New Eyefinity Build need help..

[the-merino]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, Audio editing, Streaming movies, watching bluray
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1,500.00 tax/ship included
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

San Jose, CA.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, GPU, PSU, Ram, HDD, SSD, DVD Burner, Bluray Player, Case, CPU Cooler, Monitor's
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Mouse/Keyboard
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes
7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
(haven't bought them yet) X3 25' HANNspree HF257HPB 1920 x 1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within two weeks
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? etc.
Crossfire/SLi, HDMI, Optical, SATA 6Gb/s
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Win7 64bit


$219.99 - i5 2500k
not sure which GPU, was thinking a sapphire 6870? if it's powerful enough?
Not sure which case I am going with.
$49.99 - 8GB G.Skill Ripjaw x-series
$124.99 - ASRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3
$69.99 - HITACHI 500GB HDD 7200
$89.99 - Thermaltake TR2 RX 750 watt
$59.99 - Samsung blu-ray player
$105.99 -Crucial M4 64GB SSD
$479.97 - x3 HANNspree 25' Monitors
=
$1,200.90
Also, would you guy's mind recommending how I can make this PC build have excellent
audio quality and capable of surround sound for movies? I'm always happy about saving money so plz point out overpriced products in the list above if you can. Thank's!

 

[Dangman]

I highly recommend that you buy as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com as they do not charge CA residents tax like Newegg does.

Are you planning on gaming on all three monitors at the same time or just one monitor? Well even with one monitor, that HD 6870 isn't the best choice for 1920x1080 gaming. You should be looking at the GTX 560 TI, HD 6950 2GB, GTX 560 TI 448 Core, or HD 6970 2GB.

Motherboard wise, I would not go with that AsRock mobo on account of the short 1-2 year warranty and the poor rating other AsRock LGA 1155 mobos recieved:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/12/07/asrock_z68_pro3_lga_1155_motherboard_review/
http://hardocp.com/article/2011/11/09/asrock_z68_extreme4_gen3_motherboard_review/

So I recommend this mobo instead:
$133 - Asus P8Z68-V LE Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard

PSU wise, don't get that TR2 RX PSU as it is of extremely low quality and can not provide anywhere near its 750W rating. I recommend this PSU instead:
$90 - Corsair 650TX V2 650W PSU

RAM wise, I recommend this set:
$40 - Kingston Hyper KHX1333C9D3B1K2/8G 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

Cases wise, I recommend any of these cases:
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58 ATX Case
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56 ATX Case
$80 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case
$65 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$98 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$120 - Lian Li PC-9F ATX Case
$120 - Fractal Design Define R3 Arctic White ATX Case
$130 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl ATX Case
$120 - Fractal Design Define R3 Silver Arrow ATX Case
$133 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$137 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$140 - Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 ATX Case
$143 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-W ATX case
$150 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$164 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$190 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$270 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case

 

[the-merino]

I'll search amazon for those products, thx. I am confused on which gpu. I plan on gaming with 3 monitors at once. don't have to be on max settings tho, is it still possible to flash a 6950 to 6970 still? i found a his hd 6950 2gb or $20 more an evga 560 ti 2gb also would that corsair psu be okay if i wanted to sli or cf later on?

 

[Negative Decibel]

I have an eyefinity setup with an HD5850... most games on med-max settings. the 6970, if you get a decent deal, should work well...

 

[Dangman]

I'll search amazon for those products, thx.

If you check the links that I provided, they're already link

I am confused on which gpu. I plan on gaming with 3 monitors at once. don't have to be on max settings tho, is it still possible to flash a 6950 to 6970 still?

Yes there are some HD 6950 cards that can be flased to a HD 6970 but they tend be A) From companies with short warranties and relatively poor customer support (i.e Sapphire and HIS) or B) priced so high that an actual HD 6970 card isn't that much more (i.e certain MSI Frozr cards)

Do note that with Nvidia cards, you need to SLI right off the bat if you want multi-monitor gaming. With AMD, you can get Eyefinity with just one video card as long as you use a DisplayPort to DVI/HDMI adapter. For that high of a resolution, I would recommend the HD 6970 2GB:
$330 - XFX HD-697A-CNFC Radeon HD 6970 2GB PCI-E Video Card

With that said, any chance of you being able to hold off an extra 2 weeks for the GPUs? I ask because AMD is releasing new GPUs in January which should either A) be priced the same as older cards while providing significantly greater performance or B) lower the prices of older cards like the HD 6970.

also would that corsair psu be okay if i wanted to sli or cf later on?

It should but to be on the safe side, I recommend this PSU instead:
$114 - Corsair 750TX V2 750W PSU

 

[the-merino]

With that said, any chance of you being able to hold off an extra 2 weeks for the GPUs? I ask because AMD is releasing new GPUs in January which should either A) be priced the same as older cards while providing significantly greater performance or B) lower the prices of older cards like the HD 6970.]

Sure, I can wait a few weeks to save money. Were the prices for the 5xxx series cards dropped when the 6xxx series were released? If so do you remember if the price drop was a lot? because that XFX HD-697A-CNFC Radeon HD 6970 2GB for $330 puts me over my budget. Was hoping to stay in the $180 - $200 range.

 

[Dangman]

Sure, I can wait a few weeks to save money. Were the prices for the 5xxx series cards dropped when the 6xxx series were released? If so do you remember if the price drop was a lot? because that XFX HD-697A-CNFC Radeon HD 6970 2GB for $330 puts me over my budget. Was hoping to stay in the $180 - $200 range.

IIRC, the higher-end HD 5xxx dropped by $30 to $50. Unfortunately due to your Eyefinity requirement, $200 is simply not enough for even medium settings with Eyefinity. In fact $180 to $200 is pretty much the minimum you'd need to spend for 1920x1080 for medium to high settings. For Eyefinity, $330 is actually the lowest I'd recommend. Otherwise, you might as well forget about Eyefinity altogether.

 

[the-merino]

IIRC, the higher-end HD 5xxx dropped by $30 to $50. Unfortunately due to your Eyefinity requirement, $200 is simply not enough for even medium settings with Eyefinity. In fact $180 to $200 is pretty much the minimum you'd need to spend for 1920x1080 for medium to high settings. For Eyefinity, $330 is actually the lowest I'd recommend. Otherwise, you might as well forget about Eyefinity altogether.

Gotcha, i'll wait and see if the 6970 price goes down in the next few weeks, maybe I can skip on an SSD for now and use the money for a better gpu. What is your input on the hannspree 25" monitors for eyefinity? I'm a little worried about the brand as I never owned a hannspree product. my other choice is the Acer S231HL 23"

 

[Dangman]

Gotcha, i'll wait and see if the 6970 price goes down in the next few weeks, maybe I can skip on an SSD for now and use the money for a better gpu. What is your input on the hannspree 25" monitors for eyefinity? I'm a little worried about the brand as I never owned a hannspree product. my other choice is the Acer S231HL 23"

They're re-certified so I'm a little leery in recommending them for use. I do have a Hannspree monitor though and it's working fine so far. Both of the monitors you've mentioned do not have displayport. As such, you will need one of these adapters in order to connect the 3rd monitor to the video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999032
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999034