Back after a few months, new build check, ready to order in a couple of weeks

[Drakodan]

I was looking at some builds before Christmas, but now I'm more or less ready to actually make an order. Made some minor changes to the build I was looking at, and now it's something like this:

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790k (4.0GHz) 8MB Cache
Case
COOLERMASTER CM STORM TROOPER - GAMING ENTHUSIAST CASE
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 3: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs, XFIRE/SLI
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 1 DVI, 1 mHDMI, 3 mDP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
120GB KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 555MB/sR | 510MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet 22dBA Triple Copper Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Extra Case Fans
2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND

The only things I'm unsure of right now are whether I should go with an H55 cooler, and whether I should get a bigger SSD. I've been told by an enthusiast that I'll be fine with air cooling for the 4790k as long as I'm not overclocking, which I don't really intend to do, and I've also been told that I could do with the extra space on the SSD. I'm looking at spending around £1,200, which is what this build is right now, but the above upgrades would push it a bit higher than that, so I'd need to know it's an investment worth having. As far as the cooler goes, as long as I'd be ok with the air cooler then I'd need to know what the comparative noise levels are like between the coolers.

 

[keynes]

I would drop the additional case fans, get the non-k CPU , are you planning to add a 2nd gpu?

 

[Drakodan]

No plans to use SLI graphics, I'll probably never do anything that requires that much graphical power. I'm keen on additional fans just to provide as much ventilation as possible, unless there's a specific reason not to go for it. As for the processor, I'd again need a specific reason not to do it. It's only a little more expensive, for a decently increased clock speed.

 

[keynes]

No plans to use SLI graphics, I'll probably never do anything that requires that much graphical power. I'm keen on additional fans just to provide as much ventilation as possible, unless there's a specific reason not to go for it. As for the processor, I'd again need a specific reason not to do it. It's only a little more expensive, for a decently increased clock speed.

For gaming the increase in clock speed (which is not much considering turbo boost) is not going to be noticeable, if you don't plan to overclocking your CPU you won't benefit from having an unlocked CPU for overclocking. The case yon selected is pretty good and rather than improving cooling noticeably you get a noisier system instead. If you are not planning to add a 2nd gpu you can downgrade the motherboard and psu.

 

[Drakodan]

Well, I won't just be using it for gaming, also streaming and some light video editing. Nothing too intense on that front, I realise that I'd be better off with a workstation spec for that. As far as the noise levels go I guess I can always adjust the fan speed, but if it's that much of a problem then I suppose I could dispense with the extra fans.