So I just found the PARTS QVL for my mobo...

[SkyScape]

After ordering the parts, and the SSD, PSU, and case are not listed... should I be worried? I usually only worry about the CPU/RAM QVL.

Intel Pentium i7 Quad-Core i7-6700 3.4GHz
Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB Kit (4x8GB) DDR4 2133mhz 1.20v Standard Dimm
MSI Intel Z170-A PRO 2-Way CrossFire ATX Motherboard
Seasonic M12-II EVO 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Full Modular Power Supply
Samsung SM951 (MZHPV256HDGL-00000) 256GB M.2 PCI Express Performance SSD ACHI
Seagate ST1000DM003 3.5 inch 1TB Barracuda Hard Drive
LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x SATA Internal DVDRW
Antec NSK-4000B II Case
Windows 7 Professional w/SP1 64bit
Tot cost: £850

The above machine will mostly be used for web browsing and the occasional bit of photo editing/image processing/HD encoding which can be quite resource intensive, so I want the machine to be able to have the power to get through the occasional big job without taking too long. Not really interested in OCing (fried enough CPUs ) or any of the newer games, but would like programs like Stellarium (planetarium software) to run smoothly, which I assume it will with this spec and no additional GPU.

If I had unlimited funds I might have gone for i7-6700K/64GB DDR4/512GB SSD/GPU and perhaps a small overclock, but I think what I'm going to be putting together is only a small step down from the ultimate beast of a machine (from my perspective) which I wouldn't be able to justify on a relatively limited budget!

Please feel free to critique or make suggestions.

[EndlessWaves]

I'd only be worried if they were on there because they'd been tested and found to not work.

[SkyScape]

I didn't know they include parts that don't work on a QVL! Never come across that before. Thanks though. Makes me hopeful that this system will come together without too much trouble

[SkyScape]

Did I make a mistake going for ACHI over NVMe?

I might have rushed into it a bit and bought the Samsung SM951 (MZHPV256HDGL-00000) 256GB M.2 PCI Express Performance SSD ACHI instead of Samsung SM951 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe

Links:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/256gb...mb-s-90k-70k-i

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/256gb...mb-s-300k-100k

The SSD was going to go in a MSI Intel Z170-A PRO, and looking at the manual, it says the M.2 slot:

- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s standards....

- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Mini-SAS SSD with Turbo U2 Host Card

Would there be much difference in performance, that is if the ACHI version even works in the mobo?! I see no mention of ACHI in the mobo manual!

Thanks for any help/advice!

[EndlessWaves]

As AHCI is a more widely used standard (all SATA drives use it for example) I wouldn't expect any compatibility problems.

I believe the NVMe version is faster but not by a huge amount.

[SkyScape]

Thanks. Makes me feel much better, although I'm still considering returning the AHCI since it's only a few quid more and I am having to wait for the CPU anyway. May as well try to get all the extra performance I can.