First system build, need advice on a motherboard

[chopsuey1562]

Approximate Purchase Date:3 months

Budget Range:2000-3000

System Usage from Most to Least Important:Gaming and watching movies

Are you buying a monitor: No

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, amazon.com (free shipping)

Location: Germany

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU, ATI GPU

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Yes

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920*1080

Additional Comments: Pretty much a futeproof gaming monster with little regards to human health or safety. Also I have an APO box so shipping from amazon is free but newegg likes to add a lot in shipping costs there.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Old PC just not cutting it.

So the parts I have picked out are as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233278

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme6 ATX LGA1155 Motherboardhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295

Or ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821

GPU:Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 6GB Video Card (crossfire)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202005&Tpk=Sapphire%20Radeon%20HD%207970%20GHz%20Edition%206GB%20Video%20Card&IsVirtualParent=1

Power Supply:COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RSC00-80GAD3-US 1200W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171055&Tpk=Cooler%20Master%20Silent%20Pro%20Gold%201200W%2080%20PLUS%20Gold&IsVirtualParent=1


My biggest concern is that the GPU takes up a lot of room. I'm wondering if there is a motherboard out there I can use to crossfire those and still have room for a sound card. I have a nice pair of headphones I would like to take advantage. Everything else is set in stone as to what I want but I will take advice on the things I have listed as well as a good sound card. I have 5.1 speakers and my headset is high end. Also advice to save money here and there to make it work sounds good as well. This is my first build so any advice would be awesome.

 

[realchaos]

I would ditch most of that set-up:
-i7's hyperthreading is pointless in games and will not provide any extra performance compared to an i5.
-Ditch Ivy Bridge and go with Haswell. Haswell recently came out and is Intel's new line-up of processors.
-Gave you a high-end heatsink so you can overclock to your heart's content.
-A single 7970 ghz edition should run almost every game maxed out at 1080p.
-An extremely quiet, roomy case.
-high quality psu. 850w provides you enough watts to overclock and crossfire.
-The motherboard has a decent onboard sound. Test it out first. If you think its not up to your taste, then you can buy a sound card.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($249.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($78.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($62.05 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($407.86 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1491.83
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-09 02:33 EDT-0400)

I don't know what else to put since you're only using a single 1080p monitor. I would suggest going a triple monitor set-up or getting a 1440p monitor before you actually crossfire. Or treat yourself to a nice dinner.

 

[chopsuey1562]

The more I have read about Haswell the less I really see a reason to buy it. If it comes down to i5 vs i7 I could go with the i5.

Also I have a two monitor set up I probably should have stated that so three really isn't much of a stretch for me.

Here is my fully picked out set.
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/chopsuey1562/saved/1F2a

I have already bought the SSD and the RAM

 

[chopsuey1562]

Ok so I feel like an idiot now. I'm realizing I'm really new at this and don't fully understand everything. No sound card.

Haswell does make sense in this case because I'm new with the intel stuff. Great advice Realchoas, I'm sorry for doubting your input.

Does this look better parts wise?
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/14yJW

I will eventually upgarade to the monitors and maybe even dabble in 3d but that is further into the future. Anyone else have any other recommendations?

 

[realchaos]

Well..there's still a few problems:
-16gb of ram is un-necessary.
-Those ram have REALLY HIGH heat-spreaders. There is no way that the huge NH-D14 will fit with those high heat-spreaders. You need low-profile ram
-Since you're only running a regular 1080p set-up right now, you don't need to crossfire the 7970s. Also, 6gb of VRAM is way too much for a single monitor. If you were running a triple monitor set-up with a single card, the 6gb would be fine. but having 12gb of vram on one monitor is just way too much.

 

[chopsuey1562]

Any suggestions for a video card that can handle upcoming games like Battlefield 4 on ultra with a single monitor? Would the 3gb version of that card work just as well?

I thought I was really set on that Level10 case but after you suggested the Fractal Design I couldn't believe how good it looked. The mystery behind that sleek case got me.

Here is the updated list based on your recommendations.
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/chopsuey1562/saved/1F2a

 

[realchaos]

That's a lot better. Nothing I would change but..
-You can always switch out the NH-D14 for the Corsair H100i. The Corsair H100i is a dual rad closed loop liquid cooler, so you will hear the pump but it looks alot better than the Nh-D14. Performance is a bit similar too.

you'll find the Define R4 to be a wonderful case! Its roomy, silent and looks great!
The 7970ghz edition should be able to run most games but I forgot to mention that AMD cards don't scale very well in 2-way crossfire so if you put in another one for crossfire, you may be disappointed by its performance.
If you are willing to go NVIDIA, the GTX770 or GTX780 are very good cards that SLI better than 7970's crossfire.

However, I don't know if you'll ever find the need for crossfire since the 7970 is a powerful gpu.

 

[chopsuey1562]

Well based on your advice I plundged in and started buying parts. I think one of the coolest things was the mobo+CPU bundled together for a discount and I got a free ultra low profile RAM stick for free!

I have all the parts for the thing on order except the video card and the CPU cooler. Here is the updated list:
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/chopsuey1562/saved/1F2a

I'm still sort of split between the 780 and 770 but I'm doing my research now. I like the Noctura thing, it is a behemoth but it does it's job so well. In the model you suggested I didn't find one that had the LGA 1150 in the description on either newegg or Amazon so I looked at this one instead:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C9FLSLY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A15YNZR7YB053N

The extra fan to make it push/pull is only $15 as well so it just about evens out. The orientation of this one seems to flow better with the case ventilation but I am sort of concerned that it will be sucking hot air from the video card but I'm sort of certain that it will not make a difference as long as the case is well ventilated (and from the reviews that seems to be the case).

Thank you again for all your help and recommendations!

 

[realchaos]

http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=presse_archiv&step=2&news_id=84&lng=en

You might want to read that and stick with the NH-D14.

 

[chopsuey1562]

Thank you again for the help. Glad to see it will all work out!