$1500 PC design challenge

[TinCow]

We upgraded Scienter's machine recently, and her new bits fit well into this budget.

CPU: i5-750 - $200
Mobo: ASRock P55 Extreme LGA 1156 - $140
RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $100
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 500gb - $56

Total: $496

The Mobo can take an i7, which leaves room for a future upgrade on the same board. I'll tell you though, that i5 is blazing fast. I don't know what you'd need the i7 performance for, unless you just like to brag about it to your friends. Games aren't challenging hardware the way they used to. I'd rather save the money on the CPU and spend it on better peripherals and a monitor.

For the rest...

GPU: EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB - $215, one of the reasons to cut back on a CPU is to spend a bit more cash on something like this.
DVD/CD Burner: SAMSUNG Black 22X - $31
Case - Hard to give advice on this without knowing the person. Does he care about it being flashy? About accessibility? Will he be upgrading? The answers make a lot of difference here. In general though, I highly recommend something by Lian Li - $100 to $300 depending on preferences.
Monitor: Hanns·G HH-281HPB Black 28" - $320, this is where your CPU savings are going. A good monitor is a lot more value for money, IMO.
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V - $120

Total: $1282 to $1482 depending on case. A cheaper case ($100) can be used to beef up the CPU if you really want to, or to add good peripherals such as this, or speakers. Swapping out all case fans for silent fans is a good use of cash as well, IMHO.