Upgrading PC

I'm looking to upgrade my PC soon and have some questions about compability. I have always purchased my PCs pre-built, so I don't have much experience in this field.

I am almost certain this CPU is compatible with this motherboard. Are there any other motherboards out there that are better quality than this? I am not too worried about the price, I just don't want anything over the top.

I am also looking into upgrading my RAM. Opinions on this corsair ram?

EDIT: Should I be using thermal paste? I have done some research on it as I have never looked into it before. Would it be beneficial?

Thanks
Sean

Thanks for the reply.

I have this case which is fairly new. That would fit any new motherboard, right?

I also have a 650 W power supply. It's on the somewhat lower end of things. I would prefer a 1000W to be safe, but it should do the trick for the time being, ya?

Those mobo's seem extremely well laid out and good quality. Nice feedback is also a plus, it has a fair bit of that.

Thanks a lot for your input, I appreciate it.

Sean1082 said:

I'm looking to upgrade my PC soon and have some questions about compability. I have always purchased my PCs pre-built, so I don't have much experience in this field.

I am almost certain this CPU is compatible with this motherboard. Are there any other motherboards out there that are better quality than this? I am not too worried about the price, I just don't want anything over the top.

I am also looking into upgrading my RAM. Opinions on this corsair ram?

EDIT: Should I be using thermal paste? I have done some research on it as I have never looked into it before. Would it be beneficial?

Thanks
Sean

Asus maintains CPU compatibility lists for their motherboards.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support-

According to it, the 970 is compatible for BIOS 1606 and newer.

Perhaps Gigabyte maintains similar lists.

Essentially all CPU heatsinks require some sort of thermal interface material. Some heatsinks come with it already applied. I don't know about AMD, but Intel once used something that was very difficult to remove after it was fused to the CPU after a few thermal cycles. I always removed it and used a third-party product. Arctic Silver was the gold standard (no pun intended) for years, but it's not purely a dielectric (nonconducting) paste.

Here's the latest review that I know of:

Thermal Interfaces Roundup: Retail Products - X-bit labs