I gave my nephew the Pentium 2.13Ghz Core 2 CPU, plus MOBO, plus RAM, plus PSU and 120GB SATA HD from my second RIG. I kept the case and other drives. That should be a bit better than the old rig he was using - my AMD 2500+, great setup for it's day but a bit long in the tooth to handle more modern games. I could have gave him the Aerocool Extremeengine 3T case but I can't get another one of those.

Now I've got to find some new stuff to go in that case as it's rather empty at the moment.

Started by ordering a XFX ProSeries 850W Core Edition Power Supply - 80 PLUS Bronze Certified. Has plenty of good reviews.

Corsair Vengeance Blue LP 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit - might go for the white depending on MOBO I end up with.

I7 3770 CPU, just because I can. OK, I could buy a 2570 but at the moment I need to spend some cash.

Motherboard I am presently thinking of is the GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) Motherboard

Win 7 64 bit

Graphics probably an AMD Radeon HD 7850 of some description, might go for a 7870 though.

Already got a 240GB SSD, Blueray and a HD for it.

Anyone think there are better options out there?

Thought about cache ssd already, the Gigabyte has that option, went for a 240GB main SSD to contain Windows, games and a few extras. Will be putting other stuff on a normal HD as appropriate.

The Thunderbolt interface will probably be an important option next year, and is incredibly interesting. This year I can probably ignore it. Would be nice to have multiple monitors running but I can do that already.

I would also go for a 7850.

You don't need a 850w PSU, 650w is more than enough unless you plan to add another GPU at some stage? in which case a 850 would be great.

I like to keep my options open and a dual GPU setup is one of them I'm considering.

I had 2 7850s and they went like the clappers, they also caused a ton of heat build up, and actually when it came down to it the microstuttering problems crossfire brings I ended up sending one back, the 7850 alone is great and like you I am sitting it out now and will add one at a later date maybe when the drivers are more mature and the price is even better

This order contains the following items;
Item: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H Socket 1155 VGA DVI HDMI DisplayPort 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
Qty: 1 Cost: £107.65

Item: Intel Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz Socket 1155 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Qty: 1 Cost: £222.63

Item: Corsair 8gb (2x4gb) Ddr3 1600mhz Low Profile Vengeance Memory Kit Cl9 1.35v
Qty: 1 Cost: £39.08

Prices ex-vat. Ebuyer

Go Noctua, they are worth it for the silence Dead easy to fit too despite their size.

I had a similar but less catastrophic issue on my board when I plugged my keyboard into the special ASUS USB3 UBERCHARGE TURBO-V socket on the back and Windows had a BF at it and refused to use the keyboard, I think I had to call up the accessibility keyboard panel to continue until Windows had finished installing.

How old is the USB-kbrd ? i think there were a change 2007-2008 there older once does not work for BIOS and pre-OS start environment but newer USB-kbrds should work from start.
Some BIOS have a setting to choose if you want kbrd to be run by OS or BIOS.