What CPU would you suggest for a gaming set up?

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Ok that is a hell of a build but lets examine it:

First, your mobo:

I recommend this because, it is a great overclocker, is a second gen. board, has USB 3.0!, and provides all the bandwidth you could possibly need for even less money than the one you listed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614

Second I've seen this hard drive out perform that WD drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16822152119

Third I strongly recommend this RAM over the one you listed:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16820231272

It has the same specs as the Mushkin RAM but at slightly lower voltage and at $50 less.

With the money saved you can now afford this SSD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/NewProduct.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016

Notice its speeds are twice the one you listed and it has twice the capacity.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks for the feedback. One of the editors of TomsHW just suggested this for the Mobo...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102856&cm_re=5870-_-14-102-856-_-Product
 


That is all up to you, its $50 for an extra PCIe slot that you don't seem to being planning to use.
 
...i didn't even think about that. What do you suggest? I want to have enought power (of course) to power my rig but I also want a buffer if I decide to ad something different.
 
Well seeing how the max power consumption of a 5970 is 300watts, two of them is 600watts+around 130 for CPU+a lot for the other stuff, i'd recommend getting a 850-950watt PSU :) And Modular if you can can get one.
 
This thread has been really helpful for me as well as I am soon to buy a system. I second AMW1011 in his ideas. I recommend as well the 80GB Intel SSD it out performs the smaller size by a lot. One question though… Does a power supply have enough cables and connectors to power all those video cards, 2 hard drives, and a CD Rom?
 
I am pretty sure it has 3 video card connectors and like 5 or so HDD/SSD connectors and like 8 or so P4 connectors which is what ODD use. IT should very well be sufficient. You can google it also cause i am not sure about it.
 


Connectors:
1 x Main connector (20+4Pin)
1 x 8-Pin EPS/ATX12V
8 x Peripheral
12 x SATA
2 x Floppy
6 x PCI-E

It has all you need.
 
Ok here's the debate on board. Lol - I just lifted my own limit on project. My total on my tax return is about $9238. You ask how is that possible? I got a 15,000 bonus and 5,000 was taken out in taxes. Along with my new son (child tax credit w/e its called) and my other 2 year old I received a good chunk of change from that. And finally my state tax credit of 900 bucks, turns out they were taken WAY too much out of my check. My wife says its my money and I've earned it so I'm just WISE about the build and not spend all of it but I've always something insane.

I didn't want to let everyone know that from the get go because I would end up. with a rig that would make the lights flicker everytime I turned it on.

So here's my debate now.
Which mobo...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131390
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128413
 
Honestly, $50 less and you gain USB 3.0? Where is the debate?

As for your budget, you really can't go over $3000 anyway. I recommend getting three nice monitors to push those 5870s in eyefinity.
 
This is what I don't understand about the Gigabyte board.

Expansion Slots
PCI Express 2.0 x16 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1/PCIEX16_2)
2 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1/PCIEX8_2)
Note: The PCIEX8_1 and PCIEX8_2 slots share bandwidth with the PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_2 slots espectively. When PCIEX8_1 is populated with an expansion card, the PCIEX16_1 slot will operate at up to x8 mode; when PCIEX8_2 is populated with an expansion card, the PC IEX16_2 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.
PCI Express x1 2
PCI Slots 1

Is it saying that really only have 2 PCIe that run at 16x?
 
With 3 cards populated the PCIe slots runs at x16/x8/x8, with 2 slots its x16/x16. With the second and third slots running at x8/x8 you will lose less than 5% performance, likely close to 2-3%.

The Asus runs 3 GPUs at x16/x16/x8, which makes no difference over the other.
 


It is very similar to the Asus Supercomputer motherboard but includes a few things like 600w CPU power for extreme overclocking on LN2.

It was the first board like that, then others came out for less money. I'm not sure why it is still at such a high price, but oh well its not my money.
 


I would go for the 3 5870s instead if the 5970s are still sold out.

As for watercooling, you need to do some research first. Do you plan to WC your GPUs too?

I'm going to warn you, you are already over the line of insanity, WC might be just too much.
 


I'm not saying water cooling is bad, its your money, just it is a major responsibility and you have to be up for it. As I said if you want watercooling then do some research. If you only want watercooling for your processor then this would make it quite easy as it is the only decent prebuilt WC kit:
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swh2edukit.html

As for air cooling if you opt out of WC, a Prolimatech Megahalems or Prolimatech Megashadow is about the best.
 
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