PC with GTX970 SLI - Where to buy?

Fian

My PC is about 4 years old but still trucking along and getting the job done. However I was mad into Elite for years on my BBC microcomputer as a kid and looking at the upcoming Elite dangerous I have decided it is time to upgrade. My existing PC will not run that at high quality - or in fact at all based on min requirements since i am still running windows vista on it.

I want to buy the oculus rift when it is released next year and the new maxwell geforce GPUs in SLI are apparently the optimal way to run that, with one card dedicated to each "eye".

So I am looking to buy a futureproof PC with two GTX 970 in SLI.

I presume I should go for an i7 CPU. Should i go for liquid cooling - is that needed? What is the benefit?

I guess 2TB hard drive and probably also a 256GB solid state.

16gb RAM? DDR3?

I will also want microsoft office.

do i need a new 4k monitor to do it justice? My existing is a four year old "ultrasharp" Dell monitor and tbh I have no idea how many pixels it has. I guess 1080p/720p (is that the right number?) My instinct is to continue with existing monitor and i can always upgrade in the future. It is the rift and elite that is driving this purchase not a burning desire to get into 4k gaming - i have no real interest in FPS games.

If it sounds like I know what I am talking about - I don't. I would be really grateful if people could point me in the direction of a good value PC building website and suggest specs. My budget is probably around €2,500 but not absolutely rigid and of course if i could save on that all the better.

I will also need a HOTAS - from what i can gather the Saitek x52 pro seems like the best buy - does anyone know whether there are Irish retailers selling that cheaply?

Thanks in advance for any help.

jettyLT

Hey! You don't need an I7 if you dont do video editing or don't use cpu based programs.
I would buy
CPU:Intel Core I5 4690K (Devils canyon) With K-which means you can overclock it to gain some perfomance.

MBU:Any Z97 Motherboard will be good its your choise for colour cheme.I really like Asus MAXIMUS VII Hero.(Easy overclocking tool)

Ram:Kingston 8Gb 2x4gb 1866Mhz with red heatsink.

SSD:If you want really good ssd so the intel 730 240gb will be right thing for you! Reliable and fast.

Cpu cooler:Im not thinking that you r going to do custom water loop so you can choose from corsair hydro series like:Corsair H100I which has 200MM radiator or Corsair H80I which is smaller and doesnt require much space in case.

PSU:Superflower Leadex Gold 650W (Worth it!)

GPU:Geforce 970 series.I personaly prefer Asus STRIX because of the cooler technology which is really quite.2X in sli.

Case:NZXT 440 its good deal.Lots of space.Diferent type of colours. But i really like the black & red one.You can match the colours of your motherboard.rams with your case and make it look cool.And the case has usefull feature.

HDD:Seagate baracuda.1-4Tb.Dont buy WD Blue its cheap but loud

You dont need 4K monitor right now.They are really expensive and they not worth it right now.You can get good monitor 1440p 144Hz which is perfect for everything.Gaming.Video editing.Watching movies and etc.Asus ROG Swift is my favorite but expensive and rare.

P.S Oculus rift will not be as good as you think.They cause headache.

Pricing:CPU:220EU
MBU:180EU
CPU COOLER:H100i 110Eu H80i 80-90EU
CASE:110EU
PSU: 120 EU
GPU'S:Ea 400Eu total 800Eu.
SSD:170Eu
HDD:70-130eu it depends on the storage you want.
Total 1840Eu.The rog swift monitor cost about 920Eu but it's worth it!
Sorry for my terrible english ;/