more benefits with nvida (personal opinion) dont get me wrong the 290x is a amazing card but its a designed for 1440p and 4k and with the machine your building it wont be as good at the 770 in 1080p, plus u can use shadow play, i use shadow play soo much i bought a separate hdd for it. and B85 mobo is still LGA 1150 B85 is basicly a business orientated z87, you dont really need z97 as there arnt much improvements, i think B87 mobo can overclock i think but not too sure.