Hi bziddy,
Here is my build for the bottom end of your budget i would recommend:
PCPartPicker part list:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lwSe
Price breakdown by merchant:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lwSe/by_merchant/
Benchmarks:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lwSe/benchmarks/
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H75 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($65.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87M-Plus Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($126.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($149.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ TigerDirect)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($139.48 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1139.38
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-03 19:31 EDT-0400)
For the top end i would reccomend:
PCPartPicker part list:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lwVa
Price breakdown by merchant:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lwVa/by_merchant/
Benchmarks:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lwVa/benchmarks/
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H75 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($65.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z87M-Plus Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($126.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($699.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ TigerDirect)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($139.48 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1689.38
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-03 19:23 EDT-0400)
Now both a solid builds the only difference being the graphics card., I can say the case, PSU, cooler, mobo and ssd are all great(i have them in my mini-atm build)
I think my build is superior in only a few ways from socialassassin.
1. The Corsair 350D to me is a far superior case.
2. The Corsair CS750 is paritally modular which cuts down on wires.
So there you go, if you want pics of my build i'll post for ya but i got no graphics card at the moment.
Joel
EDIT: Um i forgot sorry the Corsair H75 if perfectly capale of cooling that cpu especially since there is no overclocking but if you want to run a little cooler you could move to the H100i but it will cost a little more and im not sure how well it fits in the case...when you put a long device in the 5.25 bay like a dvd player it can cover partially the fan on the top and i dont know if there is enough room in between to fit the rad.