Buying Pc Parts for Christmas. Need Opinions and Critiques

[TINYTWREX]

I'm going to be making a PC for Christmas and this is my build (so far at least):
http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/rhB6yc
I would like to know if there are any issues with this set up considering performance, compatibility or poor quality issues etc. Thank you for your help, I appreciate it. Especially when forking out just about 3000$, don't want to receive the goods to find its not gonna work out.
Thanks

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

If the PC is just for gaming, then you can get an i5-4690k and GTX 970 SLI for approximately the same price and get much better fps performance in games. If you will also do photoshop and video rendering, then stick with the i7. Also, 2400 MHz RAM is too much voltage for the motherboard.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($285.00 @ CPL Online)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($158.00 @ IJK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming GT ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($299.00 @ CPL Online)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($109.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($135.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($123.00 @ IJK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($549.00 @ CPL Online)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($549.00 @ CPL Online)
Case: Inwin GR One ATX Full Tower Case ($111.00 @ CPL Online)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($153.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($19.00 @ CPL Online)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($115.00 @ CPL Online)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($399.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-AC68 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($106.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $3110.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-23 01:58 EST+1100

 

[TINYTWREX]

If the PC is just for gaming, then you can get an i5-4690k and GTX 970 SLI for approximately the same price and get much better fps performance in games. If you will also do photoshop and video rendering, then stick with the i7. Also, 2400 MHz RAM is too much voltage for the motherboard.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($285.00 @ CPL Online)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($158.00 @ IJK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming GT ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($299.00 @ CPL Online)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($109.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($135.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($123.00 @ IJK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($549.00 @ CPL Online)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($549.00 @ CPL Online)
Case: Inwin GR One ATX Full Tower Case ($111.00 @ CPL Online)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($153.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($19.00 @ CPL Online)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($115.00 @ CPL Online)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($399.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-AC68 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($106.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $3110.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-23 01:58 EST+1100

Thanks Joseph, I changed down to the i5 processor and swapped to 970 SLI. But why did you choose the EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 ($549) over the Gigabyte GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD ($519)?
Also, why the upgrade to 750W rather than 650W? Even with the SLI my total estimated wattage is 497W. Surely 650 would give breathing room for that even with oc cpu and gpu? Also, the psu you recommended comes with 5 years warranty, whereas the previous 650W psu I had chosen comes with a 10 year warranty...Odds are I'd never need anywhere that 10 years though. Regardless, could you give some clarification for your choices? Thanks again, this really helps

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

I mentioned the PSU since you will use two GPUs, enough to handle occasional wattage spikes with ease. Yes, the 650w PSU would be fine, but the 750w PSU will give you better headroom for overclocking. I also suspect that the EVGA FTW cards are faster than mostly all other 970s out there, possibly including the Gigabyte cards. MSI has a nice balance of cooling and performance and ASUS STRIX cards are mostly silent. It depends on what you prefer.