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Need a sanity check on a new build (5k max)

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Just looking for a sanity-check for the parts selection. Goal is to have smooth (35+ fps) Ultra-quality graphics on triple screens, regardless of the game, now and in *some* future, a couple of years, hopefully.

Approximate Purchase Date: Mid-February,
Budget Range: $5k max, less is better, but really not critical.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, mostly RPG/racing and air sims, occasional strategy.
Parts Not Required: Already have Logitech G19 keyboard, G500 Mouse, G13 Gameboard, G930 headset, triple ASUS VW246H screens , RAM and storage (see below), all mounted on Obutto cockpit (already pre-purchased)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Looking at Amazon.com mostly, but will use anything that'll lower the price.
Country: USA
Parts Preferences: nVidia for graphics
Overclocking: Resounding Yes
SLI or Crossfire: No for now, yes in the future
Monitor Resolution: 3 * 1920x1080
Additional Comments: Would like to future-proof it as much as possible. Intend to re-use Case/Power supply for all consecutive builds -> overkill. =) Price really isn't an object here, but I don't want to spend WAY, WAY more than I need for quality gaming.

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Parts to be purchased:

Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme
Processor: Intel i5 2500K - overclocked to 4.5GHz, if possible.
Cooling: Corsair H100
Video Card: EVGA GTX 590 Classified
Memory: 8 GB Corsair RAM (already purchased)
Boot drive: OCZ 120 Gb Vertex 3
Storage drive: WD Caviar Black 2TB (already purchased)
Case: Thermaltake Level 10 GT
Power supply: Silverstone 1500W
Sound card: PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series
Disk drive: LG Electronics BH08LS20 8x Internal Blu-Ray Disc Rewriter with LightScribe and SATA Interface Retail
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate System Builder

I'm not listing minor items like extra fans, card readers and (even though NOT minor) gaming peripherals.

Most probable future upgrade paths are:
1. Another set of same memory to boost it to 16 Gb.
2. Another GTX 590 for quad-SLI.
3. Ivy Bridge processor.
4. More of the same storage as I find myself running low.
5. 3D in a few years, IF technology improves sufficiently. But that's too far ahead, to be honest.

Reasoning behind parts selection:
1. Case, cooler and power supply are going to stay with me for many, many years, so I pick high quality (and possibly overkill) parts that are unlikely to be replaced in a foreseeable future, regardless of what I'll stick in the case.
2. I'll be running triple-screens, so 590 seems to be the most reasonable choice. If I go with 560 Ti, I have no room for upgrade. Twin 580s will be significantly more expensive than a single 590, and leave only 1 more slot for upgrade. Plus, I won't be able to use PCI sound card. Twin 570s will cost about the same, provide similar performance, but yet again, upgrade potential is limited. ATI is not an option. I've had pretty bad luck with their cards.
3. Motherboard should be able to accommodate processor upgrade to an Ivy Bridge one in a year+. As far as mobo+processor combo, I was looking at the new 2011 socket (Rampage IV Extreme + i7-3930K), and that combination will be more powerful and future proof, but I'm not positive that $700 increase in price (roughly $100 mobo, $400 processor, $200 quad-channel memory kit) will provide noticeable gaming improvement. If I'm dead wrong here, I'm still open to this option. Another option for a processor is i7-2600K, but yet again, I'm not positive I REALLY need hyper-threading for games.

Please comment and advise.

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Well, If you plan to spend that much money, I think you need to go with a 2600k

And I think a sound card is overkill if you don't do sound editing. Embedded sound cards on motherboards are excellent, especially on the high-priced ones.

Yes, I am spending a lot of money; however, I do not like to spend money without purpose. Hence my question - will the $100 difference between 2500K and 2600K buy me any kind of noticeable improvement in gaming? Especially considering that I intend to upgrade processor to Ivy Bridge in a year or so.

Sound card - It's a question of preference, honestly. I don't like the on board sound. =) Money spent here will buy a appreciable improvement. IMHO.

I'm unsure of how the new 7970 fares up to the 590, but it certainly out performs a GTX 580.

Two 7970's in CF are going to pack some SERIOUS graphical power, along with 6GB memory between the two cards, and the possibility to add a third/4th card depending on your motherboard......this seems a sensible choice.

For gaming, no, stick with the i5-2500k. 2600k offers no advantage. Only a handful of games support hyper-threading. None of them being "big-name" titles.

My build suggestion would probably be something along the lines of:
CF 7970's (add a third in the future)
ASRock Extreme7 Gen3 Motherboard
1000-1500w PSU?
i5-2500k
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HatleyD said:
Yes, I am spending a lot of money; however, I do not like to spend money without purpose. Hence my question - will the $100 difference between 2500K and 2600K buy me any kind of noticeable improvement in gaming? Especially considering that I intend to upgrade processor to Ivy Bridge in a year or so.

Sound card - It's a question of preference, honestly. I don't like the on board sound. =) Money spent here will buy a appreciable improvement. IMHO.



Everything above a 2600k is wasted money tbh. CPU is not likely at all to be the bottleneck, even more with such available OC range with the 2600k.
Mobo is the best on the market and will let you overclock on air easily in the future.
16 Gb RAM is a waste of Money as well, 8 GB is wayyy enough. I have also read some time ago that too much RAM is actually adding stress to some part of the system and its no good.
Not a single game available will play differently with more than 4GB anyway.
8GB can ONLY be justified if you use LARGE picture files with many layers. Here's the math: 50MB RAW file with 10 layers = 500MB (about half a Gig). Two pictures fully opened is a 1GB)
regarding the cooler, the H100 has been known to have issues that the H80 didnt have. i have a H80 and i am very happy with it.
Case : if you like to have a case the size of a house go for that one, otherwise i would go a Corsair 800D or the new CosmosII which looks awesome.
Where i would put the big money would be in the GPU ofc : id go for 2x HD 7970 or EVGA GTX 590 Classified thats a great choice.
As well, if money is not a problem, forget 128GB SSD, itll get full in no time with games, so go at least for 256GB one. Mushkin ones have the best perfs. Intel has the reputation for reliability. Forget to use RAID with SSDs as well, you could end up having lesser perfs than with a single one.
As well, if money is not a pblem i would put moeny in NAS etc or do a HTPC built on the side etc.

I don't think it's a good idea to go with a GTX 590, not saying anything about it's raw power, but it's limited memory.
Due to architecture only half memory is truly usable, cause the data must be duplicated to both GPU cores. Since BF 3 in ultra setting at 1080p uses almost 1,5GB. I think it's not a good idea to stick with it for 3*1920x1080.

At the end you should aim at Tri-SLI GTX 580 3GB. It will be expensive for sure. Maybe more than SLI GTX 590 but you won't be hold back by VGA memory.

I think it's the best way to reach the future proofness.
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