What to look for in new desktop?

[Beavis68]

you can get dirt cheap components and put together a cheap ass system, but it will be cheap and those components have a high failure rate and clunky cases.

For a system like above, you are going to have around $300 just for CPU and OS. A good Mobo for a 1333 processor is going to be 120-170. So, you are over 400 right there with no HD, RAM optical drives, case, or PSU.