Config advice for a multitasking junkie

I'll keep this short and simple:  I've been lurking around the config forums and this site for a few weeks.  My current PC is decent with about a year old parts a friend built, but I've always wanted a professional custom PC.

- $3300 budget

- Screen resolution: Currently running 2x 24 inch monitors (each at a resolution of 1920x1080).  I'm considering upgrading to one 27 inch monitor and using my two 24 inch monitors, with one on each side of the 27 inch, 3 monitors total

What I use my PC for:  I only play WOW and a few other games.  I'm not really a hardcore gamer but having the power to play any game without lag will be great.  I do a lot of video editing with Sony Vegas.  I do an insane amount of multitasking.  I usually have about 30-50 windows/applications up at the same time (which is why I absolutely must have dual monitors and am considering upgrading to tri-monitor)  Usually I have about 2-3 copies of World of Warcraft up, Firefox, a movie playing, 2 copies of Sony Vegas up, Microsoft Word, Excel, Quickbooks, AIM, MSN, etc, etc etc.  I'm also a huge media junkie; currently I'm running about 10 terabytes worth of internal and external hdds.

What else I'm looking for:  I'd prefer the case to be either the Assassin or the Hailstorm.  I'm looking for something extremely quiet too.  I already have my own soundcard that I plan on installing on my own.   I am also interested in a SSD as my main harddrive and a speedy secondary drive to access all my media.  I will be adding a few of my own internal hdds as well.

Here's the config I came up with:


Specifications:
Chassis Model: Black OPS Assassin Edition
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 930 2.8GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA X58 Micro Edition SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports SLI or CrossFire)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series  (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Digital Storm Certified (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Recommended)
Expansion Bay: Internal Digital Media Card Reader (Black) (NOTE: Disables 2 Front USB Ports)
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (128GB Solid State (By: Corsair) (Model: CMFSSD-128GBG2D)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (2TB Western Digital (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed WD2001FASS 2TB)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVDąR/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 1.2GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 Extreme Performance (Does NOT fit on the regular EVGA X58 3X SLI)
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With LED Performance Fans (Blue) (Up to 6 Fans)
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: Noise Suppression Package (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds with Noise Dampening Material)
Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Cooling Upgrade Recommended)
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

Any suggestions or recommendations would be great.  If you need any additional info please let me know.  Thanks!


Edited by efficiency - 06 Jun 2010 at 5:14pm

Hmmm, sounds good. I've upgraded the HDD to the Intel 160GB X25- M MLC.  I've also upgraded the motherboard to the LE version.  I'm still unsure about dropping money for dual graphics card.  Is it entirely necessary?  Will I see huge performance gains if I upgrade to dual gfx cards+ power supply?

I've dropped the noise suppression and the upgraded fans.  If I choose liquid cooling, does that affect how loud the computer gets?  I'm pretty clueless as to anything LC, which is why I went with the Stage 2 Noctua NH-D14 cooling.  Any suggestions would be great, thanks!

Well its hard to say if you need sli, you might need dual gpus to run games at max settings with good aa, but it depends on games you will play, I doubt you will ever need sli for wow for example, but if you play some of the newer dx11 games, at your res you will need 2 gpus, games like metro will need sli to run smooth, crysis is the same way, but most games won't need it, so its up to you, I always try and leave the options open if the budget is there cause you never know.

Ok the way LC works is that there is a water block that sits on top of your cpu, this block grabs heat from the cpu, liquid runs thru this block and grabs the heat and take it with it, it then goes thru a radiator (rad), where fans are blowing air thru it, by going thru the rad here, the liquid loses heat and is cool again, so its circulated back to the the cpu's waterblock to grab more heat and repeat this process over and over again, thus dissipating heat and keeping temps low on cpu. if the fans that are on the rad, are loud fans then you will hear them and your system is not quiet.

there are different kinds of rad and fans, there are rads that work best with low airflow, and rads that work best with high airflow fans, airflow is measured by cubic foot per minute (cfm), so in order to get a quiet LC system, one needs rads that work best with low cfm fans, cause low cfm fans are more likely to have low dba (decibels aka sound level).

the LC systems here, use high cfm rad and thus high cfm fans, thus they have high dba and are not as quiet as a qood LC system can be, for this you need to special order low cfm rads like feser or xspc rx, and a low cfm fan like gentle typhoon to go on them, the you are looking at a fairly quiet lc system.

Noctua D14 is pretty quiet and great air cooler.

good call on the ssd and mobo.

Oh, I won't be running games across 2 or 3 screens.  At the moment I usually have one copy of WOW running on each monitor.  

What are the main differences between the Assassin and the Hailstorm cases?  What are the main advantages and disadvantages of both? 

Originally posted by efficiency Also, is it possible for me to pickup the PC in person at your HQ location instead of having it shipped?

As per Alex from Digital Storm, yes you can absolutely pick up your PC from DS's facility instead of having it shipped.

if you gonna go sli, I guess go 480.

double check and make sure that sound card works with win7 64bit.

going sli 470 is not being future proof, you are more future proof and will endup with more gpu power for longer, if you just get what you need now and then save the rest for a new gpu in a couple of years instead, its 2 minutes of work to change a gpu and its so easy I can teach a 12 year old do it in 2 minutes flat.

but its up to you, keep in mind in the blackops section prices are higher because of warranty.

the rest of the build looks good.