jonathan_g

Looks great! 

Looks great! 

Sort of. Traditional SSD's are limited by their SATA connections to a max of about 600MBps (although your real world speeds are going to be less than this, with high end SSD's being in the 500-550 range and cheaper ones falling behind that). Then beyond the interface (SATA) there is also the storage protocol that limits it even further, AHCI (AHCI is basically the instruction set that runs your storage devices; the programming that allows your hardware to do its work). Whilst there is no exact hard speed limit on AHCI like there is on SATA and other interfaces, the AHCI protocols weren't really designed for that sort of storage or storage speeds, and as a result they were really limiting the potential of what a SSD could beyond the realm of SATA. Enter NVME. NVME drives have a different instruction set that allows them to reach MUCH faster speeds over PCIe than a traditional AHCI/SATA SSD.
 
So yes, in this case your PCIe drives (so long as they are NVME) can and will often be significantly faster. The best, most top end SATA SSD's will often be around 500-550 sequential read/write and about 100k IOPS. A high end M.2 drive like the 950 pro can do reads up to 2500MBps and writes up to 1500MBps with IOPS around the 300k mark. (basically 3-5x faster than a traditional SSD depending on what stat you look at, which is about how much faster normal SSD's are in comparison to HDD's). Some PCIe SSD's can even be faster, such as the Intel 750 PCIe SSD which offers similar reads and writes to the 950 pro, but up to nearly 500k IOPS.
 
However, a word of warning! You can still get NORMAL AHCI SSD's in these form factors. You can get the 850 EVO (a normal SSD) in the M.2 form factor. It will perform pretty much IDENTICALLY to the standard SATA version, it just will be able to plug into a M.2 port instead. So make sure that if/when you go to buy SSD's that you look for a "NVME" drive. Then check its actual performance in comparison to what you want. Its also worth noting that not all NVME drives are the same. There are slower ones, or ones that run on older PCIe lanes, such as 2.0x4 rather than the current 3.0x4. The new Intel 600P NVME M.2's are 3.0x4, but are not nearly as fast as the Samsung 950 Pro's. They ARE, however, considerably cheaper, and are priced comparatively which contemporary high end SATA SSD''s which they out perform (at least in their 256GB 512GB and 1TB capacities).
 
 
TL;DR If you don't want to read all that gibberish, here is a neat little 5 minute video explaining pretty much all of what I just said. Oh, and buy the intel 600p if you want such a drive. the 256GB or 512GB version if you can afford it.
 
 
EDIT: This one is a good watch for you too, explaining some other things i covered in this post:
 

This is just under $1500 USD 
 
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/ZgdGLD
 
Best of luck!

First, welcome to the forums @jonathan_g, we hope you enjoy your stay!
Us fellow Canadians need to stick together and closely guard the bacon.
 
As for your builds, I'd recommend looking into a system running a 4th or 6th gen unlocked i7 CPU and at least 16GB RAM.
Below I've included a couple of PC PartPicker builds for you to peruse, based on some recent PCs made for friends.
Some of the builds contain no GPU as the friend already had one, or they contain extra storage, so add/remove as needed.
If you have any questions, just ask.
 
ZamerPC
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($428.95 @ Vuugo) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($126.15 @ DirectCanada) 
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($228.50 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($79.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($99.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: Corsair SPEC-ALPHA ATX Mid Tower Case  ($92.53 @ DirectCanada) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($112.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Total: $1169.09
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-01 21:04 EDT-0400
 
Computer McComputerFace
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($209.99 @ NCIX) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($126.15 @ DirectCanada) 
Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($124.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($88.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Crucial MX200 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($108.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  ($85.75 @ shopRBC) 2 OF THESE HAVE BEEN DoA, CHOOSE SOMETHING ELSE
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card  ($409.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Glass ATX Mid Tower Case  ($249.99 @ Amazon Canada) This case is nice but expensive, save money here
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($112.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Total: $1517.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-01 21:06 EDT-0400
 
KRySTaLoGi-PC (my current personal build)
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  (Purchased For $139.00) 
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12LS_BK 53.3 CFM CPU Cooler  (Purchased For $47.00) 
Motherboard: MSI Z97M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (Purchased For $185.00) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  (Purchased For $139.99) 
Storage: Crucial MX200 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $185.98) 
Storage: Crucial MX200 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $230.98) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $49.97) 
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $99.99) 
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $99.99) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card  ($269.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Case: Corsair Air 240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (Purchased For $99.99) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $104.99) 
Monitor: Asus PA238QR 23.0" 60Hz Monitor  (Purchased For $159.99) 
Monitor: Asus PA238QR 23.0" 60Hz Monitor  (Purchased For $159.99) 
Keyboard: Logitech G710 Plus Wired Gaming Keyboard  (Purchased For $104.99) 
Mouse: Logitech LS1 Wired Laser Mouse  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Speakers: Logitech X-540 70W 5.1ch Speakers  (Purchased For $125.00) 
External Storage: Western Digital My Book 2TB External Hard Drive  (Purchased For $49.97) 
Other: Logitech UE9000 Bluetooth Headphones (Purchased For $199.99)
Other: Silverstone CPF04 1-TO-8 PWM Fan Hub (Purchased For $20.98)
Total: $2473.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-01 21:11 EDT-0400

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/6YwfvV

Here's a computer build that is slightly over $1,300 CAD and the processor can be overclocked if needed.
 
This computer build will give you enough processing power to handle your architecture computing and gaming.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($314.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9x65 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler  ($59.95 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($77.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Transcend SSD370 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($83.96 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card  ($389.00 @ Amazon Canada) 
Case: NZXT Source 220 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($124.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Total: $1310.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-02 18:06 EDT-0400

I am in Canada so it would have to be CAD. I know if it was American currency it would be pretty sweet but unfortunately it is Canadian money I am playing with. 
 
Thanks everyone for supplying a list. I will look into them and see what works best for me. I am quite surprised at how fast some of you are willing to help here.  
 
Edit: A question that I have had lingering on the back of my mind that caz reminded me about is a solid state HDD through PCI-Express slots. Are they any better/faster than regular solid state HDD?

I see. I will take this into consideration when I start to build, thanks Mega!