[Solved] New Gaming/Hobby Build - Need Help Deciding

First of all, Hello. This is my first on these forums after stalking here for a few weeks while getting some ideas.

Thank you in advance for your input.

Here are my goals:

1. Diablo 3 & Skyrim @ Highest Levels.
2. Future Compatibility
3. VMWare for running multiple D3
4. Hobby for me: I want a sexy bitch computer. never had one.
5. $3k USD budget. But since I don't have a bunch of other hobbies/vices, this is open to growth if necessary.

So far I have:

CASE: Thermaltake GT10 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811133188 - $200

CPU: Intel Core i7-2700k - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115095 -$370

GPU: EVGA Gtx580 HC2 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130665 - $700
* I would like to be able another one of these when I can afford.

So, I have spent $1270 and am beginning to think I wont get all that I want for under $3kUSD...

What I need:

Motherboard: I have been leaning towards the Z68 chipset and cannot seem to decide between these boards. I may not be correct here but it seems as if the ASRock is the only one that will fully utilize the PCIe 2.0 x16 in SLI? Or, for that matter if I would ever be able to tell the difference. Another thing to note is that I will be overclocking this system since buying the GPU I did locked me into a Water Cooled System. Also, I will be upgrading the CPU to an IVY Bridge sometime in the next 12~ months since my brother-in-law said he would buy my 2700k from me when I do, so if one of these boards makes more sense based on that... Or, maybe I am looking at the wrong chipset all-together since I just started researching this stuff again after 3-4 years.

ASRock - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157269 -$270

Gigabyte - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128525 -$360

ASUS - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131791 -$255


Water Cooling System: This is a HUGE ? for me... I read some of the posts here and have poked around the web a bit but I am still lost here. I have never done one of these systems. So here are a few of my questions to get me started.

1. Can I use copper tube? Seems logical and I personally think it would look sick. Yes I understand that it would make working on the system tough, but I like a challenge. & ultimately I think it would make for a cleaner install. I just mean copper tube, to be clear with barbed or o-ring fittings... idk, lol... After thinking more about this it seems like copper would probably sweat, therefore a no-no.

2. Can I include a loop for the second GPU that I do not have yet? Or should I just plan on re-configuring the setup when I expand?

3. How much should I expect to spend on this? High-End.


Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengence seems like plenty & proper... - $100


HDD/SDD: Leaning towards a Dual 120GB SSD PCIe 2.0 setup RAID10 (REVO) + HDD Mass Storage, But I am definitely open to discussion here.



For now, this is a lot to wrap my head around. I greatly appreciate your help on these subjects and/or any additional thoughts you may have on my build.

Thanks a million!
~Tom (auto)

YouTube video; EVGA GTX 580 FTW Hydro Copper 2 Tri SLI Maxishine Xtreme PC

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