Best Trifire/SLI Socket?

[wicked_chicken]

I wasn't sure where this would best fit, so I opted for general hardware. I'm just curious, which socket is best for a trifire or 3 way SLI setup, given no budget constraints while attempting to optimize current hardware restrictions and bandwidth? I've been under the impression that 2011 is due to it's extra PCIE lanes, but then the bandwidth comparisons between PCIE 2 and 3 have been a bit confusing.

So, for instance, if I wanted to run 3 7970's without restrictions (CPU or bandwidths, etc), what way would I want to go that also isn't going to screw me with future hardware releases?

 

[Dangman]

You pretty much want a platform that supports PCI-E 3.0. With multiple HD 7970 cards, it has been shown that PCI-E 3.0 does provide a small performance increase due to the extra lanes/bandwidth. So you're basically looking at socket 2011 and the Z77 chipset for Ivy Bridge.

 

[wicked_chicken]

Understood, and that's pretty much what I expected, but I wanted to check as I tend to get overwhelmed with all the changes since I last looked at hardware.

Will the number of CPU cores matter? For instance, would I see a difference between the 4 core 3820 and the 6 core 3930k besides raw speed?

 

[Dangman]

Currently for gaming and from currently available information, you won't see that much of a difference between 4 core and 6 core Intel CPUs in gaming.

With that said, AFAIK, no one has done a proper BF3 multiplayer performance test with the 3820 and 3930K

 

[K1tty]

Also, there are Z68 motherboards that will support PCIE 3.0 with Ivy Bridge. Ultimately, I'd suggest waiting for Ivy Bridge as it's not far off as well as new nVidia cards. However, you could get a SB setup now and pop in IB when it releases.