$1500 Eyefinity Build?

[APF858]

Approximate Purchase Date: About a week or two

Budget Range: $1500-1600 after rebates but before tax & shipping

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming - Video editing

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, mouse, speakers, DVD burners and one 22' monitor. HDD and OS will also be reused (Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache).

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Country of Origin: US

Parts Preferences: As the Eyefinity suggests...AMD. Intel for the CPU as well.

Overclocking: Probably not immediately (my current system is OC'd, so I may do it later)

Crossfire: Probably at some point, or if I find the one card isn't enough to start

Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050 (or 5040x1050 for the three monitors I guess)

Additional Comments: This system will be used primarily for gaming with a lot of BF3 in mind.

New Parts List:

CPU
Intel Core i5 2500k
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

Heatsink
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Motherboard
Asrock Z68 Extreme4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157264

RAM
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) (Overkill?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233143

GPU
XFX HD-697A-CNDC Radeon HD 6970 2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150531

PSU
Rosewill BRONZE Series RBR1000-M
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182188

Case
XCLIO Windtunnel ATX Full Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103011

Monitors
2x Acer V223WEJbd 22" 5ms (1680 x 1050)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009241

I'm hoping that this will be enough to run games like BF3 and Batman at decent settings with Eyefinity, but if not, then hopefully adding another GPU in CF would do the trick? Anyone see any bottlenecks in this system? All thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[rvilkman]

16GB is probably overkill, but then memory is cheap so you should be fine with it.

Get the EVO model of the Cooler Master Hyper.

Try to find out that the 6970 actually fits the case, it is a pretty big case so it should, but then 6970 is a very long card.

2x 1680 x 1050 probably works decently with a single 6970, but to go for 3 then you want the 2nd 6970. It will also let run higher settings.

A good 850W PSU will be good enough for you. Antec, Corsair, XFX, Seasonic.

 

[APF858]

16GB is probably overkill, but then memory is cheap so you should be fine with it.

Get the EVO model of the Cooler Master Hyper.

Try to find out that the 6970 actually fits the case, it is a pretty big case so it should, but then 6970 is a very long card.

2x 1680 x 1050 probably works decently with a single 6970, but to go for 3 then you want the 2nd 6970. It will also let run higher settings.

A good 850W PSU will be good enough for you. Antec, Corsair, XFX, Seasonic.

That was kinda my thinking on the RAM, for that price it seemed ok to go with more than I might need.

I'll check out the EVO model for sure.

Part of the reason I went for the ATX full case was in hopes of making enough room for the 6970 since I've heard it's a big card. I'll see what I can find out about it fitting or not.

I also wasn't sure how much power I'd need if I went with 2 GPU's eventually, so I decided to give myself some room with the 1000W PSU. If you think 850W will do then maybe I can save some money there.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[APF858]

Oh, and if I do add another GPU, is that going to put the limiting factor back to the CPU, or will my bottleneck still be at the GPU's? I'm trying to get a feel for whether or not this will be a future-proof-ish build...

 

[rvilkman]

There really shouldn't be much for bottlenecks in the crossfire system.
Any slowness at that resolution would still be GPU.