$1500 CAD Gaming Rig/Multitask System

[thorkia]

Approximate Purchase Date:
July

Budget Range:
$1500-1600

System Usage from Most to Least Important:
Gaming (mostly strategy and tactics games, some FPS, and some flash games)
Coding (C#, WebDevelopment)
DevServer (SQLServer, IIS, MySql)
Surfing the internet

Parts Not Required:
OS, Optical Drive (if USB boot is supported), Monitor (although suggestions are appreciated)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
None

Country:
Canada

Parts Preferences:
Minimum of 16 gigs of RAM
SSD and secondary Mechanical drive
SLI/CrossFire Support on the motherboard for future use
Needs to support multiple monitors - 2 minimum (HDMI or DisplayPort)

Overclocking:
No

Additional Comments:
I have built PCs before, but due to time constraints have just bought prebuilt systems in the past. I have the OS already. I don't care how it looks, it is going to sit under my desk.

 

[sadams04]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($320.56 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Mushkin Redline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($112.88 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($119.99 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($398.00 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G-750 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($130.09 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: LG 23MP55HQ-P 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($148.88 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $1513.36

 

[thorkia]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($320.56 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Mushkin Redline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($112.88 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($119.99 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($398.00 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G-750 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($130.09 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: LG 23MP55HQ-P 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($148.88 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $1513.36

If you did a build with out the monitor, what would you use the extra money for?

 

[sadams04]

If you did a build with out the monitor, what would you use the extra money for?

I would upgrade the 300r case to the Fractal R5. Not that the Corsair case is bad, but the Fractal is a step up... The rest of the components wouldn't change. The Xeon processor is about as good as you will get without overclocking (and changing this build entirely). 16GB of memory is a lot and standard DDR3-1866 CL10 modules will serve you nicely. Maybe up the storage sizes (500GB SSD or 2/3/4 TB spindle drive), but that wouldn't be absolutely needed. PSU doesn't get much better. GPU is overkill for your intended uses right now so upgrading to the GTX 980 or 980 TI doesn't make sense.

Did you have something in mind?

 

[thorkia]

If you did a build with out the monitor, what would you use the extra money for?

I would upgrade the 300r case to the Fractal R5. Not that the Corsair case is bad, but the Fractal is a step up... The rest of the components wouldn't change. The Xeon processor is about as good as you will get without overclocking (and changing this build entirely). 16GB of memory is a lot and standard DDR3-1866 CL10 modules will serve you nicely. Maybe up the storage sizes (500GB SSD or 2/3/4 TB spindle drive), but that wouldn't be absolutely needed. PSU doesn't get much better. GPU is overkill for your intended uses right now so upgrading to the GTX 980 or 980 TI doesn't make sense.

Did you have something in mind?

No particularly, just wondering what the extra money could get. I think the build is perfect for my uses. Thanks!