[stomachmonkey]

I build my own.

No it's not always a great cost savings but that's not the whole point.

Yes manufacturers have an advantage on cost of goods but margins on PC's are so low to begin with that even though they may include some higher end components they still skimp in other areas.

When doing a self build you can ensure quality components throughout.

I hate manufacturer cases, they are never well thought out and can be a pain in the ass to deal with. Generally also heavy and cumbersome.

I use NZXT cases exclusively and all my builds are water cooled.

Water cooling for me is a must. Nothing worse than sitting next to a PC where the fans are screaming at you all day. Water cooled PCs also don't raise the ambient temps in your office like traditional fan cooling can.

My go to water cooler is NZXTs Kraken but I've used Corsair as well and they are just fine.

Samsung EVO or PRO NAND SSDs.

EVGA or Corsair power supplies.

Your XEON won't fit in the i-seires socket.

Yes excell supports multi threading but not for every function.

You want high core count AND high clock speed.

EEC RAM is not all around better. Yes it can prevent crashes and data loss but it's more expensive and it's slower than non EEC RAM. Decide what matters more.