PurpleShyGuy

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Noted! While I have the attention of a few of you. Some of these cases come with 2 fans for cooling, should I consider investing in a couple more? Or should I wait and run some benchmarks and note the temperatures before adding on?

You guys work fast! Currently an I5-3350p Noted. Thanks for the suggestions! North Carolina Thanks for the suggestion! Just out of curiosity, what was the reasoning behind the case choice? Is it easier to work in/more durable?

I've spent the last couple of weeks reading various guides and watching a lot of techquickie videos (those are a god send, btw) to get the jist of how to properly pick out parts for a pc. So I gave it a go to see what I could piece together that would meet my expectations. https://pcpartpicker.com/user/PurpleShyGuy/saved/ If this is totally wrong, don't be shy about completely revising this build. With that in mind.... 1. Budget & Location My budget is around $500. This is not a static number, I'm willing to spend more than needed to achieve the performance I desire. It's more of a guideline than anything to make sure I don't go crazy with spending. I'm currently located in the United States. Note that this is for the desktop itself and does not include the costs of peripherals/monitors. 2. Aim All in all, I want a 'jack of all trades' build. I'm beginning to study programming and I've set up an environment under Ubuntu (I'm dual booting with windows 8.1) that will serve as my work station so I can keep my entertainment separate. I'm also into music (mostly the piano) so I intend to keep audio editing software as well as various microphones and equipment handy. All of that will be on my Ubuntu partition. However, I also play games whenever I find time. I do not need a 4k build, but 1080p is the goal here, maybe 1440p in the future so a build with upgrades in mind would be helpful. I'll be playing Guild Wars 2 mostly, along side of RTS games such as Starcraft II. Running everything at a comfortable 60fps at preferably max settings for those two games in particular is preferred. I do not plan on overclocking. I have no qualms with any particular brands, I just want good performance at a reasonable cost (not looking to cheap out on hardware). 3. Monitors Two monitors at the most running at 1080p and possibly 1440p in the future. I'd like to keep each one around the $150 mark. 23-24 inch monitors are the sweet spot for me. I'd prefer some that don't have a god awful glare on them to where I can see my reflection (I currently have one like that lol). 4. Peripherals I have a Windows license I can use so there's no need to factor in that cost. I have the keyboard and mouse picked out already (outside of the desktop cost) 5. Why are you upgrading? My old XPS 8500 with a Sapphire HD 7770 is a bit dated and has given me years of solid use. I'm ready for a shiny new pc that can be easily upgraded. Having a giant ATX case isn't preferred, I like medium sized to small cases so I have room on my desk for the monitors and audio equipment I use. I hope I included enough detail! I'll be happy to provide more if needed, for now I'll continue browsing around as I receive feedback. As a side note.... I really like blue and purple, so if you can find any products that feature those colors that's a nice plus - not required by any means though.