Fishbait,
Don't despair just yet. I do think an i7 coupled with a GTX970 should run have no problem keeping FR above 60 (my opinion). I have an i5 and a 3GB Radeon 280X and in most situations my frame rates are solid 59. My texture size is 4096 and I have the sliders in the middle, and Environmental updates set to 1. I run all the other options 'on'.
Another thing, I've played with the graphics sliders quite a bit and other than changes in frame rates, I can't tell a whole lot of difference. That is to say, when I set the graphic sliders to least detail/max performance - I still think the game looks a lot bit better than AH2. I'm pretty fussy, and I have never found any graphic setting where the game looks like crap.
I think a lot of people are changing the FOV to 106 to match AH2, but I've noticed if I leave it at AH3 default (80?), the aircraft seem larger - I can see details in the skins during a fight that I would've completely missed in AH2. I have to say its impressive.