#16
Please stop linking that video. It's like 1/3 truth, 1/3 oversimplification and 1/3 bullshit. It clears up some of the misconceptions, myths but adds new ones.

#1
What's your motherboard? If it's a recent one you might have decent onboard sound like the ALC1150. The HD 598s don't really need an amp and unless you need a mic preamp or whatever else you might be using the soundcard for, there's no reason to use a soundcard.

#10 explained it pretty well.

There's something you all forgot. If I'm not mistaken OP is in europe. Both the Modi/Magni aswell as the ODAC/O2 combo are >200€ over here.
A while ago you could've got the ODAC/O2 for less than 200€, not less than 200$ though, from headnhifi.org, but now that the exchange rates (Swiss Franc/Euro) aren't in our favour anymore it's not going to happen.

I'm not sure what you wrote before the edit, but I think you're taking this a bit to seriously.
I was trying to be a bit overdramatic.
These 3 things are pretty much the only thing I'd change (should be about -100$) anything else is just the usual "swap for equivalent components, search for rebates" stuff that you did mention.

If I were trying to pick a fight it would look differently. And I doubt I'd do it over a bad build, let alone a decent one like this.

There's two ways I can read that.
1. "Could you show me a build that would perform well in all of these games. I can't define "performing well" though."
2. "Whats the best build for 1200$ or less that could run these games at settings and fps that I didn't bother to tell you."

I'm not sure how to intepret "something that can run dx9 on my native (and works with my 144hz monitor)" aswell.

Either way you need to be a bit more specific if you want good advice and you should head over to the pc build thread.

EDIT:
#4
Let me point out the most obvious things:
1. non-K CPU and a Z97 mobo
Although there is one way you could justify it.
2. Overkill PSU. 650W for a <350W. Again there could be a reason for it.
There's no reason for getting the TP-650C for 100$ when the TP-750C is 55$. Even without the 30$ MIR it's still 15$ cheaper. Oh and there's the TP-550C for 40$ after 20$ MIR which is an amzing deal. All of that on Newegg. Would you mind explaining why you picked the most expensive PSU out of that series, more expensive than a higher wattage one without rebates, and the only PSU out of that series without rebate?
3. Did you seriously just ditch a HDD for a fancier case?

Can't make money if you're expected to lose.

Here are the builds I made for #385
Improved 860K
The G3258 is better though so i made one aswell.

After talking to him on steam I decided that a bit more CPU power wouldn't hurt since he wanted to get a 144Hz monitor and wasn't a problem in terms of the budget.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($186.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card ($131.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cougar MG100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($28.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: BenQ XL2411Z 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($275.34 @ PCM)
Total: $846.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-18 13:19 EST-0500

#386
No, sorry. 5760*1080 is where it's at.

I'm not sure if the schedule would allow for two tournaments. Keep in mind that they'll have to leave on sunday afternoon and no one likes Sunday morning finals.
You could still run a 6s tournament, but not having an official one avoids the all the "but 6s should be the main event, no one cares about HL", "we need a stage", "8-9 people per house is retarded, it doesn't fit the team sizes" discussions.

And we have a winner, that's a pretty good build.
There is no such thing as future proofing though. The most cost effective way is to buy exactly as much power and features as you need.
Also you didn't specify a budget.

There's not much you could do besides some cosmetic changes. Most of them are literally cosmetic.
RAM: Instead of 1600Mhz CL8 in blue you could get 1600Mhz CL9 (slightly slower) in blue (-2$) or red (-6$) or 1866MHz CL9 (slightly faster) in red (-5$) or 2133MHz CL10 (a bit faster again) in gold (+1$).

You could go microATX (-66.68$).
microATX complete blue colour scheme (minimal performance sacrifice) for 12$ less.
Taking that build and swapping the i5-4690K for a Xeon E3-1231 v3 costs 15.11$ more. Not overclocked the i5 is only 3% faster in single threaded applications and even overclocked it can't beat the Xeon in multi threaded. So in other words, single threaded the i5 beats it barely and is cheaper, overclocked it beats it convincingly but at a higher price. Multi-threaded the Xeon wins against non-OC by a wide margin while being only slightly more expensive and while the gap is smaller against OC it would still win and be cheaper.

The original GPU (+6.01$) and red colour scheme would add 12.92$ to the Xeon build.

Short summary:
Original: 846.50$
microATX: 779.82$
mATX blue: 767.82$ (slightly slower RAM and GPU)
Xeon mATX blue: 782.93$ (slightly slower RAM and GPU)
Xeon mATX red: 795.85$ (slightly slower RAM)

And now my personal favourite.
Only works if you're willing the go through flashing-the-BIOS-without-a-CPU process.
Same performance except for the RAM and it's the second cheapest build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z87M GAMING Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($347.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $778.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-17 07:39 EST-0500

It's complicated.
i5 does have a lot more power, the problem is usually you'll be held back by the slowest thread. That means as long as the i3 can cope with the total load since it's cores are faster (3.5GHz vs 3.3GHz max turbo on the i5) the i5 might not actually beat it.

My recommendation depends on wether or not you'll play any other games and if you're willing to drop down the case and PSU a bit.
Just FYI while 620W is overkill you won't even get a 400W PSU of the same quality for 55$, that's insanely cheap for the M12II.

For TF2 only I'd say get this (you can use the case and PSU you selected, they're better, just more expensive):
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($185.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Pareema 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 260 1GB Video Card ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Edimax EW-7811Un 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($6.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $616.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-12 05:56 EST-0500

If you want to play other games aswell you can up the GPU a bit. If you're not in a hurry wait for deals or until you can up your budget by 50$ or play TF2 with integrated graphics for while and then get a 270X or even a 280. Only worth it if you want/"need" 1080p+60fps+max quality in current games.

#8
iirc dx9frames uses trilinear filter. Change mat_trilinear to 0 in the dx9frames config.
There might also be other settings that are different in maxframes that could prevent this from working.

Unless you've been using the dongle on your old pc, I guarantee you that you had drivers installed and echo cancellation enabled. It's not going to happen on a new pc unless you install those drivers again. There's a reason why audio drivers exist.

Which i5 and which i3. What's the rest of the build?

They have been discontinued and the ATH-M50x are inferior in terms of build quality iirc.
Although the ATH-M50x have been mentioned.
On Newegg the ATH-M50s are 240$ and there's absolutely no way they can compete with something like AKG K702s for 200$ (see #10).

#24
Yeah, you'll be dropping another 3-5k on the amp. Still way cheaper than the Orpheus. You can't even get the HE-90 without the amp for that price.

#25
Inb4 someone blindly buys an Orpheus. And then gets mad at us because they don't have insufferable amounts of bass.

Seriously, audition anything over 50$,there's no reason to buy something and just to regret it afterwards.

Sadly the Orpheus got some issues with the pads.
Also you'd be loooking at 20k+, good condition more 30k+, for near perfect condition even more if they're even willing to sell.

I'd say just get SR-009 and save yourself the hassle.
Maybe the SR-Omega if you can get one. Not the SR-007 w/e Omega, the actual SR-Omega.