I just built a somewhat similar mini-itx system with an i7-6700k. I jumped to Win10.. though hesitantly. I wanted to be VR-ready as I have a Vive on preorder. Good deal if you can get the OS on the cheap. Consider the free Win10 upgrade option.. despite my own historical hesitance to upgrade to the latest of any MS OS. I bit the bullet and I think MS learned a few lessons. Its an OK OS. But yes, IMO they screwed up with the built-in MS spyware thing. I'll stay away from that topic.
You'll be just fine with a 970. Use it. Enjoy it. Its a darn fast card for the money, and there will always be something 'better' on the horizon. Weigh what you can use today that is within an acceptable price point. Then have fun.
My box;
System : PCPartPicker - http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JbXRjX (I hope link works)
I was going to get an i5-6500, but ended up splurging extra for the CPU. The vid is a GTX 970 OC Stryx (OC'd to nearly similar spec as a 980).. I picked that up a few months back and used it in my ancient E8500 dual core system for a few months. My logic was the 970 will work just fine with VR and tide me over until Pascal gets out and becomes more mainstream (and sensibly priced). The beefier CPU will just mean a hopefully lengthier shelf life until the next upgrade and extra oomph which I expect the VR is going to need. I'll definitely upgrade the video, but not until next year.
Yes, its a mini-itx. I don't plan to do SLI. I wanted a compact system that could serve as a home media PC, so I can drag it out into the livingroom and hook up to the 4K TV conveniently. Also it is highly portable. I will be able to drag the box and VR places I couldn't so easily drag a big heavy tower system to. I only regret not being able to use my old PCIe sound card.. but the onboard actually turned out to be plenty decent enough.
The 500gb M.2 SSD (850 EVO) and the super fast startup time was thoroughly worth it. The far faster pro SSD didn't seem worth it. Way higher price and for home/consumer use it made no sense. The mini-itx board is tiny as heck, but feature packed. The 250D case is quite nice too. I was hesitant about it, but quite satisfied. These small cases need a bit of extra care for cable management but its not so bad. I took my time building it and its got very good air flow. The H100iv2 water cooler fits perfectly without any mods to the case. It squeezes right in along side the motherboard and doesn't interfere with anything. I was worried, as others had reported certain board/cooler combos may have fit issues. No bracket removal or case modding needed or any of that. But yea, its a very small space with a lot of gear packed in.
So far I've got the memory at 3200 (its spec'd for that), and the CPU OC'd at 4.4ghz. I got the CPU stable at 4.6ghz.. but I tuned it back a bit. I want to use the system for a good while at 4.4 to be 100% sure its stable. Then later I can re-do 4.6ghz and see how things go.
Elite runs smooth and looks amazing at all Ultra settings. My only worry is that I'm going to get use to ultra and have to drop to high with VR enabled. We'll see how it goes.
You'll be just fine with a 970. Use it. Enjoy it. Its a darn fast card for the money, and there will always be something 'better' on the horizon. Weigh what you can use today that is within an acceptable price point. Then have fun.
My box;
System : PCPartPicker - http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JbXRjX (I hope link works)
I was going to get an i5-6500, but ended up splurging extra for the CPU. The vid is a GTX 970 OC Stryx (OC'd to nearly similar spec as a 980).. I picked that up a few months back and used it in my ancient E8500 dual core system for a few months. My logic was the 970 will work just fine with VR and tide me over until Pascal gets out and becomes more mainstream (and sensibly priced). The beefier CPU will just mean a hopefully lengthier shelf life until the next upgrade and extra oomph which I expect the VR is going to need. I'll definitely upgrade the video, but not until next year.
Yes, its a mini-itx. I don't plan to do SLI. I wanted a compact system that could serve as a home media PC, so I can drag it out into the livingroom and hook up to the 4K TV conveniently. Also it is highly portable. I will be able to drag the box and VR places I couldn't so easily drag a big heavy tower system to. I only regret not being able to use my old PCIe sound card.. but the onboard actually turned out to be plenty decent enough.
The 500gb M.2 SSD (850 EVO) and the super fast startup time was thoroughly worth it. The far faster pro SSD didn't seem worth it. Way higher price and for home/consumer use it made no sense. The mini-itx board is tiny as heck, but feature packed. The 250D case is quite nice too. I was hesitant about it, but quite satisfied. These small cases need a bit of extra care for cable management but its not so bad. I took my time building it and its got very good air flow. The H100iv2 water cooler fits perfectly without any mods to the case. It squeezes right in along side the motherboard and doesn't interfere with anything. I was worried, as others had reported certain board/cooler combos may have fit issues. No bracket removal or case modding needed or any of that. But yea, its a very small space with a lot of gear packed in.
So far I've got the memory at 3200 (its spec'd for that), and the CPU OC'd at 4.4ghz. I got the CPU stable at 4.6ghz.. but I tuned it back a bit. I want to use the system for a good while at 4.4 to be 100% sure its stable. Then later I can re-do 4.6ghz and see how things go.
Elite runs smooth and looks amazing at all Ultra settings. My only worry is that I'm going to get use to ultra and have to drop to high with VR enabled. We'll see how it goes.
