another help a newbie build, be nice to the noob

[myosin]

My 3.5 year old gaming rig died a hard miserable death. I had just upgraded the video card and switched to 64 bit Win 7 about 6 months ago. So already have an excellent Video card and Win 7 64 bit.

The video card I have is XFX HD-585A-ZNBC Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB Black Edition 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card.

I am going to keep my hard drives and optical drives. I was hoping to get a year or two out of the older rig by updating. BUT, since it died gives me a reason to do a little upgrading sooner. I am going to do the build in less than two weeks. Next year I'll probably throw in another Radeon 5850 just because I've never had two video cards. And Next year I am going to get a 3 monitor set up.

I am using new egg for parts. This is what I am thinking about getting.

CASE:

Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811139001

CPU COOLER:

CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series CWCH50-1 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler
Item #: N82E16835181010

POWER SUPPLY:

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
Item#:N82E16817139007

CPU:

Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80601930
Item #: N82E16819115225

RAM:

Kingston HyperX 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3K6/12GX
Item #: N82E16820104168

RAM FAN:

Kingston HyperX KHX-FAN Fans
Item #: N82E16835116021

MEDIA READER:

Koutech IO-RCM621 All-in-one USB 2.0 3.5" USB 2.0 Front Panel Multi-format Card Reader with USB 2.0 Port
Item #: N82E16820162024

CASE FAN CONTROLLER:

Sunbeam RHK-EX-BA Rheobus-Extreme Fan Controller Panel
Item #: N82E16811995016

I have no idea on the MB.

So some questions to you guys are:

1. What MB would you recommend for my build?

I went with the Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80601930 over Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I7860 because of this new egg review comment. “Many people don't realize that for people interested in gaming (crossfire X and SLI) there is no option other than Bloomfield processors and above. Lynnwoods only let you use 16 PCIe lanes, so any more than one GPU bottlenecks. REAL i7's don't have this, as their separate northbridge supports 32 lanes.”
Next year I want to put in another Radeon HD 5850 and actually see a difference, So….

2.Is the Bloomfield the choice for dual video cards?

3. The 1366 socket is the newest intel cpu socket so I should be able to upgrade CPU in 2 years and still have a good choice of cpus right?

4. On RAM, just buy a big name brand? Is 12 gigs of 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 to much? I'll be using rig for gaming and video editing. The ram I selected does not have heat sink fins on top. Should I get Ram that has those heat sink fins?

5. I plan on getting three 120mm fans for the top of the case. Any recommendations for fans? Just make sure they are rubber mounted to reduce vibration?

6.Do case fan controllers like the one I selected actually work?

7. Will my power supply be able to handle the second video card when I go crossfire?

 

[Sean W.]

your power supply is enough to power 3 5850's, handily... no worries there

 

[Muffin Man]

ill try to answer what i can.

1. don't count on newegg reviews and comments to base your purchases off of because anybody can make a comment, positive or negative, without having purchased it or without knowing squat about that part.

the person who commented on that is somewhat right though, the lynnfield die only has 16 pcie lanes, so crossfire and sli can only run at x8/x8, whereas with an lga1366 cpu w/ and x58 mobo, two cards would run at the full x16/x16 bandwidth.

however, as you can see from this article.
ATI HD 5870 Scaling Performance: X58 vs P55 Showdown - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News
yes, there would be a minor bottleneck with xfire and sli in a lga1156 build, but not as much as you might think.

with that said though, if you can afford to get a x58 i7 build, i'd say go for it.

as far as mobo suggestion; if you can tell us how much you're willing to put towards a mobo we can make suggestions.

2. i think my above response kinda answers this.

3. well the 6 core 980x is for the 1366 socket, but the i7 930 is quite a fast cpu so i don't know if youll need to upgrade in 2 years, especially if you OC it.

4. i think you're less likely to have major issues with name brands, so i guess yes. but also yes, 12gigs is kind of alot of ram. you could go with 6 gigs for now and see how that works for your needs, you could always add more later.

this kit would be good.
Newegg.com - OCZ 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3X1600R2LV6GK

7. a 1000w corsair is actually on the overkill side. you can get a 750w and still be on the safe side.
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply