3-3.5k build

Budget:
3-3.5k for just the computer. I already have 2TB of SATA III storage and I'm looking to have around 60 GB of SSD storage as a boot drive. I will be purchasing 2 monitors (and a 3rd in the near future) outside of this budget (likely 1920x1080). I have a keyboard and mouse.

Use:
Probably 25% Gaming, 50% movies, 25% audio editing/creation.

Special Needs:
I do a lot of multitasking across multiple monitors and love extra screen real estate (hence the desire to run 3 monitors). I will probably only be gaming on a single monitor for the time being. I really like liquid cooled setups, but would like some advice as to if it's worthwhile given that I would like my components to be stable and last a good while. I would like the computer to be very quiet.

The build I'm currently looking at is http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=440997, but I would also like advice on either improving the performance at the same price or taking price out at the same performance. The liquid cooling is not a necessity/I can be talked out of it, but it is one of those things I would really like to have on a build such as this.

Thanks for the advice. As you might imagine, I'm pretty new to the high-ish end market, so I'm not really sure what's best for me.

In this case, the water cooling wasn't really a noise solution, but more to keep the hardware cool so that it may last a bit longer (but again being new to the market I'm not sure if that's true or not).

On the audio card front, I had planned to add one once I choose the editing software (sorry I forgot to mention that in my original post).

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=441035
Above is a revised version based on some of your advice. I assume the dual 470s can drive 3 simultaneous monitors, but it would be good to hear that from someone who knows for sure (the only "modern" hardware I've dealt with has been from ATI/AMD).

Sorry if I sound confused/uniformed (because I am), but I very much appreciate the expert advice.

Thanks again. On the watercooling front, how much more expensive would it be to upgrade components within that setup as new hardware gets released. I believe that (at minimum) a waterblock for the new component would be required and the system would need drained, the new component installed within the existing loops, and then refilled, but I have no feel for how difficult or how much more expensive this is.

What I'd like to eventually have (2-3 years from now), is this case for high performance builds, and another case with the components from the last high performance build inside. I figure this points towards keeping everything air cooled, which is sounding more and more like it makes the most sense.

The intelligent person in me knows I should probably go with the system you recommended, but there's that silly voice inside me saying "more is more" with respect to the cooling system. Also, about how hot would the inside of the case (and more importantly the 470s) be on the air cooled system configuration vs. a liquid cooled one?

The "eventually have" is because I'll *likely* have access to a similar case with slightly older components where I'll be able to start moving components as I upgrade them (new video cards to this case, video cards from this build into the other case), such that I can rotationally buy new hardware when appropriate. (I'm still not entirely sure if this will happen this way, or if I'll just end up buying another high end rig in 2-3 years and then start passing components down from there into this build).

With respect to liquid cooling just the video cards on a triple rad, what's the best way to start such discussions with DSO (and can you guess at the price difference between that and running dual loops)?

Thanks again for all your help.

With respect to liquid cooling just the video cards on a triple rad, what's the best way to start such discussions with DSO (and can you guess at the price difference between that and running dual loops)?

Now I'm confused again... The link seems to indicate that only 2 monitors can be used when the cards are in SLI, but the earlier post indicated that 3 could be used with two cards installed. Which is it?

Ok Scrapped that and corrected:

In SLi to get 3 monitors according to Enders link you need a third NOn-SLi'd card to handle monitors 3 and 4

Nvidia has a new tech called 3D vision which is detailed in the link below.

Heres the skinny on Nvidia's 3D Vision technology:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-surround-technology.html

Final Edit I promise:  It looks like in the 3D vision you dont really have 3 monitor support it treats all three as one monitor and spreads the game across them all...


Edited by MagiK - 15 Sep 2010 at 5:08pm

Im thinking your best bet for 3D vision is to have 3 of the same monitors.

dual 470s can support nvidia's sli (3 monitor spread) but they do this by treating all 3 monitors as one.

its already 80+ (not gold) but if you wanted anything else for some reason you can always buy it and ship it to DSO, just make sure you iron that out with DSO first.. if thats really worth an extra 7% effeciency to you