Any Improvements?

[Brentfisher71]

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Brentfisher71/saved/xL8p99 <------- My planned upgrade. All the things that are labeled as purchased and have a $0.00 price tag are already purchased and are currently in my pc but the others are all things that I am adding as an upgrade. I do not have a very big budget. It is just as much if not less than the parts laid out in the link. I just want to confirm what I'm getting is adequate. I am a heavy video/photo editor and I am also an animator. I also enjoy hardcore gaming from time to time.

[HKZeroFive]

Drop the motherboard to a H97 and get a cheaper CPU cooler since that Xeon isn't overclockable.

 

If I were you, I'd hold on to that GTX 970 and wait for Pascal/Polaris to come out so you can avoid SLI issues altogether.

[Brentfisher71]

Oh and btw the liquid cpu cooler is on the xeon not because of good cooling because xeons dont really run that hot, but it is there for aesthetics and quiet performance. 

[HKZeroFive]

1 minute ago, Brentfisher71 said:

Oh and btw the liquid cpu cooler is on the xeon not because of good cooling because xeons dont really run that hot, but it is there for aesthetics and quiet performance. 

I get the aesthetics but AIOs aren't known for being quieter than a good air cooler due to the pump.

[Brentfisher71]

Just now, HKZeroFive said:

I get the aesthetics but AIOs aren't known for being quieter than a good air cooler due to the pump.

Oh ok, well I'm probably still gonna get it for aesthetics because I am a huge nerd for a good looking pc lol. Thank you for your feedback though. One question, why change the motherboard?

[HKZeroFive]

1 minute ago, Brentfisher71 said:

Oh ok, well I'm probably still gonna get it for aesthetics because I am a huge nerd for a good looking pc lol. Thank you for your feedback though. One question, why change the motherboard?

Z97s are meant for K-series CPUs  (i5 4690K, i7 4790K) to allow for overclocking. With a 'locked' CPU, I don't see purpose of spending extra money on that motherboard when a cheaper H97 motherboard will be a much more suitable choice.

[Brentfisher71]

 

1 minute ago, HKZeroFive said:

Z97s are meant for K-series CPUs  (i5 4690K, i7 4790K) to allow for overclocking. With a 'locked' CPU, I don't see purpose of spending extra money on that motherboard when a cheaper H97 motherboard will be a much more suitable choice.

Ok, I will think about changing the motherboard. What is a pascal? And when is it's release date?

[HKZeroFive]

18 minutes ago, Brentfisher71 said:

 

Ok, I will think about changing the motherboard. What is a pascal? And when is it's release date?

Pascal is NVIDIA's next series of GPUs that are rumoured to release this year. It might be worth the upgrade from the GTX 970.