A relative wants a desktop for his 14yo son, capable of light gaming. He specified a desktop form factor so the kid could not pick it up and move it into his room where he's not supervised. I think the father is underestimating teenage deviousness, but whatever, that's not my arena.
I'm glad the Ivy Bridge i3 has dropped, as I am interested to see how it performs.
The only thing that stopped me from going for an SSD in this is the light gaming requirement--if the kid puts a couple games on it, I don't want a 120 GB SSD (equivalent in price to a 1TB MHDD) to fill up and slow to a crawl.
Anyways, have at it and recommend better components--I admittedly splurged a tad on the KB/mouse as I don't want to purchase $10 OEM components that break in a couple months.
I am probably the least happy with the cost of the HDD, and a little unsure of the video card considering its $100 price-tag. Please let me know if you have better alternatives.
OS: Owned (Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English)
CPU:
Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz LGA 1155 Dual-Core (3MB Cache, 3.3GHz) - $130
Mobo: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 - $115
Memory:
GeIL EVO Veloce Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - Free with mobo
GPU:
PowerColor AX7750 1GBD5-DH Radeon HD 7750 1GB - $107
HDD:
Western Digital WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB - $87
PSU:
COOLER MASTER GX 450W RS450-ACAAD3-US 450W (Bronze/Active PFC) - $27 after MIR/rebates
ODD:
ASUS 24X DVD Burner - $25
Case:
COOLER MASTER Elite 431 Plus RC-431P-KWN2 - $30 (after MIR/discount)
Monitor:
Acer S201HLbd Black 20" 5ms LED-Backlight LCD monitor 1600x900 - $109
Keyboard:
Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard - $50
Mouse:
Logitech G400 Black 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical - $35
Wifi/Networking:
TP-LINK TL-WN722N Wireless Adapter High Gain IEEE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 - $25
Total shipped: $740