Pre-build configuration

[AirforcProductions]

So, I just joined about five minutes ago, though while new I do know more or less what I am doing. Just wanted a few opinions on some ideas that I have. I am looking to build my self a new desktop as my old Core 2 Quad build is dieing slowly. As such my build is as follows
Antec DF-85 Full Tower
Antec High Current Gamer 750W PSU
Thermaltake Bigwater 760
Intel Core I7 2600k
Corsair Vengeance 16 GB DDR3 1600 (4x4GB)
WD Caviar Black 1TB Boot
Choices:
2xEVGA GTX 560 TI Classified 448 Cores
1xEVGA GTX 580 Arkham Edition
1xEVGA GTX 580 FTW2 Hydro Copper 2 1.5GB
Wait for Kepler??
AsRock Professional GEN3 Z68 Fatal1ty Motherboard
ASUS P8Z68 V-Pro Gen3 Motherboard

I have done my research on the 560's in respect that two of them can outpower a 580 by ~20% but I am wondering if there are any downside besides the space they take up and the power they consume. As for the motherboards, I am a bit of a brand loyalist to well known brands EVGA, Corsair, Antec, Thermaltake, etc. But does anyone have an opinion on this Asrock board? It seems to good to be true as it is a Z68 with PCIE 3.0 support and its red, that is the only reason that I have been looking at this board. Also the if anyone can point out how far the 2600k can go in comparison to the 2700k would be great, about a 50 buck difference but I am not splitting hairs. Other than that if anyone can find a flaw in my build that I have not seen, or has any general suggestions that I have overlooked feel free to shout. Any reply is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[nordlead]

SLI (and crossfire) always have two potential downsides. Driver support lacking when games first launch and microstuttering. I'd say go with the best single GPU you can get, and upgrade to a dual GPU to extend the life of your PC.

Kepler probably won't be out for a few months. I don't see much point in waiting if you aren't happy with your current PC.

I'd go with the ASUS motherboard unless the ASRock comes with features you are going to use. You'd be paying an extra $50 for no real benefits. Both will overclock the roughly the same, and both will handle SLI. ASRock started out as a spinoff of ASUS to make cheap boards, but they entered the performance board market a while ago and make decent boards. They typically have a lot of features per $ but typically have a few less ports. The UFI BIOS for ASRock is not as nice as the one for ASUS (recently checked out 2 boards).

I've heard people say that the i7-2700k overclocks higher, but I don't know how much truth there is to that. Take any i7-2600k and overclock it to the same speed as the i7-2700k with the same voltage (so just up the multiplier) and you have identical chips. Theoretically it'll go higher, but I haven't seen any proof.

I say take the $100 saved on the motherboard and the CPU and put it toward a SSD. You can buy decent ones on sale for $100 and it'll give you a noticeable decrease in loading times.

I will say, that if this build is strictly for gaming, you can get the same performance with an i5 and 8GB of RAM.

 

[rvilkman]

The GPU muscle all comes down to how much juice do you need, if you like to play stuff all maxed out at 2560x1600 or higher, a GTX580 is warranted, possibly even 2.
But if you game at 1920x1080, it's hard to recommend stuff much past GTX570/ 560TI 448 / 6970.

However a single GTX580 leaves you the door open to get a 2nd one later on where as going with 2 560TI's won't.

And yeah the next gen nvidias are coming out next summer roughly so you'll be waiting for quite some time. And the yields for 28nm chips are bad for both manufacturers for ATI won't be bringing out the 7000 series until sometime Q1 2012, if then.

 

[AirforcProductions]

Alright for power, is a 750W PSU going to be enough to run it or should I look into an 850W 900W?

 

[rvilkman]

If you intend to OC the video cards and the cpu then
-750W for SLI/XFIRE 560Ti 384/6950
-850W for SLI/XFIRE 570/560Ti 448/6970
-950W-1000W for SLI 580