Yes, "downgrading" to an i5 is a great idea. Good call there. But idk, to me, buying a 144hz monitor when you have a 970 for a GPU doesn't make much sense. A 970 isn't going to reach anywhere near that FPS unless you're playing 5+ year old games. I personally think it makes more sense to save money on the monitor and go for a 980 Ti. That's just my opinion but I feel like the 970 is about a month away from becoming a midrange last-gen card. I wouldn't feel great about plopping it into a new $1300 build.
I'm really sorry if this instills doubt in you! Obviously the 970 is a very capable card and will remain so for a couple years, but I just had to share my opinion.
Just to have a counterpoint, I think this is bad advice. You're probably going to be upgrading your GPU a lot more often than your monitor. If you get a nicer monitor now, whether it has a higher resolution or refresh rate or whatever, but a less powerful GPU, it doesn't hurt you at all. You may not be using the monitor to it's fullest potential now, but it will be nice for older games and it's not like it's disadvantaging you in any way for now. In a year or two you can buy a new card that will be much more powerful and you'll be able to better appreciate the monitor.
On the other hand if you buy a 1080p 60hz monitor now you'll be stuck with those low specs. Going forward if you upgrade your GPU you'll also have to buy a new monitor to make the purchase worthwhile.
Also the monitor you've picked isn't that expensive. You'll save less than $100 switching from that monitor to a 60hz one, but the 980ti is a few hundred dollars more expensive than the 970, so it's not like it's an either/ or decision.
The 980ti is a bad buy right now for the same reason digitalrelic says the 970 is a bad buy, new cards are right around the corner. IMO that makes the 970 more desirable, don't blow $500+ on a card that's about to be replaced. Going mid-range makes more sense.
Personally I think it's smart to spend most of your budget on components you'll likely keep for a long time. A good case will last for multiple builds, most people don't replace a mouse and keyboard very often, you probably don't want to be buying a new monitor every year. On the other hand if you want to stay up to date you'll probably replace your GPU every other year or whatever.
There's never a perfect time to build a PC but IMO right now the smart thing to do would be to get a cheap mid-range GPU like a 960 and see how the next generation of cards shakes out.
