Which Vanquish is right for me?

My main desire for the PC is future upgrade ability. I'd like to have the peace of mind that I'd be able to upgrade the CPU and GPU easily and possibly add a SSD. Honestly I am not really all that familiar with all the hardware specs and find it a bit confusing (I've been out of the loop with PC gaming and hardware for a while). I have been getting by with my laptop for some time, but it's really showing it's age and I'd like to upgrade.

The games I am looking forward to the most are Pillar's of Eternity, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and The Witcher 3.

Currently on the PC I mostly play Heroes of the Storm and Old infinity engine games I get from GOG (which obviously aren't a problem). I also go back to play other old favorites like the Mass Effect Series, Fallout New Vegas, Portal, etc...

I'd like to be able to run these games at 1080p with a good frame rate at above average graphics settings.

There's a big jump in price between the Vanquish 3 and 4 which appears to be due mostly to the change in GPU, Motherboard, and the added SSD.

With the motherboard on the Vanquish 3 will I be able to upgrade the GPU and CPU in the future? Does it allow for SLI and if not will SLI ever be a necessity for gaming? Is it better to have two lower end cards in SLI instead of one beefy one?

Also could anyone recommend a good value monitor for 1080p gaming? And how are the keyboard and mouse combos that Digital Storm offers?

Thank you for any and all help

Edited by Trius - 18 Mar 2015 at 4:26pm

Thanks for the reply. My target for upgrading would be a couple of years down the line, hopefully having to upgrade just one part (like the GPU) for better gaming performance.

So does the motherboard on the 4 support the new socket and chipset?

IMO, I'd go with the level 4.

The MB offers so much more like 4 memory slots vs 2, 2PCIx16 slots vs 1, 2 PCIx8 slots, More fan plugs if needed, etc. Z97 chipset vs H81. SLI.
The CPU is unlocked and will be overclocked (usually to 4.2G.
The upgraded CPU cooling is a plus.
The GTX970 video vs GTX960 is a performance boost as well as having 2X the memory.

I think you would see much better performance - you mentioned "the Witcher" and "heroes of the storm" which are demanding games.

I think upgradability on the lvl 4 vs the lvl 3 is much better overall.

While I agree the Broadwell chips will be a huge hit in the fanless tablets and ultrabooks along with high end smartphones, etc I am still watching to see the outcome for PCs, Macs and larger all-in-ones. I am thinking it will show in the lower end categories of these systems and not the high end gaming / scientific type machines.


http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2014/2014100301_Intel_to_launch_Broadwell_U_series_CPUs_at_CES_event.html

Just doesn't look real impressive to me.