Revised spec - thoughts?

[stesta]

Having posted an earlier potential setup a couple of weeks back, I've taken feedback on board, and done a little reading myself, and would now appreciate any thoughts on the below as a high end, future proof gaming rig. The cost is a shade over £2.2k including VAT which hits my upper limit for monthly finance, and peripherals are included as what I currently have is a bit past it. Would happily listen to any tweaks or advice you guys have on this one. Two areas I'm unsure on are if the Motherboard is overkill? and if the PCIe SSDs are worth the price hike on their SATA counterparts?

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ AIR 540 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-6700 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® MAXIMUS VIII RANGER: RoG, PCI-e 3.0, SATA 3.0, LG1151
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3000 MHz X.M.P (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 980 Ti - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
2nd Hard Disk
3TB WD BLACK 3.5" WD3003FZEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st PCI-E SSD Drive
480GB HYPER-X PREDATOR PCIe SSD (up to 1400MB/sR | 1000MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i GTX Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
LED Lighting
60cm Blue LED Strip - To Compliment The Colours of Your Case
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1300 867Mbps/5GHz, 400Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Monitor
ASUS VC239H 23" IPS Frame-less Monitor
Monitor Cables
1 x 2 METRE GOLD PLATED V1.4 HDMI CABLE
Keyboard & Mouse
Razer® Black Widow Ultimate 2016 Gaming Keyboard
Mouse
Razer® Deathadder Chroma Gaming Mouse - 10000dpi
Gaming Mouse Pad
Razer Sphex Gaming Mouse Mat
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Promotional Item
FREE TOM CLANCY'S: THE DIVISION with select GTX 9 Series GPUs!

 

[SpyderTracks]

It's best to stick to the same thread so people don't give conflicting advice, but I would say it's overkill as a gaming rig, you can downgrade most components without affecting performance.

 

[jerpers]

The mother board is excessive if you are not planning overclocking and tweaking. The PCIe SSD is great but takes up space if you may want to SLI down the line. The Samsung M.2 drives are lightning fast and take up no space. You won't notice the difference with the 3000mhz Ram, drop to the lower speed. If you are not overclocking, any of the air coolers will be fine, no need for water. If you may want to SLI at some point, you will need at least a 850w PSU.

 

[stesta]

Thanks for the responses guys.
One thing that is bugging me a little is this: Would a single 980TI give superior performance to two 970s in SLI? I know the 980TI is a better card individually, but would the SLI combo of essentially 2 models down the chain come close to matching it?

 

[jerpers]

A single card is always best, there are pitfalls with SLI in some cases. In most benchmarks a single 980ti out performs 2 970's.

 

[stesta]

Thanks Jerpers, nice and succinct
From day 1 of thinking about getting a new PC and looking at the choices PCS had to offer, I've consistently thought I'd go with the 980TI, today something crept into my mind which made me wonder - so I asked.
I guess a year or two down the line there's the option of a second 980TI - I'd be kicking myself at that point had I gone for the two lesser cards!