Opinions on my GTX 970 build for gaming

[zhuang281]

Hi,I am building a PC mainly for gaming purposes revolving around a GTX 970. The part list is here : http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/4mmwsY

I5-4690K ----->>>> Wanted the K so I could OC it if it ever becomes a bottleneck
Asus Z97-A ------>>>> I have a 250gb M.sata SSD floating around. Will this mobo hold it? Would mean I dont have to get the 850EVO
G.Skill Ripjaw 2x4gb
MSI GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr
EVGA 600B
CM HAFX Tower-------->>>> Is this too big?
Noctua NH-D15 CPU fan
Samsung 250gb 850-evo

Is there anything that seems to be too good for the build? Or anything I should be aware of? I do want to keep it relatively cheap.

Thanks

 

[Sapphire Thunder]

Looks great, but the PSU is a bit too low quality. You should look into higher quality one.

Also, yes, that MOBO can hold M.2 SSD

 

[zhuang281]

Looks great, but the PSU is a bit too low quality. You should look into higher quality one.

Also, yes, that MOBO can hold M.2 SSD

Thanks, are you saying M.2 slot is backwards compatible with M.sata? Its a Crucial m500 m.sata SSD I got.

 

[Sapphire Thunder]

Thanks, are you saying M.2 slot is backwards compatible with M.sata? Its a Crucial m500 m.sata SSD I got.

Oh, I thought you just missed the "2" there.
I tried googling but didn't really find anything that would say it won't work nor anything what would say it will work.

 

[zhuang281]

If I were to swap out the GTX970 for a R9 390 (with associated changes in mobo etc.), will there be any compatibility problems with games?

I understand that the R9 is better for higher resolution games with more demands on vram?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

EVGA 600B ,replace for sure , very poor quality.

 

[Not_So_Nerdy]

The i5 4690k is perfectly acceptable in even some higher gaming systems you might see on the market, so you should not need to worry, and once over-clocked is absolutely incredible. Your motherboard in my opinion is slightly lacking, and I would instead go for the MSI gaming 3 - affordable, high quality and should handle everything perfectly. However, if you do take this motherboard it may not be compatible with all RAM as some (e.g. G.skill Trident X series) as they require slightly higher voltage than the motherboard can supply. The MSI GTX 970 is a wise decision for your build, as whilst the R9 390 has some better specs, its overall performance on highly taxing games will be slightly unstable and a few FPS lower than the GTX 970's (check out any benchmarks on youtube). Your PSU is considerably lacking, I would suggest the XFX 550W - not only is it still cheap but it also comes highly recommended. The case is a matter of personal preference, as long as the dimensions work out and your ports line up, its all good! As you are planning to over-clock the CPU a fan other than the stock cooler would be considered essential, I would suggest the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler - its good for its price and won't take to much out of your budget. I would also throw in a
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive for extra storage at a great price. So this is what I would go with:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£167.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.95 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£89.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£41.62 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.98 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£268.92 @ More Computers)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 White ATX Mid Tower Case (£50.93 @ More Computers)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£51.36 @ CCL Computers)
+ Your SSD
Total: £731.74

So there you go, I hope it helps.