that the first gen of dx10 cards are going to endup replaced with more dx10 complyant cards a few months later and prices will drop on dx10 cards around that time is a good incintive to grab the most dx9/10 complyant card you can NOW and just sit back and wait and see, games for dx10 wont be seen for a couple years minimum, well true dx10 games anyway, look at dx9 its really only been getting true dx9 games for the last year if that yets been avalable for years now.
my advice swap out the ram for a 2gb kit, adding 105bucks aprox, and grab the x1900 seirse card adding 66-70bucks for a gamer 2gb ram is becoming a must,
so
80 board
160 cpu
48 psu
130 hdd
30 dvd
199 video(x1900gt based on x1950 core, overclocks like a dream)
214 2gb ocz ram kit(same kit i have, acctualy supports 400/533 and 667 spd timings)also has $25 MIR
861 total
very close to your orignal listed price
throw on a freezer64pro for better cooling (30bucks) and your at the price point you already had, but with a FAR more capable and longer lasting system, in 6moths to a year you can alwase swap the cpu out for him if he feels he needs it(doughtfull even with ut2k7 comming)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227078
ram kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161029
video card
the 3800+ will overclock nicely, the bottleneck is still the gpu in current systems for gaming, so he wouldnt see a gaming perf diffrance between this and a core2 chip, this video card would easly last him till true dx10 cards are avalable, longer even i would guess/bet.
well thats what i would do looking at the price range your in.