$1500 Epic Gaming Build

So, I created a $1250 gaming build awhile ago and decided that I have a little larger budget. My approx. purchase date is Christmastime - Early Q1. I will eventually SLI or Crossfire depending on my setup. I will be using a monitor that is 1920 x 1200, and I plan to upgrade to 2 more monitors of the same make and model. I will be overclocking both the CPU and the GPU. Games I will be playing are BF3, Wow, and Crysis 2. Here is the setup:

CPU: Intel i5 2500k

Motherboard: Asrock Exreme3 Gen3

GPU:AMD Radeon HD 6970 or Nvidia GTX 570

PSU: Corsair HX 850

RAM: Gskill Ripjaws 8GB (2 x 4GB)

Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D

Heatsink: Zalman CNPS9900 Max Blue LED

HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB

SDD: Corsair Force GT 120 GB

There's my build, leave you interesting or creative responses in the thread please. If there are any broken links, post it and I will put out a new link.

Good luck getting the Spinpoint F3. It is sold out on newegg and tigerdirect and will not likely be in stock anytime soon because of the floods in Thailand where the drives are made. You can get one from a third party vendor on Amazon but they are extortionately expensive.
The Seagate Barracuda 1 tb 7200 rpm is just as good.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148697

It is expensive on newegg but is only $75 on amazon. You should buy a hard drive as soon as possible because prices have already skyrocketed and supplies will keep falling. This is likely to continue into mid next year so do not wait.

Get this Power Supply. It's cheaper but still a great quality PSU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ing%20950w

I would go with the 6970 over the 570 only because it has more VRAM, and if you go with a 3 monitor setup you will need it. Unfortunately, AMD cards don't run very good maxed out in BF3, so I would not recommend them over Nvidia. If it's within your budget I would advise you go for a GTX 580 instead, and specifically the 3GB version if you are serious about using 3 monitors and SLI later.

Oh and that MSI was the only one I could find with 3 gigs of vram and good OCing capabilities pre - water-cooling. Are there any others that the forum would recommend?

Thanks gmcizzle, but I've used MSI in the past and i am really fond of their products, so despite the extra, i really like the twin frozr 3

For the price, these would be much better choices for CPU cooler:

- Noctua NH-U9B - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835608016

- Corsair A70 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835181011

- EVGA M020 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835288001

- Thermalright U120 Extreme - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835109021

And for the SSD, I'd recommend a Crucial M4 or an Intel 510 any day of the week.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/batt [...] ark-test/5

6970 gets beat by a 560 Ti

EDIT:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/batt [...] ark-test/6

At 1920x1200 the 560 Ti just falls flat for some reason, maybe because of VRAM not sure. The 570 is definitely faster than the 6970 though.

Hehe, you could go with 3 way sli 570's eventually but the scaling from 2 to 3 GPUs will be much less than 1 to 2.

You should definitely get an SSD (go for a $110 crucial M4 64g if your budget is low in that area). An SSD is probably going to make the biggest difference in your system per dollar (much bigger noticeable difference than a $400 to $500 graphics card). If you are going to spend 100% of the time in game, then maybe not, otherwise, get the SSD.

Edit: I mean the difference from a $400 graphics card to a $500 graphics card, not the whole thing just to clarify that. Obviously the graphics card is going to have the largest impact overall with respect to gaming.

Yeah, it's not going to make a big difference gaming (if at all) but it will make a huge difference for everything else and if you're building a $1500 computer, there's no reason not to spend 100 bucks on a drive that will make everything you load instant/near instant. Of course, it's just an opinion and in mine, it's 100 very well spent.

Yeah because of its 2gb VRAM, but both their FPS are too low anyway.

His current setup is 1920x1200 and eventually to a 3 monitor setup. At 1920x1200 a 570 is definitely better for BF3 than a 6970. Yes, a 6970 2gb CF setup will be better than a 570 SLI setup though at a higher res such as 2560x1600. So he can either get a 6970 now and get worse performance until he gets a second, or get a 570 and get better performance until he SLI's. It's a lose lose situation unfortunately.

To be fair, the 6970s are fine as long as you disable MSAA. Without MSAA you might notice some slight jaggies but not too bad.

Sorry I havent been able to get back to you guys, I have been on a crew regatta away from home. I think I am just going to go with a MSI Gtx 580 twin frozr 2.

I agree, just get a 580. I am not a big fan of the 650D. I would get a 600T and with the money saved you canget a H100.