My First Computer Build! Although the physical build is done there is still more to do! First explaining the name. This will be a dual boot Hackintosh eventually (OS X doesn't quite have support for my CPU yet and i need a stand in graphics card just for installation). Bertha will be the Mac (Highly superior) side of the computer, Perkins is the Windows side of things. I also need to get an adapter to connect my old second display to. If you have any questions about the build or parts let me know.

This computer is in my opinion the most powerful computer for around 2,000$, and I certainly believe it will be future proof with its 8 cores.

Special thanks to @Vagabond139 for giving me TOONS of advice and drafting parts lists. And to my friend Noah for coming up with the basic plan and for knowing a ton more about these parts than I did.

I will be using this computer mostly for video editing, music composition, data management, word processing, programming, and gaming.

Benchmarks! All benchmarks were run at the highest settings possible

Cinebench:

CPU: 10.93 (single core 1.15)

Open GL: 47.55

Heaven Benchmark: 65.1 fps (max 142.9)

Score: 2459

Valley Benchmark: 58.8 fps (max 124.4)

Score: 2459

Calculating the digits of pi: 8 million digits in 3:21. Obviously, if I let it go for longer it could have calculated more

Novabench: 1802

Ram: 239

CPU: 948

Graphics: 580

Hard Drive: 35

3dMark

Firestrike:11862

Sky Diver: 30323

Cloud Gate: 2875

Ice storm: 127498

I did have some troubles building this computer read the following thread for details. I did testing and it appears everything is working properly. http://pcpartpicker.com/forums/topic/78260-things-i-wished-i-knew-before-building-my-pc

Looking online I found a PC buy dell with similar specs, however the room was split into 4 slots, and no BD drive. This pc costed about 640$ more. Considering the parts it lacks id say I saved at least 700$ by building it myself+I learned tons and know exactly how to service my baby.

Breakdown of why I chose these parts

*CPU: Intel was a given, I wanted quality speed. I seriously considered

*CPU Cooler: Honestly, I had no clue what I was doing here. I just wanted one that worked well, I heard Cooler Master had cheep quality ones. I don't plan to overclock this cpu (I want all parts to last) so I don't need more.

*Motherboard: It was a toss up between this one and a gigabyte one. However, this motherboard looked nicer to me. An unexpected plus was that it already had a CPU fan backing on it.

*Memory: I chose ram that had a good warranty. This one did.

*Storage: I decided I would have 1 SSD for Bertha, and 1 for Perkins. 850 Evo's seem to be the best SSD's on the market as far as performance. The HDD was chosen just for its low price. It is incredible how cheep HDD's are now.

*Video Card: I looked at TOOOONNNS of benchmarks on different sites. Ultimately the gtx 980 doesn't have much more power than the 970 in most cases, however, I plan to SLI this eventually and this card seemed to have more benefits from being SLI'ed.

*Case: I wanted something that had lights, but was elegant. I fell in love with this case the first time I saw it. And as a plus it had fans built in!

*Power Supply: I didn't choose this one for the lights rather the great quality of build. It had great reviews on many sites. The funny thing is I couldn't find similar quality PSU's without lights for a cheaper price. Also the way my build is the PSU is completely covered.

*Optical Drive: I just chose one from a company I had heard of

*Wireless Network Adapter: I got this card because it could do more than my ISP is proving me. That way I am never limited by my card. I plan to get ethernet up to my station eventually.

*Monitor: This was probably the hardest choice. However, I ended up choosing this one for its borderless design, If you look at the pictures you can see I have a small area between shelves. I needed the biggest display that would fill up this space. This monitor did that.