Amunak

Different priorities for different use cases, differing brand allegiances, day-to-day price changes (especially in the run-up to Black Friday) and all that. It's one of the beautiful things about building a PC, really; You get to choose exactly what goes into it and any given list online is more of a suggestion than a hard and fast rule. Disagreeing is totally fine and part of the process. If there were singular "best" configurations for each given price point, then there wouldn't be such a huge field of components to choose from in the first place.

$500:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($104.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: MSI H110M PRO-VD PLUS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($45.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Toshiba Product Series:DT01ACA 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 4GB GAMING X Video Card  ($199.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($24.99 @ NCIX US) 
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($29.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $492.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-23 19:39 EST-0500
 
$1000:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($289.99 @ B&H) 
Motherboard: MSI H110M PRO-VD PLUS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($45.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team Elite Plus 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($64.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: ADATA Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($60.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Windforce OC Video Card  ($379.99 @ B&H) 
Case: Deepcool DUKASE V2 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($51.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $992.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-23 19:42 EST-0500
 
$2000(editing/rendering):
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor  ($379.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($96.99 @ Jet) 
Motherboard: MSI X99A Raider ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard  ($160.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($179.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Intel 600p Series 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($169.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card  ($624.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($66.99 @ NCIX US) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1819.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-23 19:47 EST-0500
 
$2000(gaming):
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($299.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Le Grand Macho Fanless CPU Cooler  ($69.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI Z170A KRAIT GAMING 3X ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($124.99 @ B&H) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($67.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.00 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 8GB AMP! Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($579.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 8GB AMP! Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($579.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1998.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-23 19:51 EST-0500