I built my first PC when I was about 10 and continued doing that for about 10 years, so I basically know whats going on. However, I have not built one in over 10 years. Recently I hit a road block because I cannot do advanced Statistics on Excel for Mac. I am a final year Economics and Finance Student so I was thinking I might even build a computer just for Statistics and Database software (Excel, R, MATLAB, SAS...etc.) How much do you think it would cost me to build a half-decent PC from scratch (case and everyhthing)? High level Ram, lots of Ram, Upper-Level (not top) multicore CPU, mediocre video card, basic chassis/case, basic power supply, basic fan cooling and heatsinks. No Monitor, or peripherals, just the case and electronics. Obviously I would prefer a solid state drive, but I am open to recommendations on hard drive. 500gb would probably be fine, 1tb is plenty. What do you think? American Dollars or Canadian Dollars, or Australian Dollars, please indicate which. Also, any particular recommendations?