Questions/what should I look for etc.

Hello:
My brother just introduced me to Digital Storm, he just got his Dreadnought a few days ago. I've been on a fairly nice laptop since 09, but I feel it's time to get a tower. I liked what I saw, so after checking this place out a bit I'm fairly certain here is where I'll be spending my money. I'm not the most knowledgeable and I've got a lot of questions, though, so wall of text incoming!

Thinking of purchasing: Dreadnought, possibly Hailstorm or Syndicate.
Budget: generally 3k range

What I want to do:
A basic overview of what I want would be a 3 monitor setup to get work done. I want the central monitor to be very high res 2560x1440, or so. The other two can be cheap pieces of junk, honestly. They could be 1280x800 and get the job I have planned for them done. I'm going for a "1 main window and two sub window" approach, not a "1 window spread across 3 screens", if that makes sense...
I'm not a high-end PC gamer, but I do intend to work with editing/saving high quality 1080p video and also do some screen capture/streaming. I *think* that'd be the most CPU intensive stuff I'd be doing.
I would like whatever I get to last me a long time, like 5+ years.

Well, that's the basic overview. With that in mind, now the questions. I would like suggestions on which CPU/GPU stuff etc. for my budget, as well as answers to the related questions I'm about to bring up.

1. What kind of graphics card config should I look at for a 3x monitor setup? Will that require dual/triple SLI or just a single card with a lot of memory? Which would be better? Remember, only the main monitor will be ultra-high res 30" (or 27", maybe), the other two will likely be smaller and lower resolution.

2. I'd like a nice 30" or 27" monitor capable of 2560x1440, or maybe even higher if possible, but I don't want to spend $700+ on just a monitor. Recommendations? (Note: might have sunlight beaming into the room in the morning, due to the window. I can always block it, I suppose, but I would like something that's not going to look nasty if there's a little sunlight on the side)

3. RAM. I'm looking at some of the 16gb corsairs. 2133 or 2400 MHz *sounds* better, and I think could fit in the budget, so I'm asking from more of a durability perspective. Is having the RAM at a higher clock speed going to make its lifetime significantly shorter, or should I just go for 1600 or 1866?
(As direct as possible, will the Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133 or 2400 work reliably for years to come?)

3. CPU. I will have mutliple programs running simulatenously, but I don't see myself using a lot of the power-hungry ones at once. As what I'll be doing will not likely be as intense as what some people around here do, which CPU config should I be looking at? And how much return will I get out of overclocking?

4. Cooling. My den is about 10' by 10' and tends to get a little toasty in the summer. It also doesn't have very good circulation with the rest of the house. As mentioned, I'm probably not looking at any major overclocking, but I do want to make sure the CPU/GPU stay cool even though the room itself may be a little warmer than ideal. The glowy UV lighting stuff is cool, yes, but it doesn't seem needed or fiscally responsible for my situation... I'm also curious if it might make the room itself much hotter that it was last year, although I'm getting a new AC unit this year which should help for that.

5. Motherboard. Like, I know nothing here. I guess my main concern is again related to the monitor setup. Do I need a certain motherboard to have enough video outputs for the 3 monitors, or something? Yeah I'm not really knowledgeable about motherboards...

6. I plan to use ssd for booting and system files. Would the 120gb be enough, or should I spend the money on the 240 to allow more room for expansion. (it looks like the performance is the same)

7. Not important, but what limits are there to customization? Like, could I special request a paintjob in a color other than what is offered? Or, laser graphics. Is there a limit to the size or number (other than what fits the computer itself). For example, I can select either the window or the metal plate. But what if I want both? Or mutliple windows, if applicable, lol.


I think that's it for the questions. Look forward to seeing your answers, whether they be in response to the whole shebang or a single question.
Thanks, DSO.

Hi DSO.....   I missed this post.    Not used to seeing config advice in Hardware.

Brandon gave great advice.     Here's build with the Hafx, same as your brother's, and it is the best for air cooled.

The 6 core 3930k chip and quad channel ram x79 mobo should make your editing and video files go smoother then a 4 core chip and the z77 dual chsnnel memory mobo. The Sabertooth mobo has a 5 year warranty as opposed to 3 years for most.

Went with sli gtx670 for great gaming on your 30"high res monitor.   I put in the 4gb vram cards. Not much more than 2 gb card and might help with multi monitor and your apps.    I'm guessing you game only on the center monitor.   

The Noctua D14 air cooler is tops and the stage 1 oc is a moderate overclock easily handled.

5 years is long time without upgrading. Usually 2-3 years for video cards.

I can't cut/paste right now so just plug in the config # up top.

Config # 805182        Cost $ 3068.

Hope this helps.








Edited by bprat22 - 25 Mar 2013 at 1:47pm

the asus vh238h is a pretty good monitor.

When both cpus are running at say 4.5GHz, the small amount of cache will not be noticed at all for gaming.

For some apps you may notice a difference, but you have to look at the difference and see if its worth the $500 to you, IMHO most times the extra cache does not put forth $500 worth of performance but thats just me, having said that I want to say I go with extreme chips myself purely cause I can't help myself and have to waste the money.