2nd Build, opinions?

Potential issue: lots of microstuttering. The 6850 series has a lot of dual configuration problems and driver issues. I would just get one Radeon 6950/GTX 560ti 448-core.

^ Disagree, knowing that the 7850 as well as the 7870 you should get those instead. The 7870 definitely as it'll cost around the same as 2x6850 but still perform almost as well with lower power consumption higher overclocks and cooler temps.

As for the board, it's good but you could save more money for but still get the same performance and features. I suggest the Asrock Extreme3 Gen3 Z68, people doubt the performance of asrock boards but plenty of reviwers have shown that the Asrock boards can perform and are reliable. Plus it's much cheaper.

As for the ram, you should get 8GB and save. You won't get really anymore performance with 16GB and editing is more than enough with 8GB.

For the CPU cooler, get the Hyper 212+. It'll give you better performance specially with overclocks and it's a better cooler.

I also disagree. I don't think the 7850 is a good idea considering the issues tom's hardware and other benchmarks have had on it. THe 7870 is a better choice, but I doubt he can fit in a $360 GPU considering he asked for 6850 cf, which is around $280.

Wait so you disagree with yourself?

The issues that THG had were driver releated/hardware related as they did say the AMD rep got back to them and the issue was that the 78xx had issues being compatible with the i7 39xx that they had for the setup however with AMD's alternate i7 920 setup they said the issue was fixed. So ultimately I believe it's the LGA 2011 issue. I don't believe there will be that probably with the i5 2500K considering it's already been out for a while.

As for the thing about price, you just suggested micro-stuttering as an issue... So are you not disregarding your prior argument?

i don't think Micro-stuttering will be a huge issue personally, however with the money saved from the motherboard, going Asus to Asrock ($50 saved) and 8GB from 16GB ($60 saved) that's a total of $110 saved. Therefore can be used towards the 7870.

You can in the end use the 7870 to have an upgrade path to Crossfire in the future as opposed to the 6850 CF already closing the upgrade path.

No, I meant I disagree with what you said on your 7850 comment. : P

I never suggested to him to run a crossfire setup. I said to get one 6950 or 560ti 448 core. What part of that is conflicting with what I said?

I've been getting mixed responses on that.. I've had some people list microstuttering, I've had about the same amount of people say it's working fantastically.

I already ordered the board, trying to keep with a blue color scheme... and as for the ram, I ordered that as well, I got it for $80 a month or so ago, saving $15-25... I know 16 is excessive, but I'd rather have too much.  

As for the cooler, not really much of an OC'er.. I just wanted to help lower the the temps in my tower, as my previous build turned my room into a small sauna when gaming.

although, as I re-read my response... my Crossfire setup probably mitigated any lower temps I would've just created.  

It would still run at a stable temp even under 2 GPU's load. 80C is not too bad IMO.

IMO The 7850 would give him the best path for the future, 68xx and 69xx production have stopped and supplies will dwindle, the 560 Ti 448 was never meant to be a long term solution to the gap between the 560 Ti and GTX 570 so he won't be able to fine any in the future except used for SLI/CF. So the 7850 would still be instock allowing for it. Plus it gets lower temps, and lower power consumption. With a bonus if you need overclocking.

I think you are referring to this article- http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stut... That was with the 6xxx series gpu's. It also showed that cards more or as powerful at gtx 560 ti's and hd 6950's do not have nearly as noticeable microstuttering.

Im with him 100% on the ram. Save 50 bucks and just stick with 8 gig. You will never use 16 gig of ram....