Two weeks away from building, need more ideas. $1500-$2000 budget.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type Item Price
CPU Intel Xeon E3-1241 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor $264.95 @ SuperBiiz
CPU Cooler SilenX EFZ-92HA3 48.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler $22.86 @ Amazon
Thermal Compound Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste $6.89 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Performance ATX LGA1150 Motherboard $99.99 @ SuperBiiz
Memory A-Data XPG V1.0 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory $99.99 @ Newegg
Storage Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $113.06 @ Amazon
Storage Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive $369.00 @ Amazon
Video Card MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Twin Frozr Video Card $549.99 @ Newegg
Case NZXT Phantom 530 (Red) ATX Full Tower Case $118.99 @ SuperBiiz
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $78.99 @ SuperBiiz
Optical Drive Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer $15.19 @ NCIX US
Monitor BenQ GL2460HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor $138.99 @ NCIX US
Monitor BenQ GL2460HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor $138.99 @ NCIX US
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total $2017.88
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-23 22:17 EDT-0400
  • The Xeon processor is like an i7 for roughly the price of an i5. The difference is price, the Xeon has hyper-threading (like an i7). You can't overclock this CPU.

  • I went with a CPU Cooler and Thermal Paste because it just sounded better than using the default stock CPU Cooler that comes with your CPU. I went for the Red/Black color theme.

  • I picked this Motherboard for the color theme pretty much. ASRock is known for their cheap and reliable motherboards.

  • Cheapest 16 GB I could find, it matches the rest of the build too.

  • I know you said you wanted SSDs but I decided to step up the game. We can always change anything to save money.

  • The GTX 980 should walk over anything you throw at it. Matches our color scheme as well.

  • Large colorful case.

  • Modular PSU for great cable management.

  • I thought these two monitors looked pretty good.

Let me know what you think / ask questions! :)

/r/buildapcforme Thread