Thoughts on Eyefinity/Surround Build

[sGoose]

Hello, Long time reader, first time poster. I'm looking for some input for the new Computer I am building and making sure all my research has turned up the correct info and get opinions on the stuff i am not sure about.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Mostly Gaming(Eyefinity or Surround) and 3D Modeling
2) What's your budget? My Budget is really no specific amount, but trying to stay between $2k and $3k
3) Which country do you live in? Live in Philadelphia, PA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? I will need: CPU,MOBO,PSU,Video Card(s),Monitors and Mounts (I have and already bought some items, see 5
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? I currently have these items:
(SSD) OCZ Vertex 3 120GB
(CPU Cooler) Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B
(RAM) CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1600 (2 x 4GB) x2
(Case) ThermalTake Armor VA8000BWS Full Tower
6) Will you be overclocking? I want to overclocking decently, but nothing extreme (no watercooling)
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it? TBD. I want to setup Eyefinity / Surround. See below
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Soon, before christmas
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? I will need USB3.0, Xfire / SLI, SATA 6GB
10)what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? 64Bit Windows 7 Home Premium

I'm definitly looking for some Kind of Eyefinity / Surround input here, but not trying to blow my wallet. My option as to what Video card, monitors and Motherboards to go with it are up in the air. I believe regardless of Eyefinity / Surround, i want to be XFire or SLI ing (580s or equivelent).

I would LOVE to have 3x30" in PPP Mode, but I cannot afford 1500 per monitor. My Main questions seem to be are 27"(PPP) usable? 27"(LLL) seems way to wide to me (coming from Dual 22" Current Monitors ), so the other option would be 24"(LLL). If i Go 27" PPP, would i also need 120hz Monitors with all this Horizontal refresh rate cons people are discussing?

I only really upgrade my PC every 4-6 Years, so Longevity helps, however I don't need super Ultra Graphics on games 3 years from now. Playable experience at High or Lower Ultra now is fine by me (i don't need 8xAA, 16X AF, and FXAA on every or any game i play)

I have been looking at the Below Monitors, Mobos, and Video Cards, however all are still wide open.
Monitors:
24"
ASUS VW246H
ASUS VS248H-P
ASUS VE248Q
27"
ASUS VE278Q
Asus VK278Q
SAMSUNG P2770FH
27" 120hz
Acer HN274Hbmiiid

Motherboards:
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
MSI P67A-GD65

Video Cards:
XFX HD-697A-CNFC Radeon HD 6970 2GB(x2)
or 6950 2BG
EVGA 03G-P3-1584-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 3GB
or 570 2.5 GB

Any Help, directions to go from here, or opinions, especially on similar builds or experiences,would be greatly appreciated.

Special thanks to the LCD Setup and Eyefinity Config suggestion threads for multitudes of hours spent reading

 

[Dangman]

Welcome to [H]ardForums! Hope you enjoy your stay here.

Anyway, I recommend asking your displays question over in the Display subforum. AFAIK, none of the display gurus there hangs out here in General hardware.

As for the parts:
CPU wise, go for the 2500K at first and then only upgrade to the 2600K if you still have money leftover in your budget. In terms of gaming performance, the CPUs are basically the same. However for 3D Modeling, the 2600K may have an edge due to its inclusion of HT.

Motherboard wise, out of those two choices, I'd go with the MSI since it has a better warranty. However I'd personally spend the extra cash for these Z68 mobos:
$178 - MSI Z68A-GD55 (G3) Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard
$178 - Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 ATX Motherboard

As for video cards, that's a tad fuzzy

Skyrim and BF3 are currently the two latest games that aren't working too well with AMD's Crossfire or Eyefinity solutions. However of right now, there are beta drivers out there that supposedly improves Skyrim's performance with Crossfire and Eyefinity. A recent update by DICE for BF3 solved some of BF3's Crossfire and Eyefinity issues. But there's still improvements to be made. Future game updates and driver updates may end fixing those issues mentioned.

However right now, if those are the two games you're planning on playing and if you don't want to wait for updates, your best bet would GTX 570 2.5GB SLI or GTX 580 3GB SLI if you want to use Surround.

 

[tiraides]

NewEgg currently has combo deals with the Core i5 2500K and either the MSI Z68A-GD55 (B3) or the Asus P8Z68-V. They both come to around $375 each, but they expire at the end of the month.

Combo deals like these are just another reason to listen to Danny Bui.

 

[sGoose]

Thanks Danny Bui and Tiraides.
I dont think i have looked at that Asus Motherboard but will take a look at it.

As far as video cards go I will definitely play Skyrim (SWTOR and SC2 / Diablo 3) but I am patient when it comes to scaling performance or waiting for Eyefinity / Surround to work. I'm just trying to make sure that whatever Video cards i get now can power today's games at decent resolution for eyefinity / surround when they are properly updated with drivers etc and last me for a few years without having to drop more money a year from now. Can Eyefinity and surround properly scale down with windows 7 and monitors not at recommended resolutions?

Would I be looking at a 1000W PSU to power an SSD, DVD Rom drive, a few USB devices (mouse, keyboard, external usb3 HDD), 3 monitors and SLI / Crossfire? or will I need more with the overclocking and such?.