Your Advice on what to put in a 1400$ Gaming Rig.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($334.97 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Pro 81.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.68 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($102.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($379.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.88 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1445.44
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-07 16:28 EDT-0400)

If you don't need Windows, you can add in a sound card:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-sound-card-xonards

You don't need an i7, 16GB of RAM, or a sound card for a gaming rig, you're pretty much wasting money when you don't have to. And "future proofing" is definitely no way to plan a rig - it simply can't be done.

I would get this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($42.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 ATX Mid Tower Case ($123.58 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($176.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.30 @ Newegg)
Total: $1285.79
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-07 16:56 EDT-0400)

Nearly $150 cheaper and it gives you the option to add a second GTX 770 later on which will give you GPU performance equal to the $1K GTX Titan.

Interesting advice, however that build only uses one harddrive and doesn't have a SDD. Which will make recording while playing a fair bit harder to pull off if I'm not mistaken? Would you say that with that hardware the build is powerful enough that it would be able to do it regardless? Also with the amount of time I spend doing simulations (they tend to be over an hour long on my current machine) anything that would speed that up is something I'd be somewhat willing to pay for. I'm assuming it's mostly down to the speed/power of the CPU to speed up something like that.

Click to expand...

Of course, how could I have forgotten the SSD? :lol:
Yeah that's definitely a component, on a rig of your budget that I wouldn't build without one.

Maybe do something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 ATX Mid Tower Case ($133.58 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($156.66 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1414.16
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-10 12:24 EDT-0400)

I do really appreciate the input though, as I know way to little about this stuff to make an informed decision. And having a counter-argument to the initial build gives me something more to think about. Also the watercooling on the initial build isn't something I'd like to deal with.

Click to expand...

I generally don't deal with water cooling either except on ultra high end systems, I would much rather go with a strong air fan.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.98 @ Outlet PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1493.83
So this is a build I threw together based on what the others have posted and what you talked about in your original post.

CPU: Good CPU that was suggest beforehand. If you are really into video editing and such and really want to upgrade to an i7, then it will cost you a little over $100 more.
Cooler: Decent air fan cooler only for mild overclocking. Don't do anything crazy with this cooler, but it will get you by.
Mobo: This is a good choice for the mobo, as the others have suggested as well.
RAM: This is good RAM that is on sale for pretty cheap right now. I use this RAM in my own personal build and I have no issues with it.
SSD: This SSD is 120GB and is cheaper than any of the others previously listed.
HDD: Cheap 1TB drive
GPU: You talked about recording and gameplay and "future-proof" (if there is such a thing) so I went with the 4GB of VRAM version. Newer games will start to require more VRAM and having more will help you with your needs as well.
Case: Just the case I use personally. No reason other than I like Corsair cases.
PSU: This is a modular and Gold certified PSU, also, it is extremely cheap right now.
Optical Drive: No explanation. Cheapest on pcpartpicker.
OS: If you haven't tried 8 I would stick with 7. I haven't personally tried it so I am speaking from a blind perspective, but I have only hear horror stories with 8.
Monitor: Good 1080p monitor on sale right now for cheap!

Sorry I didn't include a sound card, but I don't really know anything about them. I know that this build is slightly over your budget but I wasn't sure if the $1400 marker was including or not including a monitor. And I also read that you said that it was more of a low end estimate. There is room to cut the price of the build down, but I do not suggest comprimising for a weaker GPU. But that is just my personal opinion.

As an alternate build idea, you could use a Xeon E3-1230v3 instead of the i7 or i5. This will run you about $255 ( more than an i5, less than an i7. ) It's basically a locked i7 with no integrated graphics ( but the latter doesn't matter much unless you want the Quick Sync. ) Since it can't be overclocked, you can save significantly on CPU cooling as well. But if your simulations can use eight cores, this will really get it done nicely. I think the lack of OC on it is insignificant since a quad-core/octo-thread CPU running 3.3GHz should be more than a match for games for four years.

Also, if you have that large a budget, I'd really recommend a 256GB SSD. The extra capacity means less playing musical games on what is installed and not on the SSD.

This XFX PSU is a really good deal right now ( until tomorrow. ) It's enough to SLI/XFire even high-end cards.

You've got your option of GPU. A 770 is certainly a great card, but a 760 at nearly half the price might be sufficient for you as well. Or you might look at a 7950 in the $200 range, especially if your simulations can use its compute power. But if you want gaming power for the next few years, I think the 770 might be the better way to go.

As for the sound system, that really depends on a few things. For music and movies, the built in audio should suffice ( vast majority of music is only two channel, so your 7.1 speakers won't care about that. ) The S/PDIF can output 5.1 digital ( either Dolby or DTS ) encoded from movies. If you want 7.1 PCM, you'll have to use the multi-channel outputs ( don't know whether your speakers support that kind of input or not. ) Digital 7.1 can only be output over HDMI.

The only thing a soundcard is needed for now is to output Dolby Digital or DTS over an S/PDIF connection in games. Most games don't encode their audio into those formats and few onboard audio chips can encode it on the fly. This is called Dolby Digital Live and DTS-Connect, respectively. The Realtek 1150 chipset supports DTS-Connect, but not DDL. ) So if you plug your speakers into the S/PDIF, you'll only get downmixed stereo. If you want digital surround sound in games over fiber optic ( for example using a gaming headset, ) you'll most likely want an add-in soundcard. Some USB headsets have DDL and DTS-Connect in them already.

And there are any number of quality black 24" 1080p displays right now.