Peerless' "dream machine" for the above situation (budget)(sans DVD burner???) would be:
MoBo:

Stability: Intel BLKD975XBX2KR 975X P4/P4EE/Pentium D/Pentium XE 1066 at ZipZoomfly
Performance: ASUS P35 P5K Deluxe Wifi Motherboard Retail at ZipZoomfly

CPU:Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad Core Processor 2.4GHz 1066 MHz LGA775 8MB cache Retail at ZipZoomfly CPU Core 2 Duo E6420 2.13GHz FSB 1066MHz 4M LGA775 Retail at ZipZoomfly[/url]
Ram:OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Platinum SLI-Ready Edition OCZ2N10662GK Memory Retail at ZipZoomfly
Case:Enermax ECA3052-B Chakra Mid Tower Case (Black) at ZipZoomfly
PSU:Antec TruePower TRIO 650 650W Power Supply at ZipZoomfly
HDD's: 2 of Western Digital WD1600YS 160GB 3.0 Gb/s 16 MB Cache 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive at ZipZoomfly
Video:ASUS GeForce 8500 GT PCIE 512MB DDR2 Extreme Silent EN8500GT SILENT/HTD/512M Video Card Retail at ZipZoomfly
Sound: Onboard...
OS:Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/SP2B - OEM
remote:Microsoft A90-00007 Remote Control and Receiver for Media Center PC wi at ZipZoomfly

that's around a grand right there....

still need a monitor, burner, keyboard & mouse, and maybe a couple of extra fans (preferrably one blowing over all 3 HDDs)....

the above MoBo/CPU/RAM combo could be very nicely OC'd by an easy 10% (pushing the cpu to ~2.65GHz)...the cpu is retail so a stock cooler should be included.....

I guess I failed to meet your budget, but your desire to not have something be past technology in 6 months requirs using some of the most cutting edge technology which costs a few bucks more!

I guess a comparable analysis between bare bone would be that my dream machine cost $915-$955 according to the chosen MoBo..for OC'ing I'd choose ASUS...

__________________


So Long and Thanks for All the Files
_____________________________________________

Beware of the big 3 insurance companies in Texas! Read your policies carefully (maybe you'll need a lawyer) Allstate, Farmers & State Farm are overextended and their 'coverage' is worthless...a true waste of your money Read This