Best value/quality 1440p Gaming Monitor? Which GPU?

FlyAgariK

Hi Guys,
I'm building a gaming rig for ~€2000


I have a budget of around 700 euro to get a monitor and soundcard
I want to be able to game at 1440p.

I'm thinking a 25" monitor is big enough for me, although I have no real experience with different sized monitors so that's just a guess really.

CPU
I7-6700 Box, Socket 1151
RAM
16GB-Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400, CL16-16-16

I'm having a hard time deciding which GPU to go for...

MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC, GeForce GTX 970, 4GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI,
344,99 € (Already in the spec)

Or should I spend an extra 350/400 euro on the 980ti leaving me 350/300 for a soundcard and monitor.. I really do want the 980ti but I'm not sure the budget will stretch.

Also any suggestions on a good quality value for money sound card would be well appreciated.

Full Spec:

CPU
I7-6700 Box, Sockel 1151
368,99 €*

Mobo
ASUS Z170-A (1151, ATX, DDR4)
157,99 €*( keep for now in case you use k processor)


RAM
16GB-Kit Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2400, CL16-16-16 120,99

Case
Nanoxia Deep Silence DS 3 Dark Black, 69,99 €* to be bought from amazon.


Graphics card

MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC, GeForce GTX 970, 4GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, 344,99 €*
OR 980ti for 350-400€ extra

Power supply
60-80

Hdd
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gbs
50,99 €*


Ssd

Crucial SSD 250GB BX100
E 86,99 €*

CPUFan
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO -
34,99 €
Select


Optical drive optional
LG 14€*


1,317.89 € *
Or 1,670/1,720 € with the 980ti

Redfox25

If its gaming only, drop processor to I5 4690k and go with cheaper board. Save about 150 euro.
Then consider shifting to a R9 390x or Fury and then getting a 1440p Freesync monitor. Saving about 200 over a comparable Nvidea setup. The G sync monitors are more expensive as are the cards.
8 Gb ram is enough for gaming too. 16 if your rendering or editing videos later.

27inch is the sweet spot for 1440p for alot of folks.
Something else to think about.

challengemaster

No need to get a K series processor anymore with Skylake for overclocking (with Z170 boards). Get an i5 6400 for €185 and save €200 easily. Put that money into 390 or 980 instead of a 970 and you'll have a much better gaming machine.

MarkAnthony

I've found soundcards to be generally useless (outside of professional cards for professional applications). Dont AMD cards have some really good audio processor codecs on them?

For gaming you really don't need to worry about hyperthreading or CPU over clocking. Put every spare penny into the GPU and SSD.

I tend to disagree on the 8GB thing. 16GB is so cheap these days, worth having 2x8 IMHO.

SterlingArcher

You could drop down the chip to an xeon 1230 v5. If you're programming this chip will cover that and gaming. It's basically an i7 ie Hyper treading yadda yadda but the price is 257.


There are two stand out types of monitor rite now at 1440p. gsync (nvidia) and freesync (amd). The amd freesync is cheaper.

Freesync /gsync are a technology that stops the screen tear you see in games. Its a nice addition.

I'll get the ball rolling.

Here is an amd (used with the amd r9 card) freesync monitor at around 520 euro.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B013FOMTV0/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1452686941&sr=8-2&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=Asus+MG279Q&dpPl=1&dpID=41SS2REAljL&ref=plSrch#

That's a 27 inch freesync. It is 144hz and 1 ms response time.