Greetings and salutations my fellow crafters, some of you may recognize the name from TS3 or MineTown but I realize others may not. I'm relatively new to MT (roughly a week) but those who I have spoken to on TS3 know that I'll be purchasing a new computer soon with the intent on doing some serious gaming and streaming from it. The only thing I couldn't tell anyone at the time was what I planned to put into the computer because I didn't have any idea what the prices would be. I've now complied a basic list of components but my list exceeds my limit of $1000 and would like to see if anyone here knows any alternative parts that are just as good or better than what I picked.

*Update, thanks to Madster I was able to update this list*

CPU: AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera 8-Core 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

CPU/Mobo Option 2: GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-Gaming 7 LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Vid Card: SAPPHIRE 100363-4L Radeon R9 280X 3GB 384-Bit GDDR5

Mem Card: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C11D-8GXM

HDD: Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Power: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 220-G2-0850-XR 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified

SSD: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SV300S37A

Monitor: Acer S241HLbmid Black 24" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor

Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan

Total cost: $1095

If you want to pinch a few bucks and you're not planning on doing any kind of streaming or other intensive things while playing games, you can get an i5-4690k for around $100 less than that i7, although it might not be as much of a difference in price with the discount offered from the combo board and proc. The i7's are basically i5 processors with HyperThreading, which just means that the i7 can handle more multitasking like streaming and video editing. Graphics is mainly intensive on the GPU and only use 1 or 2 out of 4 available cores, which is why I'm going to go with an i5 when I upgrade my processor in the coming months. HyperThreading in a nutshell just splits 4 physical cores into 8 logical cores so windows can better utilize the cores that might only be running a few processes. A more in-depth explanation can be found here.

Also, is there any reason you have another sound card? The onboard on the selected mobo already does 7.1, unless you have the card for an extra set of in/outs.

You could also get a new Asus 24" monitor for $40 or so less than the one you have picked out if you can stand losing a few inches on it. I have a 24" Asus (Can't remember the exact model) and I love it, I don't think I'd really want anything bigger. If you're planning on running dual monitors later, you might want to consider a 24" to save some real estate if you have limited deskspace like I do (or you could just get a dual swing arm mount, which is what I'm planning on doing in the near future).

Anyways, goodluck on your build! <object class="emojione" data="https://resources.enjin.com/1489581540/themes/core/images/emojione/svg/1f642.svg?0" type="image/svg+xml" standby=":)">:)</object>

Thanks for the reply! I do plan to start streaming with this new computer, I'll be doing quite a lot of Minecraft videos but my son also wants me to stream games like his favorite Youtubers do. When I was reading the specs for the Mobo I must have missed the 7.1 sound card because I thought I'd need to get one, so that at least saves $20 lol. My setup will include a dual monitor setup with this monitor and a wall mounted 30in tv (I think its a 30), I wanted to try to get the monitors close to the same size but you're right... 24 would still be perfectly fine. Perhaps I'll change that, but the problem is I'm still over budget and haven't included a cooler or SSD which I've been told numerous times I'd need both for a gaming rig.

About the liquid cooling, in my opinion, it's not something you need, I've never used it in my builds, preferring to go with a standard heatsink. It's cheaper, and while streaming, I've never had an issue with anything overheating. I usually go with cooler-master, but there are some other nice brands out there.

On another note, about things you forgot... buying all the parts is good, but without somewhere to put them, it's kind of pointless... you need to choose a case

Oh I must have forgotten that part, I've already purchased a case a few weeks ago. It's a mid-sized tower:

Rosewill Galaxy 1

An SSD is good to put your OS on and then put all of your game files, etc. on a 1 or 2 TB disk drive, but that's not absolutely necessary if you can't afford it. You can always add one later and reinstall the OS if you'd like. As far as a cooler goes, it's a good idea to go ahead and get a good one off the bat, ESPECIALLY if overclocking, etc. Corsair, Cooler Master, and Arctic Cooling are some good brands for coolers, and a good ol' heatsink and fan setup is the best way to go in my experience. This is a good one, has a good bit of surface area to dissipate heat.

I have a budget build that's a few months old now that I'm progressively upgrading as I get the cash:

Gigabyte Z97MX-Gaming 5 Mobo

i3-4360 @ 3.7 Ghz that I'm upgrading soon to an i5-4690k with the CM cooler I linked above

Radeon R7 265 (Planning to upgrade to a r9 270x, then add another one later and run them in Crossfire)

2x4g 2400MHz Team DDR3 that I had laying around

1TB Western Digital 7200 RPM HDD, Caviar Black if I remember correctly

which does pretty good just playing games, I can run BF4 in DX11 at 60fps in 1080p good, load times can sometimes take a while due to the middle of the road processor that my budget allowed when I made the purchase

Also, I agree with this. As an IT Support Specialist that deals with alot of end users, I've seen quite a few liquid cooling setups go bad, copper and fans are the most reliable in my experience.

I can look into getting a regular heatsink for sure, also I think I'd rather just get the SSD now so that I dont have to worry about reinstalling the OS at a later date or forgetting to even get an SSD. Are there any recommended heatsinks and SDDs that won't break the bank?

How about this heatsink?

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan

I'm not an expert by any means... I've built enough computers in my life to know that if you want to save money here are some simple easy ways:

Buy AMD processor/mobo

Use standard Hard drives (SSDs are nice but not needed)

Don't do Liquid Cooling.

If you have any questions let me know